Page 108 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
“Tell Sasha to send down some more books,” the quiet orc grumbles, the only one to give a serious reply. “Her bloody puka ate the final chapter of the last one. I have no idea how it ends. Do you know what that does to a man with endless time?”
Rainier kneels before me, placing his hands on either side of my head, and I gasp as his healing magic flows into me. “Just as I suspected. You have head trauma.”
The other two healers sit on the pallet on either side of me, and their gentle touches burn through my flesh and make my muscles cramp painfully.
Jasper walks through the open gate of my cell, then hesitates with his back to me. He thinks for a long time, body completely stiff, then suddenly turns on the spot. “Can you—would you mind if…” He grimaces when I jolt and suck in a harsh breath from the sharpness of muscles getting stitched back together. “Never mind. I’m being selfish in asking anything of you while you are being healed.”
“Jasper, I would honestly appreciate the distraction.”
“Can you use your bond and…I need you to ask Aldrin if Silvan was injured in the battle. He might not want to talk to me, but Ineedto know if he is okay.”
Aldrin?I ask gently, knowing he watches us.
Yeah,he replies, wincing at my pain despite the many cuts all over him and the way his own muscles burn with fatigue.Not a scratch on Silvan. At least, not anymore. He didn’t take any big injuries.
“Silvan is uninjured,” I breathe while the healers give me a momentary break.
“Thank you.” The tension flows out of Jasper and he leaves without another word.
“We need to do something about the two of them,” I murmur to Rainier, to avoid acknowledging the situation I am currently in.
“What can you do for men who don’t want to be helped?” he replies, shrugging, but his gaze lingers where Jasper stood.
Rainier and the healers leave and I fall into another fitful sleep.
Hands grip my shoulders, fingers digging in painfully, shaking me awake. For a heartbeat, I think I am in a hut in the Sanctuary of Magic, in Strathia, and Finan is here to abduct me all over again. I almost hear the screams of priestesses as his soldiers torment them, almost smell the burning of the world around us.
This fate is so much worse.
Torin hovers over me instead, the long strands of his black hair dangling between us, a cruel smile forming on his lips. “Finally, I have you right where I want you.” He snickers, then pulls me roughly upright. “Get used to this sight, Queen of Nothing. You are going to be down here for a long time.”
My heart stops, then hammers violently, drawing Aldrin’s attention. He stands in his base of operations, leaning over a map, and falters mid-argument.
A sharp pain blooms in my side, then Torin holds up a needle with droplets of my blood coating the tip. Immediately, the poison soaks into my flesh, blocking my magic bit by bit. “Just in case Jasper didn’t do his job right. The man is soft beneath all those muscles. I am nothing if not thorough.”
“Get. Off. Me!” I elbow him in the ribs and push him away with more force than he was expecting.
Torin lets out a low laugh. “I can’t wait to watch the fight slowly die in your eyes. When you are a broken shell of yourself, you will do whatever I ask of you and tell me everything I need to know.”
He clicks at the two guards hovering in the doorway, and they immediately enter, carrying a small foldout table between them,heavy iron chains and a case. I recognize the man who strolls in behind them, whistling. He is a part of Titania’s inner circle. Zedrick. He leers at me with a nasty grin on his face.
Torin immediately opens the case and lays out a towel on the table. Then, one by one, he pulls out each shiny instrument and lines them up neatly. Scalpels. Small saws. Tongs. A branding iron. Each one is immaculately cleaned and looks razor-sharp.
My eyes turn wide as I watch each small movement, unable to look away. It is like there is a wild beast in my chest, thrashing and trying to claw its way out of me. This cannot be my reality. Surely the bargain will not let them torture me. My hands shake so violently I have to shove them under my legs to hide it.
Keira. Keira, listen to me.
I jolt at Aldrin’s voice in my head, thanking the gods that our bond didn’t shut down with the poison, but wishing for his sake that it had all the same. Even my reservoir of magic remains untouched, but there is a shield growing over it, slowly stopping me from tapping into my abilities and raw power.
Stay with me,he pleads.Stay in my body as much as you can. We will get through this together. I promise I won’t leave you. Not for a second. You have to fight that poison before it blocks your magic completely. I can guide you through it.
His thoughts are a chaotic mess, spinning around and around in a tempest, as he frantically tries to think of ways to get to me. As doubt creeps in that I will be able to counter the poison’s effects without the training he received with the Assassins of Belladonna.
I read it all in his mind.The fact that every way into the palace is choked with Titania’s guards. They stand with bows and arrows ready on each tower and battlement. In every window and doorway. The secret passages are blocked. None of the assassins can get him to me.
Aldrin cannot even send a message to Drake, Rainier or Jasper to save me. Most fae have a natural block against Drake’s ability to cast out his consciousness and dip momentarily into the minds of others. Even those he has trained to let him in, like Rainier, cannot reach out to him first. They can only receive him.
Aldrin is terrified to leave my mind for a single moment, to make me endure this alone. He is terrified of remaining, and witnessing the horrors they will inflict on me.
