Around us, other fae passed by on horses or on foot, laughing or talking loudly and giving the castle a vibrant and bustling feel. Flowers grew from pots on windowsills, their color and fragrance reminding me of summer at the cottage and sending a sharp pang of homesickness through me. I straightened my shoulders. I was doing this so I could return home. Once I had Mother.
It took less time than I expected to enter the main building, the queue moving forward a few steps every couple of minutes. The vestibule we entered was high-ceilinged and narrow, just wide enough for the queue and almost as many fae guards lining each wall, their hands resting on their sheathed swords. The walls were white, and the room lit by something harsh and bright. At the front of the vestibule, two massive doors opened every few minutes to allow one person through, closing immediately after. No one came out.
I shifted nervously from foot to foot, my legs sore and tired from waiting. With each person who walked through that door, my chest grew tighter. This had seemed like a good idea from the relative safety of Fergus’ island—the better option than staying with him. Now I was here, the enormity of what I was about to do hit me. The queen could end me before I said a word. If she didn’t like the way I looked, the way I spoke, or what I wore, it wouldn’t matter how much I pleaded, she wouldn’t help and would likely kill me instead. I ran the words I wanted to say over and over in my mind.
When the doors finally opened for me, my heart was racing so hard I could barely breathe. I stepped through the tall golden double doors and set eyes on Queen Rhiannon for the first time. She sat on an ornate gold throne atop a dais at the far end of the large windowless room. Surrounded by guards all dressed in slate colored livery, she leaned toward a guard who spoke to her in a quiet voice. Two other guards stood shoulder to shoulder in front of me, waiting, I guessed, for the queen to allow me to speak. The gentle whisper of voices made me glance up. Above us were three levels of viewing platforms where fae dressed in their best finery stood looking down upon us. At me. Most were silent, their bodies angled forward as if trying to hear the queen’s conversation. But a few whispered to the persons beside them, pointing at me or looking at the queen. I hadn’t expected onlookers. I’d expected a private meeting with the Queen of Seelie. Totally stupid. There was never any chance she’d have had a private meeting with an unknown like me.
“Next!” The queen’s voice echoed through the room, making me jump, a sight I was certain she enjoyed.
The guards stepped aside, leaving me to wipe my palms on my pants before beginning the long walk across the room. A deep red carpet led up to the dais, my boots sinking into the fibers with each step. Those who had been talking moments ago were now silent.
I kept my eyes down, looking up only when Queen Rhiannon barked, “Halt!” There was barely time to draw a breath before the queen said, “Speak, girl, or we’ll call this meeting over.”
Queen Rhiannon was beautiful. Her blonde hair was dead straight and fell to her waist. Brown eyes and high cheek bones gave her a regal look. As did the jeweled crown on her head, the many rings on her fingers and the burgundy dress she wore. By looks alone, I’d have guessed her age as perhaps ten years older than me, but she’d been ruling Seelie all my life and had to be closer to Mother’s age than mine.
“My mother told me to come and see you.” My voice came out small and unsure. I mentally kicked myself. That was not the image I’d hoped to portray. Not only that, my words weren’t enough to hold Queen Rhiannon’s attention. She looked at her advisor as she spoke to me. “Whatever she told you I could give you, she was wrong. Guards, take her away!” She clicked her fingers and two guards stepped up beside me, each taking an arm and turning me around.
“Wait!” I couldn’t let them lead me away. Not yet. I twisted in the guard’s hands until I was facing her. “Her name is Aoife Tremaine. She’s been captured by the Unseelie King, and she said you could get her released.” That wasn’t exactly what she’d said, but I hoped it was what she meant.
One guard gave me a shove, his palm between my shoulder blades spinning me away from the queen. “Get out of here,” he growled.
The queen’s eyes turned my way. “Aoife, you say?” She still sounded bored, except for the smallest rise in the final syllable of Mother’s name. “Does this Aoife have a middle name?”
I tried to turn so I could look at her as I spoke, but the guards held me tight. Fine. I’d direct my answer to the opposite wall and hope she heard. “Maire.”
