“Is there somewhere safe to keep them?” I asked.
Osmos inclined his head. “There are multiple chambers within the mountain. With your help, we can secure them for the duration of their wait.”
A weary breath heaved from my lungs. “Do it.”
Another set of guards entered to help Aengus and the coach driver out through the doors, and Rosalind and Nessa stepped out after them. Osmos floated a cocooned Drayce out of the carriage. I picked up the broken pieces of the Dagda’s staff and followed Osmos into the sunny morning.
I made sure to steer us to the front of the carriage, so Enbarr could get a good look at Drayce. The skeletal horse ignored my murmured thanks, making my chest tighten. He still hadn’t forgiven me for burning Drayce’s cursed skin. After lowering his nasal bone to Drayce’s head for a sniff, he nickered as though he was happy with whatever he scented.
“Congratulations, Your Majesty,” Osmos murmured as we crossed the moonstone courtyard. “King Drayce appears to have regained his soul.”
A warm breeze meandered through the wide space and caressed my hair. Tiny bits of dust trickled down the back of my neck, reminding me of my escape from the Palace of Bóinne. I stared down between us at Drayce’s peaceful features. He still hadn’t regained the rich, dark hue to his skin.
“Can we wake him?” I asked.
“His Majesty’s body needs rest,” Osmos replied. “From what I sensed with my magic, he will wake when he’s ready.”
The servants bowed as we continued up the palace’s smooth steps, and I inclined my head in acknowledgement the way Mayor Mulloy did whenever he paraded around Calafort in his ceremonial robes.
Osmos’ hoofs clicked against the marble floors, and we crossed an entrance hall the size of Calafort’s town square. Crystal and gold chandeliers illuminated the space, shining brighter than the light streaming through the tall, arched windows.
At the end of the hall stood a grand staircase wide enough to fit the royal carriage. I swept my gaze up to the top, where a pair of ten-foot-tall statues stood at the landing. One of me in my leather armor, holding the Sword of Tethra in one hand and an iron dagger in another. The second depicted a long-haired male in a frock coat and breeches, whose face was entirely blank.
I clenched my teeth. The palace was either mocking me or telling everyone that I had neither secured my throne or my mate.
Osmos moved toward the stairs, but I raised a hand. “Let’s take a shortcut.”
His eyes widened with understanding.
I led him around the side of the staircase and willed the palace to create an entrance into the queen’s bedroom. Moments later, an archway appeared, its interior drenching us with light.
Osmos stepped into the bedroom and smiled. “You have increased your power.”
A shudder of revulsion skittered across my nerves. If inhaling the Banshee Queen’s last breath had turned me into a faerie, how would the Dearg Due’s red smoke or the cloud of green from the cú sídhe affect my magic?
With only a matter of days before the Dagda would claim me as his sword maiden, I didn’t have time to explore my new power.
Osmos opened the four-poster’s white drapes and laid Drayce on the embroidered sheets. A door on the room’s left flung open, and Destry rushed inside the bedroom and dipped into a low curtsey. After rising, she brought her hand to her mouth in a mime of eating.
“It’s wonderful to see you,” I said with a smile. “I would appreciate anything you have.”
With a nod, she disappeared behind the door.
Osmos stepped back from the bed, leaving Drayce underneath the sheet with his hair straight and lustrous, his skin glowing with health, and his nightshirt a pristine white.
I wanted him to perform the same cleaning enchantment on me, but I had other uses for his magic. “Can you fix broken items?” I held up the broken pieces of the Dagda’s staff. “Its owner was very upset when I cut it with my sword.”
He furrowed his pale brows. “My healing powers only extend to intelligent beings, but I can search the palace for someone who can help.”
“Thank you,” I murmured.
Osmos bowed and retreated from the room. I watched him leave, hope filling my chest. If my magic could reshape the interior of a palace, how difficult could it be for the right faerie to rejoin two pieces of wood?
