My newfound alliance with Elysium—that we might keep the Diakópsei guarded at all times, ending overcharge once and for all—is indeed a fragile thing. And my fits of rage in the immediate wake of my regicide were certainly intense. I can’t entirely blame the cult for not telling me that one of their own also accessed unholy power.
Thaane goes on. “Elysium would’ve exiled him regardless for what he’d done. But he fled to the surface of his own volition, to the only person he knew he could trust. His sister.” Thaane goes on to explain that Neo’s overcharge empowered him to move much more than objects with his mind.
My head whirls with new information, the ground tilting beneath me. “A nightfolk who can move memories.”
“That isn’t the point,” Thaane bites out. “As he once betrayed your parents, fleeing military service for a fanatical cult, so he betrayed the cult, accessing the very power we’ve sworn should never be available again. And he used that illegal overcharge to aid and abet his sister in a blatant crime. Illicit smuggling of dayfolk tech. Fraternization with a member of the Daylandsgovernment—”
“He canmove memories.” My blood pounds in my eardrums. Behind the pulse, I can still hear my parents’ final screams. I never want to hear them again. “What happened to him?”
“In exchange for reassurance that we wouldn’t execute him on sight, Lail led the legion to his hiding place, knowing he couldn’t survive alone forever. We took both of them into custody, separating them, and notified the Shadow Court.”
“But didn’t notify me?”
“I intercepted your path to this meeting to do exactly that. They wanted to catch you off guard, to see how their young queen reacts to a sudden reveal of yet another wrench in your newfound leadership. I thought it better to warn you, as your friend, so you can present a calm, clearheaded plan to the court about what should be done with him. Presumably execution, but the timing is in your hands.”
“The very execution you promised his sister wouldn’t happen?”
“We promised we wouldn’t kill himon sight.Not that we would suffer such an abomination to live much longer.”
Before I can think, I’ve seized Thaane by his scrawny throat, pinned him against the nearest rock wall with his three-toed feet dangling in the air. I can see my bared teeth reflected in his pupils, but incredibly, that’s all I see. Not a trace of fear, even in the face of his new queen.
Thaane gawks. “You would rather an untamed telekinetic child, with the power to psychically move memories between minds and tech, be left loose in our world?”
“You see an impossible gift, and your first instinct is to slit its throat? That’s the Shadow Court’s old guard talking, their terror of change. Not the pragmatism of my friend.”
I force myself to drop Thaane, who lands remarkably well on his feet, despite the bloodshot edges of his storm-gray eyes.
He coughs pointedly into his arm, stubbornly clinging to poise. “Is there something you’d like to forget, Adria? A mistake that even acquiring a kingdom can’t erase?”
“He could be an asset in the civil war,” I say, barely able to hear myself over my pounding pulse. “We need every upper hand we canfind.” I press the heels of my hands into my eyes, struggling to process so much new information at once. “You did well by telling me this before the court did. I will tell them to stay his execution for now, to keep him imprisoned. Then I wish to meet this Neo myself.”
Even through his undoubtedly aching throat, Thaane manages a clear, dutiful “Your will be done, my lord.”
It does not escape my notice that Thaane neglects to remotely agree with my plan, but I’ve already had too many petty outbursts since my overcharge. My nerves feel like they’re shuddering, always on the edge of snapping like an Earthside instrument’s ancient strings.
Overcharge made me stronger, all right. But I don’t know if I’m strong enough to bear that strength with the dignity my status demands.
“The ransom. That’s our primary concern, for the moment.” I cross my arms and square my shoulders, desperate to steady my rattled brain. “I risked my already-tenuous reputation with the Shadow Court to prevent your court-martial after the interrogation incident. I keep you close because your energy abilities are unparalleled, because you’ve stuck by me despite all the infighting … and because you’ve been my brother since we locked eyes as youths.”
“I’m honored, Adria, but I—”
“But things are changing, Thaane. The old guard. The limits of our strength. The assurance of our bonds.” I grip his arm just hard enough to hurt, but deliberately not enough to break skin. “Do not make me regret what I did for you. The punishment I spared you. Please, Thaane. For old times’ sake.”
I hate the tremor in my words, but I can’t suppress it. For all my blustering strength and new augments, I’m a queen without a family. I don’t want to be without a friend, too. I trace little circles into his arm with my thumb, force my voice to raise an unnecessary octave.
“Don’t make me broker a deal with the Daylands monarch alone. Help me pull this off. Help melead.Help me give our people the supportwe need to settle these rebellions and march us forward, into a peaceful and glorious future. Not back into a civil war.”
Thaane inclines his head. Deference? Defeat? He’s deliberately stone-cold. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted, friend.”
“Then let’s get to this meeting and determine that ransom,” I reply. “We’ve kept the court waiting long enough.”
“Indeed we have,” Thaane agrees, and we walk in silence the rest of the way.
Once upon a time,
the captive princess offered a demon
a shard of the sun.