There was silence and the guard pushed me again. That was it, my meeting with the Seelie Queen over. Mother was wrong, she couldn’t help us. Or wouldn’t.
“Wait, bring her back.” The queen still sounded bored, but a glimmer of hope blossomed in my heart.
Pushing me just as hard as they had before, the guards turned me to face her. One gave me another shove in her direction and I stumbled, falling onto my knees at the bottom of her dais.
Queen Rhiannon pushed to her feet, her actions slow and considered in the way of someone who doesn’t care that an entire room is watching and waiting on her. She sauntered down the three steps, eyes fixed on me. I scrambled to my feet.
She turned to the guard on my left. “Pull back her hair.”
“H-her hair?” The guard shuffled his feet.
I sighed. “She wants to see my ears.” I spoke without looking at the guard, resignation washing over me. However well Mother knew the Seelie Queen, it already seemed clear that the queen knew what Mother had done to me. “Don’t worry. I’ll do it myself.”
I undid the clip holding my hair at the back of my neck and lifted the strands off my ears, barely breathing. Fergus hadn’t seemed bothered by the mutilation of my ears. Same with Jax. Selina was the only one in my life who had ever ignored my deformity that way. I already knew their reaction was not universal and braced myself for the queen’s response.
Queen Rhiannon flinched away. She waved one hand at me as she retreated to her throne, one hand over her mouth. “Cover it up. No one in this room wants to see that.” Disgust dripped from her voice.
I clipped my hair back, covering my ears, certain I’d shown the queen what she expected to see.
She sat with a sigh. “So, it’s true, Briony Ridgewing. Your mother hated her birthright so much, she took a knife to her own child to hide what she was. What you are.”
I swallowed, biting back tears. I loved Mother with every part of my body, but those words were a knife to my heart, a stark reminder of what she did without permission. Without even telling me why.
“And now, you come searching for the family you’ve ignored for sixteen years because you need something.” Disgust returned to Queen Rhiannon’s voice.
I shook my head. “N-no. It’s not like that.” My voice wobbled. “I didn’t know about you.”
The queen’s shrill laughter rang around the room, accompanied by the rest of the crowd a moment later. “You didn’t know about us? How is that possible? Everyone knows of the Seelie Court.” Cold eyes fell on me.
I wanted to step away, but I forced my feet to remain planted. The queen was no different from Mrs. Plimmer. She was searching for a weakness, and if I showed any, I was certain I’d be out on my mutilated ear before I could object. “Of course I knew of the Seelie Court, but for sixteen years, I’ve been raised as human. For sixteen years, the only fae that ever came into our lives did so to torture or kill us.” My palms were slick with sweat and a thin rivulet ran between my shoulder blades. This was for Mother. I might not agree with what she’d done to me, but I didn’t want her imprisoned, or worse. I needed the queen to ask the king to release his Seelie prisoner. “Besides, it wasn’t as if any of my Seelie family ever came searching for me.”
The queen’s eyes snagged on mine, and my heart flew into my throat. I’d gone too far. I’d angered her with my accusation.
She let out a laugh. It was harsh and forced, and it drew titters from the crowd above as they copied their queen
. When the queen spoke again, the disgust was gone from her voice. “If I’d had any doubts whose daughter you were, that little outburst clinched it. Definitely Aoife’s. What is it you need from me, child?” Her voice and face softened, and she sounded like a different woman.
I drew a deep breath. “A letter … or something I can take to King Aengus stating that you wish him to release one of your people from his prison.”
The queen’s perfectly manicured eyebrows lifted. She bounced two fingers on her lips, watching me. Her voice was sweet when she spoke again. “Of course I will help you, child. If it’s a letter you require, then a letter you shall receive. My guards will escort you back to the Unseelie border tomorrow. Tonight, you stay here. We must get to know each other.”
I let out my breath, my shoulders relaxing for the first time since the king captured Mother. She’d been right. Rhiannon was the one who would get her out of this.
