Page 20 of Kissed By the Sun
He was the one that had made me look crazy to the other Kingsguard members. Anger bubbled up in me, but I couldn't express it, not in front of any of the royalty here. It wasn’t like I would have listened if I’d actually caught Trevor and he’d tried to explain everything to me. I hadn’t even believed I was fae until recently.
“My job, my mission, was to find out what the King was doing. While you did make it difficult, you didn't make it impossible. There were multiple occasions, especially when you weren't on watch, where I was able to sneak into the palace along with different council members' offices. They don't have much documentation on what they're doing, obviously, because they don't want anybody to know about it. From what I could gather, they are separating people who are reported for magic into two groups, one that's for those deemed powerful and one for those that are considered weak.
“The ones that are weak remain in the kingdom and are either experimented on or executed. Powerful magic users are also experimented on using the results of the experiments performed on the lower powered magic users as a guide. When those experiments are completed to a certain degree, or to whatever degree the prisoner can stand they are then forced through the Veil.”
My hand involuntarily went to my mouth as the horror of what he was describing washed over me.
“The lower power ones have their magic, uh, extracted.” He pulled the word out, slowly extending it, as though he needed to figure out how to phrase what he was going to say next. “Somehow they store it, which I was unable to find any documentation on. It is then forced upon the more powerful magic users, in the hopes of making them strong enough to withstand the Veil.”
“Why didn't he do any of that to me and Wyn?” I demanded, though the horror I felt on behalf of the other magic users was evident in my voice.
“Because you two were found publicly. Yes, he could have executed you, probably even faked the execution if he was creative enough. With the way you'd both been found, though, it meant that he couldn't tuck you away. He couldn't hide you from the public, which was why you were in the dungeon for so long before he put on the spectacle of your sentencing. He wanted everybody to see how strong he was against magic users, even if behind the scenes, he's using them to try and increase his own power.”
“And they don't survive making it through the veil?” I asked, trying to make sure I completely understood what Trevor was saying.
“I would hardly call what comes through the veil surviving,” King Xavior muttered.
At the same time Trevor said, “No, they don't survive for the most part, at least not for long. The ones that do survive were never really experimented on; some weren’t even caught, just gave themselves over to the Veil out of desperation. There are some that were experimented on that do technically survive in some way, shape or form. They always appear mutilated, though, like the magic in the veil reacts badly to the magic that's been tampered with inside the person. Whether they're part fae or just strong natural mages, that’s still something we’re tryingto figure out.” Trevor paused and glanced over his shoulder at the royals and I could have sworn I saw King Xavier slightly nod his head before Trevor took a breath and continued, “Some of them just come through as bits and pieces. Some of them come through as a jumbled mess. I'm sure some of them don't come through at all and are just absorbed by the Veil. Either way, the human king is trying to do something.”
“He's trying to break through to the fae kingdom,” King Xavier said confidently.
Trevor nodded. “He has old maps of what our kingdom used to be in his office. He has plans for war, duplicate maps where he has stationed symbols of troops. Battle plans for what he would attack first...All of that is ready to go as soon as he figures out a way to get the humans through the Veil without losing them completely.”
The Moon King cleared his throat and Trevor paused. “Occasionally one or two that come through and have been experimented on survive.”
My eyes went wide and I glanced at Thorn to see that he had done the same.
“We offer them shelter and take care of them as best we can, but usually the experiments that were done on them don't…They aren't exactly conducive to a long life. However, they have all been more than happy here and have willingly shared what was done to them while they were held prisoner by the human king.”
It terrified me of what that could mean for Wyn.
“Between the blight and the west and the humans in the east we’re penned in,” Thorn said under his breath.
Everybody heard him, though. He knew that, which was the point, I supposed. He raised his voice to a more normal volume as he asked, “What if we asked the elves for help? We go through the Veil of Life, connect with others once again. I’m sure if we explain the situation they would be willing to help.” There was asoftness to his voice that I wasn't used to hearing. “Gods, what if we tear the Veil of Death down? What if we tow them both down? We advance on the human territory, force them across the narrow sea and claim the land that's left there while we figure out what to do with the blight. The Veil is just keeping us sheltered. It's not actually solving any of our problems. In fact, it might even be creating some of them, at least these days.”
“Absolutely absurd,” the Moon Queen said, outrage dripping from her words. “The Veil is what protects us. Without it, we're sitting ducks, especially as depleted as we are right now from the blight.”
“Or it could open us up to new allies,” Thorn countered.
The Moon King jumped in while his Queen sputtered with indignation. “We need the Veils. We can't go without them. The humans would overwhelm us. Besides, we aren't about to perform genocide just to claim some more land.”
“I wasn't suggesting genocide,” Thorn said, sounding offended. “The humans can escape over the sea and go to the larger continent to the east. We can just take over the territory of the peninsula that is left behind.
“If the human king is already experimenting on magic users, do you really think he'd just lay down and let you walk all over him?” I demanded. “And what about the innocents caught in the crossfire? Fae and humans alike.”
Thorn scowled at me, as though he’d expected me to have his back no matter what. I’d been on enough battlefields though, I wouldn’t make one, not if I had a say in the matter. “I never said it was an easy choice, but it is one that's available to us. Is it not worth considering? Just like seeking an alliance with the elves is worth considering?”
Taking the opportunity to redirect the conversation away from the slaughter of humans I asked the royals, “Why won't you let him try and talk to the elves? He's one of the most powerfulSun Kissed fae, is he not? Surely that would mean something to them if a powerful fae was coming to ask for help?”
Before either of the Kings or the Queen could respond Trevor jumped in. “He would look weak. We would look weak as a whole. Vulnerable. If we present ourselves that way to the elves, then we're just as likely to be attacked by them as we are by the human king. That's why we have the veils all around us. To protect us on all sides. I don’t know what you know about the elves, but they are not a peaceful people. Weakness is snuffed out in their lands. If they see us as weak, for any reason, then they will see it as an attack.”
“Some of their tribes are like that, yes, but others, especially the ruling tribe, are much more reasonable. They may even have information on the blight that we don’t. After all, we don’t know where it came from or who else has been impacted by it. We haven’t even been able to find the source in our own lands, have we? Surely doing more of the same and expecting a different result is pure madness?”
It was the most impassioned I’d ever heard Thorn. It made me want to support him in this, but I would never forgive him if he convinced them to tear down the Veil to the human lands. After all, a king who was willing to experiment on his own subjects would think nothing of using them as meat shields.
I listened as they went around and around again about next steps and I grew more and more weary of the politics behind things, politics that were getting more and more fae killed as they succumbed to the corruption spreading over the land.
When we were released from the meeting, I turned and fled as soon as I could without offending the Kings and Queen. I couldn’t be around Thorn at the moment, not after everything that had happened and then what he’d proposed with the Veil. It was too much. So, I ran as far and as fast as my legs would carry me.
