Page 65 of The Lost Fae
It’d be sweet if it wasn’t so sad.
The sharp intake of breath gurgles inside of her throat. A drop of blood trails out of her mouth, dripping slowly. I let go of the blade. The clattering sound of it drowns out her fall as well as my footsteps as I take a step back. And then another. And another.
My wide eyes hold on her open, vacant gaze.
There’s no regret within me. But I still can’t look away from the once cruel and conniving woman.
Lincoln's there in an instant. His warm hands wrap around me, turning me to him.
I squeeze my eyes shut, then force them back open. His thick dark lashes lower as he focuses solely on me. Lincoln rubs a thumb under my chin where Cordelia's weapon had been posed for the briefest second.
"Fuck," Kai whispers slowly on the heaviest breath.
I turn to look at him, to let him see everything that he has lost, but when I face him and the bandits standing at his throne, Kai's gone. The Fae look down at their hands, then at the seat with questioning gazes. I can smell his magic in the air.Even now I’m amazed at how little I truly know of the Prince. Perhaps how little everyone knows him.
My gaze shifts back and forth and I fly up before crashing back down. He’s beneath me in an instant. Smoke wafts off of him, but he doesn’t try to fade away from me as he just had.
“I always imagined I’d end up beneath you eventually,” he says with a smirk tilting his arrogant lips as his hand lifts to brush away a strand of my hair.
His fingers barely touch me before I fling my head down hard enough to hear a crack where our skulls hit hard.
“Fuck,” he hisses.
I blink away the pain I just gave myself before kicking off of him. I motion to Barnabus and he’s dragging the dishonored prince away within seconds.
He’ll rot in a cell for the rest of his beautifully miserable life.
My stomach twists as a thought of what he could have been flashes through my mind. He should have been an ally. A friend. A true brother to Lincoln.
Now he’s nothing.
I hope Cordelia’s promises were worth it.
"Why has no one gotten these cages down yet?" Violet screeches the words, fully ignoring her brother as he’s hauled away. She holds up her skirts as she runs to where the chains that hold the cages come to an end. They wrap around a wheel with a long hand jutting from its side. Violet grabs it, pushing with all her might. Her cheeks flush red, but the cages don't move.
Lincoln steps around me to join his sister. When he goes to her, he leaves the room open for me to take in. The last of Cordelia's guards stand with their weapons at their feet, hands in the air in surrender. There is only a scattering of them spread thinly around the room. Commoners and Fae bandits alike breathe heavily, but they all smile brightly.
It's done. The queen is dead.
But all I see is crimson. Fallen bodies scatter the floor, blood filling the lines of grout. The Fae standing are just as covered at the floors. Specks of wet crimson coating their arms and cheeks from the gore of their slicing weapons.
So. Many. Dead.
A few of Barnabus’ men move to collect the bodies of their fallen. Cordelia's guards hadn't gone down without a fight. Grief shines in their eyes, but they don't say a word as they press their fingers to their necks, looking for any pulse their ears cannot hear.
At that moment, I want to be dead too. They'd fallen for me.
The least I can do is honor this sacrifice and give this land... this court the life that they've all deserved.
Chains groan and scrape against the gears as the iron cages lower to the ground. It pulls my attention away, brings me back from my morbid thoughts. Jase presses his face against the bars, rattling them as if they’ll pop right open. Lylix's frail form rests next to him.
"Where are the keys?" Lincoln demands.
A new chorus of shouts erupt as a few Shadow Fae drag a tall sullen man forward. His suit is ruffled, dark circles under his eyes. Bellion glares at us, snarling as they rip the keys from his belt.
"We found him hiding. Are these the keys?" A woman grips his arm tightly using her other hand to toss the keys in a wide arch over our heads and at Lincoln's feet.
"There is space in the dungeons for him. We'll give him a proper trial when the time comes." I say with burning hatred in my gaze. Bellion might be angry that he's been stopped and that his queen has fallen but me... I'm all fury and power and godly magic ready to strike him down. A frenzying building of wrath rattles my bones and shakes me to the core as the name of all those he'd killed come to mind. Harley. Emily. They were innocent. He'd be held responsible for their deaths and so many more.
