Page 122 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
The blood immediately drains from my head as I am confronted by this nightmare.
Aldrin is a frantic mess in the back of my mind. He can hardly breathe, running his hands through his hair and near pulling it out, cursing and raging, screaming internally for me to come back.
I have to partially block him out, if I am going to survive here. He is normally the voice of calm reason within my head, but he has reached his limit and has been broken by it.
My gaze darts away from the High Chancellor, who blocks most of my visual field, as I try to find an advantage in this situation. Anyone I can hold as hostage against her, because my magic won’t fight her directly.
We are in the throne room, with probably fifty Wildrose Guards circling around us.I expect to find Sasha bloody and beaten, a crumpled heap on the ground. To see a dead, limp body with those blue-green eyes staring and sightless. Instead,my gaze meets hers over Titania’s shoulder, through the bars of a highly ornate golden birdcage big enough to fit a fae. Tears streak down her face.
There isn’t a single scratch on her, but I can sense the magic of our bargain still thrumming strong and realize she did not betray our swap.
Rainier lies a bloodied mess before her cage, puffy, blackened eyes half open but hardly able to move. Sasha has her hands through the bars, stroking his hair. I know with terrible certainty that she watched them beat her son in front of her while he tried to protect her, without being able to help him. Even now, she can’t heal him without Spring magic.
Titania digs her fingernails in deeper and drags my face back toward hers, still only inches away. “You can imagine my surprise when I tossed the Queen of Nothing into this golden cage to put her on display for the entire city, and all the glamour fell from her. You see, the unique alloy of the bars stops magic.” All humor is gone from her voice.
She tosses me backward, and I stagger until I hit something hard. The chest of a man. I shudder with repulsion, because I know exactly who clutches my shoulder with one hand and brings a blade to my throat with the other.
Torin.
It’s always fucking Torin.
“That made me think there must be a spy in my midst.” Titania prances away from me, still holding my eye. “One with the exceptional glamour magic that only Aldrin’s most loyal Commander of the Special Forces is capable of, so I had all my people checked.”
“Of course my mother takes credit formydiscoveries,” Torin snickers under his breath, only loud enough for me to hear.
She whirls toward the cages. “I want to know where Florian is,” she snarls, lips peeling back from her teeth.
My stomach drops as Torin turns me so I can see three cages: one empty, one with Sasha sprawled on her side, and the final with Drake crouching inside, all hints of his disguise gone. He reaches out as far as his arm can extend toward his son, not quite able to touch him, talking to him in a constant, low stream. Utter devastation twists his features and tears glisten on his cheeks. He only has eyes for Rainier, ignoring everyone else in the room.
Fear and rage churn within me, and I pull up my magic. Nothing can hold me back any longer.
I need justicenow.
I need violencenow.
There is a blade at my throat, but I don’t care if Torin kills me with it, so long as I get to unleash my wrath.
I care!Aldrin roars in my mind.I care if you live or die! Don’t you dare risk yourself.
Titania grabs a glass flute from a platter on a delicate table and throws it at the bars of Drake’s cage. I jolt as it shatters, covering him in white wine and glass shards. He doesn’t even flinch, but his eyes flick to her momentarily.
“Where. Is. Florian?” she yells at him.
He rises to his full, imposing height, menace rolling off him as he cracks his thick neck from side to side, the muscles within it bulging. “I did to Florian what I promised I would do years ago when the Winter Wars ended. He has been fertilizer for trees for months now.” Drake grins wide, revealing a split lip and blood on his teeth.
“Mother. Let me drag him out of that cage and beat him within an inch of his life for speaking to you like that,” Torin growls, the tip of his blade scratching my neck in his distraction.
Titania flicks her long black nails, still stained with my blood. “He is far too powerful and unpredictable.” She stalks right up to the cage, staying far enough away that he can’t grab her when he tries. “Florian might be feeding trees, but I wonder whichvermin you’ll be feeding after we hang your cage from the palace walls? How long will it take you to die while they nibble on your body?”
My throat tightens as I finally piece together what she has planned for us.
“Torin.” Titania snaps her fingers at him. “Toss the little girl into her cage. I tire of this.”
He doesn’t move. “Don’t you want to get answers out of her? I can be creative and work around the bargain. Torture one of the other two, perhaps. That will make her speak.”
“Who cares what Aldrin has planned?” She rolls her eyes. “He will be dead before sunrise. Into the cage with her.”
I fall forward, losing my footing as Torin drags me along and pulls me back upright by my hair. “Don’t fall if you don’t want to slash open your own throat with my blade,” he growls in my ear. “Though that would be a better fate than what we have planned for you.”
