Page 58 of Court of Winter
“No, Nori’s right.” Nuwin’s eyes gentled. “It can happen like how it has for you. It’s rare, but it can. Our mother, the queen, was similar. She bloomed late and has black hair, although she has wings.” He shrugged. “But no matter, you and she are the same. She also has extraordinary magic, although her magic is different from yours.”
My jaw dropped. “What are you talking about? The queen doesn’t have black hair.”
“She does actually,” Nuwin insisted. “Her hair is hidden under an illusion to make it appear silver. She’s lived that way her entire life. Most in the continent have no idea of her true hair color.”
My jaw dropped so completely I was surprised it wasn’t on the floor.The queen has black hair? Truly?
But despite that unbelievable revelation, I inched away from him, frombothof them, since I didn’t like the intent way the crown prince was staring at me or the wonder in Nuwin’s eyes. Despite the queen’s hair color, they were wrong about me. Totally and completely delusional. I was magicless, wingless, and defective. I didn’t have power, and I certainly couldn’t createoremand save the continent. Whatever that even meant.
I rubbed my hands up and down my upper arms. “Why do you think I have magic?”
The prince spread his arms wide. “Thisis why. I suspected you might when I saw you working in your garden at your home, and—”
“You saw me in my garden?”
He nodded.
“When?”
“A few days before I took you.”
My eyebrows shot up when I recalled a moment in my garden, after Vorl had attacked me, when it felt as if I was being watched. That had beenreal? The prince had been the cause of that feeling?
My eyes narrowed to slits as I put my hands on my hips. “You were spying on me?”
The Death Master shrugged, and I was itching to tell him that made him a total creep.
“I had to know. Your garden was the most abundant, vivid, bright, and flourishing patch of land that I’d encountered during my entire span of the continent. I didn’t think it was possible anymore to grow plants like that. With theoremdiminishing and the crops dying, I no longer thought such life could be sustained in our climate.”
My entire body grew rigid, especially after hearing those fae females gossiping in Firlim’s market all those weeks ago, seeing the prince’s reaction to that gossip when we’d been in High Liss, and then hearing the rumblings of concern that had been whispering through the castle during the past month. “So it’s true? It’s actually been confirmed that ourorem’sdying?”
Nuwin and the crown prince shared a veiled look.
“You might as well tell her,” Nuwin said. “Word’s getting out more and more. We’ve had several incidences since you left. If she’s to help us fix this problem, she should know.”
“You’re right.” The prince took a deep breath before addressing me. “It’s true. Entire territories’ crop lands have died out completely.”
My heart beat harder, thundering louder and louder with each breath I took. Theoremwas dying. Crops were withering. Solis fae were going to starve to death.
All this time...Tormesh had been right.
My eyes squeezed shut when I remembered my brother returning last summer after his march with the Solis Guard. He’d voiced the same concern, saying something was wrong with our land. It hadn’t been as bad then. He hadn’t said entire territories’ crops were dead, but he’d grown up in a laboring family. He knew what healthy crops should look like, and he’d suspected that something was amiss.
Opening my eyes, I curled my fingers into my palms. “Why don’t more fae know of this? Why is it being hushed?”
The prince and his brother shared another look.
“It’s a delicate situation,” Nuwin finally replied.
But my attention didn’t leave the crown prince. He held my stare, unflinching, but then his eye twitched slightly, as though he could feel the rage that was burning through me.
Gritting my teeth, I bit out, “Yet you now think that I can createorem, and therefore, I can solve the problem of our continent’s dying crops?”
The prince’s expression was impossible to read as he gave a barely perceptible nod.
I scoffed. “How ironic. My own brother came to this court a full season ago, feeling it was his duty to ensure the court knew of the dire situation of our continent’s food source, and do you know what was done to him for it?”
The prince stilled.