Deadly Dreams (Fortuna Sworn Book 3)

by K. J. Sutton

  My stomach dropped. I leaned away from the Tongue’s hot breath, swallowing a curse. Laurie wanted to marry me? What did he get out of it? Why make this spectacle? Well, it would infuriate Collith—that was probably reason enough for him.

  The Seelie King was still waiting for my answer. Despite how beautiful he was, I’d never wanted to punch his face more. The room was still buzzing with noise. I opened my mouth to remind Laurie that I was already married.

  Then someone tackled him from the side.

  I was so startled that I couldn’t stop myself from jumping. Finn and Lyari formed a shield on either side of me. Guardians were already rushing forward to intervene. Laurie had recovered quickly, as well, and he was back on his feet when I stood from my throne.

  I glanced toward his attacker, but it was a faerie I didn’t recognize. As the stranger turned to strike Laurie again, something flashed, and I caught a glimpse of the clunky, dulled ruby on his finger. This I did recognize—the ring from my nightstand. For a few seconds, all I could do was stare with incomprehension. After another moment, Collith’s remark about a spell on the ring resounded through my head. The pieces clicked together, and I felt my mouth drop open. Oh my God.

  It was Collith.

  Laurie had put it together somehow, too. It was in his taunting grin, which made Collith dive at him again. They rolled across the flagstones like a couple of teenagers duking it out over a girl. Except, no matter how much I wanted to think so, it wasn’t me they were fighting over. At least not just me.

  Courtiers scattered to avoid the brawl. Lyari shouted something, but I was too preoccupied to hear it, all of my focus on the two fae kings still beating each other to a pulp. Laurie’s nose was obviously broken and blood ran from Collith’s split lip.

  “If you’re not going to kill each other, then take this brawl elsewhere,” I called, waving my hand in dismissal. As I started descending the stairs, several Guardians finally caught hold of Laurie and Collith and pulled them apart. My indifference was all for show, of course. I couldn’t think of another way to diffuse the situation without starting an outright war with the Seelie Court. I wasn’t about to have Collith whipped—although that would’ve been ironic—and I didn’t want to remind the crowd of Laurie’s question. Removing him from the room completely, without insulting his entire Court, was the only way to go.

  Halfway to the side door, I stopped. Oh, right. The Tithe and the feast.

  I turned back, thinking to handle the crowd, but the Tongue had beat me to it. His deep timbre echoed through the room. Our eyes met for just an instant, and I had the thought, however foolish it was, that maybe I had another ally in the Unseelie Court. The Tongue nodded at me, as if he’d heard the thought, and refocused on his task.

  Holding my head high, I followed a line of Guardians through the door and into the passageway. There, and only there, did I allow my shoulders to slump. The chaos of the throne room subsided into a distant sound, like music playing in another room. I automatically started in the direction of Collith’s chambers, and it took several moments to realize that I’d buried my fingers in Finn’s fur again. Once again, I didn’t pull away.

  We’d been walking less than a minute when Nuvian materialized beside me. “We should release the Seelie King, Your Majesty,” he said without preamble.

  I shook my head. “No. Bring them to Collith’s rooms.”

  Thankfully, Nuvian didn’t argue—he just vanished from view. The rest of the journey was spent in silence, because I didn’t trust that anything I said would stay private. At Collith’s rooms, Lyari pushed the intricate door open and entered first. Like the well-trained little monarch I’d become, I stood outside with the other guards. Seconds later, Lyari reappeared in the doorway and nodded.

  I brushed past her, sat on the bed, and waited.

  A rumble traveled through Finn as the faerie kings arrived. The Guardians behind them guided the two males to opposite sides of the room. Collith still wore the face of a stranger, and someone had bound his wrists in rope soaked with holy water. Laurie’s arms hung freely at his sides, probably because tying him up would’ve been considered an act of war.

  “Cut this one’s ropes, please,” I ordered the guard closest to Collith. The dark-eyed female pulled a knife out of her boot and moved to obey. Her expression didn’t betray any hint of incredulity or reluctance. Whatever his faults, Nuvian had trained them well. A moment later, the ropes fell away, and I saw the skin around Collith’s wrists was blistered. He didn’t wince or make a sound, though—all his focus was on the faerie standing across the room.

