Blight

  I sat down and held my breath then felt the colour drain from my face when a number of fae left the room, avoiding my gaze as they slipped away. I took Scarlet back and tried not to look as distressed as I felt.

  Rafe cleared his throat. “My pledge remains intact. In fact, I’m looking forward to negotiating with the other courts.”

  I nodded at him, unsure of what else I was supposed to do.

  He moved aside, and Fiadh strode up to the throne. Whispers about the Baron’s daughter rose and fell. Fiadh knelt low at my feet, but when she spoke, her words carried across the room. “My house aligns itself with the warrior queen.” She looked up at me and smiled. “My father and grandfather would speak the same words if they had survived Sadler’s treacherous reign.”

  I had no idea what to do, so I held my hand out and helped her to her feet. “Thank you.”

  “I offer myself in any capacity.”

  Conn followed and knelt with Setanta in his arms. In a thin, reedy voice, Setanta declared the same words as his mother. When I took his hand, Scarlet giggled and grabbed his arm. The boy smiled, his eyes a little brighter.

  Conn spoke words of his own, and then everything became a blur. One by one, faces familiar and strange came before me and pledged their loyalty and faith. Each time they put their lives in my hands, I trembled at the significance of what they were saying. The words merged, the faces swam, and as I touched each hand, a feeling of triumph gripped me. It was overwhelming and terrifying, but some part of me revelled in it. In my head, I danced and ran in a haze of power. I belonged with the fae. Nobody could send me away anymore. They would love me, Scarlet would be safe, and everything would be okay.

  But the warmth in the room was stifling, and the rush of excitement made me jittery. Across the sea of kneeling fae, I caught Bart’s eye. His grin widened as he held my gaze, and I realised he hadn’t knelt at my feet or declared himself mine. I couldn’t break my eyes away.

  Music began to play, distracting me from Bart. A band had started up, but they played something livelier than the last time I'd heard them. I looked for Bart again, but he was gone. The seductive blur of power was over, and I blinked fast, trying to tether myself back to earth again. I needed Grim. I needed Zoe. And when I thought of what had happened outside the gates—the way Drake had looked at me and how disappointed Brendan had been—I knew I had a lot to answer for.

  I beckoned Rafe to my side. “I hear you’ll be officiating for us.”

  “If that’s acceptable to you.”

  I couldn’t hide my smile at his attempt at humbleness. “And when will the ceremony happen?”

  “As quickly as possible. The Winter Solstice is almost upon us. It will give us less time to prepare, but it’s… safer that way.”

  The Winter Solstice was the occasion that had brought me to the fae in the first place. How far I had come—from a strange human to a warrior queen preparing for a crowning ceremony. Then again, Brendan had been due to be crowned and branded during Imbolc one year, but in the end, he hadn't made it. There were no guarantees.

  I tried to keep my expression blank. “And will the other courts come?”

  “That I do not know. But their actions will speak loudly. We’ll know who our allies are soon enough.”

  “And our enemies?”

  He surveyed the room and frowned. “Our enemies will show their faces in time. Patience is all we have.” He looked at me. “You need to designate advisers. You can’t do everything yourself.”

  I nodded, suddenly exhausted. “But not today.”

  “Enjoy your evening, regent. It’s been most telling.”

  I watched him leave. The conversation hadn’t been so telling for me. In fact, it had left me more confused than ever.

  The fae celebrated, but I was busy thinking of my next moves. I had to make contact with the other courts. I had to send Conn to the Miacha healers for help with the sick people in the other tower room. I had to… do everything.

  Vix sat on the steps by my feet. “Your room is too small.”

  “It’ll do.”

  “It’s not very royal.”

  “Meh. As long as everyone who stays has a place to sleep, I don’t care.”

  “This won’t please everyone,” she said.

  “Nothing ever will.”

  She gazed up at me, and her mask of hate finally dropped. “You killed him in front of everyone. Even I couldn’t quite believe it.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t apologise for taking what you deserve.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “And he was going to take it from you. The Silver King expected you to let him take it.”

  “Well, he made a mistake. I won’t ever let anyone take this from my daughter. Not even her father.”

  Vix grinned, her black eyes shining. “That makes me happier than you know.”

  And I forced the feelings of doubt away in order to smile back.

  Chapter Two

  I rubbed my temples as the nagging headache returned. “One week? Are you sure?”

  The cook nodded. “We’ll barely scrape by for one more week. Our supplies ran out rapidly, and Sadler did nothing to ration them.”

  I held in a weary sigh. I had been meeting with members of the court for the last three hours, and I was exhausted from taking stock of the casualties of Sadler’s mismanagement. I had already sent out emissaries to find allies, spread the word of my takeover, and check on Deorad’s secret stash of children, who were probably better off wherever they were hidden than here at court. But dealing with the problems at home took up a larger chunk of my time.

  “How soon can we get people into the human realm?” I asked.

  The fae looked at each other. Over a dozen of them sat around the table, most with a number of issues for me to deal with. My headache was increasing at a dramatic rate.

