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Chapter 57: An Alliance of Preservation
Four of Larissa’s spies waited inside the study, dressed in plain Lafeara attire and hoods that helped mask the strange pale complexion all of Strugna’s witches shared. “A lingering reminder of the plague we were lucky enough to survive,” had been Llyr’s bitter comment when Carina had voiced this observation.
The witches rose from their seats at the large oak table and bowed respectfully to Prince Llyr, who took his usual seat at the end of the table where he faced the Duchess’s position at its head.
‘A symbolic gesture and reminder that they serve me and not him—at least for now.’ Carina swallowed down the unwelcomed uncertainty that crawled up the back of her throat and focused her attention on several enlarged maps of Lafeara that were spread out into quadrants.
Despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that lay before her, Carina refused to yield even an inch to doubt.
‘I have to stop the plague first. Then—I can face whatever punishment Arachne’s daughter deems fit to throw my way.’
The first seed that Larissa and her scouts had located was discovered in the slums of the capital. A rotting human arm that had been dropped down an abandoned well where it bubbled up and spread to infect the city’s water supply and even the nearby air.
Llyr had shown Larissa how to encapsulate the limb in water to remove it from the well. Afterward, Carina had frozen the rotting arm within its capsule of water with magic. At that point, it was safe for Larissa’s witches to seal the seed inside a barrel which was transported back to Bastiallano and secured in the basement of the Duchess’s castle.
‘Because a “plague seed” can only be properly burned and destroyed by a pure-blood fire witch.’ Carina took at the table with a tired frown as her thoughts drifted to Stitcher, who had yet to send word since his return to Tristan’s side in Ventrayna.
‘While Prince Tristan might be my best choice to destroy these seeds permanently, I should wait for him to reach out to me first. According to Larissa’s spies in Ventrayna, the political landscape among the Fire Covens is volatile at the moment.’
The Duchess returned her attention to the witches waiting before her and blinked in surprise to find a new face waiting among Larissa’s spies. The woman was perhaps in her early twenties, with tangled red hair a few shades brighter than Sophya’s. Her complexion was warm and friendly compared to the pale scouts who stood on either side with a few scattered freckles on her cheeks.
“Your Grace, this is Mary Turner, a recent recruit,” Larissa explained after noticing Carina’s confused expression. “She is a native of Lafeara and an air witch. Mary has already proven most useful in helping us narrow down the locations of three more plague seeds.”
“Three?” Carina replied with unmasked surprise. ‘It had taken Larissa and her spies almost a week to find the last two.’ The Duchess turned to offer Mary a welcoming smile even as she studied the air witch suspiciously. “Thank you for your assistance, Lady Mary.”
“Oh—” Mary looked flustered as she shifted uneasily between two of Larissa’s spies. “I-I am not a noble, your Grace. But I am delighted—and honored—to be of service to the Duchess of Winter.”
Carina smiled politely before turning her uncertain gaze to Llyr. ‘Can we really trust an air witch?’
The foreign prince’s lips twitched in amused understanding before he nodded to Larissa.
“Mary Turner does not belong to any of Lafeara’s covens, your Grace,” Larissa explained with a note of firm confidence before she motioned for the witches to take their seats. “She is what our kind call a nomad witch, though others refer to them as covenless.”
“I prefer to think of myself as a free witch,” Mary replied nervously as she dropped down into her chair with a hesitant smile. “Commitment to a coven is—unnecessary for those of us born among the lower families. The longer a bloodline has remained outside of a coven’s restrictions—the less attention they expand on us. And it’s not as if the three great covens would look favorably upon my marriage to a—mortal.”
‘Oh? That’s interesting.’ Carina tried to smile reassuringly, even as her predisposed suspicions whispered doubtfully behind her ears. ‘Well, even if she is in some way affiliated with one of Percy’s covens, I can only hope that he has no interest in seeing the plague ravage Lafeara further.’
