by Alexia Purdy
“I don’t know that either. I do know that the key to open it lies in the sacrifice of true love. Hence, why we need your husbands.”
“They have nothing to do with this. What makes you think they even love me anymore? One is in a coma, and the other loathes me with his entire being.” I shook my head. Why was I even bothering to talk to Aveta? She was a hateful woman and had never truly been my friend. I knew it from the moment I’d met her that she couldn’t be trusted. Why had I let her get her claws into me once more?
Such a mistake.
“They have everything to do with this gate. We need them or Faerie dies. Don’t you get it, Shade? It’s more than just you and me and any of the Ancients. Faerie is unhappy; it’s tearing itself to pieces. This land here, it used to be a paradise. You couldn’t even imagine how gorgeous it was. Now look at it! It’s in ruins. I may be an evil queen of the Unseelie, and you can hate me all you like, but I am not going to let Faerie die because one little half-blood became an Ancient who’d rather brood about her lost loves than save it! You don’t deserve the title. You’re pathetic.”
She reached out to snatch at my arm, but I was already gone.
***
Some say our minds are our own prisons. I think everything around us is the prison. Our mind is the only place we are truly free.
I looked around, confused for a moment as I placed my hand on my arm right where Aveta’s fingers had brushed it just a moment before I had disappeared, carting myself off to my mind prison, which was no longer a cell of the Withering Palace, a place where I found no comfort. No, now it was the room where Soap lay alone in his glass coffin, slumbering the months away.
I wanted to crawl into that coffin and lie next to him, embrace his sleeping figure, and inhale his scent. I wanted to lie next to him and Dylan, listen to their soft breaths as they slept, and smell them all around me. The only comforts I’d ever had were in my mother’s arms and then later, my two loves. I missed them with a ferocity that hit my chest, seizing my breath as I stood there, gripping onto the coffin for dear life.
“I’m so sorry.” I leaned over the glass, staring into his face. He looked so pale. So peaceful and gentle. His long blond-brown hair snaked around the pillow under his head, draping down his shoulders, neatly brushed. He was cared for here. The servants bathed his body, clothed and primped him as though he were expected to waltz out of this room any moment now. At least I could feel some peace knowing he was safe. He was okay. No one could hurt him now, lying in this pristine case, locked away from the world.
“Damn you, Kilara!” I yelled. My own ancestor had cursed him with her dying breath. How had she dared do this to me? To us? She always knew where it would hurt the most and aimed with precision to cut that part out and hide it away forever. It was as though she’d torn my heart out and stomped on it until it was nothing but a bitter, bloody mess.
Footsteps echoed outside in the hall, approaching quickly. I straightened and wondered if it was someone else in my mind prison this time. Were there others shut away in here? Aveta hadn’t mentioned anyone else with her. Just as the doorknob turned and the wood creaked, I realized this wasn’t my mind prison anymore, this was the real world. I was actually physically here.
I made myself invisible as a servant walked in with Ilana, Soap’s mother. I almost gasped at the sight of her. She was a mess, ragged and unkempt. There were gauntlets on her wrists, so tight that her fingers were nearly white. She shuffled over toward Soap in her long white gown. She’d been freshly washed. Her hair was partly damp even though it’d been brushed, but it was still messy. She looked wild, like a feral animal that could turn on a person at any second and sink poisonous teeth into their flesh.
“Is that him? My son?” she asked of the servant behind her. Two guards flanked her as they entered, following Ilana. “Why is he in that thing? Is he dead?”
“No, he’s not dead. He’s just sleeping.”
“Then why is he not in a bed? He’s—“ She gasped as she placed her hand on the glass of his coffin. “He’s cursed! Who dared to put an enchantment on my son?” She spun around, her unfocused eyes now sharpened on the servant and guards.
“He was cursed by the Ancient Kilara,” the servant said, as though she’d repeated this same phrase millions of time. “As I’ve mentioned before, she cursed him with her dying words. It’s been impossible for anyone to break.”
