by Sofia Daniel
The first leaped over King Oberon’s body and lunged at Pokeweed’s belly. He side-stepped, slammed his elbow into the guard’s back, and kicked him to the stairs. Pokeweed raised his hand, and the screaming guard rose from the marble and flew into his colleagues, who staggered back.
“Don’t let the pretender intimidate you with his face.” Queen Titania threw a bolt of lightning into Pokeweed’s back, making him roar with pain. “He murdered your king!”
I lurched forward, but Prince Rory grabbed my arm. “Stay back. You’re not getting hurt.”
Prince Bradwell rushed toward the guards. “Stop,” he said. “You need to investi—”
My head snapped up to the thrones, where Queen Titania sat with both scepters on her lap. I ground my teeth. She had probably stopped Prince Bradwell from speaking out, just as she had silenced her other sons during the trial, where she tried to condemn me to the Dark Fae Prison.
Prince Bradwell rushed toward the stairs, but a bolt of lightning hit the marble at his feet, making him jump back.
“Let go of me.” I struggled in Prince Rory’s grip.
“Her Majesty won’t attack you as long as you’re with one of us.” He held onto me tighter. “Pokeweed will never forgive us if we left you vulnerable.”
Every ounce of resistance drained away, leaving my muscles weak. He was right. If I rushed in with no plan, Queen Titania would fry my body to cinders. Even if she didn’t, the guards would use me as a hostage, making Pokeweed surrender his life to save mine.
The guards regrouped, some of them with bows and arrows pointing at Pokeweed.
“Fire,” shouted their superior, a blue-winged faerie with a flat cap.
Arrows flew toward Pokeweed’s chest, and I clapped my hand over my mouth. With one swish of his arm, Pokeweed turned the arrows back, and they landed in the shooters’ chests.
Prince Bradwell raised his arms and summoned a wind that knocked the other guards to the ground.
“Traitorous wretch!” Queen Titania shot a spear of lightning at Prince Bradwell’s back.
He dodged left, but the lightning forked and speared him through the shoulder blade. Prince Bradwell stiffened, his cerise hair standing on end.
I clapped a hand over my mouth as the scent of his burned flesh filled the air.
Mouth agape, he turned to the throne. “Your Majesty?”
The queen pointed her fingers at Prince Bradwell. “No son of mine would side with his father’s murderer.” As he staggered toward her, she shot several thin bolts into his chest.
Prince Bradwell fell onto the marble floor with a thud.
I lurched forward, but Prince Rory tightened his grip around my waist. I glanced around at all the courtiers, who stood against the walls and observed as though the queen’s madness was a regular occurrence at Court.
On the other side of the throne room, a battle raged between Prince Caulden and the Duke of Nevermore. On the far right of the room, a pair of silver-haired courtiers rushed forward to intervene, but Prince August held them off with a ring of fire.
Tears burned the back of my eyes. After mating with five powerful princes, there wasn’t a thing I could do to help.
“We’ve got to do something about your mother before she attacks again,” I said to Prince Rory.
With a sharp nod, the prince swept his arm in the direction of the stairs, sending a gust of wind to Queen Titania. It swept her off the throne, but she held onto its diamond armrest with one hand and managed to raise a pointed finger toward Pokeweed.
My stomach dropped. If she could attack Prince Bradwell for trying to help Pokeweed, then her next strike would be deadly. Sweat poured down my brow. I needed to think of a way to protect Pokeweed from the guards and from the wrath of the queen.
“More wind,” I said to Prince Rory.
A guard rushed at Pokeweed with a spear, but he slipped on King Oberon’s blood and fell on his back.
White smoke rose from the king’s body, reminding me of the silvery mist that had transformed my life. “Pokeweed,” I screamed. “Form a barrier around yourself and King Oberon!”
He turned to me with a nod, and an arrow sliced through his bicep. Pokeweed hissed and clutched his arm.
“You can’t distract him in a fight,” said Prince Rory.
“It was important.”
Pokeweed stamped his foot, and the marble curved around the pair, shielding them from the next attack of arrows.
