Page 216 of Curse of Darkness
“It’s nothing.” I want to sink under the water.
“It is something, or you wouldn’t be trying to slink away. How do you feel?”
“Fine.”
“You keep using that phrase,” he murmurs, and the rub of his fingers indicate he doesn’t believe it.
It’s hard to put into words the way I feel. “There’s too much to think about. I keep pushing it aside, sitting it in that silent box in my head that I forged years ago, until I’m ready to take it out and process it.”
“Talking it out helps.”
It does. I sip my wine. “I refuse to be a god. It sounds horrible. And I don’t feel any different—I feel the same way I always did, just… finally in control of myself and my magic.”
Thiago’s a long time replying. “Then don’t be.”
He doesn’t understand. “It wasn’t as though we can hide what happened at Eidyn, Thiago. There were thousands of warriors there. Three entire armies worth of them. Everybody saw the implosion. Word spreads. The queens and princes of the Queensmoot said nothing, but Corvin will have had his ravens in the field. Lucere will discover it soon enough. I can’thidefrom it. I’ve seen them all at Maia’s temple—casting their coins into her fountain and begging for her luck, for her mercy….” My breath feels like ice. “I don’t want that. And I don’t want more war.”
“There’s no saying it has to come to war.”
“You’vemetMaren,” I say acidly. “If she discovers I can wield the Hallows, then she’ll stop at nothing to destroy me. Before I can become a threat to her.”
“Ifshe discovers it.”
“What?” Water splashes as I jerk. His glamor is good, but not even Thiago can make an entire field of armies forget what they saw.
“I’ve been gathering reports from the battle site. Every warrior says the same thing. The grounds shook, the sky spat lightning, and then this enormous firebird rose into the air, flames lashing the Hallow. They’re calling her the Daughter of Flame and Fury, and rumor has it that she rose to fight the Horned One before her flames finally burned themselves out. She was a creature of myth and magic. A legend in the making. Nobody saw you, Vi. They saw… a goddess. A firebird. And that’s what they’ll believe.”
The words capture me for a moment. “Did it really look like that?”
“You had wings, Vi. Wings of pure flame. And the look in your eyes…. For a moment I couldn’t breathe. You were so fucking beautiful. You were vengeance, fury, power. You were incredible.” He kisses my knuckles. “And then you and the Old Ones tore the Horned One’s power from him and cast him down.”
I remember how it felt to fly on those wings of fire. Maybe there’d be something good to come of it.
If I can summon the creature again.
As if she knows I’m thinking of her, those fiery wings unfurl inside my chest.
“You’re reheating the bath water, Vi.”
“Sorry.” I snap those metaphorical wings shut.
“Don’t be sorry. Now I know I’ll never have to spend another night shivering in some wet, rainy hut ever again. I knew I married you for a reason. You can warm my blankets.”
“I can also set them on fire.”
“I thought we agreed that wasn’t going to happen again.”
“It’s a good thing I didn’t want to be worshiped.” I poke his arm. Then the weight of that legacy begins to press down again, making it hard to breathe. It’s not something we can deny. Too many fae were there.
Thiago stirs, shifting me in his arms. “And it was a good thing that the firebird saved us.”
I jerk my head toward him.
Thiago sips his wine, his eyes locking on me over the rim of the goblet. “Andraste and Raith aren’t going to say a thing, Vi. And Edain can be convinced to remain silent. It’s against his own vested interests for rumors to spread that the Queen of Evernight is the Daughter of Flame and Fury. Maybe we can learn from the best? Maybe it’s our turn to twist the story? Thalia can plant rumors that the Daughter of Flame and Fury resides near Eidyn and can only be roused by a desperate heart to fight against the forces of true darkness.”
I blink. “Did you just create a fairy tale?”
“Do you want to help me flesh out the details?”
