Page 27 of Tanglewood Magic (The Three Sisters 2)
Circe glanced at the guard in the hall who’d laughed at her earlier. She suspected he could sense the power coming off them, even if he didn’t quite know what they were doing. Most witches and wizards enjoyed a robust intuition about the use of magic. They were born with it.
“What’s your name?” Circe asked him.
The man said nothing, just stared at her blankly.
“You know this is wrong. Medea has always treated you well. You have to let us out. Help us stop Zelaria.”
The man pointed at his ears and shook his head. “Might as well stop flappin’ your gums, witch. I can’t hear a word of it. The enchantment on the bars mutes you. You can hear me, but I can’t hear a word you say. Keeps inmates from casting incantations on their guards.” He leaned back in his chair.
“Fuck!” Circe whirled, and this time when she addressed Isis, she didn’t bother to do it in her head. “Any ideas, sister?”
Isis’s already dark eyes turned black. “Brody won’t notice I’m missing until tomorrow’s hunt.”
Circe folded her arms. “Rhys will notice I’m gone as soon as he gets back to Bloodgood’s. There’s no one tending the apothecary. He knows I would never just take off like this.”
“He won’t know to look for you here.” Isis frowned.
“No.” Circe drummed her fingers against her bicep.
Isis hung her head between her knees. “Yeah, I’d say we’re totally screwed.”
ChapterFourteen
“Fates, what happened here?” Rhys landed his broom outside Bloodgood’s, noticing deep, paw-shaped divots where a team of vultar hounds had stood in the street outside his apothecary. A scuffle of footprints led from a rumpled welcome mat to the place where ski marks grooved the snow. He had a bad feeling about this.
Rushing inside, he found the shop empty. “Circe?” He called up the stairs to her, but he knew in his gut she wasn’t there. He was too late. If his theory was correct, Zelaria had likely come for her as soon as Medea had left the kingdom. Cursing, he ran into the storage room and started packing his basket. He had an idea of how to get her back, but it was going to take more than a bit of luck to see it through.
Once he had what he needed, he rushed back outside and mounted his broom, heading straight for Maelhaven Palace. If he was right about what was going on here, he’d find Circe and her sister in the dungeon. If he succeeded in freeing them—and that was a big if—they’d all have to act quickly to save Medea and Tavyss.
Even now as he soared over the Dark Mountains, he saw troops lining up at the Paragon border. He didn’t fully understand why Zelaria would make that move, but he didn’t like it. It almost looked like Darnuith was going to war.
He landed outside the front gate and smiled at the soldier at the guardhouse. He was relieved to see it was Neville Kent. He’d treated the boy before in his apothecary when he broke an arm as a child. Grown up now, he still had the same guileless expression he wore as a lad.
“Hello, Neville.” Rhys gave an animated wave. “How’s the elbow?”
The boy grinned back and swung his forearm around. “Good as new, thanks to you, Doc. What brings you by today?”
“Just delivering a few tonics for the palace stores.” He gave Neville a bright smile.
“It’s a bad time, Rhys. No one’s up there but royal guards. Some weird stuff going on today. The queen’s gone, and a bunch of my buddies were called to the border. Makes me nervous, like we’re goin’ ta war or somethin’. And there’ve been carriages coming and going, all secret-like.”
Rhys shrugged. “Eh, you know me. I don’t follow politics. Bad for the soul.”
They laughed together.
“How is it that the troops can be called up anyway, if the queen isn’t here? I thought she was the only one with that power.”
Neville nodded like he’d thought the same. “I’m not supposed to talk about it…”
Rhys waited, tapping his basket.
“Keep it to yourself, but it turns out that if a queen is incapacitated or killed during her reign, her adviser takes on the role. My captain explained it to me. I guess the wizard’s council is considering Medea incapacitated since she left with Tavyss for Paragon without clearing it with them. It’s already been announced in the papers there. He’s the rightful king, and he’s taking back the throne.”
“I hadn’t heard,” Rhys lied, keeping his voice flat.
Neville’s head bobbed. “It’s true. And the council is concerned. They say it’s a conflict of interest, so they gave Zelaria Medea’s powers. The queen has to be alive and present for the ritual of the Sacred Lots to work, you see. And it makes sense if you think about it. If someone assassinates the queen, her adviser will continue her rule as she planned it. Keeps other kingdoms from targeting her, hoping for change. And since, according to the council, Medea has effectively abandoned the kingdom by supporting Tavyss’s rise to power, that puts Zelaria in charge.”
The realization seized Rhys in an icy grip. Never in Rhys’s life had a queen abdicated her position. No queen of Darnuith had ever been assassinated while on the throne. He’d forgotten the ins and outs of the laws concerning the position, the ones he’d learned in school and then never thought of again. Neville was right. One queen must name the next. Ferula had done it when she’d named Medea after the Fates had chosen her. If Medea stepped down from her position as queen, the ritual of the Sacred Lots would happen again, and Medea would speak the name of her successor.