The queen continued speaking. “Your mother and I were once very close. Right until she disappeared all those years ago. Your fae family never searched for you because we believed you both dead.” She smiled and clapped her hands together. “But what a treat to discover you safe and alive. I will do what I can for your mother, you have my word. In the meantime, you’ll be my guest at dinner tonight. I have so many questions for you, as I’m sure you have for me.” She waved a hand and one guard stepped forward. “Take Briony to a chamber in the guest wing and find her something decent to wear. By the time she returns, dinner will be served.”
“Bria,” I mumbled.
The queen turned to me, her eyes ablaze at my interruption. “Pardon me?”
I stepped back. “My name. It’s just Bria.”
Her eyes travelled over me. “But you were born Briony.”
I lifted one shoulder. I’d never been anything but Bria.
She inhaled deeply, then smiled. “Very well. Take Bria to the guest wing.”
There was no time to stop and think. Servants escorted me to the most luxurious bed chamber to bathe and change. This one room was larger than our entire house and didn’t seem like it was used often as almost everything in it was pristine white. The high bed looked soft and welcoming, and even though my bed on Fergus’ island had been comfortable, I couldn’t wait to climb beneath the covers in this bed tonight.
I glanced out the window. I was higher than the castle walls and looking out at a deep blue glittering lake not far from the castle. I imagined it would be a glorious place to swim. Everything I’d seen in Seelie so far was stunning, and the queen was far nicer than the Unseelie King. If Mother knew Queen Rhiannon, I don’t know why she hadn’t allowed us to visit this place before.
I removed my pants, shirt and riding boots, folding them into a pile and placing them on a white chair, my bare feet sinking into the soft white rug that I was certain was softer than my bed at home.
The moment I finished bathing, a small fae servant who fluttered in on brilliant green wings brought me a dress to wear—yellow with a sweet-heart neckline and a matching throw for my shoulders—and helped me into it. While I removed my hair clip—shoving it into the toe of my riding boots—and brushed out my hair, another servant brought in a pair of shoes and strapped them on my feet. Unhappy with my hairstyle, the first fae tutted beneath her breath before pulling it back into an elegant do that covered my ears. In what seemed like the quickest possible time, I was back downstairs, in a different room, sitting beside the queen for dinner.
This was no intimate meal, and I was beginning to wonder if Queen Rhiannon did anything small. The meal was served in a banquet hall almost as large as King Aengus’ ballroom, with tables—and guests—as far as the eye could see. Trees with bright glossy leaves grew between the tables, the largest branches so tall they seemed to hold up the ceiling. But the room smelled glorious—it was as if we were outside.
The wall at the end of the room was floor to ceiling glass, looking out over acres of the most magical garden I’d ever seen before. Flowers and trees seemed illuminated from within. And beyond the garden lay a beautiful crystal clear lake reflecting all of Seelie within its depths.
The fae women and men were dressed as glamorously as I was, stunning dresses and tuxedos everywhere I looked. Most of them pretended not to watch me but did it when they thought I wouldn’t notice. Like when I was answering the queen’s questions.
“Where have you been living all this time?” The sixth question she’d asked in as many minutes. She sat beside me, a glass of what I could only assume was faery wine in one hand while she waited for her meal.
My heart raced. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing and have her decide she wouldn’t write that letter. “We have a small cottage at the edge of the woods, near the border with Faery.”
She nodded. “So close, yet neither of us knew the other existed.”
Not entirely true. I’d known about the Seelie Queen all my life. What I hadn’t known was that she knew of Mother and me—that the Briony who received the king’s invitation every year wasn’t a prior resident, but me. Which also made me wonder if the king knew about me, too.
“When did you return to Faery?” She took a sip of her drink, her eyes going to the untouched glass in front of me.
“Almost a week ago.” I was fairly sure this was a safe answer. If Jax hadn’t brought me here on Diamond, it would have taken days to walk from the border.
Another nod. “And who brought you to Faery, child?”
