Warrior Witch: Malediction Trilogy Book Three (3 page)

I ground my teeth, and glanced back at the queen. Looking at her gave me a headache – I kept seeing one thing and then another, and I didn’t know what was real. “How is it even possible for me to give you a song?”

“Agree to the bargain. Sing the song. Then it will be mine.”

It couldn’t be as easy as that, but try as I might, I couldn’t think of any consequences worth declining the bargain. “And if I do this, you’ll give me what I asked for? Right now,” I added, remembering the importance of specificity.

She smiled, and Sabine made a soft choking noise. “Yes.”

“All right, then,” I said. “I agree.”

The air flashed frigid, the bare skin of my face burning and my bones aching, and I felt the weight of the bargain clamp down on me like pinchers on the back of my neck. While I’d had some small ability to resist the troll king’s compulsion, resisting
her
was impossible. I was a feather and she a hurricane, and I was more likely to cut out my own heart than resist her power. I began to sing.

My song was no half-hearted means to an end. The ballad tore from my lips, filled with all the passion, heartbreak, and joy that I associated with the lyrics. And it felt like each word, each note, was being excised by a straight razor. I wanted to cry, to scream, to throw myself on the floor and claw at my skull, but I did none of those things for they would have stolen some of what I owed. When it was over, I clenched my eyes shut and fell to my knees, so taxed that all I could do was breathe.

“That was lovely.”

The voice was too close. Opening my eyes revealed the Winter Queen’s face only inches from my own, her breath smelling like a midwinter’s night, and it was all I could do not to cringe.

“Lovely,” she repeated, her head tipping back and forth as though she were listening to my voice inside her head. “A treasure.”

“Your turn.” My voice rasped against my aching throat.

“But of course.” She straightened and turned, the misty apparition that was her gown passing through my arms, entirely intangible. She made her way to a mirror hanging on the wall, and with one careless gesture, she tore an opening in the world. “Come, come,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “And behold your enemy.”

Rising on shaking knees, I walked over and looked through the opening.

T
wo-dozen soldiers
poured through the shattered doors, half going to the defense of the heir and his mother, the rest turning on the apparent threat.

Me.

I winced against the thunderous echoes of firing pistols, allowing the bullets to sink into a wall of magic lest they ricochet and kill someone else.

“Cease fire!” Fred’s bellow cut through the noise, and the confused soldiers slowly lowered their pistols.

“It wasn’t him.” Marie wisely took control of the moment of duplicity, Fred bowing his head over the Regent in apparent grief. “Lachance killed my husband. He was a traitor – a spy and assassin for the troll king.” Her voice shook with real emotion as she plucked at her blood soaked gown with hands stained red. “Get that wretch’s body out of my sight.”

Three of the soldiers moved to comply, but one approached me, reaching out a hand to touch one of the dozens of bullets suspended in midair. “Can all of you… trolls do this?”

“To a greater or lesser extent.” I released the magic, bits of metal clattering against the stone floor.

He lifted the hand still holding his pistol and stared at the weapon, then let his arm fall limply to his side. “How can we hope to fight against such power?”

“I’ll show you.” As unplanned as it was, this display of magic would do much to prepare the humans for what they were about to face.

Walking past him, I went to where Fred knelt next to the Regent’s body. “We need as many eyes as can be spared on the walls and scouts between here and Trollus. Choose a handful of your best to see what information they can gather. I need to know if my father is on the move.”

Fred nodded. “I’ll send riders.”

I shook my head. “Tell them to approach on foot. Stealth will be the only thing that keeps them safe – any troll worth his salt will be able to outrun a horse in the dark.”

Fred’s eyes widened, but he nodded and climbed to his feet. “I’ll give the orders.”

Catching his arm before he could leave, I murmured, “Can you do this?”

“Doesn’t look like I have much choice.” His eyes flicked to Marie, who had returned to her knees next to her dead husband, cheeks wet with tears.

I could not help but admire her quick thinking in what was undoubtedly the worst moment of her life. My father’s plan to push Aiden into murdering the Regent was good, because either way it fell saw my father gain control. The people would either accept Aiden – whose will was under my father’s control – as their leader, or they’d hang him for his actions, leaving the Isle leaderless. But in one decisive moment, Marie had sabotaged my father’s plans. The people would see the troll king as the culprit behind the murder of their beloved Regent and unify against him, rallying to our impostor Aiden. And she’d only had to murder an innocent man to accomplish it.

My eyes went to the puddle of blood left behind by Lachance’s corpse and then to the illusion of a wall, behind which the real Aiden sat slumped. No part of me believed Marie’s actions were driven by a desire to see me triumph – they’d been to save her son. To give him a chance at a future. And I’d do well to remember that.

“Send guards to find Cécile and Sabine,” I said. “Make sure they are safe.”

