Page 104 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
I thrash, trying to strike him with my elbows, but the poison makes my movements far too sluggish. My heart thrashes wildly as multiple enemy fae charge Aldrin, swords raised high, while he is stuck motionless and helpless, as if within a thick gel created by the magic of the bargain. The moment he takes his attention off myself and Titania, his muscles unlock and he flows into fluid motion, warding off the attack.
A cruel smile splits Titania’s lips. “Someone bring me Senator Ash.”
A confused noble I do not recognize is brought from the palace to her. The entire party of guards moves with Titania as her hand wraps around the man’s arm and she leads us to the edge of the balcony, where Bartholomew destroyed the railing. The noble tries to protest, but a guard puts the tip of his sword at the man’s unprotected back.
My heart stops, because I suddenly know what she is going to do.
“You will not kill my mate!” Aldrin commands, throwing men and women off his back and taking painfully slow steps toward me. “The bargain will not allow it.”
Titania whips back to him. “And what do you know of bargains?” she screams. “I have made it my entire life’s work to understand their intricacies. How to find loopholes within them. How to break their bindings. The most interesting thing I have found is that if there are two contradicting terms, the latter cancels out the former. For example, when I agreed to the term that I cannot harm Keira,thenswore to treat her like any honored guest in my court, those conflicting terms mean that Icanharm Keira, so long as I do it in the way that I have already harmed one of my guests, abiding by the second term.” Titania grabs the noble by the arm. “Senator Ash here has been takingrefuge in my palace as a guest since you took his regiment from him.”
With more force than I thought she was capable of, she throws him off the balcony.
His scream doesn’t stop all the way down, until he meets his doom.
I forget to breathe, my throat clamping tightly.
“Titania, you will not touch her!” Aldrin screams as the High Chancellor’s fingers run up my armor and settle at my elbow. He looks like an enraged beast, amber eyes wide, nostrils flared and a crown of horns on top of his head, but potent fear rolls down our bond and chills me to the core. “You will not TOUCH HER!”
Aldrin stalks so slowly toward us, his every movement meeting resistance, his muscles shaking. One arm is outstretched before him, trying to reach out for me, but he is too far away to grab me.
“I will kill you, Titania! Iwillkill you!” Aldrin roars. It is not lost on me that he has the presence of mind to drop the wield articulating his voice across the city before unleashing his threats.
Titania makes no such adjustments, probably because she doesn’t hold the magic in place and has forgotten about its use. “Not before I kill your queen!” she snarls, wrapping her arms around me and leading me to the edge.
I fight every step of the way, but I am so damned weak. Within heartbeats she holds my body over the drop, my feet scrambling and failing to find purchase on the tip of the balcony.
I cannot breathe.
My throat tightens painfully as I fail to drag in a single gulp of air. All thought flies out of my head as I stare down at that drop. We are so high up that thin clouds hug the foot of the palace.
The people at the base of the city are as small and angry as a nest of ants that has been kicked. The fighting between ourarmy and the Truth Templars continues right beneath me, but many pause in their battle to glance up at my struggle. Streams of magic shoot up at me from my own people, attempting to pry me from her grasp, but the bargain has them fizzling out.
My head spins when my gaze lands on the crumpled form of Senator Ash. His legs, arms and neck are twisted at unnatural angles, body broken and encircled with bright red blood on a balcony impossibly far below.
Keira, dear heart,pleasehear me,Aldrin’s desperate voice echoes within my head.The bargain will not let me help you. Draw on my magic. Save yourself. Do not stop fighting. Never stop.
It is like a bubble pops and the rest of the world suddenly rushes back in. The flap of dragon wings as they launch into the air, preparing to catch me. Torin gripping his mother’s shoulders to make sure she does not slip and the many ropes of air her soldiers wrap around them both to ensure their safety. The bond rippling in and out between Aldrin and me, and the trickle of magic I can pull from it. I am far too injured and depleted to access much.
Time slows to a crawl.
I drag in a half-choked breath as Titania’s grip on me loosens.
“You were always far more trouble than you were worth,” she snarls in my ear. “Perhaps it would suit me better if you died. I can always get another hostage.” Those fingers slip further apart across my waist.
“Mother!” Torin warns. “You have made your point that youcankill her. You don’t need to actually do it. She is the only one who can hold Aldrin back right now. We have half the city fighting for us—do not rouse the other half to fight forhim.”
I weave my air wields ever so slowly. The magic comes to me as though it is traveling through honey. It forms a belt aroundmy waist and ropes that cling to the broken railing, a safeguard to keep me from falling far, but one that her guards could easily break. I weave more and more strands into it, then keep my consciousness primed across it for the first hint of attack.
“I will make a bargain with you, Aldrin,” Titania calls out, unaware of my protections. “Call off your little coup, disband the army you have gathered, leave the city, and I will not kill your queen today.”
Aldrin’s body is finally released by the bargain as he changes his target, fully aware of the calculations running through my mind and my next plan of attack. He swings his sword and stalks closer with menace. “And why would I make such a bargain with you, when you will try to kill her tomorrow instead?”
“Then it is death today.” Titania laughs as she removes her arms from me and pushes me over the precipice.
I drop from the edge of the balcony and freefall through the void beyond.
My arms and legs flail. My heart stops.
