Kingdom of Yesterday's Lies (Royals of Faery Book 1)

by Hayley Osborn

  With a nod, he took my offered hand and pulled himself to sit up. “My foot.” He ground the words out, and I followed his gaze.

  The rest of him may have been untouched, but his left foot was trapped beneath a huge rock. A rock larger than I could lift.

  “I only had enough magic to shield when the roof caved in. And apparently, I couldn’t even do that particularly well.” He leaned forward and pulled two smaller rocks from beneath his foot. His movements were slow and labored.

  I did the same, getting rid of any rocks I could shift. “Shield?”

  Fergus’ hands shook as he worked. “I used my magic to stop the rocks hitting me.”

  I pulled and pushed at the rock on his foot, trying to get it to move. “I can’t do it. Can’t you use your magic now?” Since there was a giant hole in the ceiling and the walls were gone, perhaps the iron that blocked his magic was gone.

  He shook his head and twisted at the waist until his back was facing me.

  Piercing his skin and running parallel to each of his shoulder blades was an iron rod, each about a hand’s length wide, capped with flayed barbs on either end. His back was caked in dirt and dry blood, and more blood oozed from the places the iron penetrated his skin.

  “What is that?” I whispered. I reached out to touch it, stopping short. The barbs looked sharp enough to cut my finger. I couldn’t imagine how lying on it felt.

  “A suppressor. This is how Rhiannon stops me using my magic. The iron dampens it down and stops me accessing most of it.” Every word was an effort.

  “I thought it was the iron in the walls that did that.” I couldn’t take my eyes off his back. “Or a spell.”

  “I’m a prince, Bria. It takes more than iron walls to stop my magic.”

  I stared at the two objects with disgust. “She did this to stop you escaping?” Now I understood why he’d seemed so quiet and lethargic.

  He nodded. “I need you to take them out.”

  I’d been thinking the same thing. “How?”

  “I can’t reach them. That’s why she puts them through the skin at the shoulder blades—so they are impossible to remove alone. I need you to pull one end off, then slide the rod out. Same on both sides.” He clenched his jaw. I could only imagine how much pain he was in. Two lumps of iron lodged inside his body must be excruciating. Yet he hadn’t once complained, not in the entire time he’d been down here.

  “Which end?” I eyed the barbs with displeasure. This would hurt. But it was just like any other healing procedure I’d ever undertaken. I would do it because he needed my help.

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. One end is welded in place. The other will come off if you pull it. And it will hurt. Both of us.”

  I nodded and inched forward. I’d already figured that much. “What if I covered it with material from my dress? Would that make it hurt less?”

  He shook his head. “The iron will still burn through.”

  On closer inspection, his shoulder blades—beneath the blood—were covered in scars; long, thin marks that crisscrossed his back, some old, some more recent. There were also four very noticeable puckered scars the same width as the iron bar. I ran a finger over one of them. “This isn’t the first time she’s done this to you, is it?”

  He shook his head.

  “But you came looking for me anyway, knowing what would happen if she caught you?” I didn’t understand him. This was the sort of thing you did for someone you cared for, not someone you wanted to be rid of.

  Fergus turned and looked at me, hesitating before he spoke. “I didn’t mean what I said before. I didn’t want to make you to leave the island.” He shook his head. “I was trying to make you angry. I was trying to bring your magic out.” He looked up at the hole from the rockfall. “I knew you could do something like this. I should also have known if Rhiannon ever showed her face, she’d goad you enough to make it happen.”

  I smiled—he didn’t hate me—then followed his gaze, weak sunlight now filtering through the clouds. “I did this?” I shook my head. No chance.

  “Are you warm? Does your skin feel tingly?”

  I nodded, rubbing my palms. The warmth had diminished, but my hands had tingled since the rocks fell. “N-no.” I couldn’t have done this. “You said I had to think about what I wanted to happen. I wasn’t thinking about bringing the roof down. I wasn’t thinking about anything at all.” My words came out so fast they were almost on top of each other.

