Then whoever was in the mist would step out.
And they would use me to release its brethren and turn the faeries into slaves and the humans into cattle.
I squeezed my eyes shut, clenched the muscles of my face, and ground my teeth. Anything to clear my head. Queen Melusina tried to release Fomorians from the mist with Father’s blood, but it was only strong enough to free half-bloods like herself and the Keeper of All Things.
My pulse roared louder than the incessant voices, and I dredged up a memory. In the vision I saw in Ecne’s Pool, a version of myself needed my blood, the Sword of Tethra, and the Book of Brigid to release King Balor. Father’s blood wasn’t enough and neither was mine on its own.
Maybe Drayce was right. Maybe the palace wanted me to free someone weak enough for us to defeat, so I could absorb its power.
Opening my eyes, I placed my thumb between my teeth and pulled off my leather glove. Drayce held up a dagger, and I pressed a finger on its point. A bead of blood formed on my fingertip, and I held it out into the mist.
It thickened and swirled around the blood, curled around my finger, my hand, my arm, until it engulfed my entire body. A man’s scream rang through my ears, and my heart lurched.
What if I had hurt Drayce… again? I waved my arms, kicked out at the mist, but it was as futile as fighting the wind.
Eventually, the scream faded into harsh pants, and the mist drifted up into the ventilation holes, leaving behind a naked man with golden curls. His strong body glistened with sweat, and the muscles beneath his golden skin quivered. His physique was about as powerful as Drayce’s. The only difference between the two males was their coloring. Drayce’s represented darkness and shadows, while this male represented the light.
I glanced at his ears, which were rounded at the tips. Nothing about him, except from his appearance from the mist, indicated that he was anything other than a beautiful human.
Drayce pressed the dagger into my hand. “Do it, now.”
I reared back. “What?”
“Wait!” The man raised his head and held out both palms, his handsome features twisted with terror. “This humble horseman is not your enemy.”
I narrowed my eyes. “But you’re a Fomorian.”
The man licked his lips and stared out at me through cornflower blue eyes. His chest muscles heaved with every panicked breath. “My mother’s father was one of those monsters, but I cannot help the circumstances of my birth.”
I gulped. He might have been describing myself. King Balor was my grandfather, and I wasn’t evil. “What do you eat?”
“Berries, meat, green leaves.” His gaze dropped to my hands. “I don’t suppose you have any food? Perhaps a horn of mead?”
I glanced at Drayce, who tightened his lips. He wanted me to kill this man, but he could see that I was already changing my mind.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Aengus. Shooter of arrows, tamer of horses.” His gaze flickered down my leather outfit. “And lover of females.”
“Do you know Melusina?” Drayce snarled.
The muscles in Aengus’ face tightened. “I know every wretched soul trapped in that prison of white. Melusina and I travelled together and used to watch out for enemies. Then one day, we found a rift in the nothingness that led into a forest. She sacrificed me to a hoard of purebloods and disappeared.”
“What happened next?” I asked.
“They tore me into quarters and devoured my body. The next day when I arose, the rift was gone.” His nostrils flared. “If she is in this world I will repay her ten-fold for the time I spent in misery.”
“That’s good enough for me.” I handed the dagger back to Drayce.
Ignoring the exasperation in Drayce’s eyes, I commanded the palace to create an opening into somewhere we could get clothes.
An arch formed in the wall that led to a storeroom of silver uniforms that I guess were for the guards. Satisfaction filled my chest. If the palace wanted Aengus dead, it would have kept me trapped within this chamber until I killed him.
I turned to Drayce with a triumphant smile. Drayce raised a shoulder and swept out an arm for me to go first. The palace’s magic must have kept the mist encasing Aengus because he would help me track and kill Queen Melusina.
Aengus walked across the garment rails with a long finger tapping his lips. The muscles on his back rippled with every movement, and his golden skin glistened in the sunlight.
“Hurry before I choose something for you,” Drayce growled.
“My apologies,” said Aengus. “I’m unused to seeing anything but white space and the gnashing of Fomorian teeth.”
