Page 5 of Midnight Magic

'Nia, this is Rowan. Nia is my Marked. And a water user.'

"Marked?"

'A special set of Fae are born with an enhanced connection to the magic of the realm. They are born with twisting ebony art on their skin. When they are old enough, we bond with them, and they help us to do our jobs of protecting the realm.'

I looked between the two of them, and honestly, it made sense. I hadn't known Nia long, but she clearly was used to being in charge and getting her way, and I'd learned from experience that Aura was the same. Did all riders match their pagu's personality, or was it just a coincidence?

"You are a lightning wielder." The hardness in her expression was jarring, but I straightened my posture, not one to wither under a hostile stare that I met confidently. She hadn't asked me a question, so I remained silent. Finally, she broke eye contact and pivoted to face Aura, careful not to turn her back completely to me. She waved her hands wildly, and Aura shifted uncomfortably, ruffling her wings every now and again. It was very clear they were having a conversation about me that I couldn't hear.

I made a mental note to figure out exactly how this communication thing worked. And how everything worked, while we were at it. I had finally been getting to a place back at the Clover pack where I felt like I understood everything that was going on, but now here I was again, dropped into a world I didn't understand. Again.

An angry outburst from Aura broke me out of my thoughts, and Nia turned back toward me, every bit the scolded child. Begrudgingly, she said, "I apologize for my behavior. Your kin and I have a lot of bad blood."

"I don't remember them. I don't remember any of my time in this realm," I told her honestly. I was again faced with someone I had no reason to trust, but I wanted Nia to like me. I'd come to like Aura, even though I knew she was seconds away from cutting my head off at any moment. I didn't truly believe she would, given how much she had helped me so far. If Nia was her rider, then there had to be a redeeming quality in there somewhere. "That's why I'm here. The Queen has been freed. I don't know what she wants, but I know that I need to get my memories back as soon as possible. Somehow."

Nia paled, a dark look passing over her face as realization hit her. "You're the princess, aren't you?"

That was the second time someone had called me that, and I winced at the name, not feeling the least bit princessanything. Just because all these other people knew who I was didn't mean that I did. "Don't call me that. My name is Rowan. Whoever I was before, or who you think I was, isn't me anymore."

"Let's get your friend inside and get you cleaned up," Nia told me with a pointed look at my sordid outfit. She waved her hands again like she was molding the air, and Oliver floated a few feet above the ground. My mouth hung open as I watched her effortlessly guide Oliver to a meager hut toward one side of the village. A sly look spread across her face at my confusion. "Fun fact: Fae are mostly water. Well, water and magic. When we die, we just put our bodies in the crimson ocean to become one again. I'm not the best at it, but I can throw a few bodies around when I need to."

Wow. Remind me not to get on her bad side.

I expected Aura to follow, but instead, she launched into the sky, flying off toward a higher cliff that I bet was where the pagu lived. I stared down at my hands as we walked, remembering the feeling of utter power I had been able to wield before. Remembering the torture from Lexi and the betrayal of Cas, who I had thought I could trust, ignited my anger, little zaps of energy prickling off my fingertips in every direction. Nia looked down, a smirk spreading across her shapely lips. "Careful with those. I remember what my powers were like when I didn't know how to control them."

I bit back the retort I had prepped on my tongue. She was right. I had no idea what I was doing on either side of my heritage. I had little control over my lightning, and I couldn't shift into my rabbit form for shit. I was useless. I took a calming breath, dropping my hands back down to my sides.

We made it to the hut, and with a little maneuvering, Nia was able to float Oliver through, landing him gently on the only bed in the room. It was modestly decorated, with a small sink and toilet in one corner and a rickety bookshelf stocked with strange-looking leather-bound texts the only other furniture. Oliver was already starting to look better, his breathing now coming in deep, steady intervals as he slept.

"What is this place?" I asked Nia as we took a seat at the table. Her observant gaze watched me like a hawk. I didn't think many things got past her scrutiny.

"The Briar Stronghold. Pagu and their riders didn't used to live in hiding. There was a time when riders ruled the realm centuries ago. Pagu are born from the magic that flows through the Faerie realm, the original Faerie, and together with their riders they are dutybound to make sure it stays alive."

"Stays alive? I thought magic was limitless?"

Nia laughed, a cold, bitter sound. When she answered, I could see the pain etched on her face, something she tried to keep hidden and couldn't. "The magic in this realm is dying, Rowan. Queen Tantaii has been siphoning it for centuries for her own selfish gain. We got lucky when they cursed her away and halted her progress, but her magic went with her. The magic won't recover, not until she's dead. And even then, who knows how much damage she's already done. It's like she opened a wound, and each year, the magic dwindles a little bit more."

My heart broke at the anguish in her voice. Nia cared deeply for this world. Her world. How could a ruler feed on their kingdom to the point that it could destroy it? What kind of selfish person did that, and for what reason besides power? "Why didn't they kill her?"

"No one knows." She shrugged. "It was a very long time ago. Fae are living shorter and shorter lives with our magic dwindling, and not many of us were alive to see her imprisonment. Thrones are won by combat. After she was cursed, Casimir claimed the throne. He's her—"

"I know who he is," I interrupted. If you’d asked me a month ago, I would have said Chad, my cheating ex-boyfriend, was at the top of my shit list, but now it was definitely Cas. At this point, I needed to start a running list of who I wanted to kill. Ruby, Lexi, Cas, and Queen Tantaii, in no particular order.

"Right. Of course you do." Her gaze drifted up toward my hair again, and I smoothed down my golden locks self-consciously. I used to like the color of my hair, but now it felt like something I should be ashamed of. "His rule is all I've ever known. He's been challenged many times, but he remains the strongest. He is smart enough not to siphon any more magic, but he's not a ruler. He's a tyrant. He doesn't care about restoring the realm, he only cares about power. He's been searching for a way to free Queen Tantaii for centuries. And now he has. With her free . . . I don't know what the future holds for the realm, but it isn't good."

I looked down at my hands, anxiety coursing through me as I picked at my fingernail beds. This was all my fault. I'd played right into their hands and went along with their spell like a stupid fucking idiot. They'd put me in a tough spot by threatening the lives of my friends, but was that really worth the lives of everyone in this realm? My heart said I'd made the right choice, but my head didn't.

"I'm the reason she's free," I told Nia, my head still bowed. I clenched my eyes shut, afraid to see her reaction, as I told her I was the reason her world was going to end. "I didn't know. I must have thought going to the shifter realm would be enough to hide, but they found me. And they used me to set her free."

Nia was silent for so long I thought she might have left, and I chanced a glance upward. Her eyes were filled with rage, the dark pools of midnight lit by a fire within, but she didn't scream or yell at me like I expected her to. If anything, her silence was worse.

I forced myself not to look away. Dominance contests must not work between Fae as I felt no urge to look away besides my own shame, which I was grateful for. The last thing I needed was for this Fae to also hate me because I challenged her to something that I wasn't sure I would win.

Finally, she breathed deeply, closing her eyes as she let her anger ride out with her exhale.

"You didn't know," she said evenly. Her diplomacy impressed me. I knew I wouldn't have been able to be so understanding if our roles were reversed. "I can question your judgment, but I cannot fault you for what you didn't know. But you need to help us fix this. For good."

My palpable relief surprised me as I nodded my agreement. I normally didn't care what others thought of me, but Nia was strong, clearly some sort of leader in this place. If all she said was true, then my journey was far from over. If the only way out of this was to kill the Queen, then I needed all the allies I could get. I felt responsible for this.

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