Page 42 of Prisoner of Darkness and Dreams
“So, Your Highness,” he says, examining his glove for dirt before looking up at me. “I’m assuming that eventually you’ll want to get out of this cave and backwater town and actually take the throne?”
“Yes,” I say. “And we’ll have to kill my aunt, Lady Oclanna, to do it. She’s in the Temple’s pocket, and she had my parents murdered on Caledon’s orders.”
He nods. It’s unclear whether this is news to him, but either way, he accepts it without surprise. I suppose conspiracies and assassinations are just another Tuesday for him.
“Once we remove my aunt, the path will be clearer for me to become queen. There’ll be no regent and no other direct heir, so it’ll be difficult to contest my claim, even if I am a solari.”
A solari who can’t use her powers, an evil little voice says at the back of my mind. I ignore it, instead gauging Corrin’s reaction. This’ll likely be the first he’s heard about my celestial magic, but he shows no reaction.
“The Temple knows about your powers?” he asks.
“Yes. Is that a problem for you?” I ask.
He shrugs. “My closest friends are prostitutes and thieves, Your Highness. I don’t mind adding a heretic to the mix.”
Leon growls. “Watch your mouth, Wadestaff.”
Corrin holds up his hands. “My apologies. Of course, the gods look down upon Her Highness with great fondness and divine blessing.”
Damia snorts and then looks annoyed at herself for enjoying Wadestaff’s sarcasm.
“It won’t matter what the Temple says solari are,” I continue. “Because once I’m queen, I’ll have the army needed to defeat Caledon and his followers.”
A ripple of excitement passes through the rebels.
“You want to go to war?” Harman asks, and once again, I’m surprised by the lack of enthusiasm in his tone.
“Yes,” I say. “I realize now it’s the only way. The Temple can’t be fought from the shadows. We must expose Caledon for what he truly is, and the best way to do that is from a seat of power, whether Trova’s ready to accept a solari monarch or not. The Temple has to be taken down, and we’ll just have to make sure we take its bigotry and lies about celestial magic with it.”
Harman sighs. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for a Trovian royal to say those words.”
“Well, it’s happened now, Harman. So what’s wrong?” I ask.
“We’ve had news from Elmere,” he says. “Oclanna’s been working on the royal council ever since you disappeared with Leonidas, trying to convince them to change the law.” He looks at the fae, explaining for their benefit. “A regent can’t make any major changes without the council’s approval. But Oclanna’s finally convinced them. They voted, and now a regent can ascend to the throne even if an existing heir is still alive.”
He makes a sympathetic face at me.
“She’s already preparing for the coronation.”
My heart sinks. I thought I had more time, but if Oclanna makes herself queen before I can get to her…
“And when were you going to tell me about this?” Leon asks coolly.
“When you weren’t busy tearing the country apart looking for Morgana,” Harman says. “It didn’t seem like the time to bring it up when we didn’t even know if…if we’d find her.”
What he doesn’t say hangs in the air. They didn’t know if they’d find mein time. Before Caledon drained me of my powers and killed me. Now I don’t have any magictodrain, and soon, I won’t have a throne to claim either. I’ll just be some parentless, powerless girl who the nation’s most important people want dead.
I focus on Leon, finding the point of calm in his gaze. I can’t let this fresh blow bring me down. We’ll find a way around this. As for my magic…the sooner I accept the problem, the sooner I’ll get to a solution, but that’s going to involve telling people.
“There’s something else you should all know,” I say.
LEON
Her magic is gone.
I didn’t protect her properly. I didn’t get to her fast enough. And now her magic is gone.
I listen to Ana as she explains Mal’s theory about her inner flame, my guilt mounting within me. It sounds like she only spoke to the half-dryad this morning, but how long has she suspected this? And why didn’t I notice something was wrong?
