Page 71 of His Dark Delights
The dryad cleared his throat, standing straighter. “It’s the human king, Your Grace. His army has breached the last defenses of the Angfern Mountains and made it through the Mistwood. The Fairy Butcher will reach the edge of the Fae Wild by dawn.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lilly
All night I’d scanned the pitch-dark horizon for a sign of approach, for flickering torchlight nearing like fireflies drifting ever closer. The first light of dawn spilled over the Fae Wild, casting creeping shadows across a landscape both familiar and foreign. Back in the royal quarters, high above the clouds, I leaned over the balcony to admire the view, wincing at the lingering aches of transformation. Disregarding my physical discomforts, I focused on the crisp air carrying the scent of earth and magic over that powerful domain thrumming with life.
I had become a creature reborn. Now a bridge between the world of men and fae, the accord of my blood granting me access to both realms despite ongoing tensions. Undeterred by those tensions, aforbidden rush of euphoria cascaded from my navel through my limbs at the mere idea of seeing him again. Of knowing he’d journeyed across foreign lands and finally found the Fae Wild all for me.
A subtle rustle of fabric and the scuff of movement behind my back alerted me to my mother’s return. Soft sounds I wouldn’t have picked up before the change. It was almost overwhelming.
“I’m going,” I said for what must have been the hundredth time.
“You shouldn’t,” Mother replied. “Having your essence unlocked exhausted you. You must stay here and rest, Lilliana.” The Fae Queen joined me on the balcony, decked out in her armor and radiating a fierce aura. Prepared for another battle come the light of a new day. This time on her home turf.
“How could I possibly rest knowing that he’s coming for me?” I faced her, admiring her features under the golden glow rising in the distance. “He’s coming because of me.”
Ellaria placed a hand on me, a motion meant to be comforting. She pulled me closer, urging me to rest my head on her shoulder. It was the type of maternal embrace I’d dreamed of all my life. Warm and soothing, but not quite reassuring enough with the war of conflict swelling behind my ribs.
“He would have come eventually, darling,” she declared like an inevitable truth. “If not him, then some other king.”
“That’s the thing,” I pulled from her embrace, not missing the twitch down of her lips, “it wouldn’t have been him. Not Soren. I’d almost convinced him to end the war. I was right there; I was so close. He would havegiven up his mission for vengeance.”
She crossed the divide, catching a loose strand of coppery-pink hair and tucking it behind the newly elongated tip of my ear. An odd thing to get accustomed to.
“Even if you had convinced him to end the war, he would still hate fae. Then what would have happened when he learned the truth about your heritage, my darling?”
My insides sank deeper. “I… I don’t know. Maybe he never would have.”
“Would you have been happy?” The question burned the longer I considered it.
“Foresight isn’t a nymph ability, so I couldn’t be sure. No one can say what the future holds. Not with certainty.” A sigh vented free. “But I would have tried.”
The intensity of her stare, proud and sorrowful, unnerved me. Seconds flit by in heartbeats before she faced the horizon, gaze going distant as if seeing another time. Gentle winds picked up the stray strands of her hair. In the early dawn, I noticed hidden threads of gray, proof of all the years we’d missed. “You’re quite wise for a girl raised on a farm. You get that from your father. He was brilliant.”
“And she’s very brave,” a voice said from the balcony doors.
“That she is,” Mother agreed. She pushed away from the wooden balustrade and dipped her head in greeting at Lunaric. My face heated under their praise.
Lunaric strode outside, adorned in perfectly polished dark green armor forged into the shapes of leaves and vines. The green helmet under his arm mirrored the craftsmanship, shot through with thesame gold veins and trim that accentuated the design.
He dropped a gloved hand on my shoulder, his armor impressively lightweight, crafted to be worn by wing bearing fae. He sent me a wink and his most charming grin before addressing our mother. “I think that if Lilly wants to ride out with us, she should. She’s faced the Butcher before, and if what she says is true, then she’s the only one of us who can prevent bloodshed.”
“You want to prevent bloodshed?” she asked incredulously. “Soren Carnifex killed your father. He’s killed scores of our people, Lune.”
“You said it yourself. If it wasn’t him, it would have been another king. Tensions between human and fae were unstable long before he took the throne. The difference is that he had a motive. A peasant-born bastard thrust into power. And he took it.” Lunaric sounded a smidge impressed.
I grabbed my mother’s hand, imploring. “Let me join you, please. I’m the only one who can speak some sense into him.”
After a long exhale, she met my gaze. “Fine. Get dressed. We are preparing to ride out.”
Streaks of dusty red and soft orange peeked over the horizon. Varying shades of pink and violet highlighted the undersides of puffy clouds, bringing the sky to life like a veritable painting. A gorgeous scene on any other day if it didn’t prelude a potential massacre.
Pixies no larger than my hands flit around me. Their little wings moved rapidly, almost soundlessly, like those of a hummingbird. They worked together soundlessly with a flawless hive mind, tying my laces and buckling my clothing securely into place. I stood infront of a mirror, still unused to the face staring back.
It was me and yet not simultaneously. My coppery hair had taken on a pinker shade and grown several inches to reach the base of my spine. The freckles on my cheeks and nose were more prominent, like sunspots on flower petals. And the angles of my face weren’t as soft or round as before. Now they were as sharp and as angled as the other fae. My ears weren’t as long as Mother’s or Lunaric’s, but they’d doubled in length and were just as pointed. There would be no hiding them under my hair for the rest of my life.
If I ever returned to Elleslan, if I ever graced the sapphire halls with my presence again, all the lords, ladies, and council members would know who and what I was. I wouldn’t hide my heritage if that day came.