Carina might have felt more confident in her wishful thinking—if the plague had not been “designed” to target only those without a drop of witch blood in their veins.
‘Well, that’s just one more reason why the blood treatment is effective, I suppose.’
Among the families who brought their sick to Bastiallano, those resistant to the plague had all proven to be witches and half-witches living in hiding among Lafeara’s populace. Their number, covenless or otherwise, was enough to support Percy’s idea of turning the kingdom into a witch nation once he removed Nicholas from the throne.
‘And yet—just the thought of a Saint returning is enough to make thousands of witches hesitate to remove the last of the Havardur kings.’
Carina said as she returned her attention to Larissa, who was sorting through a quadrant of maps. “You said that you found three more seeds?”
“Yes, two in the Hargreve’s Duchy, and one up west in a small town near the Serpentine River,” Larissa affirmed as she pushed three of the maps with pre-marked locations towards Carina. “If possible, I suggest we remove and seal them tonight as we did the last two.”
“Does that mean we might finally be free of the plague by morning?” The hopefulness and doubt mixed in Carina’s words gave them an uncertain edge.
Larissa offered the Duchess a cynical smirk. “Given the complexity involved in the nurturing and spread of this plague—” The sunlight through the large pane glass windows behind the water witch reflected off the beads woven into her rich, red-brown hair as she shrugged. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there were two more seeds out there still illuding our search.”
“But the removal of these seeds will significantly slow the spread of the plague,” Llyr said encouragingly. “If we’re lucky, the number of new cases will drop by at least 50%. And the crowds of plague refugees entering your lands should also diminish.”
Carina nodded. Her offer of safety, medical care, and protection from discrimination had proven far more effective than she had anticipated. The mysterious fires that had burned the first group of plague victims had no doubt helped. In any case, the number of withes and plague victims that had shown up at Bastalliano’s borders had forced Carina to open up one of the Duchy’s emergency grain storages.
‘Something Nicholas no doubt disapproves of since those rations were meant for his new army—but he can hardly protest given my efforts have reduced the spread and burden to the rest of the kingdom.’
“But to completely destroy it?” The Duchess’s ice-blue eyes moved from the locations marked before her to the foreign prince.
“We would have to destroy the witch who created the plague—”
“Which we believe to be one of Arachne’s three daughters,” Larissa muttered darkly.
“—or the marked sacrifice,” Llyr finished softly.
Carina pressed her fingers against the ink-marked parchment and clenched her teeth at the thought of Ivy’s bruised and blistered back. “Set preparations to deal with the located plague seeds tonight, Lady Larissa.”
“I have taken the liberty of doing so already, your Grace.” The water witch bowed her head and then signaled her scouts, who turned to file out of the room, one of them pausing to pull Mary along with them. “When shall we depart?”
“The moment Lady Hana returns,” Carina replied without hesitation.
Larissa frowned and turned her ocean-blue eyes to Llyr, who shook his head in a silent signal for her to depart.
The Duchess sighed as the study door closed behind them, then turned narrowed eyes at the foreign prince who remained in his seat. “Are you sure you can keep up your end of the bargain?”
“It would hardly be a fair deal if the agreement on my end were so easy to resolve,” Llyr replied with his usual confident smile. “Whichever daughter we are dealing with, they won’t remain hidden for long after tonight.”
“And Ivy? Are you sure she’ll remain safe at the orphanage?”
“Perfectly, at least as far as Arachne’s daughters are concerned.” Llyr leaned back in his chair to study her for a moment before his seal-grey eyes moved to marked map pages. “After all, if Ivy were killed—the plague they have worked so hard to unleash will be snuffed out in an instant.”
Carina exhaled slowly then pushed her chair away from the table. “I should get ready.”
“It’s not necessary for us to wait on Lady Hana,” Llyr pointed out bluntly as he followed her to the door.
“I agreed to your terms to save Ivy from being sacrificed to end this plague,” Carian retorted in a harsh whisper as her grip on the door handle turned icy cold. “But I will feel more reassured with Hana at my side.”