  “We can use the same portal as before,” Vix said. “We can steal from the humans, and—”

  “No,” I said sharply. “No stealing. That’s done. Humans deserve to be treated with respect.”

  “Then what do we do?” she snapped. “How do we feed our people?”

  I drummed my nails on the beautiful wooden table that had been delivered that morning. “I saw gold and jewels hidden in the tower. We can pay for the food we take. No, wait.” I bit my lip, feeling excited. “Even better, we can buy land in the human realm and plant crops, raise animals—anything that will help us here.”

  “It takes time to sow seeds and wait for crops to be ready for harvest,” the head gardener said.

  “I know, but we’ll be another step closer to self-sufficiency next year. We don’t know if or when this taint will lift. We have to think ahead. We can’t rely on stealing from humans to support a kingdom. I need to speak with the other kings.”

  “They can’t be permitted to visit until the time of the ceremony,” Rafe said. “It’ll look as though they’re trying to pull a coup if they arrive beforehand. Even if they do attend the ceremony.”

  “We must have something they need that we can trade, even if it’s just our friendship.”

  “The darkness in the land has spread,” said Thistle, a new arrival with intricate facial tattoos. “The entire realm will need help. They can’t help us if they can’t help themselves.”

  “Then we’re back to making our own way.” I frowned. “We need to set up a steady supply of food and other essentials. We need to buy land in the human realm. It wouldn’t do any harm to find a secluded place there for Deorad’s sick children to spend time healing. And we need to find land in the Darkside that’s useful. Survival first. Then we can concentrate on other issues.”

  “There have been liveable patches of land,” Thistle said. “But even those are rapidly disappearing.”

  “Send out scouts to find the full extent of the damage.” I nodded at Thistle. “You can organise them. It’s best we know how serious this is.”

  She beamed at my attention.

  I tried to focus
on what that needed to be done. “Okay. We’re getting somewhere now. Cook, you’re going to make lists of the things we need to survive for the next few months, at least.”

  “It’ll be a long list,” she said, looking exasperated.

  “Then you had better get started.” I looked to the gardener. “Can you be the one who looks for available land that we can use on the human side? Good, versatile land.”

  “I… of course.” He removed his cap and rubbed his bald head. “But who will work the land? Many of us are wary of the human realm.” He sat up straight. “Not me, though.”

  I thought about it. There was no point forcing people into situations they feared. They wouldn't work hard if they were afraid. “Volunteers. Give preference to those with corrupted children who could use a cleaner environment. If the taint is spreading still, they’ll be better off away from the Darkside. We can pass on any medicine the Miacha send us and figure out a trade with them, too. We should take stock of everything we have, everything we can use, and everything we can trade.”

  “I’ll be happy to organise that,” Rafe said.

  “It’s a massive job. Some of you should help Rafe with that. I want to look through Sadler’s things myself. Hang on—is Brighid’s flower still growing in the garden?”

  The gardener looked proud of himself. “Despite Sadler’s best efforts, it survives, a lone flower amidst death. Our pride and joy.”

  “Good. Protect it, nourish it, make sure it keeps growing. If a rare goddess flower can grow in this soil, then that’s a good sign.”

  “We will. If we grow a plant in the soil surrounding Brighid's flower, it doesn’t die as quickly as in other places.”

  That made me wonder. “Have you heard of the First Tree?”

  “A myth,” the glaistig said immediately. “A legend.”

  I narrowed my eyes at the blood-drinking faery. “What’s the legend? Tell me the story.”

  She pulled her feathers close. “I don’t recall it.”

  My temper flared, but I controlled it. “Then you’re of no use to me.” I turned to Rumble. “I think it’s time we saw what’s been happening since we all left.”

  ***

  The castle looked even more run-down than when Sadler had controlled it. Every corner was full of dust and dirt. I had been woken the night before by the sound of a large stone falling from one of the derelict towers. But life outside the castle was worse.

  There were as many tents as the last time I'd been there but not as many people. Some languished inside the tents, their bellies swollen and their eyes lined with red. The smell was terrible.

  “Get them beds in the castle,” I said to a maid who had been shadowing me. “All of them need to be inside. Get rid of the tents. Feed them. More food is coming, so don’t worry about running out. Just be careful not to overfeed them. Ask the midwife to help.”

  Faeries swarmed me, begging for a blessing, mostly. “Queen Badb!” they cried. “The warrior queen will protect us.”

  I wasn't so sure.

  Fiadh, Rat, and Vix stood away from the tents with my daughter. When the crowd saw Scarlet, they ran for her, almost trampling me. Rumble kept me on my feet.

  Vix stood protectively in front of Scarlet, a dagger in each hand. “Come get me,” she snarled. “If you dare.”

  That made the crowd hesitate. Vix apparently had a reputation.

  “We want to see the child,” someone shouted, but there was a meanness in her voice.

  “The heir!” a male voice cried. “We want to touch the little heiress to the throne!”

  “They’ll rip her apart!” I pushed my way through the crowd. I reached a belligerent man as he lurched out to grab Scarlet. I gripped his collar, tripped him, then pinned him to the ground, my fenris-scarred dagger in my hand. The man was thin and sick looking, and I saw terror in his eyes. Ashamed, I let him go and moved toward Scarlet. People parted to make a path for me. But others in the crowd grew angry.

