I think of the curse Amora cast on Vernallis and nod. “Fair enough. So the king didn’t treat the new queen well?”
“He didn’t get much of a chance to do anything, actually. Shortly after their marriage, the king died, still without an heir. This left the new queen to rule Thermia alone, and against all odds, she turned out to be a good ruler, as far as royals go.”
She used her magic to guide the politics of the kingdom, and amused herself by performing magical miracles for anyone who could give her something valuable in return. For years she was content, until eventually she grew lonely. The queen, like her late husband, lacked an heir. She became fixated on the idea of having a child who could be her companion while ensuring the line of succession.”
I narrow my eyes at Amora in the darkness, wondering where she comes into the story.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Amora blurts out, sounding far too much like Aurelia. “I know what you’re thinking, and no, it wasn’t me. I was born in Solistine in the poorest village you can imagine. From my very first memory I hated it there.” Her eyes slide out of focus for a moment and she looks off into the distance, as if remembering. “I suppose if I had known I’d end up here I might have viewed the village differently.”
“Anyway, I was miserable. I knew I wanted more from my life, so the moment I was old enough, I left. I walked out of thevillage and headed straight to Thermia. I knew that the queen would perform miracles for anyone who could pay her, and I didn’t have anything to offer except my own magic, but I had to try anyway.”
“What do you mean you had your magic to offer?”
She grimaces. “Do you use magic?”
I shake my head. “Never learned.”
“Hmmm. So you realize then that it has to be taught. All Fae—all beings, really—have the ability to use magic, but they have to learn from an early age or it’s not worth anything. If it isn’t taught in early childhood then it’s nearly impossible to learn later.”
I nod. I know all this, I’ve heard it from Aurelia countless times.
“The four kingdoms teach magic slightly differently. In Thermia, the preferred method of craft is to draw power from the earth around you.”
My brow furrows. “I didn’t know that was possible.”
“It is. It’s also possible to take power directly from another being, which is what I planned to offer the Queen of Thermia. It was a foolish idea. At the time, I thought I could offer her my power in exchange for another sort of power. I wanted to be wealthy and comfortable, and to live a life fit for royalty.”
“She didn’t accept the offer?”
“Not as I intended,” Amora says bitterly. “I petitioned for a favor, and the Queen saw an opportunity to get exactly what she wanted. As a powerful sorceress myself, my child would likely inherit my abilities, especially if that child’s father were a king. To the Queen, it was almost as if she was able to have her own daughter. She told me that she would make me royal in exchange for my first born child.”
“You agreed?” I interrupt, disgusted.
She nods. “It seemed at the time like an abstract promise, and I foolishly believed that, if I was truly married to a king, he would have enough power to stop the Queen from taking my eventual child. We made the bargain, and the Queen sent me back to Solistine to wait. Shortly after, King Thorne of Vernallis happened to travel through my village. He saw me, and immediately demanded that I return home to his castle with him. I accepted of course, and Thorne took me back to Vernallis where we were engaged.”
“But you didn’t know him,” I blurt out, incredulous.
She laughs. “I didn’t care, and anyway for a short while, I was incredibly happy. Soon, however, I began to realize that Thorne wasn’t as charming as he’d seemed. He could be cruel and distant. I thought it would change if our bond snapped into place, but it never did—not even after I was pregnant.”
“Six months after I arrived at court, Thorne lost interest. He abandoned me without a second thought, and threw me out of his kingdom.”
“What about your bargain with the Queen of Thermia?”
“I wondered the same thing,” she muses, drawing her fingers through the ends of her long hair. “Eventually I had a chance to ask her, and she told me that magic can be complicated. I’d asked that a king rescue me from my miserable impoverished village and take me back to his castle to be his bride. I hadn’t specified that we would have to actually get married, or that he needed to love me.”
I grimace. Even after all I know about magic, and the good people like Aurelia can do with it, it’s shit like this that still makes me dislike it.
“So,” Amora says, letting out a long breath. “I cast the curse on Thorne and his kingdom, but it left me drained, and I realized I was defenseless to protect my child from the bargain I’d made with the Queen of Thermia. My lady-in-waiting, Beatrix, tookme back to her estate to hide, and waited, dreading the day when my child would be born.”
“When I discovered I was carrying twins I was both horrified and relieved. I knew I could only save one of them, and would have to bring the first born to the Queen, which is exactly what I did. I gave the second baby to Beatrix, and took the first to the court of Thermia, where the Queen decided to raise Silvia as her own daughter.” She sighs sadly. “I had nowhere to go after that, so I begged the Queen to stay at court with Siliva. I agreed to be her nurse and later, to help teach her magic.”
“What about Aurelia?” I ask angrily.
“She was with Beatrix, where I thought she’d be safe, but she was also in hiding. I knew Thorne would have killed her if he knew she existed, and if I returned to Vernallis it would have been only too obvious where Aurelia was. I didn’t forget her, though. When Silvia was a child, I would use magic to create the dancing lights in the sky to celebrate, and I hoped that somewhere Aurelia might see them too.”
I frown, still indignant on Aurelia’s behalf, but wave a hand for Amora to continue.
“Silvia was raised believing she was the actual daughter of the Queen of Thermia. I helped to teach her magic, and she became just as powerful as the Queen planned. Silvia was always extremely talented at drawing power from the earth, and was inherently able to take power from those around her as well.”
