Page 1 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
Keira’s Bargain with Titania
“I will travel with you to the Spring Court as your hostage, and no one here can stop it. As long as you are in power, I will remain there until you release me, without trying to escape you or attack you. You will promise no harm will come to my family by your hand or those of the people you control. While I am in your custody, you will not harm me, and I’ll be treated as an honored guest, with the same privileges, care and respect as any noble in your court. You will, by all effects, act as my patron. And you will not kill or torture Aldrin in the human realm.”
Imade a mistake. A huge gods-damned error of judgment.
That much is clear as I am manhandled through thick, rolling mists scented with flowers. Brilliant white light burns my eyes, but it isn’t the reason hot tears roll uncontrollably down my cheeks.
My body aches from crashing down to my hands and knees too many times. I am battered, bruised and sliced up from each time they have shoved me to the ground or into a tree on the journey here.
I negotiated to be treated with respect in my bargain with my fae captors, but they still seem capable of doing the opposite.
I am splattered with mud. My skirts are torn and my feet bleed in my boots. My limbs are so tired they shake. They made me run all the way from Appleshield Castle to the Portal Interchange. It is an easy trek for a fae, but I still have enough of a block on my magic that I couldn’t keep up.
All I want to do is go back. Back to Aldrin. Back to my family. Back to the safety of Appleshield.
But it is too late.
No one is coming to save me.
I am surrounded by the enemy and utterly alone. Flanked on either side by men digging their fingers painfully into my arms, like they think I might run. Where could I go? The bargain binds me to my fate. It makes me the High Chancellor Titania’s plaything.
Torin is on one side, his long sheet of black hair billowing around him. Titania’s son.His ice-blue eyes fix me with a murderous glare as I lose my footing for the hundredth time and fall, striking my hip on a hard stone.
On my other side, a terrifying fae in full battle armor towers over me. His violent tugs are the reason I keep falling. I scramble on all fours, quickly pulling myself up before the red-eyed monster kicks me in the ribs again.
They cannot seem to decide if I am a prize or a burden to murder on the spot.
The billowing world of white mist comes to an end and the moonstone portal to the fae realm appears ahead. I try to dig my heels in. To stop the slow march toward my fate, or run screaming in the opposite direction, but the magic of this in-between realm forces me forward.
Torin must register my hesitation, because he shoulders me through the portal and I trip over the lip, my hands and knees striking the stone littering the meadow beyond. I bite my cheek and the iron tang of blood fills my mouth.
I don’t have a moment to brush the gravel out of the cuts in my hands.
My other fae guard wraps my loose hair around his hand and drags me to my feet by it. Intense pain screams across my scalp, but it is nothing compared to the agony in my heart.
I can’t get Aldrin out of my head.
The way he desperately fought to get to me with multiple warriors hanging off his back. How they forced him to theground. My heart broke when the bargain was sealed and everyone who cared enough to fight for me was frozen like a statue, snarls preserved on their lips and fear in their eyes.
I begged you not to do this, Keira. Not to make this bargain with my greatest enemy and put yourself at her mercy.Aldrin’s voice rings through my head.
My only consolation is that we are still connected through the mate bond. His mind is a maelstrom, swirling with torrents of anger—at me, at my captors, at his own impotence. It is threaded with so much fear. Enough to cripple a lesser man.
Of everything I have put him through, this could be the thing that breaks him.
You would be dead by now if I had not sacrificed myself for you!I send back, wanting to wail at the necessity of my stupid actions.
Never sacrifice yourself for me. Never,Aldrin pleads.You are too important for that.
Torin pushes me again and I bang my legs into a large boulder, sucking in my breath sharply with pain.
Look at how they are treating you. I will kill them all. Slowly and violently.His sorrow burns like icy fire as it bleeds from him to me. He can see everything I see. Feel echoes of my physical pain. All he has to do is concentrate on the link of our bond to be right here with me.
This was my choice to make, Aldrin. It was no choice at all. Not when Titania threatened my mate and my family. When she sliced a gash down my baby niece’s face. We still have a chance to find our way back to each other. I can endure any torment for that.
I am vaguely aware of him engulfed within deep, inky darkness, and wonder if I have been gone so long that night has already fallen in the human realm.
I never wanted this for you,Aldrin says.I never wanted anyone to hurt you ever again, especially not for me. You have endured enough already.
