Page 147 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
Drake limps, but he doesn’t flinch with pain when he laughs at something Rainier says. When his eyes fall on us they glitter with mischief, and he sweeps into a deep, flourishing bow, releasing his son and swinging out an arm for effect. “My gracious king and queen, if you would allow a lowly fae such as myself to speak, I have news you will welcome.”
“Stop that,” Aldrin snaps. “You know I hate formalities.”
Drake’s smile only deepens, and he opens his mouth to no doubt say something that will only aggravate my mate further, so I jump in. “What is your news, Drake? Anything positive?”
“I have hidden some of my spies among those leaving the city under the Truth Templar flags,” he says. “The portals they are using lead all over the court, but I am sure they will navigate through a few before they reach their final destination. All we can do is wait to learn where they land. I tried to send my consciousness out to the winds to follow them, but they move in too many directions, and I am still…somewhat depleted.”
I look him up and down, taking in the way he puts most of his weight on one leg, the dark grooves beneath his eyes that tell me he hasn’t finished healing. “Are you sure you are well enough to travel to the Summer Court tomorrow? We can find other ambassadors.” Aldrin frowns at Drake, clearly seeing the same things I am.
Our first task in our rule was to set up diplomatic parties to travel to each of the other courts. They will find out just how much damage Titania did to international relations, propose our ideas for combating the realm-wide threat of the corruption destroying our lands, and determine whether we will receive opposition or collaboration from the other rulers.
They will also announce that we have won the Spring throne. These initial visits will be short and undertaken by our mosttrusted people. When we are able, we will tour the other courts of this realm ourselves.
Drake grabs Rainier and throws an arm tightly around his shoulders once again, making him stagger forward. “Of course I am well enough. Can an old man not be a little tired after winning a war? Besides, it is my son’s first diplomatic mission. I will not abandon him to do it on his own. It is a proud milestone for our family.”
Rainier grimaces. “I would not be doing it on my own. Lord Cedar is also accompanying us. Besides, we are visiting Summer. They have always been our allies. And it’s just a handful of days.”
Aldrin places a hand on Drake’s shoulder, looking him up and down. “Only if Klara clears you as medically fit.”
Rainier laughs and Drake groans. “Doesn’t that woman already have too much power over me? She is already livid that I spent so much time away from her undercover, then got my dumb ass in that cage.”
A deep sadness rolls through me. I want to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault we ended up trussed up like that. It wasn’t anyone’s fault except Titania and Torin’s. I open my mouth to say just that, but a high-pitched whirl screeches right by my ear and a slight breeze blows tendrils of my hair back, kissing the skin of my neck.
An arrow passes right between Aldrin and myself, so fast I almost miss the blur of it.
Absolute chaos breaks out on the balcony.
One moment I am standing there, dumbfounded, and the next I am falling to the ground. Aldrin is wrapped around me as he tosses us down, holding me to his chest and taking the full impact of our fall on his elbows and knees. He covers my body with his, but no more arrows fly overhead.
The Wisteria of Mythanar explodes into action. The thin branches already interwoven all across the balcony rear up andcreate a tight canopy over the entire space that no additional missiles can penetrate through. It is an impressive feat, the sudden, massive growth and rapidly thickening branches. Leaves and purple cascades of blooms hang from the ceiling of the meshwork, like it just couldn’t help adding beauty to the functionality.
Aldrin finally gets off me and holds out a hand to help me stand on unsteady legs.“Are you okay?” he says softly, clearly shaken.
“I’ll survive.” I dust off my gown as my eyes sweep over my father, sister and closest friends to make sure no one was injured.
The guards on the stairs below shout out orders as they attempt to pursue the archer. Cyprien strides over to the wall that the single arrow buried itself into and tears it out, uncoiling the piece of parchment wrapped around the shaft. He skims his eyes across it.
“What does it say?” Aldrin stalks over to him, rage practically vibrating from his every muscle. “What does it fucking say?” He rips it from Cyprien’s fingers and reads it for himself, then glances up at me with such regret that my stomach tightens in knots. I walk to him as though through water, my consciousness feeling disconnected from my body.
I am not ready for any more battles.
“Let me read it,” I whisper, and Aldrin holds the parchment out for me to take. My heart sinks as my eyes move over the cursive script.
We will never stop coming for you. We will spread like seeds on the wind to all corners of this realm, waiting, growing, nurturing our truth until the whole realm knows it. Then we will come for you and we will showno mercy. We will have not one army, butALLthe armies of the fae, to stop the spread of your poison.
—Torin, Leader of the Truth Templars
My heart stopsas I glance up at Aldrin, who hovers over me with his lips compressed into a thin line. “You were right,” he murmurs, just loud enough for me to hear. “We should have?—”
I place a finger over his lips to stop him, even though I can hear his thoughts roaring in my head. “Don’t you say it. We could have let the battle rage on for days and it still would have been near impossible to find Torin in it. We had to stop our people from needlessly dying and suffering. And it could be an empty threat. It could take him years, decades, to retaliate. He hasn’t had the time to even reassemble his forces yet.”
“Yet,” Aldrin says. “But that cult will fester in the shadows if we do not stop them, and soon.” He holds my hands in his. “Whatever comes, we will fight through it together.”
Aweek passes in peace, and I am finally able to breathe easier. To stop constantly looking over my shoulder for an attack, though the nightmares don’t stop. Every night I awake in my bed drenched in sweat and convinced that my mate died in a variety of violent ways, only to find her sleeping safely beside me.
It takes me long, heaving moments to finally remember that the war is over, while I try to slow my pounding heart. We lose ourselves in each other’s bodies during those sleepless nights, because Keira struggles as much as I do with the trauma from all the battles we have fought to be together.
I try to remain present in the moment as much as possible, instead of drowning in fears that visit me from the past and plague me about the future. That includes engaging in this feast that Keira insisted we host within our newly acquired banquet hall in the palace.