“Neara,” said Drayce’s voice from behind. “What are you doing with the Dagda’s staff?”
Chapter 18
My heart thudded so hard that it made my ribcage vibrate. I scrambled back toward the door, staring at Drayce with wide eyes. Without thinking, my hands darted behind my back.
He pulled himself up on the bed and squinted. “That belongs to the Dagda. Why do you have it?”
“I…” The words died in the back of my throat.
Drayce had been very young when Queen Melusina brought him from the Otherworld and kept him as a prisoner. He had spent almost as much time with Father as me. If he had picked up an ounce of Father’s personality, he would look at me with disapproval when I told him everything I had done… everyone I had gotten killed.
“Neara?” He swung his legs out of the mattress, placed his feet on the bed, and stumbled.
Panic lanced through my chest, and the broken pieces of staff clattered to the marble floor. I rushed forward and wrapped my arms around his middle, trying to keep him steady.
Drayce chuckled. “I should fall more often. That brings out your soft and affectionate side.”
He was talking about the time I pulled out the Keeper of All Things’ stinger from his leg and how he nearly fell off Enbarr from the venom. My throat thickened, and I caught myself in his heavy-lidded stare. The curse made his eyes a darker shade of green—aquamarine with mossy flecks, overlaid with gold. His thick, black lashes blended with the dark ring around his irises that I found mesmerizing.
“Was that you?” I whispered.
“On that bed of moss?” he asked.
I nodded.
“I wasn’t myself at first,” he murmured into my hair. “The moss seeped into my mind and cursed me into complacency. I forgot about my throne, forgot about Melusina, forgot about the cursed Courts.”
My chest tightened. “But you recognized me.”
He grinned. “No curse could ever make me forget you. All those years ago, I knew you would be mine the moment Melusina brought you to Ailill’s cage.”
Apprehension squeezed my chest, making me catch a breath. “Did she keep you in a cage, too?”
Drayce’s face tightened. “Until Ailill escaped and the last of her druids died.”
“What did she do to you after—”
“Neara.” He placed a finger on my lips. “Please tell me why you have the Dagda’s broken staff.”
Despite the dread weighting my insides, despite the fear that fluttered in my heart like a trapped moth, the love and warmth in his eyes kept me from turning away. I had fought for Drayce, risked my life and magic to bring him back. If he rejected me, I would fight to regain his love.
The story spilled from my lips, starting with Nessa’s seer eye telling me that only Drayce’s mate could break the curse and ending with the ring I slipped on his finger and the dagger I slipped in his heart.
“Neara.” He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest. “I’m sorry to have caused you so much trouble.”
My throat dried. “It’s me who should apologize. I didn’t stab you in the heart until it was too late.”
“Neara,” he said my name like an exasperated sigh. “I lied to you when we first met and several times after that. But we’re mates, now. Please give me your trust.”
I bit down on my bottom lip. “It’s not that I didn’t trust you…”
He cupped my face in his large hands, and his dark eyes stared deep into my soul. “What, then?”
“Part of me wondered if the Fear Dorcha was trying to trick me into killing you.”
Drayce’s brows dre
w together. He was probably about to remind me that he was the King of Death, but I pressed my fingers onto his lips.
“Maybe poison won’t kill you and you can survive having your cursed skin thrown in the fire, but I had no idea what an iron dagger would do to your body.”
He stared into my eyes for several heartbeats, seeming to consider my words. With each passing moment, guilt tightened my chest until I could barely breathe.
“If your father could die, so could you.” I placed my hand over his. “And I couldn’t do something so terrible to you when I still felt awful about nearly burning you to death.”
Drayce drew back and examined the ring I’d placed on his finger. “So, this is how Melusina reduced my father to a husk.”
I lowered my lashes. “Are you angry with me?”
He pressed a kiss on my forehead. “No. Besides, if the Dagda said we weren’t mated, then the curse must have broken our bond. “We’re lucky that he gave you the ring.”