  “Leave us,” I said without looking away. I was glad to see the cut on his lip was already healing. One by one, every Guardian filed from the room, until only Lyari and Nuvian remained. I peeled my gaze from Collith—or, rather, the brown-eyed stranger the spell had put in his place—and met Nuvian’s gaze. “I’m sorry, but that includes you, too.”

  Outrage flashed across his face, and I knew that if I’d made any progress in gaining his respect, it was gone now. Wiped away in a single moment and a few words. But Nuvian didn’t know Collith was alive, and if he stayed in the room, that would change. There was no good excuse I could think of that would appease his pride. I watched Nuvian move toward the door, every movement stiff with fury. My shoulders slumped a bit more, as if another weight had been added to them.

  “Are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Laurie asked the instant the door closed. He raised his brows and glanced at each of us with an impish gleam in his eyes. “Orgy, right?”

  Collith made a sound I would’ve defined as a snarl, if he were a beast instead of a faerie. “I will burn you alive before I let you have her, Seelie scum.”

  Never, in all the time I’d known him, had I heard Collith talk like that.

  “Do you both feel better now?” I asked, standing up. Neither of the males replied or even glanced in my direction. I rolled my eyes and turned toward the wardrobe—I wanted to get out of this damn gown. In the mirror, I caught Lyari’s bewildered frown and realized she had no idea that it was Collith standing between us. Without a word, I strode over to him and held out my hand.

  His gaze flicked to me for an instant before he removed the ring, dropped it in my palm, and refocused on Laurie. The illusion faded immediately, revealing Collith’s austere features. Lyari grabbed her sword and swore.

  “You only want her for her power,” Collith said, ignoring her. His voice was quiet now, and somehow, this seemed even more threatening.

  Quick as a blink, Laurie was grinning again. “Hello, pot. Allow me to introduce myself—I’m the kettle.”

  Collith uttered a low oath just before he sifted. He reappeared across the room, right in front of Laurie. This time, I wasn’t caught off guard—I rushed across the space. Just as Collith brought his arm back to strike, I caught it in my hands, startling him. The ring fell to the floor with a hollow sound and bounced off into the darkness. We stared at each other, our faces inches apart. His cool breath touched my cheek. Power rolled off him in waves, alluring and frightening all at once. It stirred the power within my own veins, a piece of me that had been dormant these long weeks, like someone in a coma. It felt like the rest of the room faded into darkness, leaving only me and Collith, the connection between us crackling like something bright and palpable.

  Laurie made a delicate coughing sound.

  The stillness shattered like a thin pane of glass. I let go of Collith and stepped back. My face was hot and it felt like a chasm had opened beneath me. I remembered that I was furious at both of them. “Now will you tell me what happened between you two?” I snapped, moving to retrieve the ring. This thing was like a bad penny.

  Neither of them spoke. I looked back and forth, studying their expressions. Collith’s eyes were dark with fury and… pain. It was buried deep, only visible to someone who’d seen it before. When I turned to Laurie, I saw that his face echoed this, along with a hint of defiance.

  Maybe Coll
ith’s anger was too close to the surface. Maybe he’d come back a little different from Hell. Or maybe he didn’t like that I noticed Laurie’s pain, too. “He’s the one that gave King Sylvyre the spell that’s slowly murdering my mother,” Collith said flatly.

  My eyes widened.

  “To be fair, I thought he was planning to use it on you,” Laurie countered, giving me no chance to react. He smiled at Collith, but there was nothing teasing about this one. Seeing it sent an instinctive quake of fear through me—sometimes I forgot how powerful Laurie truly was. That was probably by design on his part. He was so pretty, so teasing, like the magician that waved one hand while he worked his trick with the other. Laurie’s eyes glittered as he crooned, “Shall I tell her your secrets now, dear one?”

  A muscle flexed in Collith’s jaw, and suddenly I could sense his fear. It was faint, barely more than a whisper in my ear, but it must’ve been much more—normally, Collith’s mental shields were firmly in place. There was something he desperately didn’t want me to know.

