Chapter 84: An ominous announcement

The letter to Maz was short and specific.

Maz,

I need a birthday gift for Cardan. A Hel horse, the best you can find. Not just any horse. Something magnificent. Something that will make every Aurelian stallion look like a plow pony. He deserves it. He's been working himself to the bone for this kingdom, and he needs something that's just for him.

Can you help?

—Nyx

Maz's response arrived within days, carried by a shadow-raven that appeared on my balcony with a dramatic caw.

Little sister,

You ask for a Hel horse? You wound me. Of course I can help. I've already spoken to the breeders in the Abyssal Marches. They have a stallion, midnight black, silver mane, eyes like burning stars. He's been trained for kings. He's been waiting for a rider worthy of him. I'll send him through the portal with a handler. He should arrive in time for the birthday banquet.

But I have to ask, are you sure about this? A Hel horse is a significant gift. It will bond with Cardan for life. It will be loyal to him above all others. Are you ready for that?

—Maz

I smiled. Maz understood the implications. A Hel horse would be more than a gift. It would be a declaration. A promise. A piece of Hel that would always be at Cardan's side, even when I couldn't be.

I'm sure, I wrote back. Send the horse.

\-———————-

Elowyn found me in the library three days before the birthday.

She swept in like a golden storm, her expression already set in the familiar lines of barely concealed hostility. She was carrying a scroll, the guest list, I assumed, and her knuckles were white around it.

"The King's birthday banquet," she said, her voice clipped. "I've finalized the arrangements. The guest list, the menu, the entertainment. Everything."

"Congratulations."

"Don't patronize me." She unrolled the scroll and thrust it toward me. "I came to tell you that your presence is expected. As the Queen Consort, you'll sit at the head table. You'll smile and nod and look appropriately adoring. You won't interfere with the proceedings."

"Interfere? I wasn't planning to at all."

"You weren't planning to at all." Elowyn's eyes narrowed. "That's the problem. You've been so busy playing the commoner's champion that you've forgotten your duties to this court."

"My duties?"

"The Queen Consort has responsibilities remember? She attends events. She supports her husband. She doesn't go traipsing through the slums, stirring up the rabble."

"The rabble," I repeated. "You mean the people of this kingdom. The people who grow our food and build our homes and die in our mills."

Elowyn's expression flickered. "They're lesser Fae. They're barely above humans. They don't matter."

"They matter to me. They are still citizens of Aurelia."

"Yes. That's precisely the problem." She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a hiss. "You're making a fool of yourself, Nyx. And worse, you're making a fool of my brother. The court is laughing at you. They're laughing at him for indulging your little... philanthropy projects. What disgrace!"

"Let them laugh. I've been laughed at before."

"Not like this." Her smile was blade-velvet. "They're saying the King married a peasant lover. A hel monster who prefers the company of commoners to the nobility. They're saying you've forgotten your place."

"My place is wherever I choose to stand. And right now, I'm standing with the people of this kingdom. All of them. Not just the ones with titles."

Elowyn stared at me. For a moment, her mask slipped, and I saw something raw and ugly beneath. Then she smiled again, that cold, calculated smile that never reached her eyes.

"Very noble. Very inspiring. But let's see how noble you feel when the court turns against you completely. When even Cardan starts to wonder if he married a queen or a revolutionary."

"Cardan knows exactly who he married."

"Does he? Because from where I'm standing, he married a woman who spends her days in the slums and her nights writing letters to human kings. That's not a queen. That's a liability."

I rose. My shadows stirred. "Are you finished?"

"For now." She turned toward the door. "Oh, and Nyx? There's one more thing. At the birthday banquet, I'll be making an announcement. A significant one."

"What announcement?"

"Lady Freya's child." Elowyn's smile widened. "The priestesses who examined her are confident it's a boy. And on Cardan's birthday, I intend to announce that the child will be named heir to the throne."

I went very still. "You can't do that."

"I can. I'm the King's sister. I have the support of the lords and the high priestess. And I have the sacred flame on my side." She tilted her head. "The people want an heir, Nyx. They want certainty. Freya's child will give them that."

"The child isn't even born yet. You don't know it's a boy. The priestesses could be wrong."

"The priestesses are never wrong."

"The priestesses can't always be right. And even if they're right, even if the child is a boy, it is not your decision to name him heir."

"Isn't it?" Elowyn's smile was triumphant. "We'll see."

She swept out of the library, leaving me alone with my fury and the slow, creeping realization that she had outmaneuvered me.

The birthday banquet was no longer just a celebration. It was a battlefield.

And Elowyn had already chosen her weapon.

\-———-

The gown arrived from Hel two days before the banquet.

It was delivered by a shadow courier who materialized in my chambers with a trunk of polished obsidian and a note from Vesper in her spiky, elegant script.

My dear Princess,

I have outdone myself. Wear this and remind those golden fools exactly who you are.

—Vesper

I opened the trunk.

The gown was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was made of silk so deep and dark it seemed to drink the light around it, yet when it shifted, it shimmered with hidden colors, violet and silver and the faint, ethereal blue of starlight on water. The bodice was embroidered with tiny obsidian beads that caught the candlelight and scattered it like captured stars. The train flowed behind like liquid night, and the sleeves were long and sheer, designed to move like smoke when I walked.

"It's stunning," Liriel breathed.

"Vesper is right," I said, running my fingers over the fabric. "She has outdone herself."

"You'll outshine every woman in that hall."

"That's the point."

I tried it on that afternoon. The silk slid over my skin like cool water, fitting perfectly to every curve. My handmaidens circled me, adjusting pins and smoothing wrinkles, their faces alight with approval.

"The King won't be able to take his eyes off you," Thalia said.

"Then he'll have to share with the rest of the court." I turned before the mirror, watching the way the gown moved. "What about the horse? Has it arrived?"

Sera nodded. "This morning. It's in the royal stables, under heavy guard. Your brother managed to send it fast enough. The stable hands are terrified of it."

"Good. They should be. A Hel horse is not a pet, it's a predator that allows itself to be ridden." I paused. "I'll go see it now. Make sure it's settled."

\-——————————-

The royal stables were a sprawling complex of white marble and gilded trim, far grander than any building meant to house animals had a right to be. The Aurelian horses were beautiful creatures, they were sleek and golden, bred for elegance rather than endurance. They watched me pass with mild and placid curiosity.

And then I reached the shadow-steed's stall.

It was unlike anything else in the stables. The horse was massive, taller than the Aurelian stallions by at least two hands, with a coat of midnight black that seemed to absorb the light. Its mane and tail were silver-white, flowing like water even in the still air. Its eyes burned with a soft, internal fire.. The eyes of a creature that had seen decades pass and would see centuries more.

"You're terrifying," I murmured.