I knew she would ask this and had an answer prepared. It wasn’t even a lie. At least, this part of the story wasn’t. “The Unseelie Prince brought me here on his horse.”
Her eyebrows lifted and her fingers tightened around the stem of her glass. “You’re friends with him?”
I shook my head, drawing in a deep breath to calm myself. “He captured me, dragged me from our cottage in Iadrun. I escaped.” Still not really a lie, except that last part. Hopefully it didn’t sound like one.
The queen gave a long blink and the grip on her glass relaxed. “How’s your magic coming?”
I let out my breath. “Badly.” Fergus expected me to have magic, too. Perhaps I wasn’t as fae as everyone thought.
“We must get you a magic tutor. You’ve spent so long away from Faery, you must be suffering with stifled magic.”
I didn’t intend to be here long enough to require a magic tutor, but nodded anyway. I just needed her to stop speaking for a moment so I could ask when she would give me the letter.
A line of servants walked up to our table, each of them stopping at a different guest and depositing a plate of food in front of us. As one, they lifted the lids keeping our dinner warm, then turned and walked away.
The queen smiled at me. “You will love this. Faery food tastes so much better than human food. And the beef is to die for.” She unfolded a napkin onto her lap and picked up her knife and fork.
Don’t eat the food. It was something I’d known all my life, and Fergus himself had told me I wasn’t safe eating fae food until I’d been in Faery a while longer. The advice made complete sense.
I busied myself with unfolding my napkin, adjusting the glassware in front of me and picking up my cutlery. Out of the corner of my eye, the queen was eating with such gusto, I could only hope she’d forget about me.
I pushed the food around my plate, trying to make it look like I’d eaten. The food smelled delicious and my stomach growled. I was glad the chatter of the guests hid it.
The queen dabbed her lips on her napkin. “What do you think? The food is delicious, is it not?”
I nodded, smiling at her.
But her eyes weren’t on me. They were on my plate. “But, child. You have barely touched your meal.” She looked me over. “You’re already too thin. You must eat.”
“I really couldn’t eat another thing.” I placed my knife and fork on the plate as if I were finished.
“Nonsense. And even if that’s so, you must first try the b
eef.”
I shook my head and patted my stomach. “Next time.” Perhaps I was being stupid. I needed to be strong to help Mother escape, and the queen had been the perfect host. There was no reason not to eat. Even as I rationalized it, I still couldn’t make myself put anything into my mouth.
The queen signaled to the servants to take our plates. I let out a breath, grateful I didn’t need to pretend any more. Until the servants returned carrying deep bowls filled with dessert.
The queen smiled. “Now, your mother was a dessert person when I knew her. I’m sure you are too, right?”
I nodded before I had the chance to censure myself. On mine or Mother’s birthday’s, we ate dessert before we ate anything else. The plate deposited in front of me was filled to over-flowing with every dessert imaginable. Lemon cake, meringue, fruit salad. All my favorites. “You should have warned me about dessert.” I smiled weakly at my host. “Then I could have left room.”
“Pft. You ate nothing. Try the meringue.” The queen took a large bite of her own. The rest of the guests, seeing the queen eat, made a start on their desserts.
I stared at my plate, hunger pangs twisting my stomach. I really wanted to eat that meringue. It would be okay, surely it would. I’d already been in Faery two days now, that had to be long enough for the food not to affect me. Besides, if Queen Rhiannon wanted to hurt me, there were faster ways, and she’d likely have done so already. I picked up my spoon and sliced into the meringue. It was crispy on the outside, light and fluffy in the center—the perfect combination. With a deep breath and my fingers crossed for good luck, I put it into my mouth.
It was the most delicious thing I’d ever tasted. A smile grew on my lips. The queen beamed back. “Good, isn’t it?”
I nodded. Beside me, Queen Rhiannon looked light and see through, like she wasn’t quite there. I blinked, trying to clear my vision. I wanted another mouthful of the meringue and I couldn’t see it properly.
Kingdom of Yesterday's Lies (Royals of Faery Book 1) Page 14
