Page 30 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
Torin releases me, letting out a string of curses. I immediately pull away. It is only his vise-like grip around my wrist that stops me from darting off again. I am so gods-damned close to unleashing my magic on him.
“Nasty little human,” Torin spits at me, a red flush creeping up his checks. “Why would anyone want something as fragile and weak as you? Someone so powerless? There is a reason why we chased all of the humans out of this city. You have no value here. Soon you’ll be another discarded toy my mother has forgotten about, while your mate is as good as dead, trapped in another realm.”
I open my mouth to spit venom right back at him, but a sudden sting burns my wrist. We both glance down in horror to where his fingers wrap around me. Ice crystals rapidly form across Torin’s entire hand, growing from a light frost to jagged peaks half an inch thick. He rips his arm back, shattering the ice and shaking his hand to bring heat back into it. When he glances over my shoulder, his eyes widen and he backs away from me, holding up his hands.
I turn slowly, expecting to find a huge male warrior in armor hulking over us both, blade drawn. Instead, there is a small fae woman with huge blue-green eyes, pink-hued cheeks and hair so blond it is practically white. There is an air of girlish innocence about her that is incredibly disarming. I glance back at Torin. The color has drained from his face. He takes another step back.
“Oh, Torin, did you think you found another victim to use as your punching bag?” Her voice is musical, and she walks right up to him and slaps his face lightly. Playfully.
He sneers back but doesn’t strike her. “I have no business with you, Sasha.”
“No, not without your guards to back you up. You only ever attack a person who is vulnerable or helpless or outnumbered, like the coward you are.”
She turns her back on him, and my heart stops. I am sure Torin will attack her from behind, but he does nothing.
Sasha loops her arm through mine and leads me away. “Don’t worry about him. The worst he can do is run away and cry to his mother. Did you know their family has very little magic?” She glances over her shoulder and looks him straight in the eye. “I bet their ears are rounded. They have a lot of human blood, don’t you, Torin? Take off the golden ear caps and show us.” She turns back to me. “Odd that they create so much hatred for what they are.”
“I am fucking fae!” Torin’s face turns bright red, but his hand flies to his ear, fingering the meshwork of golden swirls that adorn it and form a peak at its tip. He looks like he will say more, but he turns and stalks off instead, his entire body tight.
Sasha suddenly yanks me through a door, slamming it behind us. She makes quick work of locking it with a key, then sliding home multiple bolts that span the double doors, barricading us in like she expects an army to arrive with a battering ram. I let out a long, shuddering breath, but the tension in my body remains. I have no idea who this woman is.
What kind of person makes Torin that afraid?
Sasha finally glances at me. “Are you okay?”
All I can do is nod.
“Come. Sit down. I’ll make you tea.” She leads me to a sunroom and motions for me to take one of the armchairs.
The space is incredible. Two dusty pink velvet couches face each other across a low glass table, but the rest of the space is completely occupied by plants. Every nook and cranny. There must be a hundred pots on the ground, ferns and broad-leafed shrubs sprouting out of them. Some are as tall as me, in every shade of green and some blue, broken up with subtle patterns in pinks, reds and purples.
Another dozen pots hang from a paneled glass ceiling, flowering vines cascading out of them. Glass fire orb lanterns in a rainbow of stains send blocks of color across the room. There are shelves everywhere, with more tiny pots on them housing miniature tulips and daffodils.
A small courtyard garden is visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows, crammed with trees, rose bushes and wildflowers, taking up every available space and growing into each other. There is an untamed element to its beauty.
I remember to stop gawking and move a couple of romance books from the nearest couch to take a seat. Sasha arrives with a silver tea set on a matching tray and places it on the table between us. Immediately, a fuzzy black puka with long perked ears like a rabbit jumps onto the table and swipes a biscuit. My host doesn’t even blink at the creature’s presence here.
I glance around wildly as the rest of her pets slowly come out of their hiding places. Another puka climbs the back of my couch and watches me warily from a distance, while a third climbs into Sasha’s lap as she pours the tea.
Tiny purple and green sprites flicker around the plants, while a handful of pixies peer at us from behind broad leaves. Then a butterfly lands on the tip of my nose and I gasp. Not at the beauty of the creature, which has a kaleidoscope of colors and patterns across its wings, but at the sheer worth of it. They only exist naturally in my realm. Its ancestors must have beenimported when the portals were opened centuries ago and bred here for generations to produce this one.
Sasha breaks the silence. “Unfortunately, being bullied by Torin is the official initiation in the palace these days. You just need to know how to handle him. It’s a shame you don’t have magic to threaten him with.” She hands me a cup of dark, aromatic tea. “I’m Sasha, the Winter Court ambassador and royal hostage.”
I suck in a sharp breath.
Fae from Winter wouldn’t fare well in this court with Titania as the ruler.
The High Chancellor’s entire reign is built upon blaming others for her shortcomings and every problem the court faces. Her favorite scapegoat is the Winter Court and the supposed war they are bringing to Spring’s doorstep. It is the only way she can explain away the corruption and deny its true source. Her official word is that Winter is transforming the Spring territory at the borders to snowy plains in a land grab. That they will soon invade. Yet all the fortresses there are kept empty of Spring soldiers.
“Are you in this court alone?” I ask as horror washes through me.
“So, she does speak.” Sasha laughs, then sobers. “Did you hear of what has been happening to my people here on your travels to the palace?”
I wrap my hands tightly around my teacup, leaning into the heat radiating from it. “No, but Aldrin told me?—”
“Aldrin has no idea!” she cuts me off. “I had my own guard here. Friends. But they were taken from me. Now, I am as alone as you are in a hostile court. Do not think that being Aldrin’s mate and the rightful Queen of Spring will benefit you for a single moment. It puts a target on your back and that of anyone who openly supports you.”
An awkward silence drags out between us as she frowns into her tea, surely reflecting on how she just did exactly that.
