Chapter 5
"You are not well, Cousin."
Kyren's first thought upon awakening was that Amalea had somehow found out about his crimes and had deemed him to be mentally unstable. He opened his eyes, half-expecting to find himself in a cell, but found himself lying in an unfamiliar bed instead.
Amalea sat beside him, a china plate in one hand. "Not that I wished to humor your paranoia, but I thought you'd be better served in my rooms. And your bed was a mess. I can't see how you dare to sleep in it."
Kyren tasted honey on his tongue. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and realized that she had fed him the half-finished scone that sat on the plate.
"When is the last time you ate a meal, Kyren?"
"I--I don't recall," Kyren whispered. "After Magdalen showed me--what she showed me--you were right about that, Cousin, I thought about stealing some food from the kitchens, but I--"
Amalea stared at him blankly. "You--you what? Steal food? Why would you do such a thing?"
Kyren closed his eyes. "Ten years ago, Magdalen asked me to--" He shook his head. "No. She instructed me to go to a certain spot in the forest and wait for the person who would arrive. That person was a student from Darkbrook. Althea Dunning."
"Althea? As in a member of the human's Council, Althea?"
Kyren nodded. "The very same. She wasn't then. She was angry because she hadn't made some important list. Magdalen gave her a spell to--to eliminate her competition."
"Surely there was more than one name on that list?" Amalea asked, her eyes wide. "What human child--especially one schooled at Darkbrook--would stoop so low?"
"She claimed she would not, but it took almost no time at all for Magdalen to convince her otherwise," Kyren said. "Magdalen gave her a spell. She's given her other spells, over the years. I think she thinks that Althea is her protégé."
"And it doesn't hurt, I'm sure, that she is a member of the Council," Amalea murmured. "But why the Council? What does she want from them?"
"She will kill me for telling you this," Kyren whispered. "She plans--The human Council is slated to free the Hunt in two weeks' time. Magdalen wishes to have the Hunt for herself."
"This is treason, you realize," Amalea said, her voice still calm. "We have an agreement with the human's Council."
"I know," Kyren said. "And I am just as guilty. I knew what she intended and I did nothing to stop her."
"Magdalen is a powerful witch," Amalea said, as if to reassure him. "And despite your lineage, Kyren, you are not." She stuffed a morsel of scone against his lips. "Eat."
Kyren swallowed the bite of scone without choking, which seemed to be an improvement. "I am no invalid, Cousin. I--" He opened his eyes. "Do you even realize what I've done?"
"Oh, aye," Amalea said, unperturbed. "I realize that Magdalen took advantage of someone less powerful than she, an overly romantic elf with the royal blood she seemed to need for her plans."
Kyren flushed, anger washing away the weariness. "Amalea, you go too far!" And yet, he could not fault the wisdom--or the truth--of her words.
He was a musician, not a wizard. His powers were few, compared to most of the royal family. It had always been this way.
Amalea smiled at his outburst. "Ah, now you're beginning to sound like the Kyren I thought I had lost. What did she show you three weeks ago?"
Kyren licked his lips, both upset and unsettled by her skillful manipulation. Perhaps he should become a hermit and not get involved with any more women, if he survived this.
"There's a room behind the mirror that hangs in her suite," he whispered. "Have you found it yet?"
"No," Amalea said. "But now that I know about it, we will. What's inside the room, Kyren?"
"The spell Magdalen gave Althea--it somehow transfers the victim's power to the spellcaster. I don't know how it works, but Magdalen killed an elf that night to demonstrate the spell." He shivered, remembering the despair in the nameless elf's eyes. "I don't know who he was. Someone who angered her, I guess."
"There's been more than one disappearance in relation to Magdalen," Amalea said. "And I think I know about this spell. It's a fatal spell."
"Not always," Kyren whispered.
Amalea stood up. "What do you mean, 'not always'?"
"I thought--I swear to you that I did not know what she did," Kyren whispered. "I didn't know. I thought she had murdered the boy who replaced her. I thought he was dead."
"But he is not?"
"Magdalen told me she offered to keep him for Althea. So she wouldn't have to kill anyone else to use that spell."
"That's a fatal spell, Kyren."
Kyren shook his head. "Not always. For the past ten years--"
Amalea gasped as she finally figured out what he was trying to say. "There's a human child in the room behind the mirror?"
"Not human," Kyren said. "I don't know what he is. The Council searched for him--the Hunt searched for him, if you remember, but he was already here. And he's been here, since then. I didn't know until Magdalen showed me. I swear it."
He was babbling now, desperate for her to believe him. "Magdalen gave Althea a stone from the elf who died. That has something to do with the spell."
"A stone like this?" Amalea pulled a thin silver chain from under her gown. Set in a silver pendant was an oblong ruby red stone that glistened in the lamplight.
Kyren sat up, scrabbling a bit in his haste to wade through the bedcovers, and tried not to let his voice betray his sudden fear. "Are you--Oh, Cousin--did she--"
Amalea laughed softly. "If I'd known what a reaction this trinket would bring, I would have kept it hidden." She tucked the heartblood stone back into her dress. "This belonged to my grandfather, Kyren. It's a very powerful token."
Kyren fought to breathe without hyperventilating. "That--That's what Magdalen said. She gave one to Althea. From the elf she killed."
"With the spell that she also gifted Althea?" Amalea asked.
"Yes."
"And this child--although he wouldn't be a child any longer, would he?--is still alive?" Amalea shook her head. "The spell you speak of is a fatal spell, Kyren."
"Althea changed it somehow," Kyren whispered. "Magdalen told me that no one else knew he was in the castle. That I should kill him if she was driven out." He shivered again, suddenly cold. "She said she would know when he was dead. But I--I couldn't--"
"Are you certain she didn't kill him herself?" Amalea asked gently. "The human's Council will not be pleased to find him here."
"I don't know," Kyren clasped his knees to his chest and lowered his head into his arms. "I haven't the courage to find out. I am sorry, Cousin. It seems I've made a mess of things again."
Amalea set the plate on a table nearby. "I think we need to open the mirror first," she said. "And then, depending on what we find, we'll work at healing him--if there is anything left to heal." She smiled at Kyren, but her gaze was troubled. "Thank you for telling me this."
"Thank you for caring," Kyren said, only a little surprised to find that his voice was thick with unshed tears. "If I had known--"
"You cannot change the past," Amalea said. "But now you know. I'm not going to say you won't be punished for your part in this, but I think you've punished yourself for long enough." She held out her hand. "Let's go see about this boy. Does he have a name?"
Kyren took her hand. Would absolution be this simple, then? He doubted it, considering what had yet to come. What would Amalea say when she saw the wasted body in Magdalen's tiny cell?
"I think--" He cast his mind back to Althea's letter and the venom in her voice when she mentioned his name. "It wasn't--No. That was the other one. I think--I think his name is Josiah."
Next Update: August 3rd
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