She isn’t the first to express some gratitude for the role I’ve taken upon myself—training the folk. I never sought gratitude. I saw something that could prove useful, when I was feeling utterly helpless, and I chose to do it to retain some sanity. That’s all.
But she isn’t talking about the rangers.
“Do you know how it works? Her hair.” She’s looking down at her daughter.
I shake my head. “I’ve always known her to be silver-haired, in our youth.”
“She never was,” the queen tells me. “Vlari was born with a full head of violet curls. I meant to call her Hyacinth.”
I grimace, making the queen laugh again.
“Nero had the same reaction. Either way, we never had a choice. My mother saw her and decided her fate.”
Her hand glides along Vlari’s skin, and pushes fabric down her shoulder. That feels like an invasion. I want to tell her to stop.
“Just there,” Ciera says, brushing the back of her shoulder. “That’s where my mother branded her with old magic. A rune that sucked at her power. Sucked at her very life. All those of our line have an amethyst streak, inherited from our ancestors. And the moment Mother branded Vlari, her hair turned silver at the roots. You know what I noticed, right then? My mother’s violet eyes were brighter. She wasn’t only crippling my daughter. She was channeling her.”
If I could bring Morgana to life right now, I would, only to ensure she suffers greater torments before extracting the last ounce of life from her.
“I vowed I’d find a way to end her rule. I vowed death and violence. But these things aren’t in my nature. Most of all, I vowed Vlari would never be used again. Yet, we’re doing that right now. Sucking at her life to protect ourselves. To maintain our power.”
If she’s hoping for me to disagree, she’ll be disappointed.
“That’s why I intended to wake her on her birthday, no matter the cost. She’ll be eighty come midwinter, you know. And as we approached it, I saw her life draining before my eyes every day. I saw that if I would not condemn us all, I’d have to condemn my daughter instead.”
My jaw ticks. “We still have time.” I move closer, eyes on the soft locks. “She’s still fine. Conscious. Fighting. Is she not?”
She has to be. We talk every day, and she has said nothing of her strength waning. I haven’t seen or sensed any difference in her.
To my shock, the queen drops the brush next to Vlari and rushes to me. I instinctively move into a defensive position, but before I entirely shift to one side to protect my heart, she’s thrown herself at me, arms around my shoulders, and her seemingly frail arms are squeezing me to her.
I’m astounded, confused, and honestly, concerned. For one, what if her bondmate enters and misunderstands the situation? I consider prying her off me, but she’stheunseelie high queen. And she’s Vlari’s mother. It seems like she needs comfort. I can attempt to provide it, pretending it’s my sister in my arms. With great difficulty, I force my arm to circle hers loosely. She sniffles in my grasp.
Oh, lords of all woods, I am dreadful at this hugging business.
“We do.” The queen bobs her head up and down, as ungracefully as she’s able to. “We do have time, now.” Finally,finally, she moves away from me. “She was fading. Her slumbers lasted longer. Most days, she barely breathed, and she was cold. So very cold. Now, look.” She’s pointing to Vlari’s hair. It isn’t much different from what it was when I first saw it a week ago. Half silver-gray, the other half a deep, dark purple.
Reading my confusion, she clarifies, “We had less than three inches of color. My daughter is strong, but even she needs anchors. Things to hold her here with us. Friends, people to entertain her. Hope.”
I practically growl. “Did none of her friends come?”
I pause, wondering if Vlari has friends at all. The Thorn girl, Mephesea, comes to mind. “Didn’t Esea come?”
The queen nods. “Occasionally, and it helped, of course. But she has no one else. A decade is a long time to hold on to just a few threads. I don’t think she was giving up. I think she was truly falling into the claws of deep eversleep, though I doubt it was of her own volition. She was fading.”
I don’t say anything. I can’t. The guilt eating at me doesn’t allow for a word to cross my lips. I could have come earlier. In my anger and cowardice, I didn’t think about what her eversleep was like for her. All that mattered was that seeing her was too painful.
“And yet, she used some energy. To save the girl…the child, a few weeks ago.”
I’m redirecting my anger at Vlari, because if I don’t, I’m going to hit something.
Ciera sighs. “She said the child is brave. That she deserves a chance. I think she knew she was almost gone, by then. She may have wanted to do something good before leaving us.”
I can’t breathe. The queen should have just stabbed me in the heart.
She takes my hand, her palm hot against my icy skin. “You brought her back to us.”
“How long?” I clear my throat. “How long do we have, now? Given her energy level.”