  Fergus’ eyebrows rose. A question and a statement at once. He didn’t believe me.

  I hated and loved in equal measures that he was right. There was no one else in the world who would have picked up on that lie. “Except hurting the queen and her guards,” I mumbled.

  A half-grin played on his lips. The worry in my gut eased to see him smile. “If there was any doubt about you being the princess, that’s gone now.”

  I cast my eyes over the mess I’d made. The staircase the guards had come and left from was completely gone, covered by rocks. Fergus’ cell was the same. “It is?” Because I had plenty of doubts. And even more questions.

  “With magic strong enough to do that, you can only have royal blood.”

  Another thing to add to my growing list of Things I Don’t Know About Myself.

  Fergus turned away, and I was again looking at the suppressor in his back. “Ready?”

  I nodded, though I wasn’t ready at all. I didn’t want to hurt him. With a deep breath, I took hold of the barbs at both ends. The metal sank into my skin and I held back a moan. It wasn’t just the bite of the barbs that hurt. A bone-aching pain shot through my entire body. It was impossible to think of anything but how much every part of me hurt.

  “Bria.” Fergus’ voice floated through the pain. “Bria. Look at me.”

  I locked my eyes on his as red-hot coals filled my body, pushing down into my fingers and toes.

  He looked over his shoulder, his voice gentle. “Concentrate on pulling the suppressor apart. You may have to twist it. Once you’ve done that, let the iron go.”

  Right.

  Pull it apart.

  I could do that. I gripped the iron bar tighter and pulled.

  A thousand hot pokers stabbed every part of my body. They wedged beneath my skin, under my nails, sank into my bones.

  “Bria! Let it go!”

  My hand jumped and my body jerked. And my head cleared. My palms felt as if I’d raked them through a hundred shards of glass, but I was back in Fergus’ cell, not the place of pain I’d been moments ago.

  “Are you okay?” Fergus twisted around.

  “I’m fine. Did I get them out?” I glanced at my hands. Ribbons of blood dribbled from them and onto the rocks beneath me.

  He shook his head, angling his back away.

  I moved around him. I wanted to see what he was hiding. Both suppressors were still lodged in his back, but on the left side, the side I’d been working on, blood poured from the two places the suppressor pierced his skin. I’d done that as I tried to work the pieces apart. If it hurt me to be touching that thing for just a few moments, I couldn’t understand how Fergus was sitting upright, let alone talking. “I’ll try again.” I moved to touch his back, but he jumped away. “I mean, if you want me to.”

  He shook his head and spoke through his teeth. “You need to leave.”

  So did he. By now, Rhiannon’s guards surely knew what had happened. They’d be on their way to check it out. “We’ll leave together. As soon as you’re free.”

  “I’m not getting free, Bria. I’d almost come to that conclusion before you found me, anyway. But you can. And you should. Get out of here before the queen’s guards arrive.”

  I shook my head, too stubborn to leave. He’d gotten into this mess to help me, I wasn’t walking away from him. Pulling at the rock again and hoping to distract him from the pain, I started back into our conversation from earlier. “What are the things I don’t understa
nd?” What was he keeping from me?

  He shook his head. “Don’t ask me this.”

  I shook mine, unsure what I was asking of him. “Please.”

  “There are things that you’re better off not knowing.” His voice softened. “Go, Bria. You’re safer if you leave me behind.”

  It was easy to forget he was the leader of the Wild Hunt. Even if that meant something different from what I’d always thought, it probably would be better if I walked away from him. But I wasn’t doing it. He’d come here for me. I wouldn’t leave him behind. If I couldn’t remove the iron, I’d damn well move the rock. I bent and started pulling at it again. When it didn’t budge, I turned and pushed it. Nothing changed. It didn’t move a fraction.

  Fergus sighed and reclined back onto his elbows. He looked casual. Relaxed, even. But only when I ignored the tightness around his eyes and lips. And when I forgot about the blood running down his back. “You can’t do it, Bria.”

