Page 105 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
The dragons are still too far away, angling around to be able to catch me.
I have to save myself.
I force my body to turn as I arc into the drop, using what air magic I have left to guide my motions. I catch a glimpse of the wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression on Torin’s face as I disappear from their view.
My ropes of air snap taut, halting my downward trajectory for a single heartbeat, then flinging me back upward in a somersault. Right toward the platform I was just tossed from. I leverage Aldrin’s magic heavily to push me in my desired direction, right back at mother and son, still clutching each other.
I use my momentum to slam both of my legs into Torin’s shoulders, sending both him and Titania flying backward. Myair wields break in the same moment, and I tumble along the balcony with them. I cannot harm or fight Titania, but her son has no such protections.
As our bodies roll across marble, I am vaguely aware of the battle that erupts around us. Aldrin leads our party in their attack on the High Chancellor’s guards, the very reason I was able to snap the web of air around her. Every time my mate tries to come for me, golden swirls stop him.
Metal grinds against metal all around us, screeching alongside the soldiers’ battle cries and screams of pain. A stream of fire shoots over my head. We keep rolling and all I can see is the blur of stomping boots, thrashing bodies with swords swinging, and the blue of the sky. Thick, inky shadows billow around us, casting the fight into semidarkness, and monstrosities form within its depths. This is Valentine’s doing, crafting circumstances to transport in Nightmares and allow their presence.
Our tumbling momentum slows and I expend just enough air magic to ensure I land on top, straddling both of my enemies, with Torin pinned beneath his mother. From his banged-up state, it is clear he has tried to shield her from the jarring impact with his body. She is not concerned for his welfare in the slightest.
They had the fucking audacity to toss me off the top of a building.
To make my mate watch.
They unleashed violence upon the city with no care at all for the innocent people enjoying the festivities on the streets. For how they were crushed between armies of savage fanatics and crazed rioters with kitchen knives.
I see red.
This fucking family is making the Spring Court tear itself apart from the inside.
I would turn both to ash without a moment’s hesitation, but the bargain protects one and my depleted magic the other.
I drag my arm backward and slam my fist right in Torin’s face. Blood sprays out as his nose crunches. Pain explodes across my knuckles, but it is the most satisfying feeling. I pull my arm back to strike him a second time, but his training kicks in and his more powerful body rolls us until I am deposited on the floor like a ragdoll. I hit my head hard enough to see stars. I have exceeded my limits if I cannot even catch myself.
Somewhere in the distance, Aldrin roars.
Our bond flickers in and out as the poison works on depleting the last of my magic. I get the vaguest sensation of him slicing his sword through the belly of one guard, while calling on the branches of the Wisteria of Mythanar to crush another in woody ropes draped with purple flowers. Each time he even considers coming for me and dragging me out of this tangle with our enemy, his body starts to lock up. The best he can do is ensure those guards do not attack me.
His heart—gods,his heart—it tightens with agony at the fact. A desperate need to protect me burns through every inch of him, but he can’t do a damned thing about it.
I blink to find Torin’s boot on my chest, pinning me down while he holds the tip of a sword to my throat. With his other hand, he pulls his mother from the ground. She scrambles up his body, making him focus more on her than me. There would be an opportunity in this, if I could move.
“Torin! Get. Me. Out. Of. Here,” Titania screeches. My people could easily kill her in this moment, if I were safely out of the way and they were intent on only her death and not my rescue. The bargain is fickle like that.
Torin grabs my chest plate and drags me to my feet, then presses me into Titania’s arms. “Use her as a body shield, and by the darkness, donotactually kill her.” He hands his mother adagger that she places at my throat. “Not yet. I know it is fucking tempting.”
My half-limp feet stumble as Titania drags me backward through the churning mass and Torin fights anyone who gets in our way. It isn’t until we come out the other side that I realize Aldrin and our people have slaughtered almost all of Titania’s guard. When my mate turns to us, when those amber eyes fall upon the doorway that she forces me toward, his body stiffens. Murderous intent swirls within his gaze and he looks truly terrifying, blood dripping from his sword and armor, a crown of horns on his head and black smears across his features.
I see the face of salvation in all those hard, grim lines.
“He cannot follow you in here.” Titania laughs in my ear, stopping in the doorway to taunt us both. “Take one last good look at your mate, because you will never see him again. I discovered your secret passageways out of the palace, had Torin torture it out of a fae, and they have been blocked off. Not that you will be sneaking anywhere from your prison cell in the dungeons. I hope you like the cold, damp and dark.”
Aldrin takes a slow step toward us. His grip on his blade is so tight his knuckles turn white. It is all he can manage.
A palace guard sees the opportunity and runs for him, axe swinging, preparing to lodge in his back.I scream as my blood turns to ice. Oh gods, I cannot watch him die. I cannot lose him. Not again. I would give up this fight, right here and now, if he no longer existed.
The moment Aldrin registers the attack and his mind becomes focused upon it, his entire body loosens and flows into the fight with ease. The soldier’s head rolls from his body a heartbeat later.
As I am pulled into the palace by Torin and Titania, guards rush at the doors, not to join the fight but to barricade them, leaving the last of their peers to their deaths. Titania drops meand makes a show of brushing off her hands like my very touch is disgusting. My body folds and makes a slow descent, but before I strike the ground, a guard catches me.
I glance up, right into Jasper’s blue eyes. His black hair is in disarray, strands falling from his topknot, and the intense frown on his face is speckled with blood. He has been fighting within the palace. I only hope he and his loyalists were discreet enough that their cover wasn’t blown.
“Take the Queen of Nothing to the dungeons,” Torin snarls, holding a cloth to his still-bleeding nose while two healers work on him. “And Jasper, make sure she is healed. I want to question her as soon as possible.”
