Page 69 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
I will tear down the palace brick by brick if they dare try to torture you,Aldrin promises.I don’t care if every fae in this court turns against me for doing it before I can win them over from Titania. You may be a fierce, independent woman, but I have my limits on what I will allow you to endure.
Torin grabs me and shakes me when I hardly react.The motion makes one of his already askew golden wire ear caps fall off and become tangled in his hair. I gasp at what it reveals.
I always assumed he wore the caps to give rounded ears the illusion of peaked fae tips, but instead, there is mangled flesh beneath.The top half has been cut off completely, and the flesh around it is covered in puckered white scar tissue, like the cut was made with a blunt knife. The wound is old. Even Aldrin’s ear grew back after being blown off by musket fire. Only a child wouldn’t recover from this.
Bile burns in the back of my throat, because I suddenly know exactly what happened to him.
“Your ear.” The words escape my lips in a whisper. “What happened to it?”
Torin immediately releases me and his hand flies to the ornate cap, correcting it. “Fuck off. As if you don’t already know. As if the entire court doesn’t whisper about it behind my back.”
Aldrin? What happened to him?I ask, even as horror churns through me, because gut instinct tells me exactly who did this.
Titania claimed he was born with a deformity. That this was for his benefit,Aldrin rumbles.The healers reported that she cut his ears off as soon as he was pulled from her, with the same blade used to slice the umbilical cord. They should have removed the babe from her care immediately after that. Maybe Torin wouldn’t be so fucking twisted now.
A chill runs down my spine.
Torin grabs me roughly by the arm and drags me through the palace, completely forgetting about his meeting. He charges toward a set of ornate double doors and tears them open. The guards posted there take one look at his seething expression and step aside, as though this display is a regular occurrence.
Titania rises from her seat behind a heavyset desk covered in ledgers and accounts, placing both her hands on it and leaning forward. My eyes flick to the great vault door behind her, an intricate contraption of gears and locks. It is here that she keeps her ledgers detailing her fraudulent dealings, the blackmail she has on other fae and the details on where she is hiding the troops, I am sure of it. I desperately need to get inside.
Both men at the High Chancellor’s side quickly step back, their conversation cutting off at our intrusion. Florian’s signature scowl deepens, flicking from Torin to me and back, as though he wasn’t expecting exactly this. Like he didn’t plan it with me. The second man looks utterly disgusted, with equal hatred for both myself and Torin. He has white dusted through the auburn of his long hair, pulled back in a sleek ponytail.
Torin tosses me at Titania’s desk and I fall across the top of it, my hands splaying out to catch myself inches before I strike my face. Papers fly to the ground around me. When I glance up, the golden flames in Titania’s eyes intensify as they focus on her son and her black lips compress into a thin line. She doesn’t even consider me.
“For what reason are you busting into my office, disturbing my meeting and throwing this trash on my desk, Torin?” she snarls. “I thought you were beyond these little outbursts for attention.”
I try to pull myself up, but Torin holds me down with a cruel hand pressing on my back. “Thistrashshould be in a dungeon. She should be facing the harshest of penalties each time she defies us. Twenty lashes to begin with.”
A flicker of fear crosses her face and disappears just as quickly. Titania can’t harm me in such a way, because Idohave power over the people. We both know I could be a rallying point, in life and death.
Titania lets out a forced, high-pitched laugh, tossing her gaze to her two supporters before returning cold eyes back to Torin. “Do you not indulge in your twisted desires enough each night with the Truth Templars? If you want to whip a pitiful, weak woman that badly, go find someone from the Winter Court on your next hunt. At least your base needs would serve a useful purpose.”
“I can give you coin for a prostitute, if you have gambled all of yours away,” the middle-aged fae throws at him, his cruel grin widening as Torin stiffens.
“This has nothing to do with sex and you know it. This human is allowed to roam free, causing the gods know what sort of havoc.” He grinds his teeth. “She just pushed me down a flight of stairs. I don’t know how she did it, only that she did! Somehumans have a bit of air magic. She is up to something. Iknowit.”
“Well, that explains why you look a mess,” Florian snickers. Torin shoots him a wounded glance.
“Really, Torin?” Titania rolls her eyes. “You need me to save you from the defenseless little human?”
“She is not defenseless, but hiding behind that image,” Torin cuts in. “I know it. My instincts are never wrong. She has magic, at least a drop, and she is dangerous in many ways.”
The High Chancellor clacks her long, pointed fingernails across the desk. “You have always seen monsters in every shadow,son. Time to grow up and start acting like a man, instead of a fearful little boy hiding behind his mother’s skirts.”
Torin’s mouth opens and closes, no words coming out. It is disgusting how quickly the mother is able to demean and destroy the confidence of the son, especially when he is right. He hesitates for a moment, his argument completely shattered—not even by a logical rebuttal, but by a conditioned history of abuse.
“What he says is true.” I speak with a sulky tone and the other fae sneer at me. “I have more power than you realize. Not magic, but influence. Aldrin has support here and senators have been vying to speak to me. Many don’t believe he is dead. Iwilluse them against you,” I end in a high-pitched, childish tone.
Florian lets out a mocking huff. “Liar! No one would dare make an alliance with a pitiful creature like you.”
I stamp my foot on the ground and pout. “But it is true! You wouldn’t believe the names that offer their alliance to me. Your senators are not loyal to you. Not all of them.” I need Titania to take me seriously enough that she investigates my claims, but also disregards me as a threat.
Florian comes to the side of the desk and examines me with narrowed crimson eyes before turning to Titania. “While I think Torin is afraid of his own shadow, perhaps we should investigatewhich senators are speaking to her. They are clearly not going to align themselves with this pathetic wretch once they get to know her, but the very fact they have considered it calls into question their loyalty to you. This could be an opportunity to flush out any weak links that could be corrupted.”
Titania watches him over steepled fingers, and a slow smile grows on her lips. “Get answers for me, Florian. I want those names investigated, but make sure there is no…evidence left behind by your work. And no outright torture. I don’t need word of that getting out. I doubt my little mouse has a very strong will.” There is such glee in her eyes that it turns my blood cold. “Oh, and Zedrick, dear, pick up these ledgers for me.” The other man in the room stoops and collects the papers around her feet.
Florian grabs me by the shoulders and leads me roughly out of the study as Titania and Torin break into a shouting match. The moment we are around a corner and down an isolated corridor, Florian—Drake—gives me a wink.
