“The king was never chosen?”
He shook his head.
“But you were?” I’d always imagined anyone could join—perhaps after paying a tithe of some sort.
He nodded. “I got my call up when I was twelve, not long after Father began forcing the Wild Hunt to do his bidding.” He shrugged. “I assumed Father had something to do with it, but after all this time, even when I meet with him each fortnight to receive our assignments as the leader of the Wild Hunt, I’m certain he doesn’t know that when he is speaking with Xion Starguard, he’s also talking to his son.”
“And now, because of the king, you don’t act like heroes in your realm, you instead terrorize ours.”
He shook his head. “It’s not what you think.”
“Then what is it?”
He shook his head. “I … can’t tell you. Just know, you are safe from the king if you come with me.”
Last week I’d have scoffed at the idea that I could be safe with a fae. Stars, a few hours ago I’d have scoffed. “You want me to hide from the Unseelie King in Unseelie?” Didn’t seem like the smartest idea to me.
My question drew a weak smile from Fergus. “Not exactly.”
I lifted my eyebrows, awaiting an explanation.
“I have a place that straddles both Seelie and Unseelie. The king doesn’t know about it and I’ve warded it to make certain he won’t ever find it. You’ll be safe there.”
I looked over the bodies scattered around the trail. Fae, every one of them. Including the one they’d taken prisoner. Probably including me. And now a powerful fae was offering me sanctuary in Faery. I couldn’t stay here. The king would return. And if he found me, he’d kill me.
Then there was Fergus’ offer.
Despite Mother teaching me since I was a child not to trust any fae, I trusted him. Perhaps that made me a fool.
Perhaps it made him one.
I nodded. “Thank you.”
Part Two
FAERY
TEN
Fergus’ place—the place he took me for my safety—was an island. Not the sort with craggy rocks, cold air, and high winds that I’d read about in books. Fergus’ island—Lanwick Island—was like nothing I’d ever imagined. Actually, it was like something that should only have existed in one’s imagination. Water the most brilliant shade of turquoise surrounded it, and Fergus assured me that if I dipped my feet in, the water would be as warm as bathwater. I hadn’t yet been brave enough to try, though it was certainly hot enough here to tempt me.
White sand spilled from the water, leading up to bushes of the brightest green. Between the bushes grew trees that were only a long trunk until the very top where they sprouted into green fronds, and occasionally giant green fruit, too high to pick.
“They’re called coconuts,” said Fergus, following my gaze. “The most delicious fruit you’ll ever taste. I’ll bring you some with dinner.”
At one end of the beach was a sprawling white building, two levels high in places, and large enough to fit most of the cottages from my village inside. Vast windows faced out toward the ocean and a balcony as wide as our living room and three times as long ran the length of the top level.
On this side of the building, set among the bushes and scattered all along the coast, were thatched-roofed cottages dotted as far as the eye could see. A small group of fae played a ball game on the beach, while others stood watching from the verandah of their cottages. I glanced at Fergus. “I thought you said I’d be safe here?”
“Relax. No one can find you here. And no one here will tell the king.”
“Who are these people?” They didn’t seem as interested in me as I was in them. One raised his hand to wave at Fergus. The rest seemed not to have seen us.
“The Wild Hunt. Their families.”
I stiffened. He’d brought me to the very place the hunters lived. Perhaps coming with him was a mistake.
A wry smile crossed his face. “Oh, now you’re scared? The moment I mention the Hunt you want to leave, yet traveling with Xion Starguard or the Crown Prince of Unseelie doesn’t bother you?”
I let out my breath. “Point taken,” I mumbled. If I was going to be scared, it should be of him. “The whole Hunt live here?” The island was large, the white sandy beach bending out of sight in each direction with a tall hill rising out of the tropical forest behind the mansion, and it was the last place I expected hunters to live. “This is what they do when they’re not terrorizing Iadrun?”
