Page 55 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
“We are meeting with some of our loyalists to help Winter descendants and low fae flee the city,” she says. “Juniper, Rainier and Jasper normally join me, though I will not hold it against them if they want to support you tonight.”
Despite being a bear of a man, Jasper seems to wither under our joint gaze. He runs a hand across his pained features, making strands of black hair fall from where they are pulled back from his face in a topknot. “I am not ready to facehimagain.We all know how Silvan will react to me. I cannot handle the resentment in his eyes.”
Rainier places a hand on Jasper’s shoulder and the warrior seems to take comfort from it, then he breaks the heavy silence. “I will follow Keira. I am eager to see my mother tonight. It has been far too long.” My heart leaps at the thought of being reunited with Klara.
We enter the guild hall through a discreet back door. I am ushered into a small room that has spare tables and chairs stacked against the walls. A voice echoes into it from a woman in the next room giving a powerful, passionate speech on the grain crisis and food shortages. She is visible through an open doorway on a large dais addressing a crowd, but is mostly obscured by the bodies crowding around and watching from this position backstage.
They turn one by one to face us. My parents. Caitlin. Cyprien, Silvan, Klara and Hawthorne. Even Lilly and Zinnia are here. They all came for me.
Before I can well up with overwhelming emotion, Caitlin barrels into me, squeezing me far too hard in an embrace and slapping my back multiple times. When she pulls away, a scowl fills her face and tears form at the corners of her eyes. “By the Soul Ripper, Keira, what were you thinking leaving us like that? I thought Father was going to burn down the kingdom again in his rage.”
“I did what I had to,” I whisper. “I won’t apologize for it.”
There is a slight tremble to her body where she holds on to me. “Thank you for getting Morgana out of that monster’s clutches. I cannot explain how much it means to me. I will stop at nothing to help you regain your throne, not that it will ever repay the sacrifice you made for us.” She scrubs away her tears. “Gods damn it, I have turned soft since becoming a mother.”
While we are still hugging, half sobbing but trying to hide it, Klara races past us, straight to Rainier, who shuffles awkwardly by the closed door. She grabs him by the shoulders and examines every inch of him with burning lilac eyes, like she is searching for injuries.
Rainier remains incredibly still. “I have missed you, Mother,” he says softly, hardly daring to look her in the eye. “I am still so sorry that I initially picked the wrong side of this battle—sorry for everything, really. I have been trying to make it right—to make up for what I did…”
“Enough of that!” she snaps at him and he flinches, but before he can pull away, she grabs his face and kisses each of his cheeks, then engulfs him in a hug. “We have spoken about this already. You and most of the Spring Court made a mistake. It is what you did after you realized her true colors that counts.”
My heart swells for them as potent relief washes over Rainier’s face and he pulls his mother closer to him.
“Just make sure your father doesn’t get himself into trouble in that rabid bitch’s court,” Klara grumbles.
Rainier laughs. “I thought he was a magnet for trouble.” Klara scowls at him and he throws his arms up. “Okay. Okay. I will try.”
“I don’t see why he couldn’t come here tonight,” she ventures.
“Florian was expected to attend a formal dinner with the other advisers.”
Cyprien squeezes my shoulder, dragging my attention away from mother and son and giving me a curt nod. I have never met a less affectionate man, except when he is with Aldrin. Then I am passed between Hawthorne and Klara, who wrap their arms around me and talk over the top of each other.
With dizzying force, I am deposited in front of Silvan. He pats my arm awkwardly, but there is a softness in his eyes as helooks down at me, or at least a momentary lack of simmering rage. “You have been a bloody hard woman to get to. How have they been treating you? Tell me, how many of the assholes in Titania’s inner circle do I need to kill?”
“Why not all of them?” I laugh. His blond eyebrows shoot up as I drag him into a hug, and he stands with his arms limp at his sides for too long before finally wrapping them around me. Sometimes I wonder if there is nothing gentle or tender left in the man, until it is forced out in these moments. “Thank you for showing up for me,” I whisper.
“What in the Darkest Realm were we supposed to do? Leave our queen in the clutches of that maniac unaided?” he growls. “We have been trying to get to you ever since the moment she took you.”
A single man is left in the crowd, hovering back and watching me with uncertainty. I almost don’t recognize him. Kai is in his entirely humanoid form, which looks anything but human. I have never seen him with two legs, or wearing clothes, and he seems uncomfortable with both. The kelpie’s long hair, braided down his back, has a deep blue-and-green sheen to it, and his chest is completely bare, because of course it is. There is a blue tint to his skin, and it is scattered with scales where a human would have hair.
I hardly saw him during his brief aid in our war against Finan, and it has been too long. I run up to Kai and hug him, because despite his distance, he was my savior too many times in my first visit to these lands.
“Don’t get soft on me, human,” he grumbles.
I laugh, my pointed ears on full display. “I don’t know if you can call me that anymore.”
“So I heard.” He pats me twice, then pries me off him. “Why are you and your mate always needing me to save you?”
“Don’t mind him.” Klara bumps her shoulder happily into his and earns a stern look. “Kai is happy to see you. He is pissed off, and rightly so, because we just learned how low fae are treated in the capital.”
“I am fucking furious. You will fix this.” His words are hard, said in that gravelly voice that doesn’t seem meant for this language, but those brown eyes are pleading. “I will not be a second-rate citizen.”
“Iwillfix it, Kai. I just need your help.”
Warmth blossoms within my chest as they all look at me, talking over the top of each other and laughing. Aldrin’s loyal band of warriors don’t view me as a tool or figurehead to be used. They genuinely care about me.
My parents converge on me the moment the others back off. My mother removes my cloak from my shoulders, fixing my hair and fussing over the form-fitting gold gown beneath that leaves no curve to the imagination.The entire dress is covered in tiny beads that shimmer as they reflect the light, except for the long, sheer sleeves. The corset is tight, lifting my breasts and dipping in the middle to expose much of my cleavage. There is a split in the silk skirt that reaches high up my thigh, and I tell myself it is to allow me to run if needed. The entire dress pairs functionality with beauty.
