Queen of the Magnetland (The Elemental Phases Book 5) (21 page)

“Right.” 
Dealing with the Cult was a lot like roleplaying a Tolkien book.  Sometimes,
the only way to communicate was by using their language.  Speak geek and
enter.  “
Obviously,
just being a human, the vitally important case of
your stolen jewelry is above my lowly pay grade.  But, I could tell you what I
know… for a price.”

Kingu’s
eyes narrowed.  “I will give you a unicorn.”

“Well,
that’s a strong offer, but…”

“Two
unicorns.”

“Ya
know, my house is kinda small for pets.  I’m gonna have to pass.”

“You
wish for gold, instead?”

“I
wish for Teja.”  Sullivan leveled a finger at him.  “You tell her she’d better
come here herself and explain what she wants from me.  If she doesn’t, I’ll
keep arresting every weirdo I see with a red stripe in his hair.  I don’t like
being spied on and I want answers.  When she shows up, I’ll let Alder go. 
Otherwise, my ‘terror’ will reign on
indefinitely
.”

Kingu
mulled that over.  “I will give her your message.”

“Good.” 
Sullivan was pleased with how easy that was.  “Your Zakkery pal was here this
morning, bailing out Chason Hickok.”

“Chason
and Zakkery?”  Job blinked.  “Why in the world would those two be together?”

“The
Magnet King has my necklace?”  Kingu said at the same time.

“Well,
Gods, unicorns, and royalty are all outside my jurisdiction.”  Sullivan
shrugged.  “But that’s where
I’d
start looking for your pendant.”

There is a
great difference in opinion regarding the advisability of telling fairy

stories….
Those containing a fierce or horrible element must, of course, be

promptly
ruled out.

Kate
Douglas Wiggin- “Children's Rights and Others”

The
good news was Mara had rectified the most important regret written on her
bucket list.  Chason
was
in love with her.

The
bad news was, he was in love with a
dead
her.

Some
porcelain doll version of the untouched Magnet Queen, who wore tulle dresses
and shined like the goddamn sun.  Chason was building shrines in that bitch’s
honor and refusing to even kiss Mara, because it was disloyal to her perfect
fucking highness.

Mara
ground her teeth together.

No
wonder Chason was refusing to call her by name.  It didn’t even matter to him
that she had one.  He wanted
his Match
and Mara had never been quite
good enough at that role.  Oh, Chason had always been devoted and kind.  But he
would have been devoted and kind to
any
Match Gaia had given him.  Mara
herself was completely incidental to his life.  He wanted a pristine ideal, not
a real person.

And
Mara had tried to be that for him --for everyone-- but it hadn’t been enough. 
Now, he’d reinvented her in that tomb and he finally had what he’d always
wanted:  A perfect queen.  Someone who made no mistakes and didn’t interrupt
his orderly schedule.  He and his flawless corpse bride were completely happy
without her, living out their own doomed Bronte novel.

Mara
hated Bronte novels.

The
fact that Chason said he loved a dead woman, after seventy years of not saying
it to
her
, was enraging.  Well, he had
said
it to Mara before, in
perfunctory, expected, wholly civilized ways.  But, he never
meant
it. 
Chason had never just looked at her and
said
it with absolute
conviction.  Not the way he just did for his lost Match.

And
Mara couldn’t go back to trying to be that woman for him.

She
didn’t even remember how.  Being dead and losing so much had changed her on a
level even she didn’t fully understand, yet.  A sudden and permanent shift had
occurred in the tectonic plates of her very being and the landscape could never
return to what it was before.

But,
since she wasn’t going anywhere, he was just going to have to get used to it.

Whether
he liked it or not, Mara was Queen of the Magnetland and she was fighting for
everything that was hers.

Including
her Match.

Chason
may never have chosen her, but Mara was choosing
him
.  This man belonged
to her and she wasn’t going to just give him up to the woman in the tomb.  Especially
not when he’d kissed her earlier the way he’d
never
kissed the old
Mara.  With a hot and messy passion that had left both of them panting and
wanting more.

Maybe
it was the Light Phase in her, but Mara
wanted
that wildness.  She
always had.  She wanted him to lose control and not be able to resist her, no
matter what the rules or conventions or obstacles between them.  For a moment
she’d had it and that gave her hope.

