“It seems I will not die then,” Adam said viciously. “A shame, for it would be a relief to be dead rather than see you two try to run this kingdom, considering the fact that there was no war with the Unseelie until you entered the picture, Camden.”
Camden bristled. I think, if given the option, she would have gotten rid of Adam long ago. Unfortunately, Theo seemed to be too fond of him.
He continued his argument, trying to rile Theo as I watched Lindy in front of me. In the firelight, her hands looked almost white, and I had no doubt that she was swearing in Haldian. A part of me wondered if she had been trying to stop them before, or if they’d merely captured her as a precaution. If I had to guess, based on her prior comments about the King, she’d tried to stop them. It didn’t help that up until a few minutes’ prior, she had actively been trying to spit on him.
“We should stop.” Luka’s voice came suddenly from behind me, one of the first things he’d said since our torturous march had begun.
“And why is that, mutt?” Camden asked sweetly, her eyes kept forward as if to prematurely dismiss him. “Give us a reason, and we’ll do as you please.”
I looked back and saw his mouth opening, then closing quickly as if thinking better of saying anything. He simply swallowed as his eyes met mine, silently pleading.
“We should stop,” I tried, tearing my eyes away from him. “Now. We should rest, before someone gets hurt.”
“We keep marching until it comes,” Theo said gruffly, holding the edge of his crown as if to remind everyone who was in charge. “I don’t care what your little pet says.”
Still, even I felt a slight chill in my bones. “We should stop,” I repeated, my chest tightening. “Please, my king.”
“Good manners won’t get you anything at this point,” Mylene’s voice said. Up ahead, beside her, I saw Lindy’s back straighten, the girl looking rapidly from side to side.
I was not the only one to feel the cold.
It wasn’t normal. It was one of those sharp, aching colds that you felt in your bones. One that didn’t go away until hours spent by fireside, and one that most certainly didn’t set in quickly; it just crept up on you while you were unaware. It wasn’t a good sign.
My breath escaped me in a white cloud, and I tried to watch the canopy of the forest to distract me. Bad choice, thick white spider webs hung on the tree branches, nearly blacking out the green leaves and the dark blue of the sky. I heard a soft, clicking sound, and then… the woods. A section of them I was far too familiar with.
“Keep moving,” one of the guards at my side hissed, kicking at the back of my heels so that I would pick up the pace. “We don’t have time for your antics.” They didn’t know how far this was from any antics.
Sparks moved across my hands in anticipation, stinging my skin. Another, long breath produced a thicker cloud, one that hung in the air. I tried to stop.
Tried. In a matter of seconds, I was being dragged along again.
“You don’t want to resist, do you?” The guard asked. “Think of your poor boy back there, you don’t want us to have to give him another punch in the gut.” No, but moving forward seemed hellish in its own right.
“We need to turn back,” the Haldian said suddenly, her voice far more panicked than I’d heard before. “We need to go back to your palace, or the city. We need to go now.”
“And why is that?” Theo asked with annoyance, turning to cast her a look. All of the torches flickered simultaneously in response.
“Because I refuse to die in a country I don’t belong to,” Lindy said in the darkness. All around, people stopped moving, unwilling to take another step without their lights to fight off the Unseelie.
I saw Camden straighten, her shoulders dropping as the torches roared back to life, a small exhale escaping her. There was no turning back anymore.
The flames went dark once again, staying dark for just long enough for one to process what sat around us; the blue glow of thousands of will o’ wisps. Legend said that they led you to your destiny. I had a feeling that’s not what they were leading us to.
“Turn back,” Lindy repeated. “We need to turn back.”
“Like hell we do,” Theo said. “This is what I wanted to begin with.”
The lights flickered on once more, and I found myself backing away, my guards’ hands growing slack as they stood in awe. This was magic, magic far stronger than any ordinary fae, the magic of kings. This was not something any of us knew about.
