Of Thorn and Thread (Daughters of Eville #4) - Chanda Hahn Page 0,104

furrowed as he was fighting the spell. So I had to go deeper into his mind, further back, and I erased every memory that included me, until the gray faded away.

“It is done.” I wiped at my tears.

Rhea clutched her dress and wiped away a few of her own. “Why did you do that?”

Mother watched the entire exchange, her face void of emotion. “Because he is the prince and must rule the kingdom of Rya, and Aura cannot survive in his world.”

“Oh,” Rhea said sadly, as she realized what I had known my whole life.

I wiped my hand across my face and stood to face my mother, smoothing my dress, feeling the nervousness wash over me.

“Now, there is something I will need your assistance with. Do you think you can help me?”

“I will help you,” Mother said softly.

Chapter Thirty-One

I checked the wards. They remained undisturbed since my last trek below the fae court. Placing my hand on the stone surface, I let my magic unlock the door, and I slipped into the cell where my mother slept.

Like I had done with Liam, I listened to her dreams. They were restless, filled with pain and anguish as she relived the night of the attack and my presumed death over and over. I sent a sliver of magic her way, spelled on a whispered breath, soothing her turmoil. With a touch, I took her pain as my own, easing her dreams, gently reminding her I was here. That hope was not lost, and that her fae court was coming to life again under my care.

Her breathing evened, and the nightmare faded. I relaxed. Twice a day, I came to check on her and spent time healing her broken and scattered mind.

“What is broken can be fixed,” Mother Eville had said when she helped me create new vaults deep below the never wood trees.

“I can repair her mind,” I promised.

“I believe you. You are more than capable and strong enough to do so. But it will take time. Years, even.”

“Then it will take years.”

Mother Eville nodded, her face solemn as she looked over the new archways built out of stone, and she tested each of the wards along the base of the doors. “I wasn’t referring to the fae queen.” She pointed to the roots of the never tree that hung from the dirt ceiling. “You can rebuild the fae court.”

“Who says I want to? I like the quiet of living alone.”

She shrugged. “Suit yourself; but just remember, as an empath, life is inevitably drawn to you. You won’t be alone for long.”

Mother Eville’s words stuck in my mind as I touched the strange woman before me. For that is what she was: a stranger, and not my mother. I focused on a particularly devastating memory and tempered it. Repairing the mind took a delicate hand. Tatiana’s mind was like a vase whose varnish had crackled. Each day, I would mend another crack, but there were thousands of fissures. It really would take me years. But I believed she would be queen of her court again, and I would bring them back to life.

As I left the vault, I turned to the one covered in black sigils and I shivered. I did not check on the dreams of the soul sleeping behind the door, nor would I ever. If I had my way, I would have killed him, but just like Mother Eville, I was not strong enough to follow through. Killing the queen had been an accident, and I could still feel the heavy weight upon my soul from her death, and that of Madam Esme’s. I would not be the instrument of death when it came to King Pharell. So as much as I hated it, I followed in Mother Eville’s footsteps, and wove the strongest sleeping curse I could upon him. A hundred years.

He would be preserved, protected behind the door, and I would guard it, keeping the evil deep inside where that tainted soul could not harm another person.

I walked up the stone steps and came above ground, raising my hands to block out the sun. The never trees had indeed grown under my care, and with the help of a little magic, most of the willow groves had sprung up almost overnight. The streams were already filled with undines as well.

“Dah!” Sneezewort called out in greeting as he waddled over to me, a shovel over his shoulder. Sneezewort and another had made the journey to Rya to help