Chason
wanted
Mara
more than his Match.

She’d
felt it.

“Sit.” 
He held out her chair for her.  “I’ll prepared breakfast for you.”

Mara
sat down, hoping the rickety seat would hold.  “You can cook, now?”

“No.” 
But, he headed into the adjoining kitchen anyway.

Wonderful.

Mara
stuck her hands in her pockets, trying to keep warm while she waited.  She had
to keep her coat on indoors, because most of the glass was knocked from the
windows.  The damp air blew in, chilling the whole fortress and listlessly
blowing the dust.  The dining room looked like it had been used for sword
practice.  All the furniture was hacked apart and the curtains were shredded
straight up to the ceiling.

It
bothered her to see the Magnet Fortress in such ruins.  It had always been
drafty and unwelcoming, but it…
meant
something to her.  More than she
would have realized before.  Mara couldn’t allow it to just wither and die. 
The house and the grounds had to be restored.  And the Magnet Phases needed to be
back here, on their own land.

Something
had to be done to save Chason and this entire kingdom.

“So….
how long has the power been off?”  She called after a while.  It seemed like an
obvious place to start the home improvements.  He’d left the door to the
kitchen propped open, so he could keep an eye on her.  He seemed convinced that
she’d vanish the moment his back was turned.

She
craned her neck to watch him cooking, only to wish she hadn’t.  The condition
of the kitchen had her wincing and trying not to think about germs.

She’d
already died once this week.

“The
power’s out?”  Chason paused and squinted up at the ceiling like he just
noticed that the only light in the Fortress came from the reedy grey gloom
outside.

“You
should talk to the Electricity Phases about fixing it.”  Mara prompted.

“Why?”

“Why?” 
She echoed blankly.

“Why
bother?”

“Because…
it’s dark in here?”  It sounded like a question.

Chason
shook his head.  “The whole world is dark, now.”  He murmured vaguely.

Mara
tried a more direct approach.  “I want the lights fixed, Chason.”

He
glanced over at her with a frown.  “You do?”  He lifted a shoulder, his eyes
returning to the stove.  “Alright.  I’ll have it done, then.”

Mara
smiled.

That
hadn’t been so bad.  The new her was rocking the boat and the results seemed
worth it.  “Thank you.”  She went back to looking out the window at his
answering grunt.

His
conversation was more lucid than it had been last night, but he still seemed
very lost.  Like her, Chason was caught somewhere between who he’d been and who
he was now.  Only he didn’t seem to like either version.  It had been wrong of
her to lose her temper out on the lawn.  Chason needed her, now.

She
had to fight for him or he’d slip away.

He
came back into the room carrying two plates.  “Here.”  He set one down in front
of her and she saw they were having scrambled eggs.

She
detested scrambled eggs.  She always had.

Mara
hesitated, staring down at the unappetizing platter of food.

“Something
wrong?”  Chason asked, crossing over to his own seat at the other end of the
long table.

“I’m
trying to decide something.”

“Oh?” 
He watched her intently.  “What’s that?”

“Well,
I’m not sure if you know I dislike eggs or not.  If you
do
know, then
this another test and you’ll assume I’m not really me if I eat them.  But, if
you
don’t
know I dislike them, it would hurt your feelings if I didn’t
at least pretend to eat some of the food you prepared.”  She sighed.  “I just
can’t win.”

Chason
didn’t respond to that.  His hand tightened on the arm of his chair.

“I’m
thinking it’s best to go with option two.”  Mara continued thoughtfully.  “Eat
the eggs.  I don’t think you
could
be laying a trap, because how would
you remember what I ate for breakfast?  It’s so obscure.  Besides, I’m hungry
enough to eat anything.”

Purple
eyes narrowed.  “I know what foods you like.”  He snapped.  “I know that Mara
never ate eggs for breakfast.”

“Really?” 
That surprised her.

“
Yes.
”

“Oh.” 
She wasn’t sure what to say with him glowering at her, so she fell back on
habit.  “Alright.  Well…  What are your plans for the day?”  One or both of
them had asked that question over breakfast every day of their Phase-Match, so
she didn’t even bother to wait for a response.  The words were just routine. 
“I’m going to the Light Kingdom.”

Chason
focused on his breakfast, his jaw tight.  “It’s a waste of time.”

