#many thanks to my friend mab for coming up with the title of this piece!

[sterilebear]

A Moment’s Rest

[imagine-iron-fey]

"Three Dark Kings”

(This is mostly for my own amusement, but for anyone who is confused, interested, or thinks I’ve lost my mind, see the explanation at the bottom of the post under the ‘Keep Reading’ line.)

Three dark queens

Are born in a glen.

Sweet little triplets

Will never be friends

Three dark sisters,

All fair to be seen.

Two to devour,

And one to be Queen.

Mab stared down into the crib, her hands gripping the edge of the bars so tightly they were beginning to shake. The child did not wake though, but remained fast asleep, his tiny thumb stuck into his mouth, his dark hair falling around his round face. His eyes had been open earlier, bright, and silver, so unlike her own, but now lay shut as he dozed. None of her sons had inherited her eyes. She had thought that was a good sign. Had hoped. Maybe even prayed, in her weaker moments. But praying was for mortals who believed in a merciful deity; one who would give them peace and happiness.

Mab’s lips pursed into a thin line of rage. The Goddess had never been merciful. Never granted peace or happiness to the people of her island. No…the Goddess had been cruel, and selfish. Just like the Queens she had sacrificed to her name. Like the sisters Mab had killed to gain her own title.

She had been relieved when Sage had been born. Been as close to tears as she had ever been in her entire life to hear the healer’s proclamation of a single newborn son. She had thought it meant the end. That, finally, she was free. The the only death she needed to fear or inflict would come from the hands of strangers, and not her own kin. His green eyes had been a blessing. Or so she’d thought. Rowan’s blue eyes were even more welcome. Cool and clear like the water she so loved, that she had used to build her kingdom.

Now her youngest child, mere days old and with his silver eyes, put fear in her heart. How long had it been since she’d been truly afraid? Decades…centuries, perhaps.

That they were boys did not seem to matter, or that they were not triplets, or that none of them shared her pitch black eyes… The same cold, gripping nausea that had held her all those long years ago was back, and as she stared down at her son, she wanted to scream aloud.

Perhaps it would have been different, if Sage hadn’t come home just days ago with the wolf trailing at his side with no explanation. Or if the third report of Rowan surviving what should have been a lethal poisoning hadn’t reached her ears.

Mab bit back a shriek of rage as she glared down at her youngest son, hating him. Hating them all.

She left the room before she could do any damage, and stood in the hall, breathing deeply, her hands over her face. No one was there to witness her losing her composure. She had made sure that none in the palace but herself and her most trusted servants were permitted near the newborn child. Even Sage and Rowan were not allowed…and now she wondered if perhaps she had known all along this would happen. That she had been a fool to believe she had really escaped.

She raised her head, lifting her eyes to stare at the ceiling.

“Are you laughing?” she whispered, her hands trembling as she pressed them over her mouth. “Are you mocking me? Did you have fun, making me believe it was over?”

If the Goddess heard her, she did not answer.

Mab closed her eyes, feeling the icy cold sickness creeping through her stomach, clenching around her heart.

Explanation (because I’m sure some people have questions):

So, because I’m stuck at a desk for 8 hours a day at my job, I rely heavily on audiobooks to get me through the day, and thanks to my library having a free audiobook rental program I can usually find something good to get me through a couple of days. 

Last week, I found Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake, and though it is not strictly a fae related series, it definitely had some elements that made me think of the Iron Fey. Specifically that the three main characters are all destined to be Queen, all possess supernatural abilities, and all have black hair and black eyes. (Sound like anyone we know?) So, due to some self-indulgence, and the enthusiastic encouragement of @ironfaerie​, who also read the book, I wrote a tiny crossover piece between Three Dark Crowns and The Iron Fey (as seen above).

For a basic summary of TDC, among the triplets born, there is a Naturalist, a Poisoner, and an Elemental. The Naturalist has the ability to charm/control animals, and is able to cause trees, flowers, and other natural entities to grow and bloom before their time, and keep them fresh and healthy way past the time they should have died. Naturalists are also the only of the three that have a familiar animal (in this case a familiar is an animal that is specially bonded to the Naturalist and chose to follow them rather than being charmed or trained to do so.) The Poisoner is able to ingest any and all lethal substances like it is nothing at all, from crushed belladonna to scorpion venom. They wear live venomous snakes and insects as fashion statements. The Elemental is exactly what it sounds like. Think Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

The three of them are raised together until age six, when they are then separated to go train in their predetermined gift until the age of 16, when they will begin the Ascension Year and work their hardest to kill their other two sisters to become the one true Queen. 

If you guys are interested in learning more about the basis for this, I’d highly recommend reading Three Dark Crowns and seeing how you like it. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the concept of it is really interesting. I don’t have a link to the full book available but you can read the first three chapters, which introduce the three main characters individually, right here.

So, for the sake of this crossover, Mab is the last of a set of triplet Queens, having killed her two other sisters to become Queen, but after being crowned she escaped into Faery to escape the fate of having to give birth to the next set of triplets. She is an Elemental who favored water, and used it to build her kingdom of ice, and thought everything would be fine forever after. Until it wasn’t.

Anyway, that’s basically what’s going on here. It’s probably not going to become a regular thing on this blog, so don’t worry if you thought I was abandoning Iron Fey for a new series! But after reading Three Dark Crowns, ironfaerie and I both agreed there were just way too many ways the two clicked together to pass up the chance for some crossover shenanigans. 

Final Note: The rhyme at the beginning is strictly the property of Kendare Blake. I merely borrowed it for dramatic effect.