Glittering Shadows (18 page)

“Marlis!” He twisted his head to look back at her. The chair faced the Chancellor. “Is this really how you want it to go?”

She wasn’t watching the guards, and stood by the window, clutching the curtain in one hand. Sunlight turned loose strands of her dark hair to red-gold.

The guards yanked his hands forward and reached for the Chancellor’s hands. The dead man’s cold hands were pressed into Freddy’s and tied there, forcing his magic to flow. It
had always flowed with a touch, and now he had to choke it back with everything in his power.

That meant touching death, touching the clammy, soft hands of the man who, along with Gerik and Uncle, had forced him into a childhood of imprisonment. His throat was tight and painful. Holding
back magic felt oddly like choking back tears. Now the guards were roping his chest to the back of the chair, and then his elbows to the arms. He couldn’t even speak. It took everything in
him not to revive the Chancellor.

“Leave him,” Marlis said, and he heard her walk from the room quickly. She
was
ashamed she’d done this to him. He heard it in her voice and her step.

He was faced with the ghastly sight of the Chancellor, now with his arms extended toward the chair like Freddy was a macabre puppeteer. Every instinct inside of Freddy screamed to bring life
back to these cold hands and that slack face.

He tilted his neck back to look at the ceiling. The urge was dampened, ever so slightly, if he didn’t look at the man. He was breathing fast, wiggling his feet against his bonds, restless
to work, and he still felt the Chancellor’s slack skin forced against his fingers.

I will bring you back
, he thought.
I’ll let you say good-bye to your daughter. But not yet. Just—not—yet
.

His hands were growing warmer, and his face, too, as if he were running for his life. The magic seemed like it would boil inside him if it wasn’t used. He had never resisted like this
before. The Valkenraths brought him the dead and praised him when his work was done. Arabella said he had become addicted to the feeling, that he wouldn’t feel this way if the Valkenraths
hadn’t pushed him into it.

He shut his eyes, battling silently. A wave of cold nausea passed over him, even as his hands and face were sweating. The tingling feeling that always came with magic danced up his arms and down
his spine and then behind his eyes.

His eyes opened again. The ceiling was plain white plaster but he saw stars and flashes. He kept staring until they faded and his heart slowed its beat to an everyday rhythm.

It was a silent fight, leaving him spent and relieved. The magic seemed subdued. He could still feel it at the ready, though he had control.

No clock was in view, and time seemed to crawl. He sat exhausted, trying not to think about the unpleasant position he was in. He heard footsteps creaking outside the door occasionally, but no
one entered. How long could Marlis stand to wait?

M
arlis couldn’t stop pacing Papa’s office, couldn’t stop the tears from running down her face, couldn’t stop the sick
feeling twisting inside her. A part of her wanted to confide in Freddy, but she didn’t know where he’d been or what he’d heard. Papa first. Freddy later.

She was only vaguely aware of Volland in the background, speaking to someone at the door, then doing something at her father’s desk.

“Marlis,” he said.

“Yes?” She stopped pacing.

“It’s going to be all right.”

Gentle words made it worse. “It’s not,” she snapped. “I don’t need to be patted on the head.”

Even though her ire didn’t rattle him, something had, she realized. She could see it in his eyes. “Brewer found a report on…Well, a little before you were born, our
intelligence in Irminau captured and killed a young woman with persuasive powers who spoke of ‘rustic myths like the Norns and the sacred tree.’”

“They killed her?”

“According to the report, she was too dangerous to keep alive because of her ability to enchant.”

Volland still hadn’t said anything direct about Papa’s dying words. She drew a quick breath. “Did you know I was adopted, Volland? Did you know any of it?”

“No. I’ve only worked for your father for eight years. No one spoke of it. I’d imagine very few people know; he wouldn’t want that known.”

Wilhelmina knew
, Marlis thought, remembering the talk of the tree at lunch, and the odd way Wilhelmina had looked at her when she asked about it.

He added, “I really don’t have any idea what it all means, but we’ll find out. Plenty more archives to search.”

We’ll find out
. This comforted her much more than “it’ll be all right.” Little else about this did. She didn’t dare think too deeply about that report.

Footsteps suddenly hurried toward them down the hall, and a hand pounded on the door. Marlis opened it to see a trusted courier from the Chancellery. “Mr. Volland, an urgent message for
you, sir, from General Wachter.”

Volland took the proffered note, unfolded it, read it. Then he shook it a little and looked at it again, as if he was hoping the words might rearrange themselves. He looked at her. “We
have a response from Irminau. They are demanding that the Chancellor retract his statements and confess the truth to the people by tomorrow night. They’ll declare war otherwise.” He
folded the paper. “It’s no less than we expected.”

“We should show this to Freddy,” Marlis said. “Perhaps it will motivate him.” He was being so stubborn. Of course, she would probably act the same way, in his position,
but Freddy used to be agreeable. Or maybe “resigned” was the better word. She used to think him a bit weak-willed; now she wondered what it felt like to grow up knowing you were
different.
Knowing you were stolen away
.

The guards outside Papa’s bedroom would have notified her at once if they heard any word from him, but a new rush of tears threatened when she saw Freddy sitting there, still and
controlled with Papa’s lifeless hands beneath his.

“We’ve heard from Irminau.” She held the letter in front of him.

He read it quickly and looked at her. His eyes held a hardness she’d never seen before. “Would your father take that course?” Freddy asked. “Would he confess?”

“I don’t know,” Marlis said. “I
do
know that if Irminau invades, they’ll crush us as long as we’re in this state, and you’d be quite a war
prize.”

He took his time answering, as if he wasn’t worried at all. But he had to be.

“I will revive your father, Marlis,” he said. “However, his presence won’t save us from war. You will have to let him go, and soon.”