Camden caught my motion, rushing towards me to grab my arm and practically whipping me forward before I could get away. “Don’t let her go,” she said as I toppled to my knees. “We’re close, don’t let her go. We won’t get out if we don’t have her.”
The forest was howling, growing louder and louder by the moment. Green, blue, and red eyes peeked out of the trees.
“This is a trick,” Camden muttered. “This is a dirty mortal trick, or some lesser Unseelie. Now, pick her up and keep moving.” Neither guard made a motion, she hissed in frustration, seizing my shoulder and hauling me up. “I said pick her up and keep moving!” I stumbled, only just barely managing to keep myself upright rather than sprawling across the ground. A guard hesitantly grabbed me.
I looked deeper into the trees with terrified eyes, almost swearing that I could see bared teeth and glowing eyes. I think the guard saw them too, because he was hesitant to touch me.
“Fine then,” Camden growled, surging towards me. “You will walk, and you will keep walking as long as I say you will, until your body can no longer move,” her voice was thick with compulsion, forcing me to do her bidding. I think Theo looked away, not wanting to witness it. His father was the one to make compelling humans illegal after all, and now they had used it multiple times in one night.
“No,” said another voice, cutting through the haze when Theo’s couldn’t. “She won’t; she’s not your creature.”
I felt every wisp of air leave my body.
“She will do as I say,” said the intruder, the way they spoke slowly changing into something familiar. “She will come back to me just as she is meant to, and she will not be leaving with you,” they said, and suddenly I was backing away, or trying to.
“Hold her down,” a voice from behind me bellowed, the faint sound of dirt being kicked up and desperate scrambling hit the air. “Just let go of me, we have to hold her down!” Luka was struggling to get to me.
To my side, Camden seemed terrified, her words failing her as she stared back in wonder. The guards who tried to hold me down lost ground and were dragged back with me. There was no fighting on my part, not really, just a desperate need to move backwards. Camden marveled at it, no sense seeming to come to her until—
“Wren Laurent,” the King’s voice commanded sharply. “You stop. Stop moving right now.” Camden lunged to grab me, but it was too late.
“Oh Wren,” Luka’s voice said at my shoulder, far closer than he had been before. Far closer than they would have ever allowed. “I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
I became acutely aware of a thousand things at once, and immediately unsure which one of them was the most pressing.
Was it the dozens of guns and crossbows all aimed at me at that very moment in efforts to contain the beast? Perhaps it was his arm braced around my neck, holding me close to him and restricting my airway. Maybe it was the haughty King who stumbled forward like he had won the lottery, or his fiancée who was having the sour realization that I had lied about the appearance of the Unseelie just by looking at the fae beside me’s form. Most pressing could be Nikolas’s gun at the fae’s temple, ignoring how closely it clung to me, or Mylene’s narrowed eyes. Perhaps it could have been the fact that Lindy of all people had turned pale.
But I think what was more pressing to me was how utterly pallid Luka had turned. His body had gone still, blindly afraid of what might happen. At his side, his guards were so utterly surprised th
at they didn’t so much as bother to raise their weapons. And all the while, the monster held me with such familiarity that one could hardly tell the difference between him and my actual lover.
Save for the ears.
“Oh,” said the Unseelie. “How fun. So many different shapes to choose from, should I keep this one, Wren? I think it’s a little redundant.” His eyes slid over to Luka, his mouth ticking upwards, “though it is so similar to the real thing. Let’s see, who is the most interesting amongst you all.” His eyes traveled across the crowd, not so much as blinking as Nikolas pressed the metal a little bit closer to his skull.
“You’re going to put her down,” Nikolas demanded. No doubt in the chamber was another engraved bullet for another kill he was all too eager to claim. If he couldn’t kill Luka, this was close enough.