Queen Titania screeched, “Guards, kill that girl!”
Prince Rory spun around, shielding me with his body. Pale-blue light flashed over us, and his limbs convulsed with rapid spasms. I twisted around to find streams of lightning crackling over his back.
My breath froze. Queen Titania was killing him.
“She’ll stop if you let go of me.”
“I can’t,” he said through clenched teeth. “No male would abandon his mate.”
A sob caught in the back of my throat. “She’s killing you.”
Prince Rory shook his head. “This is nothing compared to how she punished us when we were young. I’m cushioning the blow with my wind.”
As Prince Rory jolted under the weight of Queen Titania’s attack, tears filled my eyes. This was futile. The queen wouldn’t stop until she had ridden me of her kingdom, and she didn’t care what kind of damage she did to her sons.
My gaze darted to the marble sphere, where I expected Pokeweed would be unconscious from having absorbed King Oberon’s destiny.
“Release that filthy salamanderrat!” The queen increased the intensity of her lightning, filling this side of the throne room with blinding, white light.
One by one, the courtiers and the guards attacking Pokeweed’s marble sphere fell to the ground, twitching from the lightning strike.
Prince Rory’s breathing quickened. “I can’t hang on for much longer. Her Majesty is the strongest lightning user on the Isle.”
Twisting in his grip, I said, “Look around.” I placed a hand on his chest and gestured at the fallen bodies with the other. “It’s not affecting me. I think I’m absorbing her magic.”
His face went blank, his arms slackened, and he fell to the ground with a thud.
The lightning attack stopped, and fury crackled across my skin. I dropped to my knees and placed a hand on Prince Rory’s chest, which rose and fell with even breaths.
Anger burned through my veins, adding to my fury. In Doolish, we considered lightning strikes as deadly. At best, they killed a person on the spot, and at worst, they seemed fine until strange things happened to their bodies.
First, the victims would exhale smoke like a drake. Hours later, any liquids they consume would evaporate from their mouths. It was the lightning, burning through their insides and leaving them with just enough lung capacity to survive its effects.
Some would linger for weeks in this accursed state, while the lightning would burn everyone, including their eyes and tongue, leaving them to die a perfectly preserved husk.
My pulse pounded like a war drum, and blood roared through my ears, screaming at me to avenge the injury done to my mates. I turned to the throne, where Queen Titania pulled herself to her feet and adjusted her dress.
“Why don’t you just die?” she snapped.
“I’ll be asking you the same question in a minute.” I stood and advanced toward the staircase.
“What are you doing?” Queen Titania pointed her fingers, and bolts of lightning shot from their tips and hit me straight in the chest.
The energy crackled across my skin. Instead of bouncing off, I absorbed it and glowered at the queen.
“Guards!” she screeched. “Arrest that human impostor.”
“They’re all suffering from your lightning attack, you daft bint,” I snapped.
Her silver eyes bulged. “How dare you—”
“How did you think you could get away with murdering King Oberon and blaming it on my mate?”
“Why should you care?” she said with a s
niff. “Humans despise faeries.”
Now my skin fizzled with irritation. I bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time. “Does the word mate mean anything to you? Of course, it doesn’t. You killed yours.”
Her lip curled. “What kind of whore mates with Pokeweed, anyway?”
My hand curled into a fist, and I swung at the queen. “Fine words from a twat who wears dresses made of centaur spunk!”
Gasps filled the air, and a breath of incredulity huffed out from my lungs. The courtiers didn’t react at the slaughter of their king or at Queen Titania attacking her own sons, but they expressed outrage at something as trivial as semen?
Queen Titania ducked behind the throne. I rushed after her, but she sprang out, holding an iron dagger.
She leaped at me, her silver wings expanding. “Die!”
“Fuck off.” I dodged left.
Instead of tumbling down the stairs, she glided through the air, twisted, and flew back at me with the dagger.
I bounced on the balls of my feet, waiting for her to get close. She probably didn’t think I could fly, but I had absorbed enough magic from my mates that my wings now obeyed my commands.
