Ellie turns toward her friend. “Blaise, you know Abra better than any of us. Do you have any idea what she might want with someone gifted with the Old Magic?”
Blaise hesitates, exchanging a glance with me. She frowns apologetically, I suppose for contemplating feeding off me in the garden.
I’ll have to assure her she’s forgiven, later.
Sure, I’m not fond of the idea that she wanted to eat me. But that she wanted to and didn’t speaks to her character in its own way.
“She needs to open the Rip,” she says, her hands fisting at her side.
Kiran and I exchange a frown, even as my magic rumbles within me.
Mother hates the world of the Nether. I was there when she forced me to close the Rip.
I voice as much, and Blaise shrugs. “I don’t know what to tell you, other than what I heard when I was in her dungeons.”
My magic growls. Is the night stalker calling me a liar?
I don’t think she’s calling you anything, I think back.
Why are you defending someone who tried to eat you?
I’m not defending her. Well, I suppose I am defending her, but she didn’t try to eat me.
Oh, she only wanted to eat you. You’re right, that is much better.
Kiran shakes his head. “All we know about Mother—Abra—is that she originated from the realm that lies on the other side of the Rip. She’s always been motivated to keep the Rip sutured. There’s nothing for her on the other side, other than the memories of her own suffering. A time when she considers herself to have been weak. Why would she want to open the Rip?”
“Yes, child,” Lydia says. “Do you have an inkling to why the queen might have changed her mind?”
Blaise hesitates, biting her lip and shuffling on her feet. “I’m trying to remember exactly what she said. I think…I think maybe it had something to do with her son Farin. The one who was dead. I don’t remember everything. She had me drugged up a lot of the time, but I feel like I remember her mentioning him in connection to the Rip.”
“She could have been discussing the way the boy perished,” Kiran says. “He died shortly after the Rip was sutured, a victim of the fae curse, more potent in its first generation.”
Blaise shakes her head. “No. No, I’m sure it had something to do with opening the Rip, not closing it.”
She wants to bring him back. That vile female wants to bring him back.
“You said she kept his ashes,” I offer. “Do you think she’s hoping that if she’s able to open the Rip, she can use the power to bring him back?”
My stomach twists at the thought.
She already has my sister to do that, my magic reminds me. Why would she need the red-headed girl?
I relay as much to the group, at which point Ellie answers, “The magic that infected Blaise only came out on the full moon. Maybe Queen Abra hopes to bring her son back sooner than that. Although,” she pauses, thinking. “I suppose several full moons have already passed, so maybe that’s not it after all.”
Evander taps his knee, leaning back in his chair. “That, and it’s not as if our friend Cinderella is all that cooperative when it comes to her hosts.”
Kiran shakes his head. “You knew the parasite when she was bound to a human. Abra, as a fae, would have more power to bend the parasite to her will.”
“Unless she made a fae bargain with it,” I remind him.
“Would it have unbound the parasite from her curse to the moon when Blaise Turned?” Ellie asks me, well, my magic, I suppose.
“No,” I answer for him. I’m already familiar with the answer from my magic muttering about it in my head all hours of the day. “It would have taken a different ritual to do that. Blaise, can you remember anything like that happening?”
Blaise shakes her head. “No. No, I don’t think so. Not that it couldn’t have happened while I was drugged. But I feel like I would have realized.”
“You feel like it. How comforting.” Lydia eyes Blaise with suspicion, but before Blaise can answer, Lydia turns to Marcus.
He must be prepared for the question because he says, “Piper is bound to no such curse. Her Gift works so long as she has an instrument to play.”
“So this queen is taking Piper to the Rip?” the little girl whispers quite loudly to Marcus.
“It seems that’s a possibility,” he tells her, and I can’t help but respect the way he doesn’t feel the need to lie to the child. Not even under the pretense of protecting her.
“Well, at least we know where she’s going,” I say. “That means we can intercept her.”
“That’s assuming we’re right about her going to the Rip, which I’m still not convinced of,” says Kiran. “From what we know about Abra, it’s in her core being not to allow the Rip to be opened. Remember the Council meeting? She was more than happy to assist Asha when she thought Asha was suffering under my hand. She didn’t hesitate to place poison in my cup. But when Calias demanded Asha’s death after her display of what she could do with her magic, Abra voted to put her to death. It seems Abra would do most anything to keep that Rip closed, even offer up someone she clearly believes to be innocent.”
I nod, biting my lip. Kiran’s logic is sound.
Blaise shuffles again, a bundle of nervous energy. It seems she doesn’t enjoy speaking of the queen, though I can’t blame her, not after the torture she suffered.
“But,” Blaise says, “she’s already shown she’s willing to compromise what’s right for something she perceives as more important. What if the game changed for her when she realized she could get her son back? What if she doesn’t care what she has to do to save him?”
“That would be consistent with her behavior, based on what we know about her from the Old Magic’s story,” I admit. “She risked leading a host of fae into an unsuspecting realm to save Farin from infection. She’d do anything for her son.”
“And who could blame her?” mutters Ellie.