“If
anyone would know me, it’s Kahn.”  Mara wanted someone to recognize her and her
cousin was her best hope.

“Kahn
is almost as crazy as I am.”  Chason scoffed.  “If he believes you, it’s just
because he’s desperate to have his family back.  He’d probably believe
I
was Mara, if I told him.”

“I
want to see Kahn.”  Mara insisted.  “And I need to visit my cousins’ graves.” 
She blinked hard to push back tears.  Thinking about the girls hurt so much. 
Their deaths were still fresh for her.  She cleared her throat.  “Anyway, I’ll
be gone for most of the day.”

Chason’s
eyes flicked to hers and then away.  His manners were still impeccable, right
down to buttering his toast with the proper knife.  “Fine.”  He said flatly.

“While
I’m gone, maybe you could find me a new mattress.  I can’t sleep on the bed I
died in.  It’s morbid.”

“Don’t
worry.  From now on, you won’t be sleeping there.”

Mara
frowned at the phrasing of that.

“But,
if you’re determined to go to the Light Kingdom, I’m going with you.”  Chason
continued, his face unreadable.

She
frowned.  “You want to go to the Light Kingdom?”

“I
didn’t say ‘want to,’ I said ‘am.’”

“But…
why?”  Mara was flabbergasted.  “You’ve never gone to the Light Kingdom
before.”

“I
was never invited.”  He forcefully stabbed some eggs with his fork.  “This
time, I’m just not letting that bother me.”

“That’s
not true!”  She shook her head.  “You were always welcomed to come home with
me.  I told you that.”

“Did
you?  I don’t remember it that way.  Maybe because I was
already
home.”

Mara’s
mind went back to the memory sharing and how hurt he’d seemed when she spent
her birthday with the Light Phases.  “I spent most of my life in the Light
Kingdom Chason, that’s why I call it home.  I’m sure you feel the same way
about the Magnetland.”  She gestured to the desolate vista out the window.  “It
wasn’t a slight.  It was…”

He
cut her off.  “The Magnetland isn’t my home.”

That
drew her up short.  “It’s not?  Since when?”

He
met her eyes.  “Since I met Mara.  Then,
she
was my home.  This was just
the place I lived.  Since she died, I’ve been homeless.”

Mara
stared at him.

What
a sad and beautiful thing to say.

Chason
went back to his breakfast.  “I apologize about the eggs.  I’ll get you
something else to eat.”

Mara
cleared her throat.  “That’s not necessary.  The toast is fine.”  She began,
before she remembered that was something the
old
her would have said. 
“I mean,
no
.  No, I don’t want eggs.  Or toast.  I want… a muffin.”  She
gave a decisive nod.

Chason
chewed thoughtfully.  “What sort of muffin?”

Mara
had no idea.  “Blueberry?”  She tried.  “Yes.  Blueberry.  With those crunchy
things on top.”

Chason
laid his silverware down and got to his feet.  “Wait here.”  He jumped out of
room.

Mara’s
mouth parted in surprise.

Fifteen
seconds later, Chason reappeared.  “Here.”  He set a blueberry muffin with
crunchy things on her plate and then crossed back to his own chair.

“Where
in the world did you find this?”

“Paris,
I think.  One of those human cities with the bakeries.”

She
couldn’t believe it.  “You went to the human realm and got me a muffin?”

“Yes.” 
He resumed poking at his eggs.

“You
didn’t steal it did you?”

He
snorted.  “Stealing from humans isn’t even stealing.  Everyone does it, given
the opportunity.”

“How
can you say that?!”  Chason, of the Magnet House had never before taken so much
as a flower without permission.  “
I
never stole anything from them and I
had
many
opportunities.  I always knew it was wrong to…”  Mara stopped, appalled
at what she’d just revealed.

“You
were saying about your interactions with the humans?”  Chason prompted snidely,
when she didn’t continue.

Mara
nearly pegged the muffin at his head.  “My Chason wouldn’t steal. 
That
is my point.”

“
You
never had Chason.”

He
was right about that, pitiful as it was.  Chason had never really been hers.  All
his love went to someone she’d never been.

“I
don’t plan to spend the rest eternity with you sniping at me, you know.”  Mara unfolded
her muffin wrapper with grave dignity and took a bite.  It was delicious, damn
him.  “We’re going to have to reach some kind of understanding.”