Page 106 of Tales of a Monstrous Heart
‘What happened?’ Mr Canthorp asked, and the question felt like a physical blow against my skin.
You killed him, that voice whispered in the back of my mind, taunting me with its cruelty. My magic flared in response to the memory, in recognition of that pain.
‘A terrible fire killed him, burned half the house to the ground,’ Lovell continued . Of course that would be the answer she gave. Nothing about the fey children who had died there. ‘How dreadful for such a man who dedicated his life to helping those creatures, to suffer so.’
‘I heard there were bodies beneath the floors,’ another man at the table said, seeming intrigued, which did little to quell my nausea.
Don’t let them take me, came a young Alma’s whispered plea in my ear, desperate as she held onto me. Willing herself to live. The creak of those wheelbarrows as they took more bodies into the wood. The horrid echo of screams and the choking potency of saints’ smoke.
The wishing stone fluttered against my breastbone as if in comfort. Almost making me reach for it.
‘Penance comes in many strange forms,’ Emrys commented sinisterly, a sharpness to his gaze as he looked at me, somehow sensing my distress.
‘How could such a holy man have anything to do with that? What scandalous rebellious rumours you believe.’ Lovell laughed, fluttering her lashes and leaning towards him.
‘Some say the most wicked of us hide in plain sight,’ Emrys reasoned, the sharpness of his gaze meeting my own. I felt reassured by it, but he didn’t know how true his words were, that I was just as wicked as them.
The power of a Kysillian wasn’t just their ability to harness destructive magic, but to possess such a power and not use it in moment of weakness. My father had told me that, and right now I wished he hadn’t. Setting the table alight seemed like a wonderful way to end the horrid affair.
‘On to more pleasant topics, please,’ one of the women declared as the next course came, and I made a point to finish every glass of wine I was given before they added water to it.
However, despite the edge the sour wine had taken off the evening, the table clearly wasn’t finished with my discomfort.
‘Did you hear ofanotherrebellion attack in the west at the ports?’ One of the guests tutted.
‘They just need to concede and accept it’s better for them,’ Lady Lovell drawled, her nails clinking against her glass as she took another demure sip, eyes slipping back in Emrys’s direction. ‘Thank the saints you’ve been saved from such impropriety, Miss Woodrow.’
‘Indeed, what sent you on the path of your discipline?’ Lord Fairfax asked. ‘My Robert was fascinated by the old tales. He loved the Kysillian ones most of all.’
‘The Kysillian is one of the peace children of Master Hale’s vision,’ Lord Percy interjected, answering for me.
‘That old bat.’ Lord Canthorp laughed, much to the amusement of his companion. A small unimpressive brown-haired man called Mr Branner.
‘Strange you should choose the occult, Miss Woodrow,’ Lord Percy continued, his sharp gaze meeting my own across the table. ‘Surely a woman seeking to find her way in that world can find a more …advantageousposition?’
I didn’t even want to imagine what positions he was thinking of.
‘There is much we still don’t know,’ I smiled politely, resisting the urge to bare my teeth at the swine.
‘Magic is boorish and too aggressive for female sensibilities. We’re too emotional for it,’ Lady Lovell reasoned, her tone sparking a rise in false laughter that irritated me more than normal stupidity.
‘There is much left to understand. Especially in the northlands. Who knows what the fey are hiding over there?’ Canthorp mused.
‘We won the war, what else is there to know?’ Lovell tilted her head demurely to the side, the light catching on the stone around her neck. I knew what it was the moment I saw her. Another trophy, only she was too unintelligent to understand.
We won the war.Her stupid words seared through me. At the cost of fey blood. Their freedom.Rage burned in my gut more viciously than any magic I could summon.
Demure. Quiet. Still.Master Hale’s favourite command came back to me.
Sod that.
‘What a lovely stone, Lady Lovell.’ I smiled, leaning forward to gesture to the gleaming red gem around the lady’s throat. The ridiculousness of it.
‘An admirer gifted it to me.’ She ran her gloved fingertips over it, tilting her head to tease the other guests.
Something burned in me I had never experienced, watching her gaze try to catch Emrys’s attention. He was watching me, so intently, almost trying to communicate something with a single look. Maybe sensing I’d lost complete control of my senses.
‘I haven’t seen a Malac stone before,’ I spoke clearly, catching the table’s attention. ‘Only heard stories.’