But the Gancanagh levelled his gaze, a black haze overcoming its features as it rearranged itself, creating a new face. All of a sudden, it was not Luka holding me, but another person, one more feminine in stance. She stared at him, a delicate smile crossing her soft lips, pink, gauzy fabric pooling from her waist. Short brown hair that had long since grown into a frizzy mess, devoid of the dots of ink that one lingered in it, a thinner form that had never known to run or fight—The Unseelie looked to be me, but not who I really was.
He had to see that. He had to know the difference between her and the blood-soaked girl beside her. She was not the same person choking to death, she was not the same girl with static in her hair and small scars across her hands from electric currents.
“I will kill you in a heartbeat,” Nikolas said without hesitation. “Put down the girl.”
I was on the ground next, easily discarded as the being raised its hands, its eyes still travelling through the crowd. It was looking for another form, one that would save it. All I was looking for beneath it was air to fill my lungs and the comforting sensation of ground.
“Who next?” Asked the shapeshifter. “Oh, there’s so many of you. Some of you are hiding such big secrets, so far away from love that it’s painful.” Its eyes slid to Camden, practically taunting her. I saw her bristle, but no one else so much as looked her direction, they were all so focused on who would be the next victim. “Perhaps I should go for someone more familiar, would you like to see your mummy and daddy, little prince?”
Theo snarled, rushing forward.
“You’re just mad because you know you can’t control me, since I am even older than the wood itself,” it grinned. “I could take your form as well, now that my favorite person is here… Perhaps I should take the girl named Alene’s though, wouldn’t that be fun?”
Luka made a strangled sound. Within a second, I was up, my shoulder crashing against the Gancanagh’s. An unholy laugh escaped it as it nearly fell to the ground.
“Use your own face,” I said, kicking at its shin. “Use your own face or don’t use any at all.”
“No,” it said. “I don’t think I will, but here,” its features started to rearrange. I didn’t need to see it to know what it was going for. “Is this better?” He was a familiar older woman, one who Winry and I knew well, my mother.
White hot fury broke through me, but I was not the one to strike the first blow. Another woman broke from her guard, screaming in rage and practically barreling the monster down to the ground, her voice hysterical. “You take off her face! You don’t use that; you never use that!” Winry screamed, her foot slamming down on any available surface. “You don’t know anything about her, you don’t know anything about my sister or me. You take off her mother’s face!” I heard a soft cry from the beast, its head full of grey hair tossed back as if it did not expect the assault.
I would have punched in its skull if my hands were free, but all I could settle for was throwing vicious elbows and trying to hit as much of it as possible.
“You didn’t earn that!” Winry shrieked, “you don’t use her face!”
“Pull them off of it,” I heard a bored voice in the background, a few guards stepped forward as I swear Winry tried to grip at it in a futile gesture, seeing as how her hands were tied behind her back. The two of us were absolutely feral.
I shrieked in rage as I was pulled back by my ties, not even caring that I was grabbed by one of Luka’s guards, just the sheer audacity in the fact that it had used her face—my mother’s. Winry spat as she was dragged away, the glob landing square on its face as she tried to shove a foot down into its abdomen before it was too late. I don’t think it expected such a reaction.
Theo clicked his tongue. “Nicely done, you two. I’m surprised.” I think Winry was trying to go back for another round, not caring that, on the ground, the poor Unseelie wheezed pathetically. “You can take my greatest love’s form,” said Theo conversationally to the creature. “She’s long since dead. Just don’t try to take Camden’s, I don’t like confusion.”
The creature nodded up at him with watery eyes, no doubt feeling the sickening pain blossoming across its skin. Another blur of black and there it was, a young woman with a thick swell of hips, dark skin almost comparable to Adam’s, and two prominent poofs on either side of her head, a woman who I had never seen. From the white of her tattoos and the scenes that they captured, she was from Oceia, or one of the associated territories.
“Pili,” Adam whispered in understanding. “The princess from afar. You loved her? She died when I was a child, she was barely eighteen.”
“What an untimely death that was,” Theo agreed. “I keep forgetting that that’s what you get with humans. Heartbreak. Just like my mother.” He knelt down beside her, his eyes softening ever so slightly as his voice reassured, “I won’t kick you. I will not hurt you yet.”
