Page 68 of The Ruthless Fae King
King Valdren was next, leaping onto to the stage as if it were a small boulder, and then stood beside me. Piper watched us quietly from the front row.
“Bow before your queen!” he bellowed, smoke rising from his nostrils.
Every single head dipped and I swallowed hard, looking out over all of those heads bowed in fear. It was never the way I wanted to lead, and yet they didn’t respond to reasonable actions, which was evident after Lucien had apologized. I peered over my shoulder at Mateo, who appeared relieved and also afraid at the sight of me.
“Are you the one who gave orders to free me?” he asked.
I nodded.
His brows pinched together. “And also the one that killed my brother?”
There was some genuine anger there, which told me that whatever had transpired with his brother he still had loved him. I could respect that.
Family was family.
“I am.” I thought it best I took the blame for killing Marcelle since Lucien had enough of a stain on his reputation with the people of Summer.
“Kill her!” someone from the crowd screamed.
“Fake queen,” another said.
Fear seized my chest at the thought that I might have to fight my way out of here. I wasn’t scared of getting hurt but I didn’t want to hurt anyone else in my flight to freedom. These were innocent, misled people.
“Touch me and I will suck the air from your lungs!” I bellowed to the crowd. I could not look weak now. There was no turning back.
“I could boil your blood without a touch,” Mateo said behind me, to which the crowd roared their agreement.
Oh fae. This was not going well.
Theschlingof a blade leaving its scabbard had the crowd going silent and all of us looked at the dragon king. “Notbefore I take your head,” King Valdren said to Prince Mateo, holding his sword out and pointing the tip at him.
Mateo chuckled, as if he found this all amusing, and I wondered if his years away in captivity had hampered his ability to have diplomatic conversations. Mateo reached out his hand to me. “I am in your debt, Queen Madelynn. I do not like that my brother had to die for my freedom to come to pass, but I am rather grateful to be free.”
So he was a little mad, maybe playing a game just now. A sigh of relief whooshed out of me and I reached out and shook his hand. King Valdren stayed close, sword at the ready.
The crowd booed and I turned on them. “Do we have a betrothed couple here? Speak up if you are betrothed!” I screamed at them.
Everyone looked around confused, wondering what I was playing at, and a girl stepped forward with a young man. “We are betrothed. So what?”
I nodded, pointing to the man. “He’s mine now. You’re dowry is canceled and I will marry him today,” I told them.
The crowd gasped and the girl scowled at me.
“Thatis what Marcelle did to me! He canceled the agreement my father made with King Thorne. He threatened to kill my mother and sister if I didn’t marry him and become your queen.”
Gasps rang out, and I knew I was getting somewhere with them.
“So are you really surprised when Lucien caused another freeze on your land in an effort to get me back? Are you really shocked I killed the man who stole my innocence and forced me into marriage after I had already been promised?”
A dead silence fell over the crowd but I pressed on.
“Listen, I know you have a past with King Thorne and that you hate him for the Great Freeze all those years ago. But he’s apologized for it, he confessed publicly that he couldn’t control his powers, so it’s time to move on. People make mistakes,” I pleaded to them. “Marcelle was a bad man and a horrible leader. The sooner you realize that, the sooner we can move forward with the current crisis in which we find ourselves.”
Murmurs ripped throughout the space and I felt Mateo and King Valdren step up beside me.
“What crisis!?” someone yelled.
This was it. This moment would decide whether or not these people would live or die, whether we might win the war or not.