My wings cleaved the air, propelling me to her level. I grabbed her wrist and yanked her down.
We twisted through the air, struggling over the iron dagger, exchanging insults, blows, and the occasional head butt. The queen was surprisingly strong compared to Lady Gala and Lady Aster, which made me wonder if she’d had a lot of practice with aerial catfights.
Queen Titania kneed me in the crotch, and I punched her hard in the middle of her face.
“Ouch!” She reeled back, holding her nose. The dagger slipped from her fingers and fell down the stairs.
I surged at the queen and elbowed her in between the eyes, making her head snap back. Then I twisted in the air and slammed my knee into her stomach. With a harsh cry, she plummeted and landed with a crack on the stairs.
There was no time to waste. I flew down, not giving her a moment’s rest, and punched her so hard in the face, I felt the pain in the bones in my hands. “This is for murdering King Oberon.”
Blood spurted from her nose and landed on my shirt. “Wait—”
“This is for sentencing me to death.” I punched her across the cheek. “This is for leaving me in that dungeon with a pervert.”
A mixture of spit and blood bubbled out from between her lips.
I drew my fist back, wanting to save the best until last. The rotten faerie had cursed Pokeweed and not only condemned him to a life of scorn and ridicule but deprived him of the chance to know his parents.
“Enough.” Queen Titania groaned.
Sparkles rose from her head, revealing an oversized face with small, wide-apart eyes, and a long, thick nose. She pulled her lips back to reveal a swollen, grayish tongue and gums larger than that of the kelpie I had encountered in the moat.
Shock hit me in the gut like an ogre’s fist, and I scrambled back. “What the hell is wrong with your face?”
Queen Titania placed shaking fingers on her sunken cheeks. “What are you talking about?”
Nausea rose to the back of my throat, and I pressed my fingers on my lips, watching her features morph. Was this her true appearance, or had someone cursed her during our fight? It was hard for me to think with that monstrous face twisting with anguish.
Silver hairs sprouted from her cleavage and spread over her chest, her arms, and her neck, providing a covering thick enough to conceal her bruises.
I stood and scrambled down the stairs in case whatever afflicted her was contagious.
“What’s happening to me?” Queen Titania staggered to her feet.
The courtiers shrieked, and many of them ran past where Princes August and Caulden were battling the Duke of Nevermore, to the throne room’s double doors. I shook my head. These people were beyond shallow if the sight of a horse-faced woman caused them to flee.
“Allow me to explain,” said a voice from behind.
Pokeweed stepped out from an opening in his marble sphere, his hair glowing like the sun, and his wings as bright as the moon. A crown of light formed on his head that sparkled like the stars.
The power radiating off him was nothing like I had sensed from the princes at Saltbay Pier. It was a hundred times stronger and sent vibrations through my body and into my marrow.
Everyone, including Queen Titania and me, bowed at the vision of majesty.
“Stand,” he said in a deep, resonant voice.
My mouth dried. I staggered to my feet and stared at the marble floor. The old Pokeweed was gone, replaced with a being entirely out of my league. Absorbing King Oberon’s destiny had probably changed his personality beyond recognition.
“Your Majesty,” said Queen Titania. “What has happened to me?”
“The gown you wear consists of centaur magic,” he said.
Prickles of fear raced across my skin, and my hands flew up to my mouth. I had once worn an Emporium dress. Would I start looking horsey now?
She rushed at him and knelt at his feet. “I beg of you to remove this curse.”
My jaw clenched. After everything she had done to Pokeweed, why did she expect him to grant her this mercy?
“It is of your own doing,” he said in a voice more gentle than she deserved. “If you had ever removed the glamor from your face, you might have noticed the gradual change in your features.”
“Help me,” she said with a sob.
“Did no one explain the dangers of faeries consorting with centaurs?” he asked.
Her mouth clicked shut. Something told me she already knew but hadn’t cared. Much like the people who made bargains with faeries, knowing that they always backfired.
Pokeweed beckoned the Duke of Nevermore close. “You murdered my mother.”
