Page 47 of The Iron Fae
Clamped between its jaws dangles another animal, limp in death. A tail hangs down, long and skinny, reminiscent of a rat’s. I frown at the sight. Frowning more deeply the closer the bird comes. I don't move though, because where would I go? Back into the ocean? On to the next place with no direction of how to move on?
I mean, 'swim', was pretty self-explanatory but 'jump'.... no sane person is going to find themselves at a cliffs edge and automatically think 'I should jump.'
The bird opens its beak and caws again around the carcass of the mangled animal. It chomps down splitting the animal in two. One end falls from the sky and splatters against the ground at my feet. Hot blood splatters against my pant legs.
I shriek. Or more so I groan and try not to think about it too hard. Blood still has a way of taking me back to Cordelia's castle. Of haunting me with the memory of Harley and everyone else that's suffered at their queen's hands. In a way, it gives me new strength.
I look down. Whatever the animal had once been, it no longer is. All that's left is a skin bag that holds crumpled bones and torn unidentifiable features. I want to wipe the splatter from my pants. Glancing at the plants around me none of them have leaves wide enough to use as napkins. Even wiping it away with my hands would be better.
Moving to drag my hands over my shin, I quickly stop when I realize. Three swirling letters written in an eloquent cursive drip down my leg.
LIE.
To who? What about?
I nod to myself. Okay, I can do this. Now, all I need to do is jump. So I stand, leaving the blood as it is on my pants. The earth tilts in a dizzying way as I look down into the abyss I'm about to leap into. I squeeze my eyes tight, bend my knees, and jump.
Air rushes by, sending my hair above my head as I fall. My feet land together on a worn grass walkway, my hair swinging from the momentum of my landing. I'd slammed against the earth so hard that pain shoots up my legs. Voices carry around and I look over my shoulder to watch a pair of people strolling toward me.
The moon is high in the sky and beyond the couple are lights and cheering Fae. I turn and find a brilliant mansion and a glowing garden with a sparkling Reminints tree. The Shadow Court. My father's memory. Or is it my mother’s?
The friends laugh as they pass me, giving me weird looks as they carry on their conversation.
"You're so gullible. Always doing everything you're told." One slaps the other on the shoulder turning them away from me and the judgment they try to pass on. I'm sure I look insane to them. I'm more surprised though that they can see me.
"I'm just following my commands," they whine in response.
The friend shakes their head. "Stop. Next time they try to tell you to do something, do the opposite. I dare y—oh! It's the king."
The couple bows together. King Rihst storms by them without acknowledging their presence. He stomps right up to me. There is anger in his dark eyes. Still, I marvel at him. The father I never had. There are patches of red in the beard that grows on his chin, his skin is flushed over his cheeks, and though his ears lift to a point at the top it's remarkable how they stick off his head just as mine do.
"Who are you?" He demands stopping in front of me.
"Me?" I point to myself and look around as if he could be talking to anybody else.
"You." He narrows his gaze.
"Briar Anders."
Oh shit. I was supposed to lie.I remind myself.
His eyes soften but all other judgment and fury still remain in his features. King Rihst lifts his chin. "Why are you here?"
Lie. Say a lie.
"I've just come for the fair." I point behind me to the merriment and games just down the small sloping hill.
He sighs, his lip curling in disgust. "I think you need to go for a walk." And he clamps his hand on my shoulder and pushes me. His strength propels me forward.
"No!" I cry with confusion as the blinding sun replaces the midnight moon. My father's image, the familiarness of the Shadow Court, the twinkle of lanterns, all fades like a dream.
I tilt my head up to the sky, screaming with frustration. I don't know what to think. I don't know what to do. Lowering myself to the sand, I lay sideways as I was when the ocean brought me back with a violent cruelty. My shoulders shake with a shuddering breath.
How? How am I going to do this? How?
I want to scream. I want to throw my fists into the dirt and kick my legs like a toddler. Never once did I ask for a hard life, I didn't ask to be an orphan or ask to have to find my way back to the magic that belongs to me in the first place. Yet here I am. These are the cards that I've been dealt. And if I don't fight, I could die. Shadow Fae will die.
Cordelia Nightwatersshoulddie.