Cécile was at the far end of the castle, my sense of her faded, as though she were sleeping. Which was just as well – she needed the rest. But given the ruthlessness Marie had just displayed, I needed Cécile aware of the danger she was in. Marie alone knew her importance, and I would not put it past her to use Cécile against me.

I twitched, feeling something slam against the magic of the dome with enough force that I knew it had been no human. But before I could raise the alarm, I felt another series of thuds. A pattern. One I hadn’t heard since the days when I held secret meetings in the Dregs.

“Do you know where she is?” Fred’s voice pulled me back to the council chambers, and I focused on Cécile.

“Far end of the castle,” I said, then hesitated. She seemed further than that, if not by much. Which if she was sleeping, made no sense at all. “Something’s not right.” I said, then a wave of dizziness sent me staggering. A sudden wakefulness accompanied by pain and panic.

“Stones and sky, Cécile,” I swore, righting myself. “What have you done?”

R
oland sat
straight-backed in a chair before an easel in Angoulême’s parlor. His brow was softer than usual, cheeks rounded with a smile as he dipped a brush in a dollop of crimson paint and began adding deft little touches to the piece. He was strikingly talented, his subject represented in exquisite detail. Unfortunately.

“Macabre,” the Queen murmured over my shoulder. “But the boy is naught but a tool in your enemy’s arsenal.” The view shifted, Roland relegated to the periphery in favor of Angoulême and Lessa, who stood bent over a map covered in what appeared to be golden Guerre pieces. He was dressed as was his custom, but she wore what I could only describe as armor: dull black leather reinforced with crimson scales. A sword hung at her side and she awkwardly touched the pommel from time to time in a way Anaïs never would’ve. How Angoulême had not recognized she was an impostor was beyond me.

“You’ll take him and the rest of your party down the Ocean Road while my mother sets our plans into action in Courville,” he said, tracing a finger along the map. “Don’t waste your time on the smaller hamlets – we have others who will manage those.”

“Not even to make a point?” she asked. “His Highness might enjoy that.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Roland smile.

Angoulême shook his head. “Make a point of those who refuse to swear allegiance to him. To him,” he repeated, turning to Lessa. “Tristan has shown an unwillingness to harm his brother in the past, and we can use that to our advantage. The sooner we swell our ranks, the sooner we can set humans to fighting humans. Tristan will be distracted with the task of keeping them from slaughtering each other, and then we’ll make our first move.”

Lessa scowled. “I want him–”

“In time,” Angoulême said, cutting her off and casting a meaningful glance in Roland’s direction. “Not even he can take them both on at the same time, and the boy has shown some reticence. We must be strategic.”

Several other trolls I recognized as aristocrats loyal to Angoulême came into the room, all dressed similarly to Lessa, the Dowager Duchesse Damia among them.

“We need to move now, Your Grace,” one of them said. “Thibault’s soldiers have the River Road and labyrinth gates secured and are enforcing curfew. Unless you want to fight your way through, we need to break open one of the old sluag tunnels and make our way through the labyrinth.”

“No fighting,” Angoulême said. “I want Trollus intact when His Highness takes the throne. We’ll be along in a moment. Wait outside.”

The trolls departed. “They’ll guide you to the outskirts of the rock fall,” Angoulême said. “Keep you safe from any sluag you come across. Are you ready for this?”

“All my life,” Lessa said in perfect mimicry of Anaïs’s voice. “Your Highness, it is time for us to go.”

A flash of annoyance crossed the boy’s face, but he got to his feet. “I would wear my new sword,” he announced, and left the room.

The mood in the room shifted as soon as Roland departed, and Angoulême rested a hand on the small of Lessa’s back. “I’ve instructed him to follow your council,” he said. “But make no mistakes. He snaps at his fetters like a rabid dog, and I won’t be there to protect you if he sees through our deception.”

“I don’t make mistakes,” Lessa said, and she tried to pull out of his grip, but Angoulême caught her wrist.

“When this is over, you’ll be queen,” he said. “
I
will make you queen.”

She smiled, her face full of naked adoration. Then she turned back to the map, her fingers resting on the edge of the paper. “A shame I couldn’t go with you – I would’ve liked to see the faces of my ancestors.”

Before the Duke could respond, Roland came back into the room. “You said it was time.”

Neither acknowledged him. Instead, Lessa leaned over and kissed the Duke’s cheek. “Victory will be ours,” she said. “And it will be thanks to you… Father.”

The three of them departed.

The tear slowly began to heal from top to bottom, edges folding in until it was gone. I glanced up at the Queen, who cocked both eyebrows. “Well?”

“I was expecting to see the troll King.”

Her eyes glittered. “You didn’t ask to see him.”

I opened my mouth to argue, then shut it again. I’d asked to see my enemy, and she’d shown me Angoulême, which meant that was who she believed it to be. Given she saw all, that was no small thing. Now we knew the Duke was leaving Trollus, that he intended to recruit humans – unwillingly – to his cause, and that Roland was giving them some trouble. Best of all, Lessa had given away where we were to find him.
I would’ve liked to see the faces of my ancestors…

“Of course, if you’d like to see your… father-in-law, it is easily done.” The Queen’s smile revealed a maw full of razor sharp teeth. I blinked, and they were gone. “For a small price.”