“I can break it. Let me out of these cuffs!” Ilana screeched. When neither the guards nor the servant moved, she wailed, clawing at the glass as though her fingernails could crack it open. She didn’t even notice when blood streaked the glass as she broke them off with the force of her frantic flailing.
“Miss Ilana, please stop. It won’t do any good. I’ll have to take you back to your cell if you don’t stop.”
“No!” Ilana stilled, holding the edges of the glass to keep herself from falling as she huffed. “I want to sit here for a bit. Just a few minutes, please.”
The servant motioned for one of the guards to get her a chair. They placed it next to the coffin as the servant began her task of cleaning the mess the old witch had left. Next, she managed to clean and bandage Ilana’s self-inflicted wounds as she sat quietly starting at her son.
“It was all my fault. I never should have abandoned him. He is nothing like his father. He’s a good man.” She continued to mutter as the servant finished and then settled into a nearby chair to watch Ilana stare at her son.
The guards kept watch as well, never wavering away from the old witch.
She wore the gauntlets I had helped enchant with Xena and her brother Xyon, two Nephilim siblings. Ilana’s treatment of Xyon for so many years had backfired when his own blood had been used to bind her magic in the two cuffs she wore around her wrists. Now she was nothing but an old woman drenched in madness and regrets.
I watched from the edge of the room, but as I stepped toward the open door, she turned slowly in my direction and stared right through me.
“I see you, half-blood queen, blessed of Faerie. Not so blessed are we now?” Ilana began to laugh, cackling at her comment as I narrowed my eyes, turned my back to her, and walked out the door. “Not so blessed are you now? You’re just a cursed of Faerie like the rest of us. Cursed! There is no atonement for you now! Don’t you go! This is all your fault! Wake my son! Wake him up!”
Her screeches were silenced by the guards and the servant, who were obviously trained to stifle her outbursts. I waited for a moment and then heard them shuffling out of Soap’s chambers, dragging the old witch down the hall. She refused to walk, and they had gagged her. Despite that, she continued to cackle with the gag in her mouth, trying her best to turn my way, but she couldn’t from the position they held her in.
I broke out into a run, speeding down the hall as fast as I could. My heart raced; my mind filled with her laughs. The gauntlets should have snuffed out all of Ilana’s witchy powers, but I swore she still had some. Faint as they were, she had gotten into my head, and her words repeated like a broken record over and over in my mind until I was ready to rip my ears off.
“This is all your fault! Wake my son! Wake him up!”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Dylan
The Noruck Court of Faeries was nothing like what I had expected. We came upon an old mall, looking decrepit and boarded up on the outside. I could feel the aversion charms planted all around the property, where the asphalt cracked and vegetation sprung up through the fissures to reach the sunlight. Dead leaves blew across the old parking lot without a care, and lizards scurried away from us, slipping into the tiniest of holes along the walls of the old building.
It appeared absolutely abandoned, but I knew better than to assume such a place could be. Our feet crunched along the loose gravel as we followed Jax. I wondered if we’d made the right decision to follow this young faery. I hated to admit it, but I had a bad feeling about all this and tried to shrug it off as we made it to the entrance of an old department store.
“Here we are!” Jax announced proudly. I glanced at the guy, wondering if he didn’t have a few screws loose, because he was far too chipper. But why not? He was safely home. I knew he thought he was probably going to be freed once we entered his domain, but I was prepared.
As he reached for the glass door, I clasped a bracelet around his wrist.
“Ow! What the hell is this for?” He jumped away, but the spell was already working. The bracelet chained him to us, and only Nautilus or I could remove it. He was our prisoner, and this marked him as such to any other fae. Even his queen would be helpless to free him.
“It’s insurance. You are our prisoner. We bested you in a fight on your territory, and this guarantees that we’ll be let go from your kingdom, unharmed.”
