Page 54 of Wrath of the Fae

‘I will when you will,’ he smiles, holding out a plate of bread and roasted meat.

When I make no move to take it, he places it on the table between us. He has to move the numerous weapons aside to make room.

‘How is your rib?’ he asks.

‘Better. Just aching. I seem to heal quickly. Far more so than I used to. There are more arrivals today.’ I peer back outside the window.

‘Yes. Survivors from a village raid,’ he tells me. ‘They lost their children in the attack. Taken by First Kingdom soldiers.’

‘All the children?’ I ask, feeling a lump in my throat.

He nods and lowers his gaze.

‘Children are easier to brainwash with their ideals than adults,’ he says.

I walk to the table and sit on one of the chairs not filled with books or knives.

‘Do we know where these raiding parties are going next?’ I ask.

He slowly shakes his head.

‘How long ago did they take the children?’

‘A day ago. No longer than that.’

‘How are the numbers looking? When do you think we can march on the First Kingdom?’

He takes a long, drawn-out breath.

‘A while, My Lady. Marching on the First Kingdom isn’t a matter of walking up to their gates and breaking through. They have the support or enslavement of their surrounding Kingdoms. Weapons designed to nullify our powers and-’

‘I know that. But I hate sitting here doing nothing.’

But I know the truth of it. The reality. If captured, I’ll be put back in the portal. Trade will reopen. Fae stolen. Monsters made. A tyrant King given more power. More deaths. More stolen children.

‘Do you think if I died, the portal's power would die with me?’ I ask him. ‘If I slit my throat, would that be it?’

‘Perhaps,’ he replies, pulling out a chair and sitting opposite me. ‘Maybe you die. The portals will be closed for good. Or until another is born with the gift. A new queen. We have always had a queen with the gift of the portal. Perhaps another will be found and used to start the portals again.’ He takes a piece of bread and pops it into his mouth. ‘Perhaps you die, and your magic returns to the portal. If I’m truthful, that is what I believe would happen. There’s a force constantly pulling you towards it. Whenever you use your power, gold dust seeps from your body and always goes up. As if being summoned. I believe that if you ever let it go, it would return to those portals, and Ivan would return here.’ He glances at the open balcony. ‘Or whatever that crack is will become something far more dangerous.’

‘What do you think it is?’ I ask.

‘The same as what you think it is.’

I peer over my shoulder to the sky. ‘A gateway.’

He nods. ‘We all believe Ivan will come for this world when he’s done with his own. Monsters like that always do.’

‘And what if I do just die?’ I ask. ‘And no one else manifests my gift. My power dies with me.’

‘Then thousands of our people will be lost in the human world forever. And we will be slaughtered or forced to live under that tyrant King forever.’ He rests his elbows on the table and looks at me. ‘You’re not going to kill yourself. You are going to fight. We all are. We will follow you, My Lady, until the very end. You know hunger. Pain. Oppression. Loss and war. No other ruler will ever understand as you do. Love us as you do. Protect us as you do. Stand at our side and bleed and scream as you do. Your wings mark you out as a warrior. Your power makes you our Queen. But your heart, Raven Rivers… well, that makes you a leader we will follow until we fall in the dirt and rot.’

He slides over the plate.

‘What if I don’t want to lead?’

‘Then that makes you all the more perfect to do so. You don’t want to defeat anyone for wealth or power. You fight for freedom. For peace.’

‘Do you think my sister is okay?’ I ask.

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