Lovely Dark Things

SEVEN (ISELEN POV)

"The Pale Queen is the Goddess of the Dead, obviously. My mother knows her son, he's the underworld gatekeeper and they've shared knowledge, secrets and magic tricks for centuries. In fact, he gave her a winged horse as a present. But the boy's mother is crazy... She says she's in love with me and is determined to marry me so I become her consort." The King decides to talk to me finally, before leaning towards a side table to pour some glasses of wine. That's a good idea, I think we all need a drink to recover from the shock and soothe our nerves... above all her mother needs it.

"Don't you want to become the king of the Underworld?" I ask confused.

"No, because I should die before and, to be honest, I don't feel like doing that. This is why there's no temple devoted to this goddess in Baalberith. I bet she sent my fake sister to kill me and send me down there... She's nuts, seriously."

"I understand, your main goal has always been to get back your father's throne," I nod before averting my eyes to the Queen who's still sitting on her chair, staring at the silver pendant with a mix of sadness and bewilderment. "Your Majesty... My Lady..."

The beautiful elven woman remains silent and she doesn't even react when I call her, I'm pretty sure her mind is a thousand of kilometres from this fortress, back in her husband's palace, probably, remembering the day her children were born. The King pours wine and puts a glass on the dressing table but his mother ignores him, shaking her head while grumbling a few words so quietly that we can't hear what she's saying, I guess she's talking to herself in her mind. It's weird for me to see her like that, this woman is supposed to be the most lethal creature in this world, and yet she looks so sad...

"Morathi..." I whisper and the Queen looks up, frowning, staring at me puzzled like she's just woken up from a deep sleep. Ruby holds her breath next to me, taken aback by my audacity. It's been thousands of years since the last time someone said My Lady's name out loud and this is why most elves have forgotten it, some others remember it, probably, but no one dares to say it to her face. "Are you sure they stole your baby?"

"Yes, I know they did," the lady answers firmly, dropping the charm on the floor to be able to take the pink blanket embroidered with silver thread. The edge of the fabric is frayed and the Queen touches it with her fingertip, absentmindedly, while my active brain comes up with a plan.

"I'll find her."

"Iselen, babe," Ruby clears her throat standing next to me, looking at the Lady of the Dark Elves, worried, even if the Queen is focused on the blanket and not paying attention to us. "Shadowblade is looking for her, he's the best assassin from the temple and, if he's been unable to find her, you won't..." I smile while putting my index on her lips to hush her. The assassin looks calmer now that she's realized that I won't be punished for talking to the Queen so boldly but she's still a little anxious, there's always the possibility that My Lady can lose it and will kill us both without thinking twice, I guess.

"Ruby Rose, you of all people should know that this human is very smart and has resources that dark elves don't know, in fact, in this case we both have information that Shadowblade never got but that's crucial if we want to find the princess." My wife blinks puzzled while I turn around to look at the King. "We need some protective charms and a ship to take us to the light elves' island, like we did years ago. We have to sneak into the Phoenix King's palace through the tunnel again."

"But there's no one left alive of that time, no one who witnessed the kidnapping of the baby to tell us what happened," Ruby replies baffled. "I killed the last wizard, do you remember?"

"But there're still libraries in Lothern, one in the palace and the one that belonged to Khaladris," I answer smiling. "We need to check books, letters, documents... A conspiracy of that calibre had to leave a trail, one of those involved kept some evidence to cover his ass in case something went wrong and the Great King found out about it, he could've pointed at other plotters and escape punishment. Or maybe there's a trail in account books: food for the baby, diapers, the salary of the nanny who took care of her... Or in the logbook of the ship that took the baby out of the island. Believe me, honey, I know it... I'm a bookworm and found some things in old books that would surprise you, both in my world and in Baalberith. Even the most secret complot leaves a trail because there's always a person like me who believes it's important to leave a record for posterity."