Page 4 of The Queen The Fae Forgot
“I had a vision,” I said, the words tumbling out of me before I had the chance to consider them. They had their intended effect, the words Icarus himself had planned to speak stopped before they made their own appearance. To keep it that way, I continued on—refusing, at the same time, to look at Shiel in case he was once again shaking his head.
“I had a vision, when we were visitors in the Southern Court.”
The glance exchanged between the queen and Eckhardt was nearly enough to make me stop.Another secret revealed before its time.
There would be repercussions to sharing that bit of information, I was sure, but for now, at least, it gave me one of my own. For all her vitriol in the moments that we left her court, Lady Phyrra had not betrayed us to her sister. I’d have to tread carefully from here on out to make sure I didn’t betray her instead.
“I saw the prophecy unfolding before me,” I said, drawing attention back to the words that had poisoned the air around us. “I saw the fae entering this realm, saw their triumph, and I saw their downfall.”
I glanced once, this time at Icarus before I continued, chin jutting forward slightly as I forced my voice to steady.
“I sawourdownfall.”
And at the center of that downfall was me.
That part, fortunately, I managed to keep to myself. I wondered, however, from the way that Icarus looked at me, if he knew it, too.
I remembered, still, the images that had prompted me to call on the aid of the Lord of the Wildness, how my darkest moment had drawn him to me, drawn my power out from beneath the spell that bound it. That image was seared in the back of my eyelids, that image haunted me every time I closed my eyes, the shapes of the bodies piling ever higher and higher, reaching up so close that soon, I was sure, they would finally eclipse that blood red sun.
“Indeed.”
It was the queen who spoke. Her face had gone almost blank, resolve the only thing now visible on her features.
“It’s not the first time I’ve heard this prophecy,” she said. “Most fae have, at some point, heard it in the form of the nursery rhyme once written from it.”
A small swell of something deceitfully like pride welled deep inside me, if only for a moment. It was that same children’s story that had prompted my vision, the remembrance of the Oracle’s words that had made me finally share them with Shiel and the others. I’d delved into that library to find some common bond with the fae blood I now knew ran through my veins, and somehow, I had. For once, I felt connected to that blood in a way that warmed me even when circumstances gave it no right to.
The queen’s voice rose a bit, as if bolstered by the steady gaze those around her held.
“The prophecy is not the only one of its kind, but it is one often forgotten, often … overlooked … due to its nature.”
The last word tangled on her tongue, twisting almost into a snarl before she continued. “That is because this prophecy speaks of a great change, one that most fae are not ready, or are not willing, to face. It’s haunted our halls since the moment we arrived on these shores, but as with anything else … with time … the fear those words once held has dwindled. They fell into memory, and then, slowly, that memory fell away, too.”
“Until now.”
She steeled herself up for a moment. “Our forebears left the faerie realm in shambles, made a deal with the glamour that they did not deserve, knowing that one day we would have to pay the price. I wish I could say that day had not yet come, but …”
Here, it was Eckhardt she looked at first, and then slowly, with all the hatred I’d once expected to find in her, she finally looked at me.
“But I think, at last, it has.”
The room once again fell into silence, save for the soft rustle of Icarus’ wings. I could feel the tension coiling around us like a snake, though whether it planned to strike, or simply to squeeze the life from us, I didn’t know.
Something shifted in that silence, and resolve was the mask that once more fell over the queen’s features.
“Nothing good will come of any rash decisions made here today,” she said, suddenly, drawing herself alongside my uncle, whatever look they’d shared once again uniting them as a single force. “For now, you have all given us much to discuss.”
A subtle flick of the queen’s wrist made her meaning clear.In private.
Eckhardt moved without a moment’s hesitation, his hand reaching for a pulley on the wall that would call servants—or soldiers and more swords—to our side in an instant.
But while her court was used to obeying her, the fae of others were not.
“No.”
It was the first time Shiel had spoken in some time. He’d held his own tongue as long as he could, however, and with it, it seemed he was barely able to keep his simmering temper in check.
I was surprised, slightly, that it wasn’t Icarus who interrupted. But then, while he would never accept that sort of dismissal in his own court, he was a fae lord used to being dismissed outside it.