Fergus looked at the group playing the ball game. “Everyone has a job here. Some work the crops, some fish, some tend to the horses. We’ve even got a few chickens and sheep around the other side of the island.”
I nodded, trying not to look surprised. I wasn’t sure why it had never occurred to me that the hunters had lives outside what they did at night.
We walked up the beach between two cottages to a hardened crushed shell track that crunched beneath my feet. Surrounded by lush tropical forest, the temperature back here was cooler than on the beach, but still hotter than it had ever been in Holbeck. We passed other fae, all of whom greeted Fergus by name, even a group of girls a year or two younger than me who giggled when he asked how their day had been.
“Looks like you’ve got some fans.”
A grin spread across his face, and with his black cloak thrown over his arm and the sleeves of his shirt pushed up, he seemed relaxed and happy to be home. “What can I say? People love me.”
The path led around the back of the mansion, but Fergus directed me onto a narrower side path which came out in front of it. Perhaps mansion was the wrong word. “Is this a palace?” I whispered. It was grand enough to be and even larger than it had seemed from the beach.
Fergus stifled a laugh. “No. It’s just a … home. Sometimes, anyway.”
It looked nothing like a home. It was too big. The center portion was two levels with stone columns and a top floor balcony. Symmetrically running off to either side were single-story wings, each with a series of sliding glass doors along the front. All of it looked out over a large swimming pool that I couldn’t drag my eyes from. The publican was the only person in Holbeck who owned a pool. I’d seen it once when Mother and I visited to treat his ill father, and compared to the sparkling water in the massive pool in front of me, the publican’s pool looked like a bath.
“I’ll take you to your chamber. Get some rest and we’ll talk later.” Fergus’ voice broke into my thoughts.
I shook my head, dragging my eyes from the cool water. “I don’t want to rest. I want to find Mother. And I want … you to help me.” I swallowed, berating myself. I wouldn’t get anywhere demanding things of the prince. “Please.”
Fergus’ smile was gentle. “Rest first. You’ve been up all night. Then we’ll figure it out.”
He led me into the central part of the building, which housed a lounging area with leather couches and coffee tables set up to look out at the ocean—the best view I’d ever seen. We walked along a corridor where he opened one of many doors and indicated I should enter before shutting it quietly and slipping away.
The chamber was bigger than the living area of my cottage, the curtains already drawn and the room dark. Stars, the bed was almost bigger than my living area. And Fergus was right. I was bone tired. I kicked off my boots and climbed onto the bed, laying my head on one of the many luxurious pillows. But I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the king dragging Mother along the trail and away from me. As the sun set on the day, I gave up trying and threw open the curtains. An apple and some slices of dried meat sat on a tray on the dresser. My stomach rumbled, and I picked up the apple in one hand and shoved the meat into my pocket to eat later.
Then I turned and opened the huge sliding glass door that had been hidden by my curtains moments ago. I stepped out onto paving stones that led down to the swimming pool. Now that Fergus wasn’t here, I could stare at it with the awe it deserved. I wa
s truly at the home of a prince. Until now a pool was nothing but a distant wish, let alone staying in a home this size. Even the grass around the edge of this area was greener and lusher than anything I’d ever seen before.
Not bothering with my heavy boots—it was too warm for those here—I walked past the pool, past the brightly colored cushions scattered on the ground, past the tables and chairs, toward the beach, the sunset beckoning me.
Three steps led from Fergus’ home down to the white sandy beach. I sat on the bottom step and buried my feet in the still warm sand, putting the apple down beside me. A gentle breeze played at my hair, but the evening was warm and pleasant. I watched the darkening sky, searching the endless blue of the ocean for another piece of land, but there was none. Fergus’s island really was far from everything. It was also the most stunning place I’d ever seen. As the night grew darker, the waves hitting the shore sparkled. I didn’t think I’d ever close my eyes to rest if I lived in a place like this, I’d always want to look at it.
“Don’t you ever sleep?”
