Page 57 of Fae Unleashed
Tal rushed to my side and hissed in my ear, “What are you doing?”
Get real, dude. There’s no way we can hide this!
I had a plan and I needed him to go with it. If he couldn’t trust me, then this wasn’t going to go anywhere. My inner court needed to allow me to lead. If I was going to be a queen, then I was going to play the part to the best of my ability. I refused to be a placeholder for someone else’s power play.
A title had been given to me, and I would embody it no matter what anyone thought of me.
“I brought you here to show you my domain.” I gestured widely to the castle and the rich, red and green foliage. “This castle had been in Beryl’s control for most of my life. And I took it backin my sleep.”
Whispers circled around the room. I glanced from face to face and tried to read their lips, but I couldn’t discern anything that was said from this far away. I nervously waited to see if they would accept the person that I’d become. Would they allow someone not quite Seelie to rule their court?
Ostara had a gleam in her eyes. I couldn’t tell if she saw a weakness in my reign that would give her an opening, or if she truly hated me. At the back of the room, Foxglove watched the others. The man gauged reactions to test my standing. I could tell, as I watched him, that the room was starting to turn in my favor because his lips twisted to the side and his brow flattened in annoyance.
A smile reached my own face.
There was a chance that I could make this work. Things were starting to look bright for once.
Then a slow clapping started in the back. Foxglove flinched. Ostara screeched. The crowd parted, and a single figure stepped out of the masses. She held her too-long hands high and clapped once more before laughing at how everyone scurried away from her.
The leshy stepped out and slammed down his wooden foot. The sound echoed throughout the room. Beryl’s face lit with soft surprise. She turned her attention to me as if to sayget a load of this guy.
“You are interrupting the Seelie Court,” the leshy said with his booming voice full of gravel.
Beryl rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. The bark sloughed off the leshy’s form and disintegrated on the floor. All that was left behind was a grey husk of what could have been mistaken for a tree. Lifeless, he crumbled before everyone.
Gasps and screams echoed around the room. The crowd erupted into chaos as everyone scrambled to escape.
Anger turned my skin red hot. I didn’t bother with the stairs. Instead, I vaulted over the railing and used the trees in the room to soften my landing before I waltzed up to Beryl. I jammed a finger into her bony chest and shoved her back.
The seed of power that I’d planted in this domain pulsed with the arcana that I’d lost to Beryl’s curse. At least, there was still a fragment of who I’d been here.
“No one invited you,” I snapped.
She smiled and swept her hair over her shoulder. “I figured if you were going to talk about me, then I should get a front row seat. It’s rude to talk behind someone’s back.”
“It’s rude to invade your sister’s court and kill everyone,AuntBeryl.”
Was this it? Would this be my final stand? I’d wished for a fate thread that would lead me to the happy ending that my friends received. It seemed that I wouldn’t be so lucky. Beryl had grown tired of my defiance.
She’d come to put an end to me once and for all.
“I came to invite you into my court, darling.” Beryl dragged a bent knuckle along my cheek. “Don’t you dream of freedom? Don’t you want a life of your own?”
I…I did, but I was going to make it by myself. Beryl thought she was being clever. She thought she could trick me into subscribing to her dream by painting it as my own. I wasn’t going to fall for it.
She gripped my chin and twisted my head so that Rhoan appeared before me. When Beryl leaned in close, she whispered:
“I could force Faust to take back the clause in their deal. You and your pretty knight would be free to love one another for the rest of your lives. Can you imagine a future alongside him? He would be all yours.”
Her words hit so hard that my breath rushed out of me. My heart desperately grabbed at the possibility like I could somehow keep it.
I knew better. Pressing my lips together, I closed my eyes and fought back the temptation.
“Faust answers tome. He will obey when I tell him to release the contract. Then you and the pretty boy here can run off to do whatever you want. I know that you wish to run your own bakery. You prefer the smell of rising yeast and sugar to the smell of blood and war. Don’t you? There’s no shame in admitting that you don’t want this.”
I ground my teeth together. Jaw tight enough to shatter bone, I couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like if I walked away from all of this. Leadership, especially as aqueen, wasn’t something I’d ever wanted. This wasn’t for me. I was just a shifter’s daughter, raised in a cold and unloving world.
“You don’t have to take my offer now,” Beryl whispered. She made a point to look at each and every face around us. “There are so many prying eyes here. No need to break in front of everyone. You can come kneel to me when no one is watching. I won’t think any less of you.”
