Page 70 of Sanctuary of the Shadow
“I am the Queen of Water. I can do whatever I like. But fear not. When I release you from the dream, you’ll awaken safely in your bed—” She frowned suddenly. “Well, as safe as you can be at present, which is why I brought you here.”
“Why talk to me now? You were never interested in me in the past.”
“On the contrary, following your life has been one of my greatest pleasures in the last century, if not my only. I’d long forgotten the simple joys of mortal life. Watching you has shown me much.”
Harrow wasn’t sure how she felt about the sudden interest from the mysterious Water Queen. Where had Darya been the night of Mellora’s murder, while Harrow cowered beneath the wreckage of her caravan, staring death in the eyes?
She knew better than to voice her doubts, however. Instead, she asked, “Why am I here? I don’t understand.”
“I have much to explain and little time to explain it, but I’ll do my best. To begin, we must go back to something that happened long ago. It was the very event that triggered the conflicts between us in the first place. It was the night I killed my sister’s beloved.”
Chapter Fifteen
“I know this story, I think.” Harrow shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Everyone does. Furie’s mate attacked a village in your territory, and when you retaliated, he was killed.”
Darya looked away. “That is what happened. To a point.” Was that guilt in her expression?
“Was it on purpose?”
Her silver eyes flashed. “What do you think?”
Harrow studied her closely. The Queens could be benevolent goddesses one day and fickle, ruthless tyrants the next. “I’ve heard tales that Furie’s mate was blood-crazed, obsessed with warring. I was told that Furie was the senseless one, who hungered for power and preyed on innocents. But that’s not true, is it? I think you were sick of defending your borders from the constant threat of invasion. You killed him on purpose and tried to make it look like an accident.”
As the truth sank in, her heart broke all over again. This was the real reason she’d lost her people. Darya was not a protector, but the aggressor in a war that had plunged the world into a dark age.
Again, Darya’s gaze wandered away. “Think you so little of me, daughter of the Water?”
“Am I right?”
Reluctantly, she nodded. “Furie was incapable of denying Ferron anything. She lured him in with the promise of immortality, but that wasn’t enough. He wanted every soldier in his army gifted with Fire magic, and I feared what would happen if she allowed her powers to spread too rampantly. Her queendom was growing too powerful, and I had to put a stop to it.
“So when Ferron and his men attacked my borders, I dispatched a secret cadre of soldiers with special orders to assassinate him and make it appear to be an accidental casualty in the skirmish. He was a legendary warrior, but even he could not defeat two dozen men at once. The assassination was a success, but my plan failed. Furie knew her mate was too skilled a fighter to ever be killed in a mere raid. She didn’t believe my ruse for a second.” Darya sighed heavily, appearing her ancient age for a brief moment. “Needless to say, I paid for my betrayal many times over.”
Harrow couldn’t speak. That old grief had risen in her throat like bile, transformed into helpless anger. Her mother’s death, her clan’s death, all the Seers’ deaths… They were all because Darya had betrayed her sister and Furie had retaliated tenfold. In their struggle for power, they had broken the land and their own people.
Countless lives had been lost. Centuries of wars had ensued. The losses were staggering.
“I know what you’re thinking, dearest, and it’s nothing I haven’t thought myself a thousand times over.”
“Then why are you still fighting? Why not end this?”
“How can I? After her warrior’s death, I tried my best to reconcile with Furie, but there was no reaching her. Her grief consumed her, changed her utterly. I had no idea she cared for the man that much.” She shook her head. “I never could have imagined. My own mate passed away eight centuries ago—he was tired of immortality, so I released him from my life-prolonging magic. I still think of him on occasion with fondness, but Furie… Once she was light and life and progress, the favorite of the people. She was never the same after Ferron’s death. She never recovered. She spent centuries stewing in rage, plotting her vengeance, and when she finally exacted it…”
“She wiped out an entire group of Elementals.”
Harrow knew this story, had heard it over and over, and she didn’t want to hear it again. She didn’t want to think about it anymore, didn’t want to dredge up that old grief that never went away. Nothing anyone could ever say or do would make it right or take away the pain.
“Yes. Furie unleashed her vile creatures upon the world and destroyed my Seers in the span of but fifty years. I had no time to muster a defense and no way to protect them when they were spread across all five Territories. I lost everything I’d ever loved.”
Harrow sighed. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because it’s necessary to understand what I’ve spent the last several decades doing. Most people think that after the death of her Seers, poor Queen Darya slunk away behind the walls of Castle Vari and was never heard from again. In reality, I was searching for a way to ensure Furie could never again unleash that kind of destruction upon the world. She was satisfied with the blood spilled then, but what’s to stop her from doing it again? Until recently, no one had ever found a single defense against her wraiths, for how can one harm that which is but a ghost? I was determined to find a weakness in a creature that apparently had none.”
Harrow’s eyes widened. “All this time, you were searching for a way to kill a wraith?”
“Precisely.”
“And…?”
