Warrior Witch (The Malediction Trilogy #3)(19)
I racked my brain for a solution, for a way to find out what the Queen intended. “What about your uncle?” I asked. “Could he stop her?”
“He can’t prevent her from claiming what’s owed to her any more than she could keep him from doing the same.” He gave me a meaningful glance that I chose to ignore.
Closing my eyes, I remembered the being I’d met in that land of endless summer. How he had seemed to glow golden like the sun. It was hard to imagine him subjugated, and it also didn’t make sense. “But he called her his wife?”
A ghost of a smile drifted across Tristan’s face. “They would’ve framed themselves in a way you’d understand. Spoken your language. Appeared in a form they believed you’d find pleasing. The higher fey are…” He paused, seeming to flounder for an explanation, “they’re not solid, static creatures populated by a soul in the way a human is. They are sentient entities that appear as they wish, and the lesser fey are their creations. Splinters of themselves that they’ve shaped into certain forms then abandoned to their own devices. When the higher fey came to this world, they formed themselves as humans to blend in with those living on the Isle. Perfect humans. And when the iron eventually bound them here, they found themselves imprisoned in their human forms.”
I remembered Anushka’s words: that’s what they are. Base. To the human eye, they are so very lovely, but to their ancestors, the immortal fey, they are wretched, ugly, and colorless things. Trolls.
“The rulers of Summer and Winter are bonded,” he continued. “But they hate each other. They’re continually at odds, their warriors constantly warring against each other. And with the ebb and flow of battle, so do the seasons shift in all the many worlds they touch upon.” He opened his hand and let the snow blow off into the night. “Winter is at the height of her power.”
I frowned, a thought occurring to me as I remembered my conversation with the fairy queen.
“What?”
I pursed my lips. “Is it possible she didn’t want the curse broken?” I replayed the conversation over to him as best as I could remember.
Tristan’s brow furrowed, and he absently brushed snow off the parapet so he could rest his elbows as he thought. Reaching into my pocket, I handed him the bun I’d stuffed in there prior to abandoning Marc and Sabine.
“My aunt has long believed her prophesies came from the Summer Court,” he took a bite, chewing slowly. “If my uncle wanted us freed, it would be because it benefited him in some way, so it would make sense that it would be to Winter’s detriment.”
“Any guesses as to what that benefit might be?” I asked.
“We are technically part of his court,” he replied. “All my aunt’s prophesies have been information that has helped my people, warned us about trouble.” He shrugged. “Maybe he’s not done with us yet.” He turned to look at me. “We know for certain he’s not done with you. You owe him for my name.”
My mouth went dry, less for the reminder of the debt I owed than for the reminder of the name I possessed. I’d been on the cusp of using it today to save Sabine, and as much as it made me sick, I knew that doing so would’ve been a mistake. “Is there a way to unknow it?”
“Unknowing it wouldn’t cancel your debt.” He tilted his head. “But that isn’t your reason for asking, is it?”
I shook my head. “It’s too great a weapon. I’m afraid of misusing it.”
“What if you need it?”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I whispered.
The hinges of the door creaked, and we both turned. “We’ll talk about this later,” Tristan murmured.
Fred appeared in the entrance. “The scouts have all departed, and I’ve sent ships out to see if they can pinpoint your brother’s progress as well as to warn Courville. Lady Victoria indicated that he’d have no difficulty sinking the ships from shore, so they know to be out of sight by dawn.”
“Good.” Tristan exhaled. “And you’ve sent riders with warnings?”
“Already gone. Hopefully the islanders listen and take refuge in the mountains where they’ll be harder to find, although it will be difficult with the snow and the cold. We’ve begun loading what ships are in the harbor with those who can’t fight, but they’ll need to set sail soon if they are to be out of range before full light. The winds aren’t in our favor.”
“Marc can help push them out of the harbor,” Tristan said. “I’ll send him straight away.”
My brother’s eyes widened, and it occurred to me that he really hadn’t seen the scope of a troll’s power. “Right,” he said, then looked away and scratched his chin, giving away his discomfort. “Lady Victoria explained your predicament. I think if we tell those in Trianon that you must remain in the city to keep it protected that none of them will protest too heartily about you not venturing out. For now, anyway.”
“It’s not far from the truth,” Tristan said, eyes going to fires in the distance. “His power has grown.”
Doubt twisted my guts, and I knew it was doing the same to Tristan’s. Roland was testing his powers, seeing how far he could push them now that he was freed of the confines of Trollus. And for the first time ever, I wondered who the most powerful troll on the Isle really was.