At sunset, the Queen called them back to the sitting room, where they were relieved to see Jorel's face had regained colour. Tanila herself looked a little ashamed, and Eldon had the good grace to look only slightly smug as he held a sleeping Winter. "I must apologise," the Queen said, once the women had taken their seats. "Nothing was working, and I feared Jorel might die. But then Eldon came in with Winter, and the moment he laid the baby next to Jorel, she recovered incredibly quickly. His presence also eradicated the shadow on my own mind." She took a deep breath. "I felt as if I was watching one of my own lost children taking their dying breaths, and it frightened me to the point where I could not tell friend from foe. I pray you can forgive me for my boorish behaviour - it was most out of line, and I swear to you on my life it will not happen again."
"It's not your fault," Hope assured her. "Eldon was the first to work it out when I mentioned how powerful night elf magic is, and we were able to guess that whoever broke Jorel's spell left a nasty present for any elf who happened upon her. That elf happened to be you, and now I'm starting to wonder if it would have activated for anyone else."
"No idea," Jorel said from her nest of blankets. Though her face was still pale, her lips had lost their terrifying grey tinge, and already she looked in better health than when she'd been earlier in the day. "I didn't sense it, but I did feel something nasty do something equally nasty to my brain, and then everything became a blur, as if I was drowning in light."
"It was probably a geas," Saanvi said. "Designed to make Your Grace feel the pain of losing those five children, and probably also making you see Jorel as one of them. It's a guess, but that seems the most likely outcome."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMw62NjDJ8L
"You could be right," Tanila said. "For my part, I am very glad that nasty business is over, but I fear for the long-term repurcussions when the author behind the attack - Navi, if I was to hazard a guess - finds out that not only has his death-spell been cancelled, but also the cause behind it."
"That's why we're going to send Winter back," Hope said, sharing a look with her friends, who all nodded. "It's a crazy idea, but if he can work that much magic as an infant, he's going to be an incredibly powerful tool when he grows up. And with that survival geas still attached to him, any child he fathers will be a night elf like him, and so on, until their numbers are enough that the geas won't be needed anymore."
"Unless those assholes find a way around that," Chika said gloomily.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcatdaz7xhh
"They can try," Jorel said firmly. "The moment Winter's presence manifested itself in my mind, the light drowning me was absorbed, and each subsequent attack was nullified with a terrifying swiftness that made me temporarily forget the author of that defence is an infant. As Hope has stated, he will be a force to be reckoned with when he gets older."
Tanila nodded. "Very well," she said. "Then it seems we set a trap, with Winter as bait. Hope, I commend your courage in letting your grandson go so soon after reclaiming him, and I pray your courage will one day be rewarded as it's deserved."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5FiEJPJbR6
"I just want those bastards to choke on the fruits of their labors after all the hell they put me, Scarlett, and countless other women through," Hope said through gritted teeth, tears in her eyes as she looked at her sleeping grandson. "Winter is the means by which the council will finally be brought down, and if he's not the one doing the bringing down, it will be one of his children, or grandchildren, et cetera. He's got the skills, and the smarts to play the long game."
"How best are we going to set this trap?" Tanila asked.
"One of us has to go back with Winter," Saanvi said firmly. "I'll go. They can do whatever the hell they want with me afterwards, but so long as Winter reaches Pandora in one piece, it won't matter what happens to me."
Chika took her foster daughter's hand, tears in her eyes. "I'm going to miss you," she said. "You've been the best daughter I could ever have imagined, and I'm proud of you for standing up for what's right, rather than letting those bastards get the better of you. Give them hell, and send them my regards; I still owe them big time for what they did, and you let them know I will be coming after them."
Saanvi smirked, but there were tears in her eyes as well as she embraced her foster mother. But something in that exchange niggled at Hope, and once Saanvi and Chika parted, she voice that niggling. "Chika," she said slowly, "you told me that Saanvi was stolen from you as a baby. But Saanvi told us she found out about her birth mother before fleeing Pandora."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXxsrgFHxzV
Chika wiped her eyes as she gave Hope a watery smile. "I thought you'd pick up on that," she said. "No, Saanvi's not mine. But she was stolen from me when the council started suspecting I wasn't as loyal to them as I claimed. And it hurt, because a year prior, the daughter I actually gave birth to was taken from me. Saanvi's loss stung as deeply as if I'd lost my firstborn all over again."
"No wonder you didn't like talking about it," Hope said, smiling sadly at her friend. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to pry."
"You weren't," Chika assured her. "For all intents and purposes, Saanvi is my daughter, but I owe those bastards for taking her and my firstborn, and I want them to know I'm still out for blood after all this time."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNoo55ZcqT
"Which is why I have to go back," Saanvi said firmly. "Like I said, so long as Winter is delivered like the proverbial Trojan Horse, they can do whatever the hell they want to me."
Hope nodded. "Then let's invite those bastards to dinner," she said.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEA9heI8Yl