I turned to find Fergus leaning one shoulder against the nearest coconut palm. He had bathed and changed; his dark hair was damp against his shoulders, and he wore shorts and a bright green shirt, and looked as far from a prince as was possible. Far from the leader of the Wild Hunt, too.
I self-consciously straightened my hair with my fingers. I should have bathed. “Couldn’t.” My mind was too busy to sleep.
He stared at me without moving, and I wondered if he expected something from me. He was a prince—sometime during the hours I’d spent with him, he’d stopped being Prince Fergus in my mind and simply became Fergus. Perhaps there were certain protocols he expected when he wasn’t either saving my life or attempting to kill me. “Excuse me if I don’t curtsey to you this evening, your Highness.”
Fergus’ eyes swept over me, and I couldn’t tell if he was irritated or amused. “When did you ever curtsey to me?”
Amused. He was definitely amused. I wasn’t trying to be funny. “That I haven’t has more to do with you pretending to be someone else for most of the time we’ve known each other. Besides, there’s a first time for everything.”
His eyes narrowed. “Clearly that first time isn’t today.” His tone was dry.
Clearly. I shuffled over and indicated to the space on the step beside me.
He closed the distance between us and stopped in front of me. “Did you sleep at all?”
I glanced up, surprised by his question. On closer inspection, although he was newly refreshed, he looked as tired as I felt. There were dark rings beneath his eyes and his skin was pale. “Very little. You?”
“I’m the leader of the Wild Hunt. I’m used to operating on little sleep. You, on the other hand, have no such excuse.” He sat beside me, pushing his feet into the sand.
“Too much going on in my head.” Before he had time to opt out of this conversation, and because I needed to voice the words that had been racing around my head all day, I added, “She mutilated me. She did it and then lied about it. She did it, then used magic to hide on herself the very thing she’d cut from me.” My voice wavered. Saying it out loud made what Mother had done sound so much worse. I didn’t want fae ears. I didn’t want fae anything. But I’d never have chosen to be butchered just to hide them, either. I still couldn’t believe Mother had lied all these years, telling me I was born this way, making me think I was human.
“Maybe she had a good reason. My father can be cruel. If she was running from him—”
I didn’t want his sympathy. “If she was running from him, she would never have lived in the closest village to Faery.” That was another thought which had been banging around in my head that I couldn’t make sense of. Surely, if one was hiding from the Unseelie King, they would hide as far from Unseelie as possible.
Fergus lifted a shoulder in a way that said I might be right. “Or perhaps that was the very best place to live. The last place the king ever considered looking.”
I shook my head, wanting to deny him, but really, I didn’t know what to think. “What does he want from her?”
Fergus shrugged. “I don’t know what my father wants with her. But you know what you have to do.” He spoke softly, as if he didn’t want to scare me.
I knew. But I didn’t want to do it.
When I didn’t voice the words, Fergus spoke them. “You have to go speak to Queen Rhiannon.” The Queen of the Seelie Court.
“The woman who lets her people starve while she lives in luxury? Who kills those that wrong her in even the slightest way? Who loves watching her people tortured?” These were all things I’d heard from Mother, and they were all reasons to stay as far from Queen Rhiannon as possible. There was another, stronger, reason to go to her though, and by voicing my concerns, I hoped Fergus would dispute some or all of them. It would make walking into the Seelie Court that much easier.
“She can be cruel, but she’s a queen.” He shrugged as if being queen was reason enough.
There had to be a mistake. Mother had warned me for years against going into Seelie. It made no sense she’d change her mind now. “I really don’t want to go to her court.”
Fergus turned his head to look at me. “You went to my father’s court. And you didn’t seem half as nervous as this.”
That was different. “I went to save Mother’s life!”
“Could this also save her life?” His voice softened as he pointed out what was blatantly obvious.
Desperation laced my words. I’d seen how cruel King Aengus was, and his reputation had nothing on Queen Rhiannon’s. “We don’t know she meant Queen Rhiannon. It could be some other poor soul with the same name.”