  Hoping Laurie would go on, I looked at the other king. The knowledge that he was responsible for Naevys’s fate didn’t surprise me, exactly, but the ruthlessness of it did frighten me. What would Laurie unleash if I ever pushed him too far?

  I reminded myself that Collith’s revelation couldn’t be all to the story. However devious and arrogant he was, Laurie wasn’t evil. I knew that sort of darkness intimately now.

  My mind shied away from the thought like a skittish horse.

  Feeling nauseous, I refocused on Laurie, who’d apparently decided to keep Collith’s secrets. “Let’s talk about earlier. Did you seriously propose in the throne room? Thank you so much for dropping another problem into my lap. Now I have to worry about offending your Court with my rejection.”

  “It was just another attempt to harm me,” Collith said through his teeth. “To take something that matters to me.”

  Silence swelled in the room after he spoke. The words replayed in my head for at least a minute. Something that matters to me, he’d said. Present tense.

  I kept waiting for one of the kings to say something else. Whatever happened all those years ago, it had resulted in consequences I still didn’t fully understand. One moment Laurie was telling me that he wanted to keep Collith safe, and the next he revealed that he’d been the one to scar him. He took every opportunity to taunt and annoy Collith, and yet, he obviously still cared about my mate. Not mate, that small voice reminded me. What was he to me now, then? My… friend?

  Not exactly important right now, Fortuna.

  “I was protecting her,” Laurie declared, finally answering the unspoken question hovering over all of us. I frowned at him, and his gaze darted to mine. I saw nothing in those blue depths that could tell me whether he was being truthful, for once. He returned his attention to Collith and added, “Since you’re officially ‘away’ from Court, she appears unclaimed. The wolves are circling her, kingling.”

  Collith’s clenched hands began to glow. “Don’t call me that.”

  “All right,” I cut in, sounding as exasperated as I felt. Lyari’s grip tightened on her sword and Finn moved slightly in front of me. “I’m not a licensed therapist, so it’s doubtful you two are going to resolve this tonight. Laurie, thanks for the half-assed proposal, but no thanks. Collith, you’re not fooling anyone, okay? This isn’t about me, so next time you feel the urge to steal my jewelry and start a brawl during the Tithe, how about you suppress that urge? Laurie seems like the type of guy who responds to texts pretty fast—maybe try that first.”

  With that, I finally grabbed a change of clothes from the wardrobe and went behind the privacy screen. There was no zipper or laces, only buttons, and it took a minute to undo each one. It would’ve been much easier to ask for help, but it had become important to do things on my own, no matter how small they seemed. Eventually the gown pooled around my feet, and the absence of its weight felt freeing. Suppressing another sigh, I reached for the pile of folded clothes.

  By the time I reemerged, wearing jeans and a quarter-sleeved shirt, holding the ring in my fist, Collith and Laurie had returned to their original places on opposite ends of the room. Something in the Seelie King’s face shifted at the sight of me. His voice was noticeably lower as he asked, “Are we finally going to get on with that orgy I—”

  “I think it’s time for you to go,” I said quickly. To emphasize my point, I went to the door and opened it. Laurie smirked but didn’t argue. He sauntered up to me, the ridges of his stomach moving with every step. I pressed my back against the door, partly to avoid him and partly to let him pass.

  “You’re wrong, by the way,” Laurie said. As he drew even closer, his entire body emanated a delicious-smelling warmth. He pressed his chin against my temple to whisper the next part. One of the feathers on his throw tickled my cheek. “We were most definitely fighting over you.”

  Before I could tell him it had been a waste of their energy and time—two grown males resorting to a fistfight was hardly what I’d call sexy—the silver-haired trickster pulled one of his vanishing acts.

  Relief expanded within my chest. This time, I allowed myself a deep, long sigh. In doing so, my palm tightened around something. Frowning, I glanced down and remembered the ring. The gauche jewel gleamed dully. My gaze jerked back to Collith, and I started to demand why he’d come to Court wearing it. But his attention had wandered, and I knew, somehow, that he was thinking about his mother. Toying with the idea of visiting her. Slowly, my ire faded.

