Page 4 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
This is the son Drake and Klara thought they had made amends with. Who saw the truth of Titania’s reign and was no longer one of her greatest supporters. My heart hurts for them. At the betrayal that must be coming their way from the son who was turned against them.
I can’t stop staring at Rainier as he moves through the crowd. He glances back at me only once, the fire of rage burning hot in his eyes.
Perhaps he feels abandoned and blames me.
He looks nothing like a child of Drake and Klara. I would have expected purple eyes or hair like Klara, or skin a shade of bronze so deep it is almost red like Drake. Even the shapes of his features don’t match.
A whirlwind of dark thoughts makes me spiral. I am completely out of my depth here.
By the darkness, what I would do to feel Aldrin’s strong arms wrap around me again and press me into the warmth and hardplanes of his body. For his mere presence to wrap me up in a bubble of safety.
I am here, dear heart,Aldrin’s voice rumbles as he embraces me within a ghost of those very sensations I crave.I am always here, in your mind and bound to your soul.
A tear rolls down my cheek and I think I will be undone by the knot of emotion exploding within my chest. Love. Fear. Deep, desperate need. There is immense comfort in his soul wrapping around mine. It is like the sun coming out on a cold day and bathing my skin in its heat. Like the first bite of chocolate that has my tastebuds tingling and my brain hitting that high. Like the glow after mind-blowing sex.
My thoughts hit a wall at high impact as I register that Aldrin is falling, falling, falling, through inky blackness with no end. That in the darkness around him, there are terrifying beasts and demons that should only belong in nightmares. That he is surrounded by Assassins of Belladonna in their telltale indigo robes. Worst of all, is the four horsemen of the Wild Hunt, wearing armor of metal and bone, mounted on ethereal warhorses that look ghoulish and half decayed.
Fear like I have never known before cuts through me and I think I will vomit.Aldrin! What have you done?I whisper, but I already know. How did I not see this before?
The only thing that could be done,he says.Hold tight, dear heart. I am coming for you. When I do, I will have the Assassins of Belladonna at my back. This is the only way.
The blackness around him winks in and out, as though the group is making jumps through shadows to cross courts and kingdoms.
No, Aldrin! Please tell me you didn’t give yourself to the order! It is far too much of a risk. They were hired to kill you. Their trials will attempt to do the same.Tears burn my eyesagain.My soul would wither and die if you no longer lived. It would be worse than any torture in the darkest realm.
Don’t fear for me, please,he rasps.I always needed to take this path to defeat Titania. I would have preferred to do it while you were safe in your father’s castle.His voice seems distant. Distracted.You can’t stay in my mind, Keira. You need to be vigilant for your own trials.
The cage lurches. I slip across the floorboards and almost slam into one barred wall when someone curses and the angle of the cage is adjusted again.
“Hey,” a man calls out in a hushed whisper. “Hey. Human. Hold on to the rings in the center of the floor. Otherwise you are going to be tossed around in here as we try to lift you.”
I blink at the half-dozen fae who surround the cage at regular intervals. They are trying to raise it off the ground by the long bars that extend out of the platform. I rush back to the center and grab hold of the thick handles as the floor tips near sideways beneath me. There are more curses and shouts, and a few guards run over.
“Are you trying to snap your own backs? Or tip over the cage and kill the woman within and the carriers on the other side?” Florian snarls as he stalks over like a storm cloud. “Bend your fucking knees and lift the platform as one, then maneuver it onto your shoulders!”
“We are not soldiers or servants!” one of the carriers calls out, a slight woman in the middle. “We have never done this before, nor do we have the strength for it!”
“Well, you’re not fucking senators or nobility anymore either,” Florian yells in the woman’s face, spit flying from his lips.“If you can’t cope with your punishment, you shouldn’t have committed treason.”
She straightens her spine, but is so much shorter than him. “Treason? For leaving the city without permission?”
“For visiting the border with the intention of starting trouble.”
The entire cage sways and lurches dangerously as the procession starts moving. I realize two things: this is as much the carriers’ humiliation as it is mine, and they are going to drop me. Oh gods. I’m either going to die here tossed on my head or down a ravine, or I’m going to give myself away when I use magic.
I glance at Titania sprawled out on the cushions of her litter, which moves smoothly under the care of professional bearers, and find myself hoping one of them will trip and spill her out of it.
Both tasteless vehicles slow the procession to a crawl down roads through meadows and forests. As we near the first town built into the trunks of huge trees, the faces of my litter-bearers turn different shades of red. One woman’s lips quiver at what is to come and another has tendons sticking out in her neck. A man mutters impotent, angry curses beneath his breath.
“Brace yourself, human.” That same carrier speaks to me again, not lifting his eyes from the road. “Hold your head high and endure the show of degradation the High Chancellor has designed for you, and don’t make a fuss. Titania has a short memory and will get bored soon. Especially if you give her nothing. Many have been in this position before, and have ended up back in the Senate months later.”
“Why does no one challenge her and remove her from power if she treats her nobility this badly?” I whisper.
The man laughs low, earning a few dark looks from nearby guards. “Do you think people haven’t tried? They have all gone missing. A man can merely think of revolution, not even say a word of it, mind you, and he disappears from his bed.”
I want to say more, so much more, but something soft and sickly-sweet splatters against my face. Its rancid juices run down my cheek.
I jolt as a heavy impact hits my back and squelches as it bounces off. Another piece of fruit smashes against the bars, exploding before it can strike me.
