Page 31 of Faerie Hunted

Her hair stood out on end, her wrinkles deeper than the last time I’d seen her, but her eyes were lit with an inner fire that was downright frightening.

“This is no ordinary case, as I’m sure you’re both aware. Thus there is no need for a public trial or the presence of the courtiers or the royal family,” Cosmo continued.

“This is a sentencing,” I said out loud.

They’d already reached their verdict, without us.

Cosmo nodded. “Exactly. The Council and I both agree that it is in the best interest of the royal court, Eahsea, and Faerie in general for the two of you to be eradicated as soon as possible.”

Eradicated. Not killed. Wiped from the face of the earth.

“You are both sentenced to execution for your crimes,” he finished grandly.

“That’s it?” I strained against the guards and they didn’t have to work hard to get me back in place. Despair and terror flushed my cheeks. “You’re not even going to ask me why? To listen to my side of the story?”

“I’m not interested in your side,” Cosmo replied with a sniff. “You stole from the crown. Your thievery resulted in a threat to the life of the king which put him in a coma. You have reached the end of the patience of this court. Above and beyond, Miss Alderidge. You are finished.”

He snapped his fingers, and we were taken away.

9

No chance to defend myself, although telling my side of the story would never result in mercy. Cosmo was right: I’d already done too much, skirted a line more often than not, for them to even consider listening to me.

There was nothing left to say. I was beyond redemption and better off dead.

Barbara and I never stood a chance of getting out of this and we’d both known it. She’d made her move. And the second she did, I was doomed to go down with her.

One day after our meeting with Cosmo Foxfall, the guards returned to draw us from the cells. They marched us up out of the dungeon and through the main courtyard outside the castle. The cuffs on my wrist had been amended with a pair of matching chains on my ankles. They dragged against the cobblestone with every shortened step forward.

My stomach dipped, swirling as queasy heat spiraled in my gut. My mouth went dry and stayed that way.

We were long past feeling sick over the situation, though. Long past trying to figure a way out. The only chance I had was from the outside and I clung to my flawed sense of hope.

Maybe, just maybe, someone would step in and help free me. Something had to happen, right? Something had to give.

Surely Mike would never let them kill me.

We loved each other.

I thought we loved each other.

My palms were clammy, my teeth chattering.

I might have lied to him about theImperiumbut he had to know I never lied about my feelings for him. But if he truly believed I was a part of some plot against his family?—

No contest, then. Lover versus kingdom. He’d choose his family and his loyalty to his people over me.

It wasn’t like we were mates. That bond, for wolves, trumped anything else. Everything else.

They marched us into the center courtyard toward a small wooden platform the premier had ordered to be built.

Voices grew louder, and once we stepped into the blinding sunlight, I saw a massive crowd gathered. The gates were closed but innumerable fae pressed against the bars, jeering and craning their necks for a look at the execution.

I swallowed hard, my throat closing, my stomach twisting in agony.

Someone already stood on the platform.

Onyx Grimaldi turned his head to watch my approach, his eyes neutral and unfathomable. Those eyes had lost the jaded bitterness they’d sported when I first met him. His aquiline nose now boasted an unhealed hump at its center from being broken, and his platinum-white hair had grown out on the sides though it was still longer at the top. His goatee and mustache were white, his eyebrows dark, and his lips thinned.

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