Page 142 of A Song of Air
Gilded Cage
Unseelie was rife withfestive energy. They were already celebrating The Hunt, even if they had no confirmation that the stag had been caught at all. It wasn’t until Cassimir and Weylyn came forward and hauled the carcass of the beast behind them that their cheers became deafening.
Gwyn and Glyn trailed behind the stag, looking forlorn because they hadn’t been the ones to catch it. Rainer followed, but Owyn was nowhere to be found, not that anyone questioned his absence. His moods were volatile. It would be long before anyone knew him to be dead.
As they approached the throne, jeers and cries grew louder. A crowd had formed near the queen on her throne. Her court surrounded a tall gilded cage, poking spears and swords through the gaps.
And from within, whimpers and cries that Weylyn recognized immediately.
He dropped the legs of the stag and rushed forward, shoving aside bodies that blocked his way until he pushed himself to the front. His fingers clasped around the cold, gilded bars, and he pressed his cheeks between the gaps, staring at his mate on the inside.
She was covered in mud and blood, crouched low on the ground as she shivered. She lay there naked, wounds open and gaping on her back.
When he’d gone that morning with his brothers, he had the utmost faith that his mate could care for herself. She was strong, capable. But he’d underestimated the cruelty his mother possessed.
An instinctive rage gripped him in a bloodthirsty fist. He wanted to lash out, but he only managed to tighten his hold on the bars.
His mate looked at him, her string of curls plastered to her pale skin. Her scarred eyes found him, squinting as though she could barely make him out through her hazy vision.
“Weylyn.” Her voice cracked and her shaking hand moved towards the bars.
That’s when he saw it.
A golden band tattooed around the flesh of her arm, pulsing and burning with a terrible magic he never wanted for her.
Slowly, he turned to find his mother and her entire court smiling malevolently at him. They awaited his reaction, and as much as he wanted to give them one, he couldn’t. He could not show his weakness, even if it was evident in the furious pounding of his heart, in the whites of his knuckles as he grasped the bars of his mate’s prison.
“She is mine now,” the queen said cruelly. “And she canneverleave Unseelie.”
“Release her,” Weylyn gritted out. “Now.”
His mother’s brow kicked up. She was enjoying his pain far too much. He’d never wanted to take a dagger to her chest more than he did at this moment. To feel her blood slip from between his fingers. Feel the warmth of her life go cold.
“You give me orders now?” she questioned.
“Release my mate.” His eyes flashed with the threat of a warning. “Or I will kill you all.”
There was a collective gasp from the court. Weylyn had always been the most hated child. He had never hidden the violence he felt deeply rooted within him, but he had never openly threatened anyone. Least of all his mother. Least of all the Queen of Unseelie.
There must have been something in his eyes. She might have had teeth and claw, but he had something powerful of his own. High Fae magic. And he could render her mind useless within a second if he dared.
And she knew that.
A dagger would be in his heart the moment he tried, but he’d do it before he died. He would die for this. For Bryson Varik, he would die. For his mate, he would kill the queen.
His mother sat back on her throne with a dignified huff. “A fool in love,” she said lightly. The court chuckled, though stared with uncertainty. “Take her from her cage, then.” Her fingers flicked and the cage disassembled itself, falling apart around Bryson, who flinched. “But your mate is still my property.”
Fighting back the snarl that came to his lips, Weylyn went forward and moved as quickly and as gently as he possibly could, cradling Bryson to his chest. Before he pulled her close, her hands trembled over the ground, searching for something. When she found what she was looking for, she pressed a pair of goblin-made lenses to her chest and held them tightly.