Jax peered at the bracelet and sighed. “I get it. You’re expecting an ambush. I would fear the same if I were you. How long do I have to wear this?”
“Until we are safely outside your court once more.”
Jax grimaced but nodded, taking to our plan well, if I should say so myself. I threw Nautilus a surprised look, but he just shrugged, as confused as I was.
I wondered what this Jax’s underlying intentions were. Why attack us if he would be so willing to take us to his queen to help us? I shook my head as we followed him into the darkness beyond the heavy glass doors.
Inside, the darkness gave way to light as we passed through some blackout curtains hung across the entrance to keep prying eyes away. There, a bright, bustling courtyard greeted us, enhanced with skylights from above that beamed light down onto planters filled with flowers, herbs, and even small fruit trees. Faeries of all kinds were sitting at the edges of the planters, eating, conversing, and laughing. Some paused to look at us but then returned to whatever they’d been doing. Most were dressed in fae garb intermixed with pieces of human clothing. None wore glamour here in their own kingdom, safe from mortal eyes.
I studied the people, wondering where they had all come from. Some were banished fae, from the look on their faces, some were Unseelie and not as pretty as the Seelie fae. All their eyes scanned us for a moment before losing interest as though we were nothing important.
We walked past the chatty faeries and into the main hall of the mall. Upstairs, faeries peered down from shops which had been converted into homes. With all the bodies in this place, I would have thought it would be loud, with the noise bouncing off the tile and brick, but with all the added foliage, the noise was pretty muffled.
I wondered where the queen resided. It wasn’t long before we made it to the center of the mall, where an old fountain stood. It’d been retiled with colorful iridescent pieces and flowed as though the pipes worked. I guessed it had been done with magic, for it’d be noticeable to the city if they were drawing water from the municipal supply.
“Jax, who are these strangers?”
We approached a woman seated nonchalantly on a throne situated at the edge of the fountain. She was beautiful in a way I’d never seen a faery look. Her skin was iridescent, like mother of pearl shells, and her slanted but wide eyes blinked with brilliant electric-blue irises. On her head sat a twisted crown of vines and baby’s breath along with more of the iridescent stone or shell—I wasn’t quite sure which—situated in twisted spikes, five all together, to form the front of the crown. Her hair was made of fine, mossy green strands, some woven into dreadlocks, while others were braided and decorated with bits of shell and beads. Even her outfit was completely ethereal, gossamer sheer layers that made it opaque, but when she stood, the outline of her slender and tall body was defined.
She radiated magic laced with iron.
“Your Grace, these are the ones trespassing near Astenos’s property. I found them trying to get away and battled them.”
“I see. And who is the prisoner then?” The queen smirked. She knew his story was but a front for what was happening now. “State your names,” she demanded.
“Your Grace.” I bowed my head, Nautilus copying my movements. No need to incite anger from another ruler. “I am Dylan, King of the Scorching Scren Palace and the Southern Realm. This is my comrade, Nautilus, a former Teleen Captain of the Guard. We were attacked by your soldier here and demand a trade in exchange for his life.”
The queen stepped closer, and her guards, though dressed less like fae and more like Jax, followed closely behind.
“Jax, what sort of trouble do you bring me again?” she asked, her voice terse. I took it this wasn’t the first time Jax had been captured. I stifled a laugh and cleared my throat.
“Sage, I was defending the perimeter.”
“You said they were leaving. You should have let them.”
“But—”
“Stop. Sit. I have had enough of your missteps lately. It’s truly a headache.”
Jax pressed his lips together but did as he was told. They spoke to each other like siblings, and I knew my observation was correct when he slipped away to sit in one of the empty chairs alongside the throne, situated a couple steps lower than the queen’s chair.
“I apologize for my brother’s action, Your Majesty. I am delighted to meet with the ruler of the Scren. I have heard much about your kingdom and accomplishments. Dinner is just about ready. Please join me. I would enjoy hearing of your adventures.”
