Witch Queen (25 page)

The change in him was surprising, but it
made me nervous.

I kept my head down and followed the guards.
I couldn’t despair, or all would be lost. And so I prayed to the
Goddess for the strength and wisdom I needed. I had to be confident
in my quest. I had to finish what I had started.

I would do the witch trials and pass
whatever tests the witch king threw at me. Then we would get the
help we needed and leave this wretched place for good. Just the
thought of leaving kindled a spark of hope in my chest. But first I
needed to get through the damn trials.

We all walked in deathly silence. The guards
didn’t engage us in conversation, nor did they threaten us. And I
didn’t care. There were no more lush tapestries or paintings here
in the west tower. A coating of dust and dirt dulled the floors.
The shine had gone from my heart, too.

The coven guards finally stopped in front of
a large wood door with intricate carvings in Witchtongue all around
the edges. I wanted to understand their mystic language. I stole a
look down the hallway, but I couldn’t see if there were any more
rooms on this floor.

Two of the coven guards moved to stand at
attention next to the door.

The guard who’d bruised me turned and said,
“You are to be confined to these chambers. Meals will be brought to
you. You will be allowed out only for the witch trials. Coven
guards will be stationed at your door; so don’t even think of
trying to escape. You’ll be escorted to and from your trials. Try
to leave and you’ll be punished severely. Be ready two hours after
sunup. Your witch maid will have everything prepared for you.”

I raised my brows. “My witch maid?” I knew
I’d be kept under heavy surveillance, but a witch maid?

The guard opened the door, and I peered into
shadow and darkness. The guard grabbed my arm again and twisted it
hard to make sure it hurt. I reacted instinctively and kicked him
hard in the shin. He let go with a yelp. I couldn’t help a smug
smile as I slipped away from him.

His face reddened with rage. With a flick of
his fingers, a string of magic caught me in the chest and shoved me
into the room. I staggered backwards, but I managed to stay upright
and spared myself further humiliation.

Fawkes’ face was drained, and he looked
years older.

“Try to get some sleep,” he said. “Rest
because I have a feeling you’re going to need it tomorrow.”

The guards snickered, and my suspicions that
the trials would be torturous became all the more real. I swallowed
hard and stilled my temper.

“Will I see
you
tomorrow?” I asked
Fawkes. Knowing that Fawkes would be somewhere near me during the
trials brought me some much-needed comfort. Hell, just having
someone near who didn’t openly despise me did a lot for my ego.

Fawkes smiled kindly at me, but his green
eyes were haunted. “I don’t know, Elena. I don’t know what the
witch king intends to do with me, but I’m sure I’ll know soon
enough. Just get some rest and restore your strength and your
magic. You will need all of it.”

I narrowed my brows. “You know what these
trials
are, don’t you? What sort of tribulations I’ll face?
I can see it in your eyes.”

Fawkes said nothing, but a storm of emotions
crossed his face. “Just stay alive and alert. You’ll do well enough
tomorrow. I have faith in your abilities.”

Although Fawkes looked worried, I could see
that he was trying to calm us both.

I stepped forward and asked no one in
particular, “Where is his chamber? Maybe we can have our meals
together—”

The guard slammed the door in my face, and I
was plunged into complete darkness. I was tempted to kick the
door.

But then the air moved behind me, and a soft
golden light spilled from a fire in a large stone hearth.

“Hello,” said a female voice.

I jumped back in surprise. “I didn’t see you
there,” I said. My face was flushed with a sudden rush of blood.
“Are you the…”

“Your witch maid, Mistress Elena.”

So the witch knew who I was. She didn’t
smile as she looked straight at me. Her plain face was without
emotion.

I didn’t know what to say. She looked to be
a few years older than me, but not by much. She wore one of the
same shapeless linen gowns I’d seen on the witches in Gray Havens,
and not one of the fine gowns with clan colors like the witches in
the king’s chamber. Her auburn hair was pulled back neatly into a
soft bun. She wasn’t beautiful, or even fair, but her large hazel
eyes were kind. I liked her immediately.

