The Stolen Heir

As the group journeys to the Thistlewitch, Tiernan obtains a few strands of Wren’s hair for safekeeping; they can be woven around the golden bridle to control Wren. When Oak introduces Wren, the Thistlewitch calls her “Nix Naught Nothing” (175). He asks about Mab’s bones and Mellith’s heart, and the Thistlewitch tells the tale of Mab: Mab was the first queen of the fae who lifted the Elfhame isles from the sea, who sought out hags to bestow her with the power to create. One hag gifted her the ability, but in exchange, she was given the hag’s child to raise as her heir. Mab named the child Mellith, meaning “mother’s curse,” and sought a way to escape the bargain. She tricked the hag into murdering Mellith, thinking she was Mab’s child. In Mellith’s last moments, the hag enchanted her heart, imbuing it “with the power of annihilation, of destruction, of unmaking” (177), giving it the power to unmake Mab’s creations; she also cursed Mab so she could only use her power of creation while in possession of Mellith’s heart. In turn, the hag was cursed with the inability to harm Mab or her descendants, the Greenbriar line (Oak and current High King Cardan).