She tried not to show her relief. She’d begun to worry he really would be that stubborn. “Fine.”

His magic began to work immediately. Color returned to her father’s face. His hands twitched. She could see how much effort Freddy had put into resisting as relief flooded his face.

“Untie him quickly,” she told the guards, as her father’s eyes blinked open. “And then leave us, please. Get Freddy out of here.”

“Where am I?” her father asked. “What happened?”

The guards had freed her father’s hands first, so she could bring one of them to her heart, to feel his warmth again. “You were shot,” she said.

His eyes searched the ceiling, his expression confused. “Acherbaum!” He sat up with the sudden memory. “And I told you—didn’t I tell you—the truth?”

She shook her head, not wanting Freddy to know anything, then shot a significant look to the guards. Freddy already looked suspicious. The guards had just cut Freddy’s feet from his bonds.
She waited for them to usher him out before she said another word, but instead she found herself sniffing back more tears.

“Did you find the letter?” Papa asked, once they were left alone.

“Yes.”

“I’m dead?” he whispered.

She nodded.

He pulled her to his chest. His tight embrace felt like an apology. “We have serum, don’t we?” he said. “Was the assassination covered up?”

“It was,” she said. “The people think you’re recovering. But—Freddy says he can’t let you live, that it goes against the order of things.”

“I won’t have terms dictated to me by a mere peasant boy, Marlis, you know me better than that. It won’t be hard to get him to cooperate.”

She grew rigid and drew back. “Papa, when Acherbaum shot you, do you remember what he said? He was angry that you used Freddy’s magic on peasants while his men died fighting the
rebels. Now that your men know you can bring back the dead…”

“They shouldn’t know,” Papa said. “That isn’t what we told them. I understand the rebels have circulated that story.”

“But it
is
the truth. Their story is the
truth
.”

“It certainly isn’t the whole truth. Truth is quite a malleable concept to begin with.”

She clutched her hands together tightly. His words chafed. What she used to see as clever maneuvering, she now saw only as lies. Lies that no one was spared from, not even her.

He was also so close to being lost to her forever.

“Irminau is demanding you confess that this was your doing and not theirs,” she said, “or they’ll declare war.”

“And yet, if I confess, people will lose their trust in us entirely. The inexperienced rebels will have their victory over us, and Irminau will march in anyway.” He frowned. “I
know we’re in a corner, but I’d rather go down fighting. There is always a chance of victory. With surrender, there is nothing, especially to a man like King Otto.”

She nodded slightly. She agreed that Irminau would go to war with them one way or another. This was the first time she had heard Papa admit that they had no option, they would lose no matter
what they did.

Did she believe that? No. If he accepted magic users…

They’d already been down that road, and he had refused her flatly.

“Papa,” she said, “I want you explain something to me.”

“Of course, Princess.” He tried to reach for her hand, but she pulled back.

“Did your men kill a Norn? Before I was born?”

“I was Vice Chancellor, then,” he said. “I didn’t give the orders.” He frowned.

“And then you kidnapped me when I was a baby. Did you ever think I might have been the same Norn your men had just killed, newly reborn?”

“I hardly believed in all that stuff,” he said, drawing his hands back.

“You believed it enough to kidnap a child! I read the letter, but I don’t understand. Why did you take me in if you thought I had dangerous magic? Or…” A new thought
occurred to her. “Did you oppress my powers somehow?”

“No, Princess. I did not. I don’t even have that ability.” He sighed. “We weren’t sure what we were getting into. We knew that the Norns’ tree they call
Yggdrasil was a powerful symbol for the people of Irminau, and they claimed that it was the source of magic. Our army destroyed the tree before you were born, and some of our men brought back
samples of the wood. We found they had astonishing power. Later, we used them to make the serum.”

“The—serum—?” She struggled for words, because although this was the first she had heard of it, an instinctive revulsion rose within her, as if she had heard the serum
was made from chopped-up pieces of human flesh.

“We knew then that at least some of the story was true. The tree had potent magic. However, magic was not destroyed along with the tree, as we’d hoped. Your mother thought we should
try to learn more about the forces at play. She thought we should try to bring a Norn here and see if they really have the powers legends ascribe to them. So we found you.”

“You stole me away”—she twisted her heart necklace—“to be one of Mother’s science experiments.” She’d always been proud of her mother’s
fierce intelligence and curiosity; now she saw it in a whole new light.

“Marlis, your mother loved you like her own. We both did. Besides that, you had already been separated from your family. I don’t know what course of events brought you to that
monastery, but you had no mother there.”

“You went to Irminau?”

“I have detailed reports. Marlis, you know how it works. Let’s not fight at such a time. It all turned out, didn’t it? You’ve never had any magic. Those monks would have
been disappointed, but your mother and I certainly weren’t.”

“But the music I hear. You told me it was nonsense. Sometimes I think I have a different name. Maybe I do have magic. Maybe it never felt safe to…” She bit her lip. “I
mean, I saw what you were doing to Freddy.”

“Well, if I suppressed your magic somehow, I have done you a favor. What good has magic done? Very little that I see! Even here—it’s gotten me into this mess. If Irminau
didn’t have magic, I wouldn’t have to resort to it either. I wouldn’t have been tempted into evil as I was! And now that boy has
my
life on a string! What good is
that?”

“At least I get to speak to you now!”

“Acherbaum killed me because of Freddy!”

She rose, feeling very cold.
Acherbaum killed you because of your choices. Papa, you’re wrong
. The words seared through her mind like a comet—she let them pass and did not
speak them. He was going to die. Serum couldn’t—shouldn’t—save him. She didn’t even want to see it pass his lips, knowing now where it had come from. If death
hadn’t shown him that he was wrong, nothing would.