For a moment, I thought that it would cry, but instead it just smiled, looking up at Theo with an eerie joy. The young king’s eyes widened, the man stumbling backwards a bit as the Unseelie stood, looking quite content with its situation.
“Are you afraid, Princeling?” It asked. “Have I scared you? I don’t mean to, I am so grateful,” it said with a hint of venom leaking through. “How courteous of you to offer me such a nice gift when entering my home, I wonder if you would allow me to reciprocate such pleasantries if I were to visit your home at the palace?” It tsked, its back straightening with a sickening crack. “It was so kind of you to say that you would not hurt me yet.”
I don’t think anyone dared to breathe. I wondered then if Theo had finally became aware of something, something utterly vital to our situation—we were in its woods, they were not ours. And the creatures that moved in them were not his to command.
The Gancanagh folded its hands behind it’s back, leaning forward and almost daring him to speak as it moved mere inches away from him. “Are you afraid of the Unseelie?” It asked, already knowing the answer. Theo did not dare speak, watching the creature move with absolute horror, its face once again rearranging into something new. “Many apologies, my king,” the creature said, boasting its own head of blonde curls and crown, the spitting image of the king. “I would never think you to be afraid of the things you seek to rule.”
Somehow, despite it all, Theo kept a straight face. He did not whine or whimper as many others would, instead keeping his eyes forward and his jaw set, even when the noises around us began to grow. Even as the Unseelie of the forest began to appear, bending to their master’s will.
“I bet your dear, sweet mother told you stories, didn’t she?” It sneered. “About the Unseelie and the things that they did, how they even yearned for your blood, the humanity in you only sweetened by your Seelie heritage.” The King winced, his hands shaking as they hung at his sides. “That’s right, boy, remember when you were just a child and your mother scooped you up when you went into these woods. Remember how things reached for you then, playing with your little blond curls,” it reached up, twirling a spring of hair to emphasize the memory. “I remember how you cried then, and your mother ran with you in her arms. It was so disappointing.”
Theo swallowed, his eyes looking glassy and his hands fisted tightly. I realized then why he was keeping his eyes forward, because he knew. He was painfully aware of what was around us, of the Unseelie slinking out of the shadows and how, at any moment, the lights could go out again.
“You leave him alone,” a voice demanded, Adam stumbling out of his guards’ grasp with panting breaths. “You step away from him and you go in peace.” His shoulders shook, a thin layer of sweat covering him. He was forcing himself to talk, forcing himself to protect Theo.
The lights flickered all at once as the Gancanagh looked around suddenly, the torch flames stabilizing when his eyes fell on the man who challenged him. “Adam,” he said, his voice low, almost cherishing his name. “Oh, how I have longed to meet you,” he said.
I felt something rub up against my leg and my attention was torn away from them, a soft whimper escaping me as I understood that in that brief moment, an Unseelie had passed me by.
“They do not wish to hurt you, Wren,” Luka said mournfully, “But they are bound to his will, as he is the forest, or the closest thing to a physical form it could have.”
I think I felt a fraction of the same fear Theo did.
The Gancanagh stalked up to Adam, disregarding the King. It stood in front of him with interest, still wearing the skin of his friend and the man he so strongly loved. “Your heart races,” it said.
“Because I am angry you would dare to treat him this way,” Adam spoke through gritted teeth, glaring when the Unseelie reached forward to cradle his chin, turning his face up to its.
“Mine,” it said, all of the lights going out at once.
The air around us went cold, seconds passing in a long, tedious crawl. And then things moved, creatures roared to life. The Unseelie.
“Adam!” Theo yelled, his hand shooting out in front of him, but nothing happening. His breath faltered as he looked to the trees, and I wondered if he realized that they were not under his control.
Quill and Cobweb (The Chronicles of Whynne Book 2) Page 21
