Page 132 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
“And what exactly were those terms, if I am to hand myself over to you?” I clench and unclench sweat-soaked hands. I am making a deal with a demon while holding absolutely no power.
“All you need to know is that I will get you and your entire elite force into Titania’s throne room and before her feet, past all of her guards. You can even keep your weapons. Our original agreement stands. All you have to do is place your life within my hands.” He lets out a dry laugh. “The entire fate of your court, really.”
I glance up to where I will find Keira.
All of this is for her.
My heart stops when I find the row of cages missing.
I can only hope Edmund and Caitlin found a way to free them. A baseless, childish hope.
When my eyes flick back down a fraction of a second later, Belladonna’s form materializes out of shadows right before me. Her face is so close it is all I can see, the skin rapidly turning black with inky lines and swirls. Only her head and arms have taken physical shape among the inky smoke.
She grabs my cheeks and forcefully plants a kiss on my lips.
I rear backward in shock as her deadly poison seeps down to my bones. My blood turns to ice and my muscles shut down one by one, becoming numb and weak. I bend forward and retch, but nothing comes out. My heart rate slows dangerously despite the frantic thoughts whirling through my mind.
Belladonna is so fast my eyes can barely keep track of her as she pounces through shadows at each one of my closest allies, poisoning them in turn. Horror churns through me as thick, black veins quickly colonize their exposed flesh, running up their throats and across their faces.
Cyprien falls to his knees beside me. Hawthorne grips his throat as he struggles to breathe. Klara, Silvan, Jasper and Lilly all falter and weaken. Every single member of my elite force that Leonardo promised to bring to Titania has been poisoned, and I know from experience just how deadly that toxin is. Is he dragging us to her in this condition for our benefit or hers?
I fall on my hands and knees, gasping for air, as another horn blasts. Pure agony ripples through me as my muscles clamp tightly then release, again and again. The Wildrose Guard marches out of the palace in neat columns. I can barely make out their ranks with my vision fading in and out. They surround us while King Leonardo’s soldiers lift us from the ground.
I expect his forces to carry us through the palace in this state, to dump us at Titania’s feet, but instead, wisps of darkness swirl around us, preparing to transport us straight to the throne room. He must have really garnered Titania’s trust for her to have finally allowed shadows to form in the palace for his kind to transport.
The darkness thickens. As my body fades from the balcony and is drawn elsewhere, intense fear is born within my belly, clawing at me. I negotiated for Leonardo to get me on the inside, but there was nothing stopping betrayal. With the poison coursing through my veins, I regret ever making a deal with the Starlight King.
The Assassins of Belladonna have tried to kill me before because I wasn’t ruthless enough in removing Titania from the throne. They planned for Cyprien to be placed upon it instead. Perhaps they still have more faith in him than in me. Or maybe Titania offered them something in the bargain that I could not. Something they couldn’t refuse. Maybe they hedged their bets this entire time, and have flipped their loyalty once again.
I am trapped in a moment of full darkness, between physical places. Either I will overcome all odds and kill Titania, or I will die from this poison. I am completely at the mercy of fate.
Ishiver uncontrollably. The chill of the night seeped into my bones while I was strung up on the palace wall, and every inch of my frozen skin burns from the heat of the many fireplaces warming the throne room. The dual sensation is agony.
My heart hammers violently as I constantly scan the calm that has settled over the room, looking for threats or some clarification on why our three cages have been brought here, and failing to find any. Titania lounges in the throne that does not belong to her, tapping her long black nails on the armrest and wearing a feline grin. Torin waits beside her and a line of her most trusted guards flank her on either side.
They are waiting for something.
The cockiness on the High Chancellor’s face and the fact I am here as an audience tells me it will be to my detriment. Gods, I hope she hasn’t gotten her hands on Aldrin.
Beside me, Sasha can hardly keep her eyes open, and Drake seems to be in a meditative pose, muttering to himself. Panic threatens to overwhelm me, tightening my throat and sendingmy mind into a spiral. I need to be alert. Ready to react to whatever atrocity they throw at me. I focus on my panted breaths, on each inhale and exhale until they slow alongside my heart rate.Calm in the face of havoc will be my weapon here.
It evaporates the moment I realize we have been betrayed.
Thick clouds of darkness swirl within the center of the room, and I become painfully aware for the first time of how dim this space has become. Of who their new allies must be for them to allow such a thing. The shadows deepen to the inkiness of an abyss, stretching from the ground almost to the high ceiling, blocking out the guards on the other side. I can just make out Titania’s self-satisfied grin deepening through the smoky tendrils that whip out from it.
Torin stalks forward eagerly. “Well, well, well. It looks like King Leonardo has seen out his side of the bargain.”
I thrust myself forward, gripping the golden bars of my cage, forgetting the way the contact will burn until I tear my hands away just as quickly.“What bargain?” I yell, my voice shaking. “What bargain?”
The world spins around me. King Leonardo, the Starlight Court—they were meant to beourallies. If they have betrayed Aldrin, I have no doubt the Assassins of Belladonna have as well. A fear like I have never felt before pumps ice through my veins.
Torin’s blue eyes light up when they fall on me. He closes the distance between us. “A bargain where he uses his agents to pluck Aldrin and his closest supporters out of the battle and bring them to our feet, poisoned and dying. Tonight, you are going to watch your mate die for the last time. Don’t worry,Queen of Nothing, we will keep you alive as a symbol. Maybe we will sell you off as a whore to the highest bidder.”
My vision fades in and out as a vise clenches tightly around my heart. “Why would Leonardo do that?” I whisper.“Why would a foreign king get involved?” Sending us discreetresources was one thing, but personally stepping into the battle to betray the king with the elected support of his people is another.
“Maybe he couldn’t get what he wanted from Aldrin. The terms of his bargain are steep and expensive. Something you can pay off with your whoring for making them necessary.” Torin shrugs, then walks back to his mother’s side.
The entire room turns pitch black, punctured with the sound of many landing boots and falling bodies. When the darkness rolls away, the empty space before the throne is filled with Starlight warriors.