The older faerie clenched his teeth. “She humiliated me by giving birth to what I thought was the child of a satyr. If I had known you were the heir to the throne—”
Pokeweed held up his clenched fist, blocking off the duke’s air. “I bind your magic and sentence you to live out your remaining days in the Dark Fae Prison.”
Lady Gala’s father fell onto the marble floor with a thud, but the rise and fall of his chest indicated that he was still alive.
Next, Pokeweed turned to Queen Titania. “Who poisoned me with nightsbane?”
She raised her palms. “It wasn’t me.”
“I already know you cursed my mother and King Oberon to forget about their mating and that you were responsible for my accursed state.” Ignoring her vigorous head-shaking, he added, “If I have to enchant you to tell the truth, your punishment will be severe.”
Queen Titania shot Prince August a helpless look. “My darling—”
“No.” The heat of the Summer Prince’s anger turned his voice into a dry rasp. “You murdered our father, and you nearly killed Brad and Rory.”
The queen fell onto her hands and knees and sobbed. “What else could I do? His Majesty was a lecherous dog who demanded the most degrading acts. Seeing his likeness on Pokeweed was like a knife in the heart.”
I stared at the floor, wondering what I would have done in her situation. Magic was a tricky thing. It made female high faeries incapable of regular sex while leaving the males with healthy appetites. Even so, I wouldn’t curse an innocent child and have him assassinated, and I wouldn’t murder my mate.
“Who poisoned me?” Pokeweed repeated.
“The Duke of Medietas somehow knew your identity.” She raised her head with fat tears streaming down her face. “I bought his silence with a promise that I would grant Helenium the opportunity to mate with my sons.”
My brows drew together. Had Helen known that Pokeweed was the true heir to the throne? I shook off that suspicion. Befriending him and breaking his curse would have been an easier route to becoming the queen. She probably thought his father was some kind of beast.
“Titania,” said Pokeweed. “You are the mother of my bro
thers, and as such, I cannot condemn you to the Dark Fae Prison.”
My head snapped up, and my lips parted with a protest. She deserved to be dragged through all seven levels of the mound and quartered. I held my silence, as I couldn’t interrupt the new king.
Queen Titania crawled on her hands and knees. “Thank you.”
“But I will transfer the injuries you inflicted on everyone onto you.” Pokeweed flicked his wrist.
Her mouth dropped open. “Wha—”
Queen Titania flopped to the marble floor, convulsions wracking her body. She bit down on her long, gray tongue and gurgled. I tore my gaze away from the sight of a writhing, half-centaur female and gazed at Princes Rory and Bradwell staggering to their feet among the fallen guards.
“My queen.” Pokeweed turned to me, his blue eyes softening.
A jolt of excitement shot through my heart, and my mouth went as dry as tree bark. I gulped, and a flock of purple-and-blue butterflies took flight within my belly.
All heads bowed as Pokeweed advanced toward me, radiating enough power to turn us into dust. He had been powerful as a gardener living under a curse, but with King Oberon’s destiny, it was terrifying… and oddly arousing.
“Unity, your friendship was a light in my dark days, and when you accepted me as your mate, your love burned strong enough to break two curses.”
A rush of joy filled my chest, and my eyes stung with happy tears.
He knelt at my feet, holding a crown of light. “Will you rule the Isle of Fae at my side?”
A palpitation thudded through my chest, and I shot Princes August and Caulden a panicked glance. Was Pokeweed asking me to ditch my other mates?
Chapter 20
A look of nervous anticipation crossed the princes’ faces, and they stood in pairs, their postures as stiff as tin soldiers. The surviving courtiers stepped over the pieces of dead soldiers to gather close. I guess they could sense the tension in the air.
I placed a hand on Pokeweed’s bicep and stared into blue eyes as calm as the pond by the weeping willow, hoping that King Oberon’s power hadn’t corrupted is kind and gentle nature.
“I’m honored to be your mate,” I said, repeating the words I had uttered when Lady Gala had introduced me to Pokeweed as a joke. “And I look forward to ruling at your side.”
