Page 38 of The Iron Fae
"You're going to have to do better than that, human. Come on!" Rowan shouts, but his attention is split between me and everything I'm not willing to watch behind me.
There is a scuffle of movement behind me. I know it's some sort of fight that’s raging between the Fae and the Spirit. And it's all from my touch. Kai bellows a scream, one laced with pain. It's followed by a crash and a repeat of the Spirit's wailing cry.
I gasp as I feel hands take my waist. "It's me," Kai groans and pushes me up toward his brother.
Rowan's hand curls around my forearm, he doesn't even sweat as he lifts me one handed onto the rock. I lay flat on my back, reeling. I flinch at every strike.
"You okay?" Rowan whispers.
"Me? Am I okay?" Only then do I roll to my stomach and watch Kai sling a sword through the air. Black blood splits out with a violent trajectory, the spirit’s... my mother’s... arm falling to the ground. I close my eyes. "Should you be asking if your brother is okay?"
"Oh, he's fine," he laughs. "This is nothing."
"It doesn't feel like nothing."
"Open your eyes, he's almost got it finished," Rowan encourages. He leans lower from his crouch, his lips brushing my ear. "As a queen you're probably going to have to witness a lot of worse things than Kai fighting a spirit. Hell, Cordelia herself can get pretty nasty and she's the one thing standing in your way."
"Can you... can you still see the spirit as it was? Does it still appear as whatever you were seeing it as?"
"No." He shakes his head, sending his small braids scattering across his leather backpack. "She looks like Queen Amelia. She looks like your mother. Is that why you don't want to look?"
"Are you asking me if I want to watch Kai kill what appears to be my mother?" I crack one eye at Rowan. He's still watching Kai. "The answer to that would be fuck no."
"I mean, I guess I get it. Also, I'm a tad disappointed that you didn't see me. It would be pretty badass to watch me and my brother dueling right now. Even if I would have to be rooting for my brother's win."
"You could watch yourself die?" I finally sit up. I keep my back to Kai, though I can still hear his breath mingling with the Spirit’s in their efforts.
"Eh," Rowan shrugs. "It's almost over—”
There's a gurgling sound, like water bubbling out of a child's cup. The noise softens. I jump as Kai pounces to standing on the rock next to me. Looking from his boots up to him, he looks grim as he pushes his sword back into his belt.
Carefully, I turn to look down into the forest. Black is splattered against the brilliant hues of the plants. Everything is tinted with blood. My mother stares back at me, her body lifeless. Against my lips, I feel my fingertips touching my mouth to hold in the tremble of a horrified sob. I hadn't even realized I'd moved.
Had she looked like this in her death? Was she just as beautiful as she remains now as when she was beheaded while the kingdom watched? Cordelia's mother took everything away from me. Cordelia took it away from me. My deepest desire isn't the love of a man, it isn't power of a fucking kingdom, my deepest desire is a fucking parents love.
"It bit you," Rowan stands.
Kai holds out his arm, examining the bite. He offers his unharmed side and I take his hand and rise. Teeth marks, the perfect crescent of a human bite, breaks through his flesh. Black mingles with the red of his blood. More than that, the veins extending from the bite are tinted black as if the spirit's bad energy is seeping into his being.
"Oh my god." I grab his wrist and pull it toward me.
"Uh, ow." Kai blinks.
"Are you going to be okay?"
Slouching, I look at the bite even closer, praying that he hasn't been injected with venom or something else just as hideous. Kai shakes off my hands.
"It's fine."
"Did she poison you? Don't you lie to me Kai Ziko!" I shake a finger at him.
"Cupcake," he flashes me a brilliant grin, "If you think I'm going to let an annoying Wishing Spirit take me out of this world then you are sorely mistaken."
"Well, Buttercup," I try the nickname, "Sue me for being worried."
"Sue you?" Rowan tosses the Wishing Spirit one last look, frowning at the mess that surrounds it.
Kai brushes his sleeve down to cover the bite and adjust the backpack on his shoulders. They turn toward the mountain again.