I shot Drayce an admonishing glare, and he raised his brows with an unasked question. Suppressing the urge to smirk and ask if he was jealous like he did that time he nibbled on Queen Melusina’s neck, I reached down and squeezed his hand. Nobody, not even a wickedly handsome naked male, could replace Drayce.
Aengus selected a long tunic that looked like a man’s sleeping shirt and wrapped a sword belt around his waist, exposing his muscular thighs. Drayce made the other male walk at his side as we took him to a dining hall. It was illuminated by a stained glass window mosaic of the goddess Dana that took up an entire wall.
The sun shone through her vibrant orange hair, looking much like my reflection. I snatched my gaze away from the display and gulped. It was no wonder some of the faeries had commented on my hair.
Soldiers sat around long tables, eating bowls of stew. The colored light streaming through the window display reflected an array of blues and reds and shades of green on their silver uniforms. As soon as they caught sight of us, the chatter ceased, and the males rose to their feet and bowed.
Aengus flicked his head toward Drayce. “Is she someone special, then?”
“They’re greeting their queen,” Drayce muttered.
Aengus’ eyes bulged. “What happened to Queen Pressyne?”
“Queen Melusina killed her.” I watched his expression to see how he would react to what I would say next. “My father was the person who created the rift, and he was her captive for a thousand years.”
“You’re Melusina’s daughter?” he rasped.
My fingers curled around Drayce’s dagger. “And the woman who wants her dead.”
“I see.” Aengus’ gaze rose to my pointed ears, but he didn’t comment that I wasn’t a human.
“And the only person alive capable of killing Melusina,” added Drayce.
My teeth worried at my bottom lip, and I fought back the creeping itch of shame. Thanks to the Banshee Queen’s dying breath and a host of other things I consumed and absorbed through my skin, I was now one of the very beings I had learned to despise. I nodded at the soldiers, indicating for them to continue eating.
Drayce was right about one thing. As a nathair, Queen Melusina could only be killed by someone who shared her blood. It also explained why the wretched monster had no maternal instincts toward her children.
Without any additional prompting, Aengus dropped to one knee. “Your Majesty, I offer you my servitude until we have vanquished Melusina.”
“And then?” Drayce folded his arms across his chest.
Ignoring Drayce, Aengus stared up at me through pleading eyes that shimmered like pools of turquoise. “Then I will have repaid you for my freedom, and I will live out my days in peace.”
I glanced at Drayce, whose gaze hardened with the expression Father made whenever I failed to listen to his advice but turned to him when I got myself into trouble. Perhaps he was also thinking of last night, when I poisoned an entire troop of soldiers with the Keeper’s venom. They had either died or fallen paralyzed and eaten alive by the beasts that roamed the Autumn Court.
Shifting uncomfortably on my feet, I pushed aside those thoughts. If Drayce had told me in advance of his fake plan to sacrifice me to Queen Melusina, I wouldn’t have resorted to mass murder.
Besides, Aengus hadn’t threatened my life and hadn’t sh
own signs of being a danger to anyone but our shared enemy. Ignoring Drayce’s disapproval, I offered Aengus my hand. “We have a bargain.”
His face broke out into a smile of flushed cheeks and white teeth that made his eyes sparkle like gemstones. “Then we will seal it with a sweet kiss.”
“On her hand,” Drayce snarled.
“Of course.” Aengus pressed his lips onto the knuckle of my index finger.
Light flared from the contact. My brows rose. When I was a human girl bargaining for the life of my father, Drayce had insisted that I kiss him on the mouth. I shot him a glare, only for his lips to curl into a wicked smile.
Aengus scurried to one of the tables, where someone had left a tankard of ale and a heaping bowl of stew. As he devoured the food with his bare hands, I wondered if the mist left the Fomorians in perpetual hunger.
“Your Majesty,” said a voice from behind.
Osmos strode through the doors with Rosalind on his heels. His white hair sparkled a multitude of shades in the colored light.