She circled me like a vulture, eyeing me up and down as though I were a jewel on display. I got the impression that she had no king, and finding another royal to marry would be appealing to most women in her position. For a moment, I wished I still had my ring. Just as I thought about it, she reached out, her hand nearly closing around my gauntlet.
I stepped away. “Please do not touch me. I am made of electricity and fire. Only those with fire affinities can even come close to me or else risk death.”
Queen Sage froze, her hand still midair as she realized her mistake. “Right. You are both Teleen. I’ve never met one of your kind before. Please forgive my intrusion. I am not used to having guests who are dangerous to others just by touch.”
“I apologize as well. I didn’t mean to startle you,” I said. I hoped she wouldn’t attempt to come close again. With this information, she glanced at Nautilus, studying him with a more scrutinizing eye before she abruptly spun, headed to her throne, and sat down.
“Thank you for the warning. I will do my best to remember not to touch either of you and inform my court. I still would enjoy having dinner with you both. Please, join me.”
She waved a hand, and in front of her appeared a large table with five chairs. Her chair moved to situate her at the head, and she slumped back, obviously disappointed that I was not a royal she could come after for any type of affair.
I was eternally grateful I was Teleen.
“What is that infernal bracelet around my brother’s wrist?” she asked as Jax joined us at the table, facing me. Nautilus sat on my left, and I sat at the queen’s left. There was one empty chair left at the table, and I glanced at it, wondering who else would be joining us. Her gaze was fixed on me, studying me with a heavy eye. I fought, trying to not fidget in my seat under such pressure.
“It’s a prisoner clasp. I didn’t know what we’d face here in your court, but we wanted to make sure we would be able to leave without any problem.”
“I see.” She pondered my words and looked away as her plate was filled with juicy meats, fruits, and vegetables. She reached out to pick up her fork. “You think of us as dangerous?”
“No, Your Grace. We didn’t know what to expect. We’ve never heard of the Noruck Court.”
“That’s because we make sure no one is aware of our existence. At least I know our home is safe.” She scooped up some mashed potatoes and licked it off the fork, her eyes finding mine once more. “Do you like it here, Dylan?”
I looked around us, noting that in this area, there were no fae peering down from above. It was probably cordoned off to protect the throne room. This queen was no fool if she’d made efforts to keep herself safe and her home hidden from
all, even those in the Land of Faerie.
“It’s different from what I am used to.” I cleared my throat and took a sip of water from the goblet in front of me. I felt I needed to change the subject, so I racked my brain for a good question. “Jax here told us that your people are able to withstand the effects of iron, unlike other faeries. How is that?”
Sage laughed and set her fork down before leaning forward. Her soft, mossy hair fell over her shoulders, dangling down over her chest. She was beautiful, no doubt, but I knew trusting her was not going to be easy.
“We have evolved to be immune to iron. Some of us have human blood running through our veins, which helps with our immunity, but many of us are pure fae. We’ve lived here in the human realm for centuries, long enough to adapt. Plus, the botanicals we mix help us ward off any residual iron sickness. These plants grow throughout our entire court. It keeps us safe in more ways than one.”
“What other ways does it keep you safe?”
As I asked, I felt the room sway. I stared at my plate of food and the goblet in front of me. Turning toward Nautilus, I could see that he was feeling the effects of something as well. Eyeing my plate once more, I noticed it sprinkled with what looked like rosemary but wasn’t. Could this be one of their botanical mixes, poisoning us? How had we been so stupid?
“It keeps our enemies far away from us. Those who come here never leave to tell the tale. How else do you think no one in Faerie knows about us? We were betrayed once. We won’t allow it to happen again.”
The room tilted again. “What have you done to us?” I asked, barely able to hold my head up. My body felt tingly and numb, as though every cell were falling asleep.
“Nothing that won’t wear off soon enough. Just rest, Your Grace. We have much to learn from each other. I look forward to hearing all you have to say.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
