Page 29 of The Lord of Whispers

“Do you—” I began to ask my friend if he felt up to addressing the hole.

Like everyone’s powers, the King’s powers had diminished over the years, and he had already tapped into his magic to heal the four other weaknesses we had found that day.

“I have enough magic for this. You’re nearly as bad as a mother hen, Jay,” the King retorted.

I backed away, hands up, conceding the area to my friend, choosing not to comment on the sweat I saw beading on his brow despite the bite of coolness to the air.

Nik approached us, his hands no longer in his pockets, his brow no longer furrowed. There was an intensity that brewed in the younger lord’s deep green eyes. Broad shouldered, he was bigger and more muscular than either me or his father, partially due to his mixed fae heritage but more so a result of the hours I knew he spent each day training and throwing around weights the size of large boulders.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Nik said, like he was continuing a debate we had all just pressed paused on.

Nik had kept his thoughts to himself the first four times we’d gone through this process that day, his father expending his magic, getting paler with each effort. But it was clear that he wouldn’t remain silent any longer.

“Nik,” I cautioned the Prince, trying to head off an argument between the King and his son.

The two were so often at loggerheads these days.

“Our magic wasn’t strong enough to win the last war back then, and with our magic in the state that it is, could you imagine the risk if the north still has its magic in full force?” I asked.

“But our magic is dying because of this fucking wall!” Nik exclaimed. “It’s killing us.”

Darkness began at the Prince’s feet until it overtook the part of the forest we stood in like a dense cloud had suddenly appeared in front of the sun. It was cool before, but in the shadow of the Prince’s darkness, there was a frostiness to the cold, northern air.

I didn’t disagree with the young Prince. The issues with our magic began at the same time that the wall went up. I suspected that the magical barrier somehow disturbed what I believed to be a magical ecosystem connecting the magic of all fae. But, then again, the war itself and the loss of so many fae lives could have also had an impact on our magic.

“We don’t know for certain that it’s the wall, Nik. And how many of us died during the last war? How many of us will Rex kill if we don’t have this wall?” I asked calmly, rehashing our same old arguments.

“The wall is not the answer to our problem, friend,” Nik began. “Itisthe problem.”

Maybe the wall was not the answer tothisproblem but it was theonlyanswer to a different problem—King Vandros. The civil war had been a cataclysmic clash of magic, one that King Vandros would not have allowed to end until he had the heads of anyone powerful enough to challenge him, which would have included my head, the King’s, and his son’s, at a minimum. Without the wall, we would once again be exposed to King Vandros’s pursuit.

“The prophecy—” Nik began.

“Nik,” the King interjected before we could once again have this argument. “Son, the prophecy has left us empty handed. And now’s not the time to have this discussion again.Some of usneed to get back to the High Court,” the King said, taking a jab at the Prince’s continued refusal to have anything to do with the High Court more than once a year since his mother’s passing.

Grey waited until the darkness emanating from his son receded. Then the King placed his hand on the invisible barrier and closed his eyes in concentration. He’d explained the process to us before. How he could picture the weave. It was like someone or something had sliced through several layers of the wall. He said he could find the severed ends of each weave and mend them back together. Grey stepped away, discreetly wiping away the bead of sweat that rolled down his too-pale face.

“Done,” he said with finality.

I inspected the wall. I could no longer see the creek. I saw only my own reflection and that of Nik behind me, pacing.

“Is that’s all of them?” I asked.

“That we know of. For now…” the King replied.

“Will you be able to sense it if another weakness pops up?” I asked.

“No,” the King said solemnly. “Maybe at one time I could have, but not now.”

I nodded. “Then we will need the wall patrolled at all times going forward.” It was time to pull our forces together. It was time for us to prepare for what will happen if there is a hole in the wall and we cannot seal it in time.

The three of us popped out of existence without another word, landing somewhere between the border wall and the High Court. Nik would have to travel us around another time or two before he could drop off his father and me at the High Court. Although he did not seem as affected as Grey or me, his powers, too, had faded. Not even the Prince of Darkness, who had once moved mountains, could travel distances as long as he once could.

14

Alarie

Opening my eyes, I scanned my large bedroom, enjoying the way the sun peeked through the tall, ornate curtain in the corner. I noticed a navy-blue matte satin box with a bright red bow near the door to my bedroom. It must have been slipped into my room while I was sleeping. In my nightgown, one of my new blue ones that was silk and short and clung to the shelf of my ass, I retrieved the box.

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