An amused tilt came to Fergus’s lips. “How many other Rhiannon’s do you know?”
“Well, none. But—” Perhaps it was a common name in Faery.
“Me, either. And I’ve met many people. I think it’s safe to assume she was speaking of the Seelie Queen.” Fergus lifted his eyebrows. “You’re okay with rushing unprotected into the court of the Unseelie King to ask a favor, or staying at the private island of an Unseelie Prince, but you’re not so keen to go to the one place in Faery your own mother suggested?”
The young girls from earlier walked along the water’s edge. When they saw Fergus, they called his name and waved. “Evening, ladies.”
“More candidates for royal bride?”
I couldn’t decipher the look that crossed his face. “Most women dream of it.”
I grinned. “So, you’re saying most women don’t need to be kidnapped to your island to spend time with you?”
A faint smile crossed his face, before instantly turning serious again. He shook his head. “Most women—and many men—want to spend time with a prince. Most hope it will lead to a better life, and better status.” His voice turned hollow. “They aren’t interested in knowing me.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
He shrugged. “Don’t be. I’ve long since learned that I’m not interested in knowing them, either.”
I got it. Other than Selina, people looked at my deformity and instantly decided they knew all they needed to know about me. It was unfair and lonely. And a little deeper than I could go at the moment—there were too many other things happening inside my head. It was easier to joke with him. “You haven’t been left alone on the dance floor often, then?” I let my face soften into a smile.
He blew out a breath. “Just the once. Can’t say I enjoyed it overly.” He tried to keep the grin from his face and failed. He was very handsome. Especially when he smiled.
I pressed my lips together, my grin threatening to widen. “Doesn’t seem to have hurt you too badly. Perhaps it’s something you should try more often.” Everything I’d ever heard about Prince Fergus suggested he wasn’t the sort of person I’d enjoy having a conversation with, yet here I was, struggling to keep my grin to myself.
He shook his head. “I thin
k I’ll pass.” He turned his gaze back to the ocean, the sparkling waves brushing softly against the beach not too far from our feet. “Bria.” He swallowed. “That night, after you ran out of the masquerade, I lied to Father and told him I’d bonded to someone.” He glanced my way before focusing again on the ocean. I didn’t know why he seemed so nervous. He’d already told me he’d lied. “I did it because that night, with the mask over half your face and with the fake ears, I was certain you were from the Seelie Court.”
“And?” The word stretched as I spoke it. There was more he wasn’t saying. “Wait … you can tell the difference between Seelie and Unseelie fae just by looking at them?” They all looked the same to me.
“Seelie fae have rounder faces and their ears are smaller. It’s subtle, but it’s there.” Another long silence. “When I told Father we were bonded, I never expected we’d find you.”
I lifted my eyebrows. Everyone in Iadrun knew the King wanted his son to be a strong and settled heir, with a wife and a child of his own. He didn’t want to hand over his crown, but when the time came, he needed his son to be in the strongest position possible, with the strongest people around him to ensure the crown stayed within the Blackwood family. And the first person among those strong people would be a wife. Though the Prince didn’t need to find his bonded soulmate, the marriage would go easier if he did. If the king thought the woman his son had bonded to was nearby, he would do everything possible to find her. “That seems a little naïve.”
He shook his head, his lips turning down. “It wasn’t. Seelie and Unseelie have been at war my entire life. We never mix. We would never lower ourselves to befriend one of them.” There was such disgust in his voice that I didn’t doubt he meant it. He threw me a wry smile. “They feel the same way about us. Because of that, Father would never consider one of the Seelie fae might sneak into his court. I knew he’d do everything possible to find you, but he didn’t know you were Seelie, so he would never look for you there. I thought you’d be safe.” He ran a hand down his face, tension pulling at the corners of his mouth.
Kingdom of Yesterday's Lies (Royals of Faery Book 1) Page 12
