Page 25 of Fae Unleashed
This curse was never going away.
Rhoan
While I knew that girls’night was likely far from over, Del reported fae moving towards this location. I came running as fast as I could to keep Cerri safe. I didn’t expect her to throw herself in my arms like this.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I stroked her hair.
I caught myself and forced my hands to still. Affection wasn’t going to help me in the long run. The more I touched her, the more I fell for her. If I kept falling, I would never stop. I would crash into the eventual doom that awaited me.
In Faust’s domain, I’d met others like myself. He kept the cursed beasts for his Sluagh army, but there was still a part of each beast that remembered why they were there. They’d helped me find the exit and escape so that I could come back to my princess when she needed me the most.
I wouldn’t fail this time. The Seelie Court had fallen while I’d made my escape, and while I’d left on orders, I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if I’d stayed. Could I have saved them? Would that have helped Cerri avoid so many of the scars crisscrossing her body?
I yearned to know what the past could have held if I’d disobeyed. Perhaps that was why I kept breaking promises now. I feared the strict hold of commands because they could never anticipate every possible outcome. I needed to cover all of my bases so that my princess could stay safe.
“Let’s go home,” Cerri said, sighing into my chest.
I didn’t pry. Whatever was churning through her mind was hers to process. Instead, I turned us around and led us to the front door with every intention of stepping in-between, but the sight beyond the door gave me pause.
The dark yard flickered with dancing lights. Small shapes approached but kept their distance before dropping to one knee. Beside me, Cerri stepped forward cautiously. I stayed right behind her even though I had an idea of what might be going on.
While the Seelie and Unseelie were tall and elegant creatures, there was another kind of fae that was often forgotten.
These were the small fae—pixies, leshys, rusalka, and the like. the Seelie and Unseelie didn’t allow the small fae in the courts unless they could be displayed like a piece of art—and most couldn’t. Let’s be honest, a lot of the small fae were ugly. Trolls and redcaps made being ugly their wholething.
A female shape stepped out of the dark and into the narrow rectangle of light coming from the door we were standing in. The woman’s barkskin danced with shadows from the rough texture. She would have been called ugly in the courts, but there was a wild beauty about her that even Cerri noticed, if my princess’s gasp was any indication.
The woman bowed her head. “We heard there was a new queen on the rise. We heard that she is like us, an outcast raised in the wilds.”
I watched Cerri’s gaze dart across the numerous shapes bowing before us. There were gnome-like redcaps with blood dripping from their pointed hoods, like Halloween garden décor. I noted the leshy from the city garden. When he ambled up to Cerri and offered her a wild rose, her eyes pinched and turned glassy with unshed tears. The small gift eased a fear in her, and the relief seemed to be overwhelming.
The small fae wanted to use Cerri to gain standing in the new court that she would create. Cerri had been afraid that the fae would abandon her. I mean, I’d kind of put that idea in her head. And it held true for the Seelie, but the small fae saw a woman who wasn’t quite Seelie or Unseelie and wondered if she would be willing to let them in when others kept them out.
Lady Ostara’s court in the castle had reminded me of the old days. The fae that she kept in her domain were all pretty with their elven stature. Not a single one of them bore wings, feathered or glimmering. That simple and pure kind of beauty drew the attention of all the old and powerful fae.
And siding with those here would push those old fae away. What did that matter? We needed allies. Their form shouldn’t have mattered, especially when Lady Ostara damn near spit in Cerri’s face. Tal wouldn’t like this, but there was a kind of beauty in the display before us that we couldn’t deny.
Cerri made her way down the stairs and paused before the dryad woman. This could make or break our fight. With the small fae on our side, we would have the numbers we needed to overpower Beryl…then I could finally confess my feelings to my princess before the beast consumed me.
But the Seelie weren’t going to like it if Cerri sided with the small fae. They were going to sneer at her. Cerri had the chance to make a new court here. It would be filled with those who never had the chance to live a court life. However, those who were asleep in the castle that Beryl stole…they were going to abandon us when they woke.
I knew what way I wanted Cerri to lean. My beast moved inside me and rubbed its fur against my skin like a happy cat. I wasn’t what the Seelie would call beautiful, either. Everything about me now screamed Unseelie, or even worse, small fae.
Of course, my princess made the decision I’d been hoping for.
“I am no queen, but I will help you so long as I am capable,” Cerri said. A bit of her royal blood peeked out when she spoke.
While I preened with pride, Feri scurried up my shoulder and huffed in my ear.
“This is atrocious,” the little ferret said with his arms crossed over his chest.
I tilted my head away so I could crane my neck and peer at him. “Says the fae trapped in a rodent’s body.”
He lifted his chin imperiously. “I am a beautiful man caught in the throes of a curse that can only be broken by that feral child you call a princess.”
“Right now, you look like you could have fleas. And…maybe a bit of mange? Is that a bald spot?” I poked the ferret under his chin where he wouldn’t be able to look.
He scrabbled at his own face in a panic.