  I glared at him. “I can. And I will.”

  When Fergus blew a breath out his nose and shook his head, I tried harder. My blood heated until I felt warm all over, my body tingling. I felt strong. With a final shove, the rock flew from Fergus’s foot, shooting across the cell to hit another rock with so much force it shattered into a hundred pieces.

  I grinned. Magic. I’d moved the rock using magic!

  Fergus climbed to his feet, groaning as he got up. “You’re a lot like my sister, you know. If anyone tells her she can’t do something, she takes it as a challenge.”

  I glowered. That was exactly what had just happened. He’d talked me into using magic I didn’t yet know how to control by telling me I couldn’t do it. I lifted my chin. “It seems to be a problem only around you.”

  He threw me a wry smile. “That’s lucky for me. Good job with your magic.”

  Without waiting to think better of it, I took his arm and threw it over my shoulder, wrapping my arm around his waist. The pile of rocks we needed to climb to reach the hole in the roof was steep. It would be a challenge to get him up there with an injured foot and iron rods in his back. But I had nothing to heal him with and we needed to get out of here, so he would just have to deal with it. Which he did.

  Every different shaped rock was in that pile that rested against the back of the cells, rising to the hole in the ceiling. Some moved the moment one of us put a foot on them and sent us sliding back a few steps—bringing other rocks with us—until we regained our balance. Each time that happened, I crossed my fingers and hoped we dislodged nothing from above with our clumsiness—or didn’t break a leg as we fell. It was a relief to find occasional rocks wedged tightly into the pile that were stable enough for us to stop and catch our breath upon, but they were few and far between.

  The higher we climbed, the tauter Fergus’ face became. He held his breath every time he took a step.

  I needed to distract him again. “You never talk much about your family.” Except to say he hated his father.

  He gave a humorless laugh. “Most people know all about the dysfunctional Blackwood family. Most people offer their detailed opinion without me telling them a thing.”

  The pain in his voice made me soften mine. “I’m not most people.” I gave his arm a squeeze.

  “So I’m learning.”

  Something in his tone—something I didn’t understand—made my cheeks heat. I put my head down and continued picking my way over the fallen rocks, trying not to jar his foot.

  “You are standing next to the world’s biggest disappointment. Father wanted an heir who could use magic before he could walk. He wanted his son to be as powerful, as unforgiving and as cruel as himself. He takes his frustration at my lack of all those things, and many others, out on me with a cane.”

  “The scars on your back?”

  “The ones Rhiannon didn’t cause are from Father, but not from his cane. When he decided the cane wasn’t getting the results he expected, he punished me with lashes of his magic, usually until I passed out.”

  “Usually?”

  He let out a breathy laugh. “Once, I was so angry that he was hurting me again that I threw up a shield and somehow turned his magic back on him.” There was no satisfaction in his voice, but I found his story satisfied me.

  “You hurt him?”

  “Barely. If you look closely, you’ll see a scar on his right cheek that I caused that day. I hurt his pride, but even that wasn’t enough to make him stop. Now, he suppresses my magic before he lashes me. So, excuse me if I find little joy in speaking of him.”

  What about your sister? I wanted to ask. I couldn’t voice the words. I couldn’t imagine a father hurting his child that way. Or a child having to put up with it when he was an adult himself. “That’s why you live at Lanwick?”

  “The king still insists I spend some nights in my chamber at the castle. But whenever I can, I’m at the island.”

  I nodded, climbing in silence for a moment. “Why do you think the queen put us in cells beside each other?” I’d been wondering as we climbed. If I’d blasted a hole in the ceiling and not known Fergus was here because he was in some far off cell, I’d have left him behind when I escaped and Rhiannon would only lose one of us.

  He grunted as he climbed. “To torture me, I guess. My path has crossed with Rhiannon several times before and she disagrees with my … decision-making process. I think she hoped that seeing you down here, seeing the guards harass or hurt you, would be enough to bend me to her will.”

  His answer only created more questions than it gave answers. “But why? Why does she care what you think?”

