“What?” I spat the food out when she didn’t pull it away. “Karmuth has Hessian blood?”
“Blood has nothing to do with it. Dark blood always drowns the light. He has no Hessian blood within him. I barely have any, and none of the traits that come with it are particularly useful. He likely has no access to any of it.”
“Who?” I asked, swallowing a lump in my throat. “Who is the Hessian?”
She laughed humourlessly. “You don’t want to meet him. He cares not for his offspring. Once every century he sleeps around. Actually, he likely does it more often, but once every century is when it matters. A life fae tempting fate, they say. If his court wasn’t dying out, he’d be executed by now. Birthing his energy with a Felrothian? Creating an abomination?”
She shook her head. “Doesn’t change anything. I’m too dark to be Hessian and too light to be Felrothian. He wants nothing to do with me. He doesn’t care about any of us, he only needs an outlet for his ecos, and none of the life fae managed to enwomb it. So, he goes around creating halflings every century. Not many of them survive through their insurrection. I’m surprised you’ve made it.”
My gut twisted. I shivered. My voice was hollow when I asked, “What happens during the insurrection?”
Her face softened as she realised I hadn’t gone through mine yet. “I’m sorry.”
“What happens?” I asked again, more frantically. “What happens?”
She shook her head sadly, not willing to elaborate.
“You made it through,” I rasped. “You did! What can I do?”
“You’ve got to decide which part of your heritage you want to keep,” she told me. “Life does not mix with the rest. When you can’t decide in time, you’ll combust. If you survive, Heriot will seek you out. He will completely disown you, however, if you’ve not decided to choose life.”
“Heriot,” I repeated.
“Very few choose. Nobody has chosen life.”
“Why didn’t you?”
She laughed again. “A life fae in the Felrothian court? I would’ve been drained dry the moment the change took place. I didn’t know my father, and when he showed up after my insurrection to see how I’d chosen, I sent him to hell.”
My head was swimming. I couldn’t comprehend everything she was telling me. Exhaustion and fear fought for precedence in my body while I begged her story to make sense. All I could think was that I was half Hessian and Karmuth was quarter Hessian.
Between the two of us, we represented four of the most powerful faerie courts. If we could get along… ah, love each other… could the rest of the courts?
“Can you help me escape?” I asked after she’d finished feeding me. With a foot I couldn’t put any weight on and light-headedness that started to pull me under, I wouldn’t get far, but anywhere was better than here.
I could somehow let Karmuth know where I was. He would come for me. He would come…
Karmut’s mother pressed her lips tight and even more light faded from her eyes. “I’m sorry, girl. There is nothing more I can do for you.”
She took the empty platter and backed her way out of my room, carefully checking that the hallway was empty.
“Wait!” I begged. “What is your name?”
“Elia,” she whispered.
Then she stepped out of the room, locked my door, and was gone.
Chapter 36
KARMUTH
“KAR, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE, NOW,” REGAR REMINDED ME as I came to terms with the new energy flowing through my body.
Most of my aches were gone. My entire body hummed and stretched, trying to make room for all of the different forces flowing within me. A strand of Ferro’s life force lingered separate from the rest of my ecos awaiting me to pull it apart piece by piece, searching for clues.
But Regar was right. We’d made a lot of racket while trying to get Ferro to talk. Someone was bound to come investigating.
We were just below the stairs when the door above opened with a groan. After a tense moment, we both pressed our backs against the wall on either side of the staircase and waited for the footsteps to get closer. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, drowning out the soft thumps, and my brain was still occupied by threading through Ferro’s life. It was all jumbled, knotted together, and gave me a headache.
It didn’t help that I’d never attempted to pull ecos into separate experiences. I didn’t care about the lives my victims had lived.
Focus. I pulled my head out of my… heart just in time to grab the person coming down, pressing my hand over his lips and trapping him against the wall I’d been squeezed up against.
Searching his belt, I slipped out his dagger, imposing the sharp tip against his side. His widened eyes stared back at me—Hiko’s widened eyes.
“Don’t scream,” I ordered the prince, releasing my grip on him.
“Scream?” Hiko reached out for his dagger that I refused to hand back. It felt good between my fingers and gave me confidence that I was missing. “I’m not a teenage girl. I’ll fucking shout if I want to, though. What are you doing out of your cell?”
“The queen let us out.” Regar stepped closer, scrutinising the prince as well.
Hiko rolled his shoulders, glancing between the two of us. “Well, fuck. I suppose Ferro is dead, then?”
I looked over at Regar and and gave a curt nod.
Hiko sighed. “Father’s going to be livid. He sent me to bring the sonofabitch to the throne room. I can’t simply say that he’s gone.”
“We’re going after Isay,” I announced. “Come with us and you won’t have to tell him anything at all.”