All the tension left me in an instant, leaving me lightheaded with relief. Drayce? He was the most loving and forgiving person I’d ever known. Tears welled up behind my eyelids, and I swallowed, thinking about the years of loneliness, torture, and abuse he must have endured, living in hope that Father would one day return with me to set him free.
I blinked, loosening the tears from my eyes. That terrible Samhain night when I was fourteen, I had ruined everything by leaving the house and encountering Queen Melusina. Because of me, the village was slaughtered. And when Drayce used Father’s magic to hide him from the queen, she had cursed him with scales. Despite this, Drayce still forgave my mistakes.
He wiped away my tears with a thumb. “The Fear Dorcha will have to wait. We need to save you from becoming enslaved to the Dagda.”
“Is he really a demigod?” I asked.
“The children of Dana are gods.” Drayce gave me a crooked smile. “The Dagda and my father were brothers.”
My mouth fell open, and my lungs let out a shocked gasp. “I bargained with a god? Why didn’t Aengus tell me about his father?”
Drayce’s lips thinned. “Didn’t those soul-stealing faeries deal with him in the Summer Court?”
“He’s a good friend.” I slapped him on the chest.
His brows rose, and a tiny smile played on his lips. It was part amusement, part skepticism, all thinly veiled disapproval. “I’ll have words with your… friend about leading you into danger.”
I pulled out of his arms and frowned.
“Neara?” He tilted his head to the side.
“It was my idea to get the harp from the Dagda, and Aengus came along to make sure I didn’t get into trouble.”
Drayce narrowed his eyes. “He must have a different definition of trouble, seeing as he got you imprisoned and cornered into wielding your blood and sword for the Dagda.”
Annoyance tightened my skin. Aengus was innocent. Why couldn’t Drayce see that? The only difference between the aggravating faerie who had abducted me from Calafort and the man standing before me was the lack of scales.
“You were far less annoying as my sleeping beauty,” I said.
Drayce threw back his head and roared with laughter.
I gave him a hard shove in the chest, but ended up with two handfuls of taut, tight muscles, reminding me of the last time I rid his body of moss.
All the moisture evaporated from my throat. “A week of sleep hadn’t improved your sense of humor.”
His grin widened, and he stared down at me with sparkling eyes and white teeth. It was like being caught in the mesmerizing snare of the gancanagh.
A pulse of longing pounded through my heart, and warmth spread across to my chest and crept up to my neck. The corners of my lips twitched with the beginnings of a smile. If I stayed one heartbeat longer in his presence, I would melt.
I turned on my heel and walked to the foot of the bed.
“Where are you going?” he asked from behind.
“While you’ve been resting on feather beds, I have crawled through millennia-old tunnels made of bone, been splattered by the essence of countless Dearg Due, and engulfed by a cloud of green dog. I’m having a bath.”
I continued around the four-poster toward the bathroom.
Drayce’s footsteps prowled after me, and my insides tightened with excitement.
When I placed my fingers on the door handle, his larger hand covered mine, sending a spark of lightning down my spine. I turned around, trying not to smile. “What are you doing?”
“I might have been on that bed, but my soul was wrestling with creeping moss, tangling vines and strangulating trees.”
My brow furrowed. I was about to ask how he managed to leave that awful room, when he snaked an arm around my middle and kneaded my flesh with his fingertips.
“Besides…” His deep growl made my nipples tighten. “You promised me a reward for getting out of that bed.”
Heat rose to my cheeks. “You remember that?”
“I remember how you distracted me from the pain of the moss you tore from my back.” He pressed his hardness into my behind. “I remember that tight grip and how you made me beg.”
The pulse between my legs pounded in time with my heart, and heat flooded my core. I squeezed my thighs together and bit down on my lip. “It was…” Drayce’s hand made languid circles over my belly. “It was the only way to get you to agree.”
He brushed my hair aside. “You were all I thought about when that curse held me captive.”
I gulped. “How long was it for you?”
