Kade gave me a look but didn’t say any more. He knew I would talk about it when I was ready. For now, I needed to stay busy. Finn brushed against me in his comforting way, then the three of us got to work.
I took the bedside to the left, Kade walked to the right, and Finn shuffled under the large, heavy-dark-timber, antique, four-post frame of her bed. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I opened the drawer. My first surprise inside was the novel sitting atop a white blanket. It wasn’t the fact that there was a book in there — the Red Queen loved to read — but the bare-chested, muscled man on the front suggested this was a straight-up romance novel, which I did not think would be to the former leader’s taste. Just another one of her little secrets. Thankfully, this one was more amusing than anything else.
I flipped through it to make sure nothing fell out, before setting it aside. Then I gently lifted out the small blanket and my heart pinched. It was a baby blanket. Crocheted white with a yellow trim. Since I was her only child, that meant … this was mine. She had kept it?
Something deep inside of me fissured; an ache settled in close to my chest as I clutched the dusty piece of cloth. Squeezing my eyes closed as tightly as I could, I forced myself to set it aside, knowing that all of my regrets were for nothing. The past could not be changed. I had to let my pain go or it could consume me. Underneath the blanket was a card. It looked like a hand-painted watercolor, on thick, expensive cardboard, an array of flowers on the front. I flipped it open to find a perfect cursive script inside.
Queen Rosalina,
The nights are long and cold without you. Never have I felt such unbridled love and adoration for any woman as I do for you. Your power and beauty are unmatched and I long to spend the rest of my life with you. I wish in another world, in another time, that we could openly be together. Until then, our love will have to remain my most treasured secret.
All my heart,
Prince Luca.
Anger coursed through me as I chucked the letter back in the drawer. The winter prince had played the Red Queen like a fiddle. He never cared for her, or maybe he did once, but it was not enough. He killed her. That bastard had to die.
“Ari, sweetheart, you need to come over here and see this.” Kade’s voice brought me out of my rage, and I looked up to see him standing in front of a large painting of a lake. The piece was clearly ancient; the thick, gilded frame was starting to peel and darken in places.
“What is it?” I stood and crossed to him. Finn was close behind, having finished his inspection under the bed.
Just as I reached Kade’s side, a heavy energy settled over me, pressing down into my center. I swallowed hard, fighting the urge to rub my hands up and down my bare arms. It felt … evil and ugly, crawling like electricity across my skin.
“What is that?” I asked.
Kade’s brows were furrowed. “I don’t know, but it feels dark. Very dark.”
I reached out to touch the painting and his hand caught mine mid-air. “No. Let’s get Violet and Nikoli first.”
Reluctantly I withdrew my hand. He was right, the darkness here was not of any normal magic variety. It would be foolish to take the risk.
Somehow I’d just have to find my patience. Wherever it was buried.
Twenty minutes later, Violet and Nikoli stood at our sides. My best friend was rubbing her temples as she stared up at the painting.
“You okay, Vi?” I reached out to gently touch her arm, but stopped myself when I realized what I was doing.
She nodded, giving me a wan smile. “It’s making me nauseous is all.”
Nikoli took her hand, gently linking their fingers together. Apparently she had no problem with him touching her, because she didn’t pull away.
Kade’s magic born stepped back a few feet, pulling Violet with him. “I have an idea,” he said to her. “We should invoke the power of three.”
Violet looked much better now that she was away from the energy, and at his suggestion an almost full grin lifted her cheeks. The pair stared at each other for a few extra-long seconds, until finally Kade asked, with some humor in his tone, “What’s the power of three?”
With some effort, Nikoli finally pulled his eyes from my friend and turned to his king. “It’s a spell which requires three magic born. A triangle of power, focused on a single point. Together we should have enough energy to pierce through the darkness, and hopefully learn what is being hidden there. Either the painting is a powerful dark artifact, or it is hiding a powerful dark artifact. Either way, with this level of dark power, I would not want any of us to touch it until we learn a little more about what we’re dealing with.”
Violet grinned. “We need Baladar. The power of three is any three magic born combining their energy, which considering our limited numbers, is actually harder to achieve than one would think.”
“You rang?” Baladar popped his head into the room.
I jumped, cursing. Freaking magic born.
Violet looked more animated than I had seen her in a long time. “We need to do a power of three spell.”
Baladar’s face lit up too. Apparently this spell was a big deal. “Oh, fun. I haven’t done one of those in ages.”
As he stepped closer to us, his attention was drawn to the painting, and I saw what looked like a dark shadow flicker in his gaze. The lightning color which broke up his icy blue eyes shimmered, reacting to the energy. “I see.”
He examined the piece for a long time, stepping closer and closer until he was only about a foot away. He ran his hand a few inches off the painting. Eventually, he turned and returned to where we were all waiting.
“I’m glad you called me before tackling this. The painting is not emitting the darkness, it comes from an object hidden behind it. It’s beyond my knowledge of the dark arts, and trust me, I have a lot of information squirreled away about that branch of magic.” He looked more than a little perturbed by this.
Shaking that off, Baladar rolled up his sleeves and started barking orders. “Violet, fetch some twenty-four karat gold powder. Nikoli, get the salt.”
They both nodded and did their freaky magic born thing, disappearing in an instant. Baladar knelt before Finn, who was at my side. “Sweet Finn, might I trouble you for a few drops of your majestic blood?”
My eyes widened, but Finn just calmly tipped his head to show his assent.
Are you sure? I asked my other half.
He needs it, was Finn’s reply.
Baladar produced a small dagger from within his cloak. Finn extended his right paw and Baladar whispered a few words before cleanly slicing a small incision and taking only a few drops of my familiar’s blood, catching it in a tube. Finn didn’t even flinch, which was no surprise to me. He was one of the toughest beings I had ever met.
“Boo!” Violet yelled just over my right shoulder, and I jumped, clutching my chest.
With a laugh and a wink, she stepped past me.
“You need therapy,” I told her.