Page 115 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
That solidarity, that faith, it is almost enough to unman me. I am forced to look away. “We will win this war. Iwillkill Titania, even if it is the last thing I do.”
Caitlin approaches and places a hot mug of coffee in my hands, her own shaking so violently the liquid almost slops over the side. “Is your daughter with Odiane again?” I ask softly, so fucking relieved to have her fighting with us despite her greater commitment to her child. So grateful for the fact that she balances both her motherly and sisterly love by constantly traveling back and forth between the two.
“No. Morgana is with my grandmother and nursemaid in Appleshield.” Her voice chokes.
“Good. She is safer that way.” I don’t mention that nowhere in my court is safe right now.
Maeve is back at the map, readjusting the stones that represent our forces around the city. I approach to consider it for the hundredth time, and her gaze flicks up to me.The tension around her dark eyes hasn’t faded, but it never seems to.
“You need to call that election, Aldrin. You need to call itnow. Your hands are tied until you break that bargain. The terms Keira gave means it expires the moment Titania is no longer in power, through death or dethronement. It will be near impossible to touch her, because if we get close again, she can call upon Keira to be used as a shield. The people who love her are rendered inactive and I cannot accept putting others in place who do not care for her and may risk her life. Wecankill Titania with the bargain in place, but it will be bloody hard to achieve.”
More people channel into the room, some from upstairs, others entering battle-weary from the fray outside as the violence rages on, despite the depths of the night.
“I was hoping for more optimal conditions. For more time to win the people over. Right now, it could go either way. Too many bloody themselves fighting for Titania, and of those who remainlocked in their houses, there is no guarantee they would pledge their allegiance to me.”
“Maeve is right,” Edmund cuts in. “You are out of time, son.”
My heart rate ramps up. I know it is a risk I must take. “Understand that Titania will not simply back down and hand over the throne because I won an election. She will call it rigged and she will come at us with everything she has. If we lose, that woman who now wears Keira’s face and took her place in the dungeons will pay with whatever creative torment Titania thinks up. She might even kill her.”
“But it will break the bargain if you win. She will never be able to take Keira away from us again. The princess volunteered. No one forced her into this, and whatever she gains from the gamble, it must be vast.” There is a brutality in Maeve’s tone that I wasn’t expecting, but this is a mother wolf protecting her cub.
Cyprien grabs my arm and tears me toward him. “Who took Keira’s place, Aldrin? Who fucking took her place?” he snarls, the hint of his fangs and tusks growing within his mouth as his lips pull back from his teeth. The heat in his eyes makes me wonder for the first time in my life if he is going to murder me. Even when we clashed in that meadow when Keira first stepped through the portal and Cyprien was still working for Titania, I knew he wouldn’t truly harm me. Right now, I’m not so sure.
Before I can open my mouth to answer, a storm of ash and burning embers materializes between us, swirling rapidly in a torrent as it slowly forms into the shape of a woman. Her features and clothes emerge, until Keira is standing there right before me.
Her face is pale and she shakes with the aftermath of both shock and great fatigue. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her back tightly to my chest and kissing the top of her head.
“Sasha,” Keira says, tears brimming in her eyes. “Sasha took my place. Oh gods, Aldrin, I think I made a mistake. I need to go back.”
“NO!” both her parents roar at the same time, starting toward us.
“Think with your brain instead of your heart,” Caitlin snaps. “That woman doesn’t break free from her usual torment at Titania’s hands until you fight for this entire court. No one else can do it but you.”
Keira nods at her and the sisters squeeze hands tightly, stabilizing each other.
“Why Sasha?” Cyprien pushes his way to us. “Why her? Is she that expendable to you? Has that woman not been through enough already under Titania’s rule?”
“It was her choice, Cyprien. Sasha insisted,” Keira says softly. “She has her reasons and I had no other options. Do not think that I don’t hate it as much as you do.”
His face pales and he runs a hand across the black braids pulled back into a thong at the center of his head. He looks away, then drags his eyes back. “That stupid girl. Hasn’t she been tormented enough, only to throw herself into danger again, far worse than she would have otherwise endured?”
I scowl at Cyprien. I was enraged when I arrived in this city and discovered the things that had been done to Sasha. None in the palace should be treated with such little respect. None in this entire court. A small part of me wonders if I am any better, encouraging this swap with Keira.
“Is this how they have been treating my Winter ambassador the entire time I was in exile?” I snap at Cyprien.
He flinches. “Not while I was in the palace,” he says in a low voice, leaden with the promise of death. “I made sure no one touched her. I even had those damned orc bodyguards roaming free.”
“Call me selfish, but I can’t win this war if I am going to lose Keira each time Titania calls her back,” I admit.
“And we cannot leave Sasha to rot in a cell with no idea what they will do to her,” Cyprien snaps back, but the heat is gone from him, replaced with resignation.
I turn to Keira, cupping her face in my hands. “Then we have no choice but to call an election today and hope we win. Hope that Drake and Rainier can protect Sasha in that time. It is just one day.”
I notice a pair approach from the corner of my eye, and turn to Flint and Ivy, the corrupt senators we had Titania accidentally condemn and the Assassins of Belladonna collect for us. How thoroughly they switched sides in this fight, when they believed their lives were on the line. They have been most useful in deradicalizing hosts of Titania’s followers. It could tip the balance in our favor during a vote.
“You’d better be prepared to kill Titania as your first act when you regain the throne,” Flint says, his eyes flicking rapidly between us. “Because she will never release her grip on power and her fanatic supporters will always follow her.”
“Torin too,” Ivy adds. “The riots in the streets will never end so long as they have someone from that family to follow.”