  Donncha’s soldiers marched into the fray and beat back the fae.

  “Enough!” I shouted, finally reaching my daughter. “Donncha, no more violence.”

  “It’s all they understand,” he said, but he ordered his soldiers to step back. They circled us, ready to fight off the crowd again.

  “We’re hungry,” a disgruntled voice said. “We want to eat.”

  “Food is being sent for,” Rumble said in his steady, reassuring voice.

  “I wasn’t talking to the monster,” the same person said, sneering at Rumble. “I’m talking to the consort.”

  A woman elbowed him in the eye. That kicked off a brawl that Donncha and his soldiers barely managed to settle.

  “They’re worthless if they behave like animals,” Fiadh said. “Let them kill each other.”

  “No. But they’re going to work for the food they receive. Everyone here will work.” I raised my voice. “If you want to eat, you’ll have to work for it. Go to Donncha, and tell him your skills. He’ll point you in the right direction.”

  I turned on my heel and headed for the gardens with Rat and Scarlet, but my hands were shaking from the confrontation.

  “What are you planning?” Vix asked, catching up to me. “What are you going to repair?”

  “Anything I can,” I whispered back. “The castle, the people, the land. The other courts might come for the ceremony. We want them to think we’re coping. Even if we aren’t.”

  “This isn’t a game,” she said, not unkindly.

  “I know.” I looked at her. “But we have to play anyway.”

  The head gardener came to greet us. “We’ve been waiting,” he said anxiously. He led us into the garden.

  I set Scarlet on her feet and held her hand. She giggled and tried to reach for Vix’s dagger. Vix watched her indulgently.

  “I swear to God, Vix: if you ever let her play with weapons, I will throw you in the river Garbh myself.”

  Her smile was lazy. “All little girls should know how to defend themselves.”

  I actually agreed with that. “Yeah, well, we just need to do it right.”

  “That was a decent enough move back there, by the way.” She moved out of Scarlet’s reach. “With my help, you could be good.”

  “Too bad. I was planning on being great.”

  She pursed her lips. “Let’s not get crazy.”

  I gestured toward the castle. “Too late.”

  “But you’re interested in being able to protect yourself.”

  “I can’t rely on anyone else to save me.”

  “Then we have some work to do.”

  “Here she is,” the gardener said proudly.

  I tried not to sigh. The gardens were as I remembered, full of wilting plants and disappointing failures. Some of the Miacha’s herbs were struggling to grow under the shadow of a withered tree that looked as though it were reaching for Brighid’s flower. And even that was sort of pathetic and not at all like the flowers I had seen in the Great Forest or at Brighid’s grove. When I saw it there, looking puny, my heart sank. Nothing would grow. If we didn’t find a way to feed ourselves, we were finished. I wondered what either of the other kings would have done in my position. They probably would have evacuated or maybe even destroyed the land as best they could.

  I looked up and saw a crow circling overhead. “We should get indoors. I’ve seen enough out here.”

  Inside, Scarlet and I shared a meagre lunch of bread and cheese with Vix and Rumble. The sooner we set up a regular supply of food, the better.

  “Well,” Fiadh said. “You’ve seen a lot today. What do you think?”

  “I’m thinking I should send Scarlet back to the human realm.”

  She looked horrified. “You can’t! The people want her. They need her. If you let her go back, we’re all lost.”

  “She’s just a baby.”

  “And what of my own son? I came here for you and Scarlet. We’re nothing without her. She’s more than a symbol. She will breathe life into this place
again. We can’t afford to lose her.”

  I looked at my plate and felt sick again. “My hold on the throne is that tenuous?”

  “It’s too soon to answer that question,” she said. “It will settle in time. After you prove yourself, you can do as you like. But for now, she must remain. The ceremony hasn’t even occurred yet, and we can’t afford to let either of the kings get their hands on her.”

  “They wouldn’t take her from me.”

  “One of them is her father. Who’s to say what he would or wouldn’t do? You certainly had no idea he would offer to let Sadler live.”

  I couldn’t deny that. Drake had been so intent on vengeance that I thought nothing would get in the way of that. I had been wrong. His lust for power had grown until it surpassed even his anger. I hadn’t known him at all.

  ***

  We spent the afternoon looking through Sadler’s possessions—mostly junk, but there were some pieces of art that were old enough to hold a great deal of value. I checked in on the new occupants of his quarters.

  “Any change?” I asked the midwife.

  “Were you expecting some?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe? Everything else has changed.”

  “They won’t survive.”

  “Why would he do this?” Tears filled my eyes as I looked at each of their faces. One girl looked so much like Drake that my heart threatened to stop.

  “He wanted to survive, too. Do you blame him for that?”

  I felt fierce and angry and upset. “Yes. I do.”

  “What would you do to survive?”

  That shook me. “Not this. Let somebody know if you need anything else.”

  I left for the tower room that was full of forgotten treasures. Even though Sadler was dead, most of the fae still feared entering the tower rooms. I decided to take advantage of that.