‘Especially after tonight. After all, if Llyr is to be believed. Hana is one of the few remaining descendants of the Saint, who had the power to defeat Arachne’s children.’
***
Llyr shut the study door and watched the Duchess march firmly down the hall before turning towards the front foyer and the stairwell that would lead her to the second floor. His smile vanished as he leaned against the wooden barrier and sent the knights a look that made the reluctant mortals move reluctantly to the other end of the hall.
“Damn it,” Llyr muttered through clenched teeth as he rubbed a hand along his jaw. ‘Just how long will Ramiel’s bitch keep interfering?’
Larissa reappeared through the hallway door and smiled as she moved towards him. “Worried about the Duchess?”
Llyr frowned at her suggestive tone. “I just—wish she were less emotionally involved. Kirsi was never this—vulnerable.” He shook his head but quickly smiled as Larissa slid her arm behind his back and leaned in to her head against his shoulder.
“Well, if she had been more like Kirsi, she probably wouldn’t have agreed to a magically bound oath,” Larissa pointed out. “Not that we can be sure it will hold a witch of her—dynamic.” Her ocean-blue eyes narrowed with some unspoken thought before she sighed, pushing away Llyr’s hand that had strayed towards the topaz blue shell necklace that hung about her neck. “Once we’ve forced that eel-bitch out of hiding—we’ll be that much closer to Arachne—and freedom.”
“Getting rid of one of Arachne’s daughters will be difficult enough, but three—” Llyr sighed as Larissa pulled away to give him a scowl of disapproval.
“You choose this path for us, Llyr. We can’t back out now.”
“Who said anything about backing down?” Llyr growled as his gaze moved to the opal blue ring on his hand. “It’s just—” He clenched his fist, “—Kirsi isn’t ready yet.” He did not voice his doubts that Viktor’s heir might never be ready for the fight ahead. “And I cannot remain by her side for much longer.”
“You should have left for Strugna yesterday,” Larissa observed neutrally as she pulled away from his arm with a worried expression. “Go home. Someone needs to keep Queen Serenia in check. We will keep Kirsi safe.”
Llyr’s seal-grey eyes shifted from Larissa’s encouraging look back to his ring before he sighed and stepped forward to pull her into a tight hug she would not escape. He scowled at the knights at the other end of the hall, who had the good sense to avert their gaze, even if it meant taking their eyes off the Duchess’s study doors. “I will leave tomorrow morning after you’ve successfully dealt with those seeds.”
“Have it your way, your Majesty.”
The Crown Prince of Strugna pulled back long enough to kiss his fiancé’s lips. He smiled when Larissa bit his lower lip and reluctantly let her go before turning towards the castle foyer. “Keep Krisi away from those wind covens. We cannot be certain when they might turn against her.”
“I’m more worried about the old bag of bones in the palace,” Larissa replied as she brushed back the fallen braids that grazed against her flushed cheeks. “That Dowager reminds me of another woman I know who won’t easily let go of power.”
Llyr barked out a laugh but nodded in understanding as he continued up the stairs towards his guest room. Queen Serenia, who had remained in power long after the water covens had voted in favor of Llyr inheriting his father’s throne, could undoubtedly be compared to the Dowager. The latter still appeared to rule Lafeara silently behind her grandson and even Duchess Kirsi.
‘That is a battle Kirsi is more than capable of dealing with.’ Llyr paused at the top of the stairs to glance in the direction of the Duchess’s rooms. ‘Larissa is right. The longer I’m gone, the more opportunity Serenia and the old families will have to sow uncertainty and discord among the water covens. I’ll be in a better position to support Kirsi and convince her to return to Strugna once I’m crowned King. Then we can focus on destroying all of Arachne’s children and getting Viktor’s final blessing. Only then can Strugna finally abandon Arachne for good and follow a goddess of our choosing.’