“Did you deal with the humans?” I asked.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Everybody with family has already left with compensation.”
Dread rolled through my belly like a boulder. “And the rest?”
“That druid insists that you grant him another audience,” he said. “I told him you were occupied with other business, but he won’t leave.”
Rosalind raised a shoulder. “The guards wanted to cut off his legs, but I told them you wanted the humans intact. Was I right?”
Irritation raced across my skin like an army of stinging midges. Not at Rosalind or the callous way she described my desire to keep the humans safe, but at the entire situation. If the faeries hadn’t offered people one-sided bargains, the humans would have enjoyed peaceful lifespans and we wouldn’t be in this mess.
“We must keep them safe at all costs,” I said with a sigh. “Is there any way to find out which faerie bargained with which human?”
Cosmos and Rosalind exchanged glances.
“What’s wrong?”
“There is…” Osmos glanced away. “But the process of unraveling magic from a human is extremely painful.”
“And they’ve had enough salt to dampen their ensorcellment,” said Rosalind. “We’d need to examine their entrails.”
A babbling brook of frustration welled through my insides. “Let’s go and see what Cathbad wants.”
Osmos stepped aside and swept his arm to the doorway. This time, I was happy to take a long route to the throne room. The druid might be long-winded and belligerent, but we both wanted the same thing: justice for the human slaves.
We passed servants in the hallway, who bowed deep and offered me warm greetings. Osmos explained that most of them had been banished from the royal court for not supporting Queen Melusina and that they were happy to return to service.
Aengus joined us with and dipped huge hunks of bread into his tankard of ale. Although Osmos and Rosalind sneered at his behavior, I couldn’t fault him for being hungry. Since that terrible Samhain when Father aged overnight, it had been a struggle to keep ourselves fed while putting aside money for passage out of Bresail.
As we walked through a hallway of walls carved to depict a limp body flying into a crowd of angry faeries, Drayce grabbed my hand.
“What’s wrong?” I whispered.
“Melusina commissioned this to remind me of what she did to my father.”
“I can make the castle remove it.”
Drayce shook his head. “It gave me strength through the bleak years as a reminder of why I should never trust her false affection.”
I was about to ask what he meant when a set of doors opened into the throne room. What was left of the humans stood along one side of the space with faeries on the other. My shoulders drooped. With all these people vying for my attention, when would I get a chance to destroy Queen Melusina?
At our footsteps, everybody stopped talking and turned to the doorway. A group of faeries with skin the color of autumn leaves rushed toward me, but Drayce held up a palm, making them stop. The shadows beneath his feet stretched to create a walkway that extended up to the throne. Everyone in the room cringed away from his magic.
He inclined his head, indicating that I should take my seat up on the podium.
“Your Majesty,” Aengus whispered. “That is death magic.”
I turned to him and smiled. “My consort is the King of Death.”
Aengus scuttled away from Drayce and positioned himself next to Rosalind, who stepped toward Osmos and wrinkled her nose.
I walked over the shadows with Drayce on my right and climbed the stairs to the throne’s cushioned seat. Once Osmos and Rosalind took their positions around me, I turned my attention to the sea of expectant faces.
My heart plummeted like a stone through a pond, filling my chest with ripples of sadness. These were the humans who were either taken by the faeries too long ago, or those stolen as babies and never got to know their names or families. It would take more than a day to work out how to care for them.
Gathering my courage with a deep breath, I wracked my brain to work out how to care for these displaced humans. “Who’s first?”
Cathbad puffed up his chest. “Me.”
“You’ve already had your turn with Her Majesty and her secretary,” squeaked a tiny voice. It belonged to a foot-tall sprite who flew toward Cathbad on transparent wings the exact shade of mint leaves.
Pointed, green ears protruded from a shamrock-colored head shaped like a daffodil bulb, and a pair of butterfly antennae curled from her crown. She wore a flowing gown of emerald leaves with a necklace made of tiny mistletoe berries.
