Page 46 of The Ruthless Fae King
I all but spat the last word and one of the guards turned in our direction.
Marcelle gave a nervous laugh and called two guards over to us.
When they stood at attention before him, he pointed to me. “Your new queen wants to go into town to be among her people. Please keep her safe and don’t let her out of your sight.” He then glanced at me. “Be good. Your mother and sister would be devastated if anything happened to you.”
My face went slack at the veiled threat to my mother’s and Libby’s lives.
That bastard. That shit-eating, horse-faced, bootlicking bastard!
I pulled on my wind power and there was nothing and I wanted to scream, I wanted to punch Marcelle in his pretty face until blood dripped down his nose and into his mouth.
I realized then that there was raging murder inside of me. I had wondered, when the time came, if I were capable of killing a person, of killing him.
Now I knew.
I was.
Iwould.
This rotten excuse for a fae would suffer at my hand.
Greatly.
“Yes, darling,” I said with as little venom as I could, and then turned on my heel.
Marcelle Haze would regret the day he took me as his wife.
* * *
The fresh airdid wonders for my mood. It was chilly and I needed a thicker layer under my woolen cloak but the cold was nice. It reminded me of Lucien, and Winter Court, and snow falling on my eyelashes as I kissed him.
It felt surreal to still be daydreaming about kissing Lucien while I was now married to another man. I feared my mind was cracking as I struggled to cope with everything that had happened to me so suddenly.
The two guards that Marcelle had ordered to shadow me did in fact become shadows. They walked three feet behind me at all times while Birdie strolled beside me quietly. I liked her because she seemed to have the same knack for reading my mood as Piper did, and knew when to be silent.
People congratulated me and smiled and waved as I passed. Meanwhile, I wondered what they thought of the whole scenario. Just a few days ago they were waving at Lucien and I—albeit not smiling. Was that it? They were able to easily accept Marcelle stealing another’s betrothed because they hated Lucien?
“I’m surprised they accepted this so quickly,” I told Birdie, speaking for the first time on our walk.
Birdie looked at the women who wished me well and nodded. “Marcelle has made it clear he was sweet on you since you were young. Everyone thinks it’s a love marriage and that you were being forced to marry Lucien.”
I stopped walking and looked at her, again pulling for my wind power and again feeling nothing. The anger that boiled inside of me in that moment felt too raw to contain. It was as if I were made of fire and would burn up if I didn’t release it.
Birdie must have noticed the shift in me because she looked alarmed. “Let’s check out the local women’s boutique,” she suggested, and pointed to a store behind me.
I took three deep breaths, refusing to even process what she’d just said. I shoved it all down as a light snow began to fall from the sky.
The people gathered in the street pulled their cloaks higher and glared up at the sky as if cursing Lucien.
They had no idea. They had no idea that Marcelle had taken me against my will and that I was essentially a prisoner.
“The boutique has beautiful candles, perfume, knitted gloves…” Birdie trailed off, pulling me from my thoughts.
I nodded curtly, deciding it was better that I go into this shop and rid my mind of these murderous thoughts. Otherwise I would storm the castle with a blunt rock and attempt to beat Marcelle to death.
As we stepped up to the storefront, the guards moved to follow, and Birdie put out a hand to stop them before pointing to a sign on the door.
Ladies only.
