Garrick lurched behind me, but whether he reached for me or tried to block Isanara, I could not turn around to look.
“What is this?” I demanded.
Maura finally straightened. She brushed the last of the ash from her hands as she considered me.
“This is a coven working together for the good of the whole,” she said. “Join us, Koryn.”
A tremor rippled through the crowd. Everyone turned away from the pentagram. Stupid.Do not turn your back on Maura?—
But the fae of Balar Shan had learned to fear their king above all else.
The crowd parted, but not for the king himself. It was Alize who marched ahead. The king walked several paces behind her, Margeaux at his side. Queen Parry was nowhere in sight.
Alize’s movements were slightly jerky, lacking the windswept grace that I’d come to associate with her. Like the rest of us, she still wore her costume. It was hard to tell—several of the rays of her gold headdress had broken off, and her draped gown was ripped. But I thought she’d dressed herself as the sun.
She stumbled over the torn hem of her gown, but before she could fall, her own knee bent out at an unnatural angle to catch her. Dark God save me. Alize was not moving on her own. The fae king compelled her.
He compelled her through the crowd to where the witches waited, to the center of the pentagram painted in blood where my once-sister witches chanted their spell.
My mind refused to believe what my eyes saw.
Garrick understood, too. He’d been there weeks before when the other fae woman was murdered. I’d stood aside and told myself it was because I needed Maura’s trust. I’d tried to accept that sometimesgoodandrightwere not perfectly aligned.
“You are going to kill her.” I’d meant to scream it as an accusation, but it came out as a whisper.
Maura’s eyes narrowed. “I cannot complete my work without an air-bound witch.”
The talismans.
No. No, no, no. I could not believe it. There had to be another explanation.
Garrick was at my side. Where was Isanara?
“Syleris, where are you?”
Garrick threw himself between Alize and the king, but it had no effect. Physical obstacles did not impede the king’scompulsion magic. Alize knelt in the center of the pentagram and held her hands together behind her back.
“Father.” The plea in Garrick’s voice echoed around the near-silent presence chamber. He was a second away from begging. Whatever he said about his relationship with Alize, this moment told the truth of it. I’d never heard him honor the king with that word, even though it was a physical fact.
The king looked past him.
Garrick had a hand on his sword, but he did not draw it. “You cannot?—"
“Tell me what I cannot do, son. I would have thought that you understood better than most that my power does not have limits.”
Magic. Fae had magic. That was not what the king meant. But even the King of the Fae could not have meant to do this. Did he truly understand what was about to happen? He couldn’t. I refused to believe it.
I looked at Garrick, desperation boiling up. There must be a way to thwart the compulsion. There was always a way to counter. No power or magic was absolute.
The talismans were still in Garrick’s pocket.
But I could not reveal them to Maura. Even if it meant?—
I would deal with that pain later. The guilt would come for me. It was already there, coming to life inside of me, chipping away at the fragile version of myself I’d rebuilt with Garrick and Syleris’ help.
But Alize was not dead yet.
The king would not save her, so I turned to Maura. I knew better than to beg.
