As the Crow Falls | ✔

Chapter Forty-Four

Isaiah heard his mother's voice stop dead when he and Niccola entered the throne room. Years—decades—of memories thickened the air until it threatened to suffocate him. His heart beat into his throat like it would find some escape there. There was no escape. The only reason he could still breathe was Niccola, striding at his side with a gait that only gained confidence as they approached the throne dais together. Confidence, and something akin to danger. She hadn't been kidding when she said she wanted to rip his mother a new one. Niccola was the opposite of quailing right now. Her step was regal, her head was up, and Isaiah felt her toss it to one side as Meribah Cantor continued to sit in dumbstruck silence. From just a read of Niccola's body language, Isaiah was almost certain she was actually enjoying this.

"I'm back," she said a moment later, confirming that. Her voice was laced with a savage kind of glee. "I must say, your son is a difficult one to convince that he deserves nice things. It took quite a bit of honest flattery to convince him to let me stay." She paused for dramatic effect. "I hope that wasn't too presumptuous of me."

Meribah's breath hissed. Niccola was revealing that she'd hidden under Isaiah's bed that night before his mother locked them in together, a fact that Isaiah had given her lease to exploit if she wanted to. There was no way his mother hadn't already guessed at this. Not unless she thought him capable of escaping on his own... only now he wondered about that. Niccola had said Meribah's treatment of him came in part because she feared him. And he'd come very close to taking that balcony escape route before. He'd only refrained thanks to that little voice in his head.

"But all that aside," continued Niccola, "I do hope you don't mind having a crow-keep as a daughter-in-law. We're actually quite inclined to stay together... which I suppose brings us to the topic we're here to speak to you about."

Isaiah could tell his mother was not used to having someone else seize the reins of a conversation before she had a chance to. She remained speechless as Niccola passed the lead smoothly to Isaiah. His stomach flipped clean over like he'd jumped from the escape tree all over again. But he wasn't alone here. And that alone put something like a shield between him and Meribah. A physical one—four guards could easily stop the queen—but one against anything she might say, too.

"I've been corresponding with Madeira," he said, far more calmly than he felt. "First by crow, and then they sent a delegate to Calis yesterday in order to speak with Niccola, Phoebe and I in person. They were quite impressed with the alacrity with which we neutralized Dinah. And, I must say, quite unimpressed with how much resistance we met in our attempts to do so... to stop a necromantic responsible for deaths and disappearances in all four realms in this corner of the Ring of Thirty. Madeira and Drevo have both signed over their formal support to Niccola and I, and rescinded it from the rest of the Calisian royal family."

Meribah made an incoherent noise. "You. You sold your family for this, you insolent child. Take this back immediately. That is an order, Isaiah."

"It's already done," said Niccola. "This is out of your hands now, and every step we take from here on out will be taken in collaboration with our allies, in the interest of diplomacy and effective action. You may take it up with Madeira yourself if you think this transfer of power is undeserved."

More spluttering. As Meribah flailed for words, a strange calm began to settle over Isaiah. For the first time, he felt he was standing on level ground with his mother. She was no longer a looming menace—a presence so daunting, it obstructed his ability to think or act with confidence. She was just a person. A person acting in selfish interest, who'd sooner see this realm lose untold numbers of citizens than do what he had and ally with those she thought would regard her poorly.