I had a plan already in place. I waited until we’d returned to the palace the next night, and after Ethan had gone to bed. I hadn’t been discharged until I was ready to walk on my own again, but I was still weak.
It didn’t matter to me. It wouldn’t stop me from going forward with what I knew I had to do.
I headed to my office, where my hearthfire remained. I had two hearthfires— one in Edinmyre at my cottage, and one at the palace. I preferred working at my hearthfire in Edinmyre, but when I needed to do magic quickly, my office was the best place. I stood at my altar and seethed as I thought of Queen Antonia, and how she’d nearly ruined my family.
I knew spriggans were dangerous— Ethan’s spriggan had killed Elijah in a brutal way, after all. They were dark monsters that every Unseelie had an attachment to, but even though they belonged to us, they could hardly be controlled.
It didn’t matter. I had to do something about Antonia, and my spriggan was the easiest answer.
I rummaged through my chest of things, then withdrew a wolven tooth my grandmother had given me, clutching it in my hand. I took a deep breath and drew strength from the tooth’s power. I sent it across dimensions to Edinmyre, calling out to my spriggan and summoning him to do my bidding.
The dark, spectral being appeared almost immediately. It hovered in place, its fanged mouth hanging open and its sharp claws dragging on the ground. The smoky figure gave a long hiss, and gnashed its teeth.
At the spriggan’s arrival, the wolven tooth turned to ash between my fingers. I took a shuddering breath and said, “I order you to destroy Queen Antonia. Find her, and take her life. As my spriggan, you are compelled to obey me.”
I expected the dark creature to fly out of the room through the open window, but it didn’t move. It only faced me, mouth salivating as it began clicking its claws together in greedy anticipation.
“Didn’t you hear me? I ordered you to kill Queen Antonia!” I cried.
The spriggan gave a low, evil chuckle that caused a shiver to run up my spine. It slowly began to crouch, curling its claws like it planned to pounce.
Shit. Shit, shit,shit.The spriggan wasn’t obeying my orders. It was going afterme!
The spriggan gave an ear-shattering screech, and launched itself at me. I screamed and threw up a shield at the last second. The spriggan collided with my shield and bounced off, sending it smashing into my altar and breaking the table in two pieces.
The effort of shielding myself from the spriggan took the rest of my energy, and I collapsed to the floor. I cowered as the spriggan hovered above me, ready for a meal.
I was all but certain the spriggan would rip my chest open and tear my organs to ribbons, before the door burst open. Ethan stormed in on three paws, his wolven form towering over my body and created a block between me and the spriggan.
“Be gone!” Ethan growled, and he snapped his jaws. “Return to Edinmyre from whence you came!”
The spriggan screeched again and swiped his claws at Ethan. But Ethan lunged out with a bite, one that sank into the spriggan’s shoulder and drew black blood.
The spriggan gave another hiss before it recoiled, vanishing away into nothing but ether as it returned to Edinmyre’s lands.
Once the spriggan was gone, Ethan changed back. He rounded on me as I got to my feet and barked, “Are youinsane? What would possess you to do such a thing, here, in the palace?”
“How’d you know?” My heart was still pounding. I was certain I’d be carved open, if not for Ethan’s arrival.
“Your alarm flickered through our bond. It awakened me, and I came running,” Ethan seethed. “What if I hadn’t gotten here in time? You would’ve been shredded to pieces.”
“It was a poor decision, but a justified one!” I shouted. “Antonia needs to be stopped, before she hurts anyone else!”
“Spriggans are too dangerous. They’re too hard to control,” Ethan snapped. “It was a careless lapse of judgement for you to summon one, especially after what happened with Elijah.”
“I can’t help that you still feel guilt over how you killed your cousin,” I spat. “I know you carry that burden, and it’s a heavy one, but I will feelnoregret over killing someone who threatens the people I love, no matter how brutal their death may be!”
Ethan took a short breath. “I understand. But spriggans are dangerous. We’ve experienced the consequences of messing with them, on both ends. Promise me you won’t summon one again, Emma.Swear to it.”
Ethan’s voice was deadly, and I knew he wasn’t playing around. I crossed my arms and muttered, “I promise.”
He huffed. “Good. Now come to bed.”
He was babysitting me now, making sure I didn’t sneak off behind his back and try something else. My shoulders slumped, and I grumpily followed him back to our suite. When I laid my head down upon the pillow, my thoughts were still racing. I could tell by the tension in Ethan’s shoulders he wasn’t falling asleep until he was certain I wasn’t going anywhere.
Summoning spriggans was out, but Antonia was still at the forefront of my mind. It might take some time, but somehow, I was going to make her regret the day she’d hurt my mom. When I got done with her, Antonia’s memory would be wiped from the history books. No one would even dare to whisper her name.
And I would revel in that.