“Weeks?” He pressed a soft kiss on the delicate skin of my neck. “Months.” He trapped my earlobe between his lips and sucked.
Arousal rippled deep in my core. “Drayce, I’m covered in bone dust.”
“It’s less macabre than the first time we made love.” His other hand gripped the leather of my skirt and pulled it up to my hips. “Besides, a few dry bones won’t kill the King of the Otherworld.”
I was about to reply when a sharp pain lanced through my gut, making me crumble into the door with a cry tearing from my lips.
“Neara.” Drayce’s arm tightened around my middle, the only thing keeping me from hitting the ground. “What’s happened?”
The pain quickened through my insides, a lightning storm of agony that filled my vision with white. I squeezed my eyes shut and ground my teeth.
A stone chamber filled my mind, similar in size and height to the one where I had pulled Aengus from the mist. Moonlight streamed through ventilation holes in the ceiling, illuminating the paler hues on the flint walls. A slender figure moved across the chamber toward an arrangement of concentric arches carved around a wooden door.
The door consisted of another arch with a seam down the middle and no keyholes or handles or pulls. Wooden swirls decorated its surface splitting and curling like branches on a tree.
Delicate hands the same shade of brown as the wood pressed on the door. Red light streamed through the door’s joints, making it swing open. The figure stepped back, and a substance as dark and as thick as honey streamed across the chamber floor.
“Someone’s just opened a doorway.” Through clenched teeth, I described the images playing through my mind. A cold, slimy sensation crawled over my skin, making me shudder with disgust.
“The palace has an intruder.” Drayce pulled me to a cushioned seat against the wall and guided me down.
I sank into a soft cushion and leaned against the wall. The black substance filled the chamber, and the dark figure disappeared from sight. “What?”
“Melusina always knew when assassins entered the palace.” He knelt at my feet and wrapped his hands around my balled fists. What he said next was a jumble of words.
Pain pulsed through my skull in time with my cramping belly as the darkness oozed across the stone floor. My vision blurred and turned black, only for me to blink and meet Drayce’s concerned eyes.
“Seal them,” he said, sounding like he was repeating himse
lf.
“Alright.” I squeezed my eyes shut and commanded the palace to close off all means of escape for the intruders. The pain receded to a dull ache, and I exhaled a long breath, relief loosening my muscles. “Do you feel strong enough for a fight?”
Drayce smiled and pulled me to my feet. “Only if you can open a doorway via the mess hall.”
I blinked several times, trying to tether myself to the here and now as I remembered the room where Aengus took his first meal at the palace.
Drayce placed a hand on the small of my back and guided me out of my seat. I opened a doorway into the dining hall, where moonlight streamed in through the colored glass windows, making the jewels of Dana’s crown shine like stars.
The soldiers sitting around the tables stood and bowed. Captain Maith, who I met in the throne room rushed to my side, his violet eyes wide. “Your Majesty, may I be of assistance?”
“Follow me.” I crossed the room and made another doorway into a windowless stone chamber.
“We have an intruder.”
Following after us, the captain turned to the rest of the hall and motioned for a group of males sitting close to rise. Drayce and I continued to the smaller chamber with the soldiers at our backs. The chamber was thirty by thirty feet, with wall lanterns close to the ceiling that drenched the space in light.
The captain positioned himself on my left. “What are we expecting, Your Majesty?”
“Do you remember Crom Cruach?” I had already told Drayce about the soul-trapping spiorad that had disintegrated into liquid gold and how we had trapped his melted form in jars which were now separated around the castle. “This one is black and gelatinous.”
“I will contain it with my shadows,” said Drayce. “Everyone else will attack with their elemental powers until we work out which hurts it the most.”
Apprehension rippled through my gut. I couldn’t control water or fire or air. Outside the palace, my powers extended to being able to cut through anything with my blood and sword. Without meaning to, I stepped back, but Drayce secured an arm around my back.
Mate of the Fae King (Dark Faerie Court Book 2) Page 16
