Page 28 of The Kingdom Cursed By Iron

“Stopping the iron, I mean. I might’ve helped, but I don’t believe I’d have been strong enough to halt something of that force unless it was losing momentum anyway.”

“Don’t undervalue what you did. There’d probably be even more dead if it weren’t for you,” Evanthe says. She sounds weary, but offers me an encouraging smile that I return.

“Thank you.”

“I think this was Cebba,” Halima says, apparently more willing to voice her theories now that I’ve gotten the conversation started.

“Cebba is dead,” Ruskin states, frustration bubbling in his voice.

“Yes, but she was living in this palace for years without our knowledge. She could have set up a form of retribution like this, that was set in motion upon her death.”

“Let’s not forget she already did just that with a load of iron and yours truly,” Destan says, massaging his chest where I extracted the iron shards after he’s encountered one of Cebba’s booby traps.

Halima shakes her head. “I should’ve foreseen this. I should’ve been more thorough with the checks on her quarters after she died.”

“Stop blaming yourself, Halima,” Destan says. “It doesn’t suit your complexion.”

Ruskin twitches his hands in his pockets, thinking.

“I suppose that would be Cebba’s style.” His brows furrow. “But I couldn’t sense anything through my link to the realm, like I did with her other curse. The first I felt of the attack today was the iron itself making me feel sick.”

“Few other fae would attempt combining iron and magic in this way,” Halima points out.

“Why?” I ask. “Is it just because it’s difficult? If cold iron weakens fae, I’m guessing it affects their magic too. Would you need a lot of power, then, to counteract that enough to actually be able to mix fae enchantments and this kind of metal?”

“Yes,” says Ruskin. “That is one part of it. Mixing the two would be incredibly difficult. But also, the act itself is considered an abomination.”

“What do you mean?”

The fae in the room all exchange loaded looks. It would be annoying to be left out if I wasn’t so curious. Eventually Ruskin answers.

“It’s because of how cold iron is made.”

I nod, waiting for him to go on. I know cold iron is different to the regular stuff we use back in Styrland, but I realize no one has actually explained the difference to me.

“Cold iron can only be made using fae blood,” Ruskin says.

I wrinkle my nose. “That’s disgusting.”

“And evil,” Ruskin says. “But it would take a special level of foolishness or insanity to introduce this amount of iron to the heart of the Seelie Court.”

“It is an act of pure destruction,” says Evanthe, her tone quietly measured, yet still commanding. “I know better than anyone here the power of cold iron. The Seelie and our realm are strengthened by our magic—it runs deep in their veins and the earth. But the bite of cold iron is something our kind cannot easily heal from.”

“We will have Cebba’s old quarters searched for clues to the source of this thing. It’s true that she had much more access to the court than I had initially thought possible during her time here. Her power from the founding stone meant that she could overcome many of the palace’s protections. She could’ve easily made her way back to her old rooms.”

Halima stands to attention. “I’ll brief the guards,” she says.

“Only those you trust most. May I remind you some of them betrayed us not so long ago.”

He glances at me, and I know he’s thinking of the snake that was left in my room to kill me. Cebba said she had nothing to do with that, but someone did.

Halima’s chin lifts, and she looks like she’s listening to something none of us can hear.

“There are servants in the south corridor,” she says. “They’ve been sent to fetch you, my Lord.”

The south corridor is the entrance to Ruskin’s quarters, which only very few staff are allowed to enter. It makes sense that being in charge of Ruskin’s security, Halima has some magic in place, telling her when someone approaches them. It’s how she always knew when I was with Ruskin, I realize, thinking back on my last time here.

Ruskin leaves the room with Halima, and Evanthe closes her eyes without another word, obviously needing to rest.

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