Page 28 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
I could snuff out her life force at this distance and no one could stop me.Send out a wave of my destructive earth magic, hopping from guard to guard, until it sinks into her body and decays her flesh. It would be a slow death, so she feels the agony of her body rotting and giving out. It is the same fate with which she curses the low fae.
Maybe no one would even suspect that it was me in all this chaos.
The desire to kill radiates throughout me, building to an intense level. It swirls with the maddening anger vibrating through me until my entire body shakes with the need. My teeth grind painfully and my hands wrap tightly around the bars until my knuckles turn white.
I will not allow her to take any more victims. To trample more people beneath her boots for the sake of her fragile ego.
My vision narrows and all I see is the monster I have marked for death. My magic rears up like a snake about to bite.I do notcare about the ramifications of a public assassination or the risk of creating a martyr.
The deathly force of my earth magic shoots out of me.
It barely leaves my body before it snaps straight back to its source.
I am thrown backward. A halo of yellow light glows around me before fizzling out. I want to curse. To scream. To weep. That desperate bargain I made to the monster before me stops me from harming her. Somehow, I forgot that in my blinding rage. Maybe I thought I still could, considering how much hurt that bargain has allowed her to do me.
My eyes clear, and land on Rainier. At first glance, it looks like he does nothing but stand beside Titania’s litter with Florian, speaking with urgency and frowning into the crowd with disapproval. But then I see his subtle wields.
Sheets of hardened air force civilians back from the fighting. Blocks of ice grow before the boots of violent guards, blocking them when they try to kick a fae on the ground. Gusts of wind knock clubs from hands and vines wrap around legs to hold aggressors from both sides in place.
His actions are subtle. The magic could appear to come from anyone in the mass, unless a person had the time to follow the threads back to him.
This is the only way I can help these people.
I take control of the thin layer of air beneath the feet of a Wildrose Guard and rip it out from beneath her, making her crash to her knees. I do it again and again, then check that no one from the procession has noticed my magic.
Rainier and Florian stare at me with matching frowns. Rainier shakes his head ever so slightly, but it is the intensity in Florian’s red eyes that makes my throat dry out. Titania snaps a command at him, and our locked stare breaks as the general marches into the crowd.
Florian drags Torin out of the churning mass by the collar and they rejoin the procession near my caged litter. Torin’s black hair hangs loosely across his face, splattered with droplets of blood, and his knuckles are cut open from the sheer number of times he has slammed them into his victims. The smile of pure exhilaration on his face turns my stomach. This is not a man to be underestimated. He enjoys cruelty for the sake of entertainment, the same as his mother.
“Do you want to raise the mob against us while we are in the streets?” Florian growls in his face at the same time Titania’s voice calls her guards back, amplified by magic.
“It’s just a bit of fun, Florian. Some people need to remember who is in power here.” Torin dusts off his clothes as the procession begins to move again.
A sigh of relief leaves one of my litter-bearers, and I realize they have been holding up this heavy platform, trembling, while the fighting occurred all around them. The Royal Guard holds back the thrashing crowd while the Wildrose Guard beats any who block the road ahead of us.
Torin walks right up to my cage and spits a mouthful of blood at me. The liquid is hot and sticky across my face and I rear back from him.
“This is your fault. I don’t know what you are doing, but it is your fault.” He points a finger at me. “Cower like you should! Show the people how pathetic you are.”
I stand straighter, not bothering to wipe his blood from my face. “I will not cower before the likes of you.”
“Oh, I will teach that pretty little mouth some respect when we arrive at the palace and I can get my hands on you.”
I shudder at the threat. He turns on his heel and moves up the procession, whistling a happy tune.
Perhaps he will learn that beneath a soft facade, I have spikes and venom too.
My heart races as we arrive at the palace, then lodges within my throat as the calloused hands of multiple Royal Guards pull me from my cage and I am swallowed by a cloud of their number.
Capes with the gold emblem of a tree snap before me and the harsh echo of their boots striking stone bounces off the walls. I am led through corridor after corridor, expecting to be dragged down into dark, dank cells. Gods, I don’t want to spend even a moment in a dungeon with vermin scurrying at my feet and the tormented cries of long-term prisoners all around me.
We stop before double doors of the palest green, a delicate gold filigree of vines sprouting tiny leaves and blooms across their surface. Jasper turns a key in its lock, then opens both doors wide and gestures for me to enter. Beyond is a foyer with white marble tiles and thick matching pillars veined with gold and black. A wide entrance reveals a sitting room with velvet couches and a chandelier glowing with fire orbs, and a dining room with a heavily lacquered setting in rich, dark wood.
Jasper ushers me in with a firm hand on my shoulder, until we are just out of hearing of the guards waiting in the corridor. He places the cold key in my hand, an ornate thing of twisted gold, and I stare at it with confusion.
“The High Chancellor has not ordered guards to watch your door. This is a blessing and a curse for you, so I suggest you keep it locked at all times. You are a guest here, not a prisoner, but I don’t think I need to tell you that her politicalguestsare not treated very well.”
“How far will she go, Jasper? What has she already done for the bargain to allow the abuses I have endured these past days?”
