Page 11 of Atop the Faerie Throne
Drystan snorts. “Nowthere’san idea.”
“Where’s Prae?” I ask, my urgency cutting through his derision. “Is she…?”
The grim line of Rose’s mouth softens. “She’s fine. The healer you threatened got to her in time. She’s barely left your side while you recovered.”
My breath whooshes out of me, and my head thunks back against the pillow in relief. I owe my cousin a lot, and apparently, I should apologise to that healer, too.
In my defence, I was a little stressed when I threatened to eat his children if he let Prae die.
“They had nothing to do with it,” I swear. “Prae would never?—”
“We know,” Rose reassures me. “She’s safe. Gryffin is making her take a break. Once she’s rested, she’ll probably come back to sit with you again.”
There’s a heavy pause, and my gut lurches as I ask the question I don’t want to know the answer to. “Were you hurt?”
She offers me a tiny smile. “I’m fine. Bree got to me in time.” She pauses. “I wish I’d realised why you were putting so much distance between us for the last month. I should’ve known something was wrong.”
How could she? Elatha told me to give them no reason to suspect anything. Even my quietness was pushing the bounds of my orders. Not to mention all the worry and stress that her pilgrimage caused her. Her focus wasn’t on me, and it shouldn’t have had to be.
“I’m sorry. I tried so hard to tell you, but it wasn’t enough.” That admission is skirting the edge of the orders. “I wasted time distancing us when I should’ve just taken every second with you that I could get.”
In the end, it all led to this, anyway.
Something in her eyes cracks, and she takes a half-step forward before the dullahan’s hand comes to rest on her shoulder, stopping her.
“Rose wants to charm you,” Jaro interjects, dragging us back to the topic at hand. “Prae and Rose believe that what happened in Calimnel wasn’t your fault. You can prove it by letting her use her gift on you.”
They figured it out? My heart threatens to soar out of my body. Will that work? I shove myself up on shaky arms so I’m sitting facing her.
“Yes.” It’s not even a question. Why hasn’t she done it already?
I know the answer, of course. The little queen is far too concerned with ethics for a being of potentially absolute power.
Rose turns to her Guard. “What should I ask?”
“Start by asking him to recall what happened while he was in the camp,” Jaro suggests. “Most geasa are quite specific, but you might be able to get an idea of what he was commanded to do.”
“Besides kidnapping my pretty pet,” Lore’s hat is currently an executioner’s hood, and the feral glint of his red eyes from within sends a shiver down my spine.
He isn’t happy with me, not that I blame him.
“Caed.” Rose draws my attention back to her with one gentle word. “Pleasetell me everything that happened after you ran away from General Reyni’s camp until we found you again. Don’t leave anything out.”
Goddess, her charm is fucking heady. Does she know that? Her violet eyes literally sparkle as the urge to do whatever she wants seizes me.
“I heard a fight,” I begin. “It was a bear shifter against a bunch of Fomorians. I dived in because I was upset and hurt.” Shit, some small part of the back of my mind is screaming,because why the fuck did I just admit that? “She had a cub, so I told her to take the kid and run.”
Drystan’s eyebrows are climbing up his forehead in my peripheral vision, but I can’t focus on him. Everything except for Rose has fallen away. “I was outnumbered, and had no magic, so they shot me full of bolts and dragged me back to their camp. In the command tent?—”
I choke on my own tongue.
“Elatha was there,” Rose finishes for me. “And who else?”
Her words are so sweet, made sickeningly so by the magic hanging heavy in the air.
“Draard,” I cover my mouth with my hand as I hack and cough.
Rose’s brow creases, and she breaks eye contact for a second to exchange glances with the rest of her Guard. A chill settles in my bones, like the sun has disappeared behind the clouds. When she turns her focus onto me again, the warmth returns.