  “You can’t,” I told him, talking to him like I would grieving Emma or cautious Cyrus. “Not unless you’re ready for the entire Court to know you’re back—even if you wore the ring, you could be overheard or questioned. But I can go see her, if that would make it better.”

  “All right. Thank you.” He looked at me, and though he didn’t smile, there was a gentleness in his eyes that felt like one. Something inside me responded to it, and I couldn’t think of what to say. Collith spared my dignity by sifting, doubtless going back to the barn he spent so much time in these days.

  There was only three of us left in the room now. Since the Tithe and its subsequent feast had been effectively cancelled—or more likely, rescheduled—I reached for my coat. As I pulled it on, I raised my eyebrows at Lyari. I hadn’t forgotten about what Thuridan said in the throne room. We all know your mind will break sooner or later. Like mother, like daughter. “Remind me again why you’re hiding the true extent of your power? Knowing you’re not a lower caste of fae might get assholes like Thuridan off your back. The cowardly ones, at least.”

  She just opened the door for me, exactly as she had at the start of the night. I glowered and walked out. Faeries and their fucking secrets.

  I didn’t tell the Guardians where we were going—they knew the instant I turned right in the passageway. For the third time that night, I walked through the underground world of the Unseelie Court. Its sounds were familiar to me after weeks of time down here. Moans and cries drifted through the dirt walls. The endless rows of torches trembled and flickered. Once, I’d found it all unnerving.

  “You have good instincts,” Lyari said matter-of-factly, walking alongside me. This part of the tunnel was wide enough for both of us.

  I frowned at her. “What?”

  She inclined her head in the general direction we’d come from. “Back there. In the throne room—when those two fought, you acted bored. Like you didn’t care one way or the other if they survived. You know your weaknesses, and you guard them closely. That’s the mark of a strong leader.”

  “Or maybe it’s just the mark of a strong person,” I said. My voice was unexpectedly soft. Lyari glanced at me sharply, and when she saw my expression, a storm rumbled in her eyes. I wasn’t talking about myself, and she knew it. Despite everything, I wanted to be this faerie’s friend. I liked her, damn it.

  Lyari was about to respond when her attention shifted. She moved with preternatural speed as she unsheathed
her sword. The other Guardians did the same. Finn shoved his body in front of me, and I was so distracted I almost stumbled into the wall. I regained my balance just in time.

  “Show yourself,” my Right Hand ordered, her eyes fixed on something farther ahead. The darkness was so profound between the torches that I couldn’t see anything.

  There was a moment of hushed tension, then a woman stepped forward. I sensed some of the agitation around us begin to fade. She looked to be somewhere within her late twenties and early thirties. Beneath the grime, she was beautiful, with hooded eyes and rosebud lips. Like a small, vibrant bird flying amongst sharp-beaked hawks. Her clothing was decent, at least, and a pair of boots covered her feet. The hawks weren’t actively trying to kill her.

  “Viessa would like to see you this evening,” she murmured into the stillness, addressing me directly.

  The fact that she left off my title spoke volumes, but I wasn’t sure how. There was something in her expression that sent a chill of apprehension down my spine. I strove to sound unaffected as I said, “Tell her I can’t come tonight—I have a previous engagement.”

  The woman stared at me for a few seconds, as if giving me a chance to change my mind. When I said nothing else, she bowed and retreated.

  While the sound of her footsteps quieted to nothing, I stared into the darkness, wondering if I’d just sent another person to their death. What if Viessa lost her temper? What if she thought hurting the human would send a message? However much the faerie in the dungeons had helped me, the truth was, I knew far too little about her. Maybe it was time to change that, especially considering she could call in her debt at any time.

  But that time was not now. Battling an onslaught of exhaustion, I continued down the passageway, where it would eventually fork. The right path would lead downward, deeper into the earth, where pain and magic clung to life in the form of Collith’s mother. As we once again walked in that direction, Lyari didn’t comment on Viessa’s request. It probably meant she approved my handling of it—nothing good could come of my bargain with a would-be assassin.