Page 114 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
“This is a powerful oath, if I do become queen.” I hold her eyes. “I wish to add a clause of my own: if the conditions you are exposed to become too much, you will be able to break the bargain by saying the following words: ‘I am not Keira Appleshield.’ If your true identity is revealed and it is not your fault, the bargain remains, even if I am called back by Titania.You need an exit from such a deal. It is not fair otherwise. Do you agree?”
I hold out my hand and she takes it. Her gaze never leaves mine as pink light swirls around our clasped arms, so thick and bright it hurts my eyes and I can barely see our fingers through it. Its coils and heat travel over my shoulder and spine, leaving their swirling mark down the column of my back. The magic shatters into a brilliant sparkle of thousands of lights that rain down over us then fizzle out.
Neither Drake nor Rainier say a thing when they see that the bargain is already made. I work together with Drake, casting expert wields of glamour over Sasha, changing her hair, face shape, coloring and body bit by bit to my mirror image, until my own face stares back at me. I tie off the layers of weaves so the magic will remain for long periods of time. Drake will have to return almost every day to refresh the magic, but my more proficient contributions will remain.
One of the orcs openly sniffles and wipes tears from his eyes at what we have done to his princess and the horrible, vulnerable position we have put her in, while another absentmindedly pats his back. The third paces their cell like a caged beast, hardly able to look at her.
I am going to vomit.
Waves of nausea over my own actions rise again and again within me, but I forcefully push them down.
There isn’t a hint of regret on Sasha’s face as she places her hands on my shoulders. “Go win your throne back and get me out of this fucking dungeon.”
Icannot focus on a single damned thing. Not the soldiers coming in and out of the battlefield in the streets. Not the directions I need to give them or our plans to turn this mess around and use the civil unrest to dethrone Titania.
Keira has blocked me out. I cannot breathe. I cannot think straight. Panic grips me like a vise around my throat. It makes me a hypocrite, I am painfully aware of that, because I did the same to her when I thought I was going to die in that arena.
I can’t help imagining every way they could be torturing her, even though I know Drake and Rainier are there with her right now. I keep fearing that maybe Torin got to her before she had a chance to open the bond.
My stress must show on my face, because Maeve places a hand on my shoulder and scrutinizes my face. “You need to rest, Aldrin. You send your soldiers out in shifts so they can sleep before the fighting rises with the sun. You need to do the same.”
“I tried to sleep. It didn’t find me,” I grumble.
She raises thin, blond eyebrows at me.“Did you?”
I cleaned up and took to my bedchamber after Torin left Keira with his threats of torture still hanging in the air, because I needed a place to break down in privacy. To focus entirely on her and try to soothe the horrors from her mind. Instead, she came to me, and I held her in my arms before I lost her again. There was definitely no sleeping after that, so I went back out into the streets and slaughtered more of my enemies.
“That was hours ago and you weren’t up there for very long,” she chides. “You have been fighting for almost the entire night.”
I run a hand through my hair. It snags on the dried blood and the gods know what else in it. “How can I rest when Keira is with my enemy and my city is tearing itself apart?”
“Then at least clean up. Rest for even ten minutes in a hot bath to remove the grime and tension from your body. It will help untangle the knots from your mind, I promise.” Maeve places a hand on my elbow and practically drags me from the main hall of the tavern.
My eyes slide to where Edmund has passed out on top of the map of the city after refusing to go to bed, still in his armor and clutching a dagger in one hand. Even he took the time to scrub the blood from himself.
I admit defeat, take the stairs to my chambers and run a hot bath. The water steams as it splashes into the tub through brass piping. One of the advantages of having so many Winter Court migrants in this city is the access it grants us to their technology. There are plinths in the bowels of most buildings that generate fresh water and others that heat it, both only requiring raw magic to recharge them.
I hardly feel the warmth of the water as I quickly scrub myself, then dress in fresh leathers. I take the time to clean my armor before strapping it back on.
It isn’t until Keira reaches out for me once more and the connection to the other half of my soul is returned to me thatI can function again. I find her whole and unbroken, if quite shaken.
She has completed a bargain with Sasha, one whose details I do not know but that will allow her to return to me. The relief that floods me is so potent it makes my legs weak.
When I enter the common room downstairs, Edmund is awake and arguing softly with Maeve over a map of the capital. Both look up at my approach with dark rings under their eyes.
There is a crash and a curse in the bar on the far side of the room. I glance over to find Caitlin attempting to make coffee, with a shattered mug on the counter that has hot liquid dripping from it, and Cyprien beside her, a cloth in hand to clean it up. She runs her hands down her face and closes her eyes for a long moment before trying to compose herself with her usual scowl.
“Keira has made a bargain that will allow her to escape,” I announce, and they all turn to me. “She will return to us soon. They haven’t laid a finger on her and Drake will make sure that doesn’t happen.”
It is like a bubble of tension pops in the room.
Maeve wraps herself in Edmund’s arms, hiding her face in his neck, and I swear she drowns out sobs against him, finally letting go of all the fear she kept inside. Despite all the trials against Finan and Titania, this is the closest I have seen her come to crying.
The tendons stick out in Edmund’s thick neck as his eyes burn on me. “We need to plan our next move. Our next ten moves. I am sick of my daughter being a pawn in these games.”
“You and I both,” I growl as I approach their table.
Edmund untangles a hand from Maeve and places it on my shoulder, his emerald eyes staring intently into mine. “If anyone can do it, it is us. Together we have defeated impossible odds for Keira before.”
