She hated the feeling.
Daleina, what did you do?
Merecot spun, her skirts swirling around her, to face the door that Daleina had exited through. “So she just went to the washroom?” she snarled. More like she was setting a trap. Merecot suddenly realized she’d turned her back on a woman who had powder that could eat through the floor and the skills to undo the Belenian poison. Moving quickly, she darted behind a couch and watched Garnah.
Garnah merely smiled at her, and the woman’s amusement made Merecot even angrier... and a bit more frightened.
And Daleina came back through the door.
Daleina had cut off both her weapons and her escape route. Granted, Daleina didn’t have any spirits to call as weapons of her own either, but with Garnah, it was two against one...
Itisa trap! I knew it! How could I be so foolish?
“What did you do?” Merecot barked at her.
“I bought us some privacy,” Daleina said. “Poison-Master Garnah, thank you for entertaining our guest. If you would please excuse us?”
Garnah beamed at both of them. “Delightful chatting with you. And thank you for the idea for where to retire in my dotage.” Bowing, she scooted out the door and shut it behind her. Merecot didn’t doubt that she’d remained, listening.
Scowling at her, Merecot saw Daleina’s eyes light on the divot in the floor. “What did she... Never mind. As you’ve clearly noticed, there are no spirits left within Mittriel, either yours or mine, to overhear us. So explain everything. How do you plan to destroy them?”
It’s... not a trap?
Daleina listened as Merecot talked:
“The key is that I need to be strong enough for it to work. Obviously, I started out powerful. And the more powerful you are to begin with, the more powerful you are as a queen. Hence the difference between you and me.” She paused, then added, “No offense meant.”
With a tight smile, Daleina said, “None taken.”
I know she’s more powerful than I am. That’s obvious.Daleina wasn’t offended by the truth. Shewasoffended by the invasion and the attempted assassination, but for the sake of Aratay, she was setting aside her anger and anguish. Or trying to.
Merecot continued. “When you become queen, your power—however much it is—is amplified. The spirits share their power when they choose you. This is why a queen has the strength to keep her spirits from slaughtering her people. Mostly.”
Every child knew that. It was the reason Renthia needed queens. But Daleina was determined to be patient. She folded her hands on her lap and tried to pretend she was listening to Headmistress Hanna lecture, instead of Merecot. “Go on.”
“So here’s my revelation: even a powerful queen can be made stronger. Okay, so it’s not much of a ‘revelation,’ really. It’s logic. You must have noticed that when a spirit dies, you feel weaker. Well, the reverse is true, too: if an additional spirit chooses to share its power with you, then you become stronger. So if you—and by ‘you’ I mean me, of course—can become queen of enough spirits, then you can become strong enough to issue a command that would destroy them!”
And destroy Renthia in the process.Daleina tried not to interrupt, though she badly wanted to. She’d seen firsthand what happened when spirits died. All around Aratay was the proof: the barren lands, the destroyed homes, the ruined harvest. But Daleina kept quiet, with effort, wanting Merecot to finish first before she began berating her for abject stupidity.And for raising my hopes.
“Queen Jastra realized this years ago and tried to do it by capturing more spirits in the untamed lands, thinking they would bolster her power. But without land, the spirits were uncontrollable, and she spent all of her extra energy keeping them from ripping Semo to shreds.” Merecot paused as a flicker of pain flashed across her face, then was gone—so fast that Daleina thought she’d imagined it. “Overall, it was a bad idea. What she should have done is conquer a second kingdom, thereby doubling her power with nice, stable spirits, who aren’t busy fighting one another over a mountain or two.”
“And that’s why you had me poisoned and my heirs killed?” Daleina kept her voice flat, but her hands were squeezing together so tightly that her nails dug into her skin.This is a terrible idea, pursued by terrible people.
“Precisely.” She said it so casually, Daleina almost flinched.Why, exactly, do I want to be friends with her?She answered herself:Because a friendship with Merecot would mean peace for my people.
Unless Merecot destroys the world first.
Merecot continued. “I thought that if I could conquer Aratay, then with the combined strength of Aratay and Semo, I’d have enough power to issue a command that will change the fate of Renthia. You can’t do it—even as queen, you don’t have the power. But I do. That’s why it has to be me.”
Holding up a hand, Daleina stopped her. Even if she accepted that Merecot could become powerful enough to do it, why would she ever want her to? She pictured the barren lands, the lost homes, the lost lives. “You said you wanted to destroy the spirits. How would you do that without destroying everything and everyone we know in the process?” She tried to keep her voice even and calm, but it was difficult. This was madness. She couldn’t believe she was having a conversation about why her friend had tried to kill her and had had so many others killed. Still, if this—an end to spirits—was what Merecot truly wanted, Daleina at least had to give it to her: she couldn’t say the goal wasn’t grand.
She doesn’t think small, that’s for certain.
Daleina didn’t know whether she wanted to scream, cry, or laugh.Maybe all three. And then shake Merecot until she sees sense.
Merecot waved her hand dismissively. “I was being dramatic. Destroying the spirits would of course destroy the land. No, I don’t want to kill them. I want tochangethem! I want to order them to evolve. I want to force them to... well,becomethe land. I suppose that’s the best way to put it. Instead of nature spirits, we’d merely have nature, the way it’s supposed to be.”
As she said this, Merecot was watching her reaction. And Daleina couldn’t help but react. Her mouth fell open. That was...
