Page 51 of The Ruthless Fae King
Standing from the bed, he walked over to the door and wrenched it open. “Stoke the fire,” he commanded a guard who was standing watch.
The guard entered and I kept my teeth chattering loudly. “Marcelle, please, let me push the cold back, at least for the palace. I’m freezing.”
Marcelle stared at me skeptically. “We just need more firewood,” he insisted.
Another guard rushed into the room. He was covered in a thin white frost from his hair to his toes. “My king. We’ve just had our first death, an old man, a farmer at the edge of our border. The freeze is starting there and heading this way.”
Panic washed over Marcelle’s face, and an equal measure of hope and dread filled me. Hope that Marcelle would free me and release these cuffs, and dread that Lucien had taken a life. I knew it would weigh on him and that he had little control over his power. He must be so mad at the courts for voting to separate the kingdom, and for Marcelle stealing me, that he’d finally lost control. Was his father there in the Winter palace saying awful things to him? I hoped to Hades not. It pained me not to be there to protect him.
I stood, throwing the covers off of me. “That’s enough, Marcelle! No more lives need be taken. I’m the only one powerful enough to fight Lucien’s frost.”
Marcelle looked conflicted.
“My lord, children are crying in their homes,” the guard begged. “You can hear them as you walk through town. Something must be done.”
Marcelle looked at my face and then the cuffs on my arms. After the longest ten seconds of my life, he peered back to his lead guard. “Bring me five of your most powerful men. I’m going to release Madelynn’s power and I want protection in case she makes good on her promise to remove the skin from my bones.”
Wow, he really wasn’t letting that die. I wished I’d never said it. The thought of havingfiveskilled Sun Guards aimed at me hadnotbeen in the plan.
I’d trained with my mother and father at the same time, throwing wind in multiple directions, but never to more than two people.
But it was the middle of the night, which meant they could not take from the sun and use their power indefinitely. They could only use their reserves, whatever they’d stored up the previous day. If I could cause them to use their power on me, but somehow protect myself, then when they depleted I could attack.
But how to protect yourself from fire when your power was wind? Wind fed fire, making it rage even bigger.
I needed Lucien.
I swallowed the whimper that tried to form in my throat and came to the conclusion that I would definitely be able to kill Marcelle, but then I would be overpowered by his guard and finally succumb. I didn’t want to die, I wanted to live but I couldn’t let Marcelle poison the realm with the separation and his deal with the Nightfall queen. It wasn’t right. Taking him out would allow Lucien to take control again. My family and Piper would be safe.
There was a knock at the open door and Marcelle and I both glanced over to see Birdie. She appeared sleepy but held a thick cloak. “I overheard the guard. My lady should not be seen in her nightgown by anyone other than her husband.” Birdie looked to the king. “It’s not proper.”
Bless her, she thought I cared about propriety in a time like this. I was just elated that I was going to be let out of these evil power-sucking cuffs.
He waved her in, an annoyed look on his face.
As Birdie approached me, she shook out the cloak, opening it so that I could see the inside lining fully. My brow furrowed when I realized she’d written something in charcoal across the cream silk lining inside.
The winter king is here,it read.
My eyes nearly fell out of my head, and luckily Marcelle wasn’t looking at me in that moment, because I nearly fainted. Birdie hooked the cloak around my shoulders and buttoned it up around me, peering into my eyes to make sure I’d seen her message.
He’s here? Like in the palace? How did she know? Was he mad at me?So many questions ran through my mind but I couldn’t speak any of them.
“My queen, will your power work best outside among the fresh air?” Birdie asked, giving me a look.
She didn’t need to say anymore. Message received loud and clear. Lucien was outside the palace.
“Yes,” I said quickly. “A cracked window is not enough to push the frozen air from the entirety of Summer Court.”
Marcelle sighed, walking to his wardrobe and donning his own cloak. “Will this be quick?” he asked me.
I shrugged. “It depends on if the winter king fights me back.”
Marcelle appeared unnerved by that idea but nodded. When the lead guard came back, I looked closely at the five guards he’d brought with him and was surprised to see that three of them were women.
It wasn’t the fact that the women were powerful that surprised me, it was the fact that I might have to kill or injure one of them. In my mind, it was easier for me to kill a man. I didn’t know what that said about me, but killing another woman didn’t sit right with me.
I would try to knock them out, or blow them far away, but if it came down to it… I would do anything to be free of these cuffs and never go in them again.