“Since you know my name, may I know yours?”
I said finally.

I didn’t know if I should shake her hand or
something, but as I spoke to her I thought I saw a tiny smile. It
was gone in a flash.

“It’s Celeste.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Celeste.”

Celeste looked me over, and I thought I saw
a hint of sympathy in her face.

“Well, Mistress Elena,” said the witch maid,
“you smell and look dreadful.”

I grinned sheepishly.

“I’ve taken the liberty of drawing you a
bath.” She pointed to a doorway on my right, and as my eyes
adjusted to the darkness, I could make out a round wooden tub.

I sighed. “I won’t pretend that I don’t
smell like I’ve been sleeping in the horse stables. A bath sounds
heavenly.”

Celeste moved about and lit four more
sconces on the walls. I took a moment and looked around. The
bedroom was larger than Rose’s entire cottage. It had an attached
bathing chamber and a dressing room. The four-poster bed was piled
high with blankets and embroidered pillows, and a dresser stood
next to the wall. There was a table with a collection of books, a
platter of food, and tall jug of water. I blinked, disoriented for
a moment, and let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

I’d never had a room of my own, let alone
one with such fine furniture. There was no doubt this room wasn’t
the best in the fortress, but it was a hell of a lot better than
the oubliettes. If I didn’t know that the two coven guards were
posted outside my door, I would have felt that the witch king was
treating me like a guest.

But why had they not thrown me in the
oubliettes with the men?
They could probably still have
retrieved me every morning for the witch trials.
So why the room
and the witch maid? Why the food?

Perhaps it was because he had seen my mother
in me. I remembered the way his eyes had rolled over my body, and
although the thought of him admiring me turned my blood cold, I
suspected that was the reason I was being hosted so well.

I practically ran to the table and grabbed
handfuls of cheese, bread, and delicious spiced meats. I ate some
raspberry tarts and washed it all down with clear cold water.

I heard giggling and turned to see Celeste
shaking her head.

“Slow down, or you’re going to choke.”

But as I savored the goat cheese and the
moist bread filled with nuts, I thought of the men. There was
enough food here for all of them.

“Is there a way to send the rest of this
food to the humans in the oubliettes?”

I wiped my tears away quickly, but I knew
she saw. I was surprised how much these men meant to me. Part of it
was the connection they had with Jon, but it was also because I’d
grown attached to them.
How could I eat when they were
starving?
It wasn’t right.

I thought she’d spit at me for suggesting
something like that. But she surprised me.

“I’ll do what I can.”

I didn’t understand the genuine concern that
she showed, nor the flicker of dark resentment that flashed in her
eyes.

“It’ll have to be at night when the west
tower is quiet, when most of the witches are asleep,” said Celeste.
“But I’ll bring them this food and water, that way the kitchens
won’t notice any supplies missing. Yes. I think I can manage
that.”

She appeared to take me into her confidence
when she spoke.

“I can usually slip in and out of the halls
without anyone ever knowing. I can choose to be invisible at times,
but mostly I am invisible.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant, but she had
lifted my spirits, and I put the remainder of the cheese back on
the platter. There was enough food here to last them for a few
days. If Celeste was honest about helping me, and I truly believed
she was, then we could feed the men. And that thought filled me
with renewed hope and courage.

I
would
get through these witch
trials.

“Thank you,” I said to Celeste.

It felt strange to smile.

“Are you a shifter witch then? Is that how
you can become invisible? Changing into something else? A rat
maybe? Things would be different if I could do magic like
that.”

Her smile faded, and she looked like I’d
insulted her.

“I’m sorry, Celeste,” I said quickly, hoping
I hadn’t destroyed the only chance for the men to get some food. “I
don’t know a lot about witches, this realm, or magic in general.
This is all rather new to me.”

I tried to reassure her. “I didn’t even know
there were such things as maids here. I thought only the great and
noble houses in Arcania had servants. You must have done something
terrible to end up waiting on me.”

