Page 10 of The Queen The Fae Forgot
The throne room was as long as any of the castle’s hallways, the great vaulted ceiling overhead only serving to make the steps of the guard echo with each foot they guided us forward.
It was all I could do to keep the sound of it, and the sight of the two grim, determined faces that awaited us at the end of our current march, from completely unsettling the very last of my nerves.
Despite my attempts to steel myself up, Finch nearly undid all that when I suddenly felt his hand on my waist a second before his hot breath was in my ear.
“So, what did the Dark Lord have to say to you?”
I kept my eyes trained forward and resisted the urge to shrug him off. There was no way I was going to show anything other than the same cool resolve as the two fae before me. Still, that didn’t stop memories of Icarus from flashing through my mind, and worse still, blushing heat across my skin in each place where he’d last touched me.
It was wrong on so, so many levels.
He was not only my enemy, but he was now my sister’s betrothed. I’d not been the one to initiate that last kiss, but I hadn’t stopped him. And I certainly hadn’t been able to stop my thoughts from once again wandering to unholy places at the press of his touch.
“Not now, Finch,” I hissed back at him, hoping beyond hope that my face didn’t blush as red as I felt it burn.
Finch fell back, only for Zev to step up in his place.
“If he threatened you …”
The tone of Zev’s voice forced my gaze to the side, where I saw his hand still clutching the hilt of his blade. From the stiff whiteness of his hand, he hadn’t let go of the blade since he’d first reached for it.
I shook my head, keeping my focus on the Queen. “He didn’t threaten me. Not exactly.”
Finch was once again stepping up, now so close that he was nearly tripping over Zev.
“What does that mean?”
“Not now.”
This time, it was Shiel who answered for me.
His eyes remained steadily ahead, trained on our most pressing would-be adversaries. “She’ll tell us tonight.”
His order quieted Zev and Finch, but it finally unsettled me—even where the queen and my uncle’s stares had not, even where Finch had been unable to. It made an unbidden anger flare inside me that I’d not felt in a long time, not towards Shiel, anyway.
I knew we were all under stress, that he probably hadn’t meant for his words to come out as the demand I heard. But then again, perhaps he did. Perhaps he’d already forgotten his promises to me, to serve me, to obeyme,and not the other way around. I didn’t like this reminder of the fae who’d first shown up in that town near my home, who’d forced his will upon me without really giving me a choice. Not at first.
Shiel had thrown me off, the careful balance in me tipped towards something more chaotic, and I wasn’t able to right it before we came to stop, at last, before the glittering throne.
Even though Icarus and Ada were no longer at our side, their absence was as keenly felt as their presence. At least with the great dark fae towering over us, his shadow could be blamed for the blackness of the tension still stretching between us. Little time had passed since the queen made her first bargain with us, but she carried a new resolve that unsettled me more now that I stood close enough to see how even her eyes didn’t waver when she looked at me.
My eyes remained locked on my mothers’ as we bowed to her this time, the formality of the throne room bearing me down as if of its own accord. Her gaze was hard, and I knew whatever she was about to say was not the welcome I might have once hoped for.
Before the Oracle told me to expect otherwise.
“Welcome back, Aurra,” she said, her voice carrying through the room despite the careful softness with which she spoke. It was clear she didn’t wish her words to be heard by any wayward listeners. The guards had been careful to seal the doors when we entered, and even now, two remained outside them to make sure no one interrupted. That too, didn’t bode well.
It might not be just to keep anyone from listening to what my mother said next, but to whatever shedidnext, whatever she might order to be done to us. I felt my own hand tighten on the blade that had been entrusted to me, even though I knew I had neither the skill nor the strength remaining to wield it. If my fate had rested on the fine milling of grain, that would be one thing. But the use of a dagger? A blade? Any weapon at all? I was useless.
I just had to hope that this was not the fate the queen had decided to bestow upon us.
The queen’s gaze remained locked with mine.
“I trust your visit with the dark fae was informative.”
I could feel the eyes of the other fae upon me as I stepped forward to stand before my mother. I tried to keep my expression neutral, but I knew there was no hiding the tempest of emotions I felt from my face.
I was about as keen to discuss with her what Icarus and I had shared as I was with the others.