Cathbad bared his teeth and snarled. “What would an oak sprite possibly want except for more acorns?”
“Enough.” I raised my palm and beckoned the little faerie forward.
“Someone else must have a chance to speak,” I said.
“Your Majesty.” Her voice was as gentle as the rustling leaves.
“Speak up,” said Osmos.
The sprite dipped her head and wrung her hands. I glanced at Drayce, who shrugged.
What did I know about oak sprites? The Book of Brigid called them Sióg darach, and they were guardians of sacred oaks, ancient trees that dated back to the days when the gods roamed the earth.
They weren’t dangerous unless a person tried to attack their trees, then they would attack like a swarm.
I leaned forward on the throne. “Come closer.”
She drifted toward me on buzzing wings. “Your Majesty,” she whispered. “I come from Mound Phortaigh, which has been under a sleeping curse for three decades. With no one to maintain our territory, moss has invaded our mound and fungus now grows at the root of our oak. If you don’t help us, my entire clan and the oak we protect will die.”
I placed a hand over my mouth. One of the other Courts of the Living was placed under a similar curse. If we helped this sprite, we might also awaken the Summer Court Prince.
“Where is your mound?” I asked.
The sprite’s face hardened, and she charged at me like an angry hornet, moving so fast that green spores flew from her tiny body.
Drayce stepped into her path, a mass of shadows bursting from his outstretched hand. Rosalind wrapped an arm around my back and launched us to the ceiling.
My heart lurched, and a gasp tore from my lips. Screams burst around the throne room, accompanied by the sound of escaping feet. Why would she try to attack before giving me a chance to help?
By the time I caught my breath and glanced down, Drayce lay face-first on the throne steps.
Chapter 4
A scream caught in the back of my throat. I lurched forward, trying to reach Drayce, but Rosalind floated higher, her wings rustling like autumn leaves. She tightened her grip around my middle and squeezed my lungs so tightly that I could barely breathe.
“Let me down,” I said through labored breaths.
/> “My apologies, Your Majesty.” Her voice was low, solemn, as though she carried a century of sorrow. “One queen has died under my protection. I cannot allow another.”
Below us, guards appeared from the far walls of the room. Some charged to the throne’s steps, others shoved the humans onto the ground. Osmos knelt at Drayce’s side, rolled him onto his front, and opened his velvet jacket.
We were so high up that I couldn’t see if he was still alive, and the only thing that kept me sane was the knowledge that he had survived the Keeper’s poison. He could survive a sprite… Couldn’t he?
“Assassin,” Cathbad’s scream made the fine hairs on my neck stand on end. “I told you tree sprites were evil.”
I elbowed Rosalind, but she didn’t even flinch. “King Drayce is my mate. I command you to release me.”
“Queen Pressyne said the same when Osmos informed her of Melusina’s evil intentions, but she refused to listen.”
“Osmos,” I shouted. “Report.”
He tilted his head up. “I cannot detect any toxins or poison, Your Majesty. Nor can I detect any visible wounds.”
“What did she do?” I growled.
“Why don’t you ask her?” Aengus strode across the room, holding the struggling sprite in his raised fist. “I caught this one trying to escape.”
“Did she have any accomplices?” asked Rosalind.
“None that I could see.” Aengus shook the sprite until her head lolled to the side.
I clenched my teeth. “Don’t damage her until she tells us what she did.”
Aengus inclined his head and lowered his fist.
Osmos placed his palms over Drayce’s chest, and white magic glowed beneath his hands. I slumped in Rosalind’s arms, powerless to help, powerless to do anything but hope to the saints that Drayce would rise and extract the sprite’s soul from her worthless body. Instead, he remained motionless at the foot of the steps.
Dark clouds filled my mind as I imagined a life in this realm without Drayce. Now that the restraints on his magic were gone, the Otherworld might have recalled him to take his throne. We had only just found each other, only just broken his curse. If he didn’t survive this, I wasn’t sure how I would cope.
Mate of the Fae King (Dark Faerie Court Book 2) Page 3
