Page 113 of Crown of Darkness
She breaks off with a sigh and smiles a little sadly at me. “Once I could have sung the waves into the city itself if I wished.”
I know she bartered the magic of her voice to a sea witch, but beyond that, my memories of Thalia are still vague. “Why did you give it away?”
Turning her gaze towards the sea, she unconsciously pets the stone wall. “Because it was both my gift and my curse. The saltkissed are creatures of the sea, formed of foam and water and cold, marble flesh. And the fae are bound to the land. Every year I aged, I could feel the choice splitting me in two. The sea called to me, but I was frightened to answer it.” She tilts her face into the spray of mist as another wave hits the sea wall. “My grandmother spent too many years beating that fear into me.”
I squeeze her hand.
“The was a fae prince from the Far Isles who wished to make an alliance with Thiago over a century ago.” She hesitates. “The second he heard me sing, he insisted upon marriage. I was young, and it was the first time a male had looked at me and seen something of worth.” She falls quiet. “I wanted to believe him when he said he loved me. Thiago warned me against it—he said I barely knew the prince—but I accepted the marriage proposal.”
I wait for her to continue.
“Prince Riu invited me to his palace in the Far Isles for our courtship.” Thalia sighs. “There were little things that began to make me uncomfortable. He used to talk of his ‘collection’ all the time. He had the finest collection of musical instruments I’ve ever seen. The finest paintings. An entire menagerie of nightingales. ‘Sing for me,’ he would say, and at first I obliged willingly, for I loved to sing. But over time, my throat grew sore and tired. I begged to take the night off, but he would grow angry. He struck me once, and that was when I knew I had made a foolish mistake.
“But he wasn’t the only one listening. There was a sea witch who lived in the nearby waters, and she warned me that I wasn’t the first bride Riu had taken—and nor would I be the last. His gift was the ability to absorb another’s magic, but it was a hungry gift. If he did not utilize it, then his flesh would begin to age. Every time I sang, he would feed off the power in my voice, and it didn’t matter if my vocal cords were bleeding, he would demand more. He’d captured the witch’s sister a hundred years before and stolen her life before he dumped her withered body in the seas.
“Give me your voice, she told me, and I will go to Riu in your guise and break his hold over you.” Thalia falls silent. “And I was desperate and thought myself alone—and so I gave her my voice.”
“And did she free you?”
“She went to him,” Thalia says coldly. “And she tore the heart from his chest and ate it, for she too had a hungry power. And now she sits on his throne and rules his lands and sings with my voice. And she keeps the offspring of his nightingales in golden cages to remind herself of where she came from.”
I don’t ask whether she tried to get her voice back. Of course she did. It’s a part of her, and I know that yearning for your magic. It’s like an amputated limb.
“I’m so sorry. Maybe once my mother is defeated, we can sail to her lands and get it back for you—”
“Thank you.” Thalia looks down at where our hands are linked. “Thiago has already tried, Vi. The sea witch could not take my magic from me—it had to be given freely. And thus, if I were to hope for its return, then the terms must be the same. She must give it of her own volition.”
“Everyone wants something,” I point out. “We just have to find out what she wants in return for it.”
Thalia gives me a tremulous smile—but there’s none of her usual light in it. “Thank you. For the thought.”
It’s more than a thought, but I don’t say that. If I can break my mother’s hold over me, then I can do anything.
And if there’s any means to return Thalia’s gift, then I will find it.
* * *
Hours later,I finally stumble into Thiago’s arms, begging for mercy.
“No more!” I tell Thalia when she tries to lure me back into the streets again. “No more!”
She pouts, but then turns and throws her arms around Finn.
“Here’s trouble,” Finn says, but he grins and swings Thalia into the air. She’s insatiable. And though the laughter and dancing are beginning to die down, apparently her stamina hasn’t. They whirl away in a riot of silver and white.
“Having fun?” Thiago teases, kissing my hair.
“How did you manage it so swiftly?” There must be thousands of masks on fae faces, and the wine barrels and fireworks….
Thiago slips behind me, his arms locked loosely around my waist. “I’ve been planning it for weeks,” he whispers in my ear. “Or more importantly, Thalia planned it. I was just waiting for you to be ready to bind yourself to the lands.”
A lump in my throat threatens to choke me.
“Evernight has been too long without a queen, my love.” He looks serious. “This is something I’ve never been able to give my kingdom or its people. When your mother sneers at Kyrian and me, there’s a little bit of truth to her words. I am not a female descendant of Maia. But you are. Her blood runs through your veins, her power calls to the land beneath it—through you. You are the land’s link to the people.” He captures my face in his hands, thumbs stroking my lips. “You ask me why I love you, and while I have a thousand reasons, what you’re really questioning is your worth. I know it troubles you to think of everything it has cost me to love you, but have you ever thought of what you’ve given me in return? What you can give my people? Hope, Vi. With you at my side, we can make this kingdom blossom to the type of power and might it hasn’t known since my mother was bound to the land.”
I curl my fingers around his wrists and close my eyes. He’s everything I’ve ever wanted, and he speaks of a world I’ve never been able to imagine. A world where we will rule side by side.
It’s more than I have ever hoped for.