  He gritted his teeth. “That is a story I’d rather not get into right now. Just know I’m grateful your magic made an appearance when it did.”

  We were more than halfway up the rock pile, but the farther we went, the heavier he leaned on me. My knees buckled with each step. I would not make it to the top while supporting him. Plus, I was sure I could hear voices coming from outside, probably more of the queen’s guards. We were almost out of time. “If you could use your magic, could we escape the guards?”

  “With my eyes closed and hands behind my back.” He grunted as he spoke, my rough steps making us both uncomfortable.

  “And could your magic get us out of here?” Because Fergus’ magic was starting to seem like our only option if we didn’t want to end up back where we’d started the day. “Out of Seelie?”

  “Of course.” The trace of a grin formed on his lips. “I am a prince, after all.”

  We climbed a little farther to reach a large stable-feeling rock, and I made him sit down. Those suppressors were coming out of his back and they were coming out now.

  With closed eyes and panting breath, he said. “Is this as far as we’re going?”

  “For now.” I shook out my shoulders, aching from dragging him up here. “Lean forward.”

  He stared at me as if he had no intention of doing as I asked.

  I crouched next to him, uncomfortably close on the small rock. “I’m removing those suppressors, then you will use your magic to get us both out of here.”

  He grinned. It was weak, but it was there. “What are you waiting for?” He bent at the waist, giving me full access to the suppressors.

  I stared at the iron a moment, mentally walking through what I had to do. I wasn’t failing this time, not when failure meant more time in the queen’s prison, and possibly my very own set of suppressors. Without warning him, I raised my hands, gripped the barbed ends and pulled.

  Pain ripped through me the moment I touched them. I didn’t blink. Didn’t breathe. I just focused on pulling the pieces apart. I pulled and twisted as the pain raged inside me until the first one came free. I dropped the pieces and moved onto the second suppressor, barely stopping for a breath. My hands burned and my fingers felt hot and fat, but not too fat to move. The moment Fergus was free, I dropped the offensive item and watched as it tumbled down the rock pile.

/>   The pain subsided instantly, and the world came back into focus, and I found Fergus staring at me, his frown concerned. “I’m fine.” I nodded.

  Voices, louder than before, came from outside our escape hole. Fergus let out a long, low whistle. “We need to go. The queen’s guards are close.” His voice was already stronger than it had been.

  I helped him to his feet, and we dragged ourselves up the final few rocks and climbed out into day light. We were outside the castle walls—outside the moat—at the bottom of one of the rolling hills that surrounded it. Only the top turrets of the castle were visible from where we stood, and in the other direction, the tops of the trees from the woods Jax had deposited me in.

  At the top of the hill, not fifty paces away, an army of Seelie guards were assembling.

  “Escapees!” someone shouted.

  There was movement from above as the guards drew their weapons.

  I stepped back, colliding with Fergus. He gripped my hand and gave me a small smile. He pointed his other hand at the guards and there was a flash of blue light—his magic, I guessed—and the group of guards all dropped to the ground.

  Fergus whistled again, blue magic coming from his lips as he did so, and Obsidian galloped down from the sky, barely stopping while Fergus climbed on his back, then caught my hand and pulled me on behind.

  A barrage of arrows followed us from a second group of guards running from the castle. Fergus gave quiet instructions and Obsidian galloped us into the sky.

  FOURTEEN

  It took all my strength to keep Fergus seated on Obsidian as we rode in the sky back to Lanwick Island. I wrapped my arms around him from behind and silently wished Obsidian would move faster than the break-neck speed he was already going. Fergus’ head lolled, jolting upright every few minutes. I talked to him, asking him questions to keep him awake, which he managed to answer. Even so, the moment Obsidian’s hooves touched the sandy white beach in front of his home, his body slackened and he tilted to the side, dragging us down onto the sand.

  “Fergus!” Jax called. The pounding of his steps echoed in my ears as he ran toward us and I pulled myself from half beneath Fergus.