My stomach clenched at the memory of the pain that had come from her
taking
my song, but it hadn’t lasted long and it had been worth it to see what the Duke was planning. I could go through it again if it meant learning as much about Thibault. “What sort of small price? Another song?”

The Queen stared into the depths of the mirror on the wall. “No,” she said. “Something else. A meeting, I think.”

“With Tristan.” It wasn’t a question. “Why?”

“I desire to renew our acquaintance.”

A sour taste filled my mouth, and I turned away from her so she couldn’t see my face while I thought. She had something to gain from meeting with Tristan, that much was certain. But was her gain our sacrifice? “I’d have to go back to the castle to ask if he’d be willing,” I said. “I don’t speak for him.”

“Of course not.” Her tongue ran over her lips. “But why make the trek back through the cold when you can ask him from here? It is within your power.”

She meant that I should use his
name.
It was a simple enough thing to do, and although I knew he wouldn’t appreciate me using it, he might deem it worth it in the end.

“Cécile.” Sabine’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Sing that song again.”

“Why?” I asked at the same time the Queen said, “You are not part of this negotiation, girl.”

It was the first time she’d so much as acknowledged Sabine’s presence, and that, more than the dismissiveness of her tone, made me wary.

“Please.”

As strange as the request was, she wouldn’t ask without reason. So I drew in a deep breath and… nothing came out. I couldn’t remember the words. I couldn’t remember ever even
knowing
them. It was as though the song had been…
taken
from me. Stripped from my thoughts. And if she could take a song, how hard would it be to take something like a
name.

Silently thanking Sabine, I turned back to the Queen. “He made me promise never to use it,” I lied. “He may well agree to a meeting, but I’ll have to ask him in person.”

The Queen went very still. Could she tell I was lying? “We’ll go straight away,” I said, bobbing a quick curtsey and then inching toward the door after Sabine. “It was a pleasure meeting you, and you really were most helpful.” I was babbling. “He’ll be wondering where I am. We really should get back.”

“I think not,” the Queen said, and wind whipped through the room, little bits of ice flying through the air and biting at my skin. Walls of packed snow formed, blocking our exit. The lupine creatures watching from her winter palace crept closer to the tear, snarls filling the air.

“Call him here,” she ordered, the mist forming her ebony hair rising and falling on the blizzard of her own making.

If she wanted Tristan here so badly, it could only be to our detriment. “No.”

The pupils of her eyes elongated like a cat’s, then snapped back into a round, human shape. And before I could think to move, her misty outline solidified and she snatched hold of my arm. Cold unlike anything I’d felt before burned through my skin, my muscle, and into my bone. I screamed, the sound like a rabbit caught in a trap.

Then my ears rang with a loud report, and it was the Queen screaming. She let go of my arm and I scrambled back, my eyes going to Sabine, who had a firm grip on Anushka’s still smoking pistol. The ice coating everything in the room exploded, and the ground shook as the icy palace collapsed around us. The world shuddered. Everywhere I looked I saw layers of the same. A dozen sofas. A hundred Sabines. I lost my balance and fell, my empty stomach heaving.

The fairy hissed at us once, then staggered through the opening between worlds, the tear gone as quickly as it had appeared.

We were outside in the snow, not a hundred yards from the bridge over the river to the castle, which was obscured by the raging blizzard. I pulled up my sleeve to see what sort of injury she’d dealt me, but my skin was unmarked, only a memory of pain remaining. The fairy had caught us in an illusion or a dream, but not for a second did I doubt what had happened. Or the danger to Tristan if he stepped outside those walls. And he was coming this way.

Closing my eyes, I focused.
Tristanthysium, do not leave the castle walls until we have the chance to talk.
His outrage was immediate and fierce, but it was worth it to keep him safe.

“How did you know to do that?” I asked, letting Sabine help me to my feet.

“Tristan told Chris and me all sorts of things about them,” she replied. “That they could be harmed by iron or steel, but only if they were corpor… solid.” She made a face. “And that if we stood inside a steel circle or kept the metal against our skin, that we’d be able to see through their glamour, because their magic couldn’t affect us. When she started getting angry, I took hold of my gun, and the illusion fell away, and I saw you standing in the snow talking not to a woman, but a monster.”

Sabine scrubbed a hand across her eyes as though to wipe away the memory, and I could understand why. If those glimpses I’d had of fangs and claws were real, I could only imagine what she’d looked like in her entirety.

As if on cue, a chilling howl filled the air. Then another. And another. Those lupine creatures that had flanked her throne, with fangs as long as my hand. I’d only seen the pair of them, but judging from the howls, there were more. We needed to get behind the castle walls.

I met Sabine’s terrified gaze. “Run.”