Celeste shook her head and helped me to take
off my wet cloak. Her face was flushed.

“I serve at the witch king’s pleasure. All
lesser witches do. This is a very good post for me. Many lesser
witches would give anything for a post in the king’s service.”

“What are lesser witches?”

“Witches who have little or no magic in
their blood, like me.”

I remembered the high witch, Ada, had
mentioned that not all witches could do magic, even the ones who
weren’t like me. But it still seemed strange.

I couldn’t look at her. “You…you
can’t
do magic?”

Her situation hit home with me. In the same
way that those born in the Pit were considered lesser human beings,
so too were witches with less power regarded as servants. It
explained why she wasn’t in her clan colors.

“I did magic once,” she said. I could sense
her smile, even though she was behind me, trying to untangle my
hair from my cloak.

“When I was six. I remember it well. With
just a flick of my fingers, I grew a rosebush for my mother. My
family is all from the Elemental clan, and I’m the only one who
can’t do magic. But I am rather skilled in potions. My gift lies
with brewing tonics.”

I pictured Celeste stirring a giant
cauldron.

“That’s really impressive.”

Rose would smile if I were able to sprout
flowers from the ground.

“I can’t do magic either. Never have. Never
will.”

“That’s not what I heard,” she teased.

She gave my cloak a tug and pulled it free
from the rest of my clothes. I heard debris falling from it. I
could only imagine what had been stuck there.

I turned to look at her. “What have you
heard? I just got here?”

She looked smug. “Well, you’d be surprised
how fast news travels in the fortress. There’s not much else for
witch servants to do around here, and we would trade anything for
juicy gossip.”

I raised my brows. “Such as…?”

“I know you claim to be a steel maiden, but
that it remains to be seen if you really are.”

She smiled as she began to untangle my hair
with her fingers.

“I don’t have the magic that would enable me
to sense if you have any blood magic in you. I know that you
arrived here with humans, and that you traveled with a very
powerful male witch from the Elemental clan.”

“What do you know of him? Of Fawkes?”

Celeste frowned as she successfully pulled
out a clump of mud from my hair. “Not that much. Only that he used
to be the witch king’s coven general, many years ago. They had a
falling out, and he left and hadn’t been seen since then. Not until
you arrived with him.”

I had glimpsed the new coven general. He had
stood next to the witch king when we had first been interviewed. He
had none of the light or empathy that Fawkes showed in his
eyes.

Fawkes was a true mystery. There was history
there that I wanted to uncover. The more I uncovered about what had
transpired between him and the witch king, the more I would know
about the king himself. I certainly did not trust the king in the
way I trusted Fawkes.

Something occurred to me. “I noticed that
some of the witches wear jeweled pendants. The witch king and queen
have them, and so do the coven guards. What are they?”

The witch maid nodded. “Magecrafts. Only
witches with powerful magic can wear them. It is a great honor. The
magecrafts don’t always accept the bearer. The witch must have
powerful blood magic.”

“What are they for?”

“They’re like conduits. They amplify a
witch’s natural power and make them even more powerful.”

But Fawkes didn’t wear a magecraft.
Was
it because the magecrafts didn’t accept him or was it that Fawkes
didn’t want to wear one?

“But not all witches wear them…why?”

“Well,” said the witch maid, “the old
teachings forbid the use of conduits.”

“But the witch king wears one.”

The witch maid nodded.

“Yes. Things have changed over the years.
The witch king altered the old laws and created new ones.”

Celeste let out a frustrated breath. “I’m
sorry, Mistress Elena, I’m afraid we’ll have to cut some of those
knots from your hair. I don’t even think magic could untangle this
mess.”

“Cut it,” I said. “I’m not here to pamper my
vanity. I don’t care about my hair.”

I let out a shaky breath. I wanted to share
my feelings with this witch. I felt I could trust her because she
appeared to be like me in many ways. We were both different, and
neither of us could do magic like the other witches. We were both
lesser witches.