Page 18 of The Crown the Fae Forgot
“But,” Finch continued for him, “she was gone in like a second. We just figured she’s realized what was going on.”
I started to shake my head, but I had to stop. It made the room tilt too far to one side.
“No,” I said, staring down at the crumpled papers before me, unseeing as I reimagined the sight of Icarus appearing, blackened and drained, before me. “No, she left because she saw him too.”
I forced myself to look up then, to face the silent, waiting faces peering back at me.
“Vestele saw him too,” I said, again. “That’s how I know he was real. That he wasn’t just a vision.”
Shiel’s lips parted, but he said nothing. None of them did.
I found myself glancing between them, more frantic by the second. “What?” I asked, my blood pressure rising. “You don’t believe me?”
“I—” Finch shook his head, slightly, that frown pulling his brows together a bit. “Aurra, how would that even be possible?”
“We’re outside the reaches of his domain. He draws his power from that place. He wouldn’t be able to just teleport here, like that.”
Though, even as Shiel said it, I saw the way all three of them exchanged glances, as if hoping beyond hope that he was right.
“It could be this new glamour,” Zev said, quietly, not willing to look me in the eye. “He could have found a way to use it.”
Shiel opened his mouth to respond, but I found myself cutting him off.
“No,” I said, once more finding my gaze wandering to stare blankly ahead as my mind began to slowly unravel that briefest of visits. “No, he was to injured to use that kind of magic.”
“He was injured?”
I wasn’t paying close enough attention to know who asked it.
Now that the initial adrenaline was wearing off along with the headiness of the tea, the whole encounter began materialize in a different way.
“He…he didn’t seem to understand what he was doing here,” I said, slowly, eyes glazed over still. I imagined him again, the moment he appeared before me, the way he looked over himself as if he was unreal to himself, too. The way he spoke to me, revealing information he never would have wanted me to know if he realized I was more than a vision, too.
Finally, after a long moment, my eyes began to refocus, and I lifted them again to look at Shiel.
“Is there some wayIcould have called him to me?” I asked. “Could it have been my glamour?”
Shiel cocked his head to the side in thought. “The king’s power has always been mysterious. Most fae never have the chance to witness it used in person.”
I felt that ache tighten my stomach again as I was once more reminded of the fact that there was no one left to teach about this ‘mysterious’ power.
“But the tongues, it’s about control, yes?” I asked, pushing forward this time. “When I commanded Icarus to stop, he had to stop. He was using his power then, to fly, so it could only have beenmypower holding him up.”
Once again, my thoughts were reeling, unfolding far quicker than I could keep up.
“It could be, yes,” Shiel said, carefully.
“So then, if I used my power to command him to come, maybe he had to? Maybe, even though he didn’t hear me, the glamour still responded as if he did?”
The look that the three fae shared then made my blood run cold. It was a long one, too long, as they searched each other’s faces with a flicker of expressions I wasn’t sure I wanted to understand.
When Shiel finally looked back at me, it was only for a second before his eyes dropped down to stare ahead, as my own vision had a moment before. Finc hand Zev were refusing to look at me too.
“I always wondered…” Shiel said, so quietly, I almost couldn’t hear him. “I always wondered if his power was this great. I’d hoped it wasn’t true.”
My heartbeat quickened. “So, you’ve heard about something like this before?”
Shiel’s lips pressed together, but Finch seemed able to bring himself to answer.
