by Kimbra Swain
“I need a plan,” I muttered.
“The queen of wrath and darkness rises,” Dylan muttered.
I looked toward him. He’d returned to his mutterings. Of course, that would be true if I didn’t do something.
45
The guards rudely awoke me before our daily ritual. Wart was nowhere to be seen. We passed Dylan and went out of the single door of the dungeon. Once through, I was given a nicer set of clothes including a shirt, socks, and shoes.
“What’s this?”
“Put them on,” one of the guards grumbled.
I didn’t move.
“We are going on a small visitation,” Brockton said, appearing from around the corner.
“Where?” I asked.
“To remind you why you will do what I’ve told you to do,” Brock said.
We were going to see Winnie. I put on the clothes. I could have protested, but my face still hurt from the last troll punch.
They lead me through corridors that were smaller than I would expect from a royal castle.
“I won’t kill Dylan until I know she is safe,” I said.
“You will do what I tell you to do,” Brockton responded.
“If you could make me, you would have done it already.”
He turned to face me in the small hallway. “I could make you. But my goal isn’t just to make you a murderer. It’s to completely corrupt you that by some crazy whim of fairy luck that you survive this, she will not want you because you are corrupted and cursed.”
I closed the small space between us, because, honestly, what else could he possibly do to me. “That’s where you are wrong. Grace loves me. She will never cast me out. So, do your best.”
His jaw twitched. Without responding, he turned on his heel and headed out of the small corridor into a stone room with no windows, except one. It didn’t open up to the outside. Instead, on the other side, a group of children played. There were bins with blocks, a mat covered in plastic dinosaurs, and a table covered in crayons.
There, right where I would expect her to be, Winnie sat coloring on a white piece of paper. A woman who had to be a fairy under glamour sat down next to her. Brockton pressed a button on the wall, and a speaker came to life.
“What are you drawing, Wynonna?” the woman asked.
“My trailer,” she said.
“Who is this?” the woman said, pointing at the paper. I moved closer to the window hoping I could see her artwork.
“Rufus. He’s a bad dog, but we love him,” Winnie said while switching colors.
“And these people?”
“Well, this is my mom, Grace. She’s not my real mom, but she loves me more than my mom did. And this is my dad, Dylan. He’s not my real dad, but he made me my own bedroom.”
“And this?”
“That is my Uncle Levi. My mom says he’s a knight which means he’s my knight too. When can I go home?” Winnie asked.
The teacher looked up at the glass as though she could see us. I didn’t know if they had prompted Winnie to draw the picture or they just played on her genuine innocence. The teacher didn’t answer her question.
“She’s just a child. I will do what you say, but you have to prove to me that you let her go. I need to know she’s back with Grace,” I said.
“I’m not sure how I could do that without compromising my position,” Brockton said.
I spun around and looked at him. “Your position? What is your position? Because if you consider yourself to be the King of this realm, then fucking show it. Oberon could do whatever the hell he wanted. Either you have the chops, or you don’t. Perhaps you are just exactly as history says, a sniveling twit that couldn’t lick Oberon’s shoes.” That did it. Brockton struck me across my jaw. It hurt, but I rose back up to face him. “I think I hit a nerve.”
“Keep it up, and you all die,” Brockton warned.
“You intend to kill us all anyway. Including Winnie. But I warn you. I’ve seen the power inside of Gloriana. It is deeper and darker than anything you can conjure. If you rip out the things that make her human, you will be left with a scorned Winter fairy queen who has a legitimate claim on this realm. She will shatter your bones and make you eat them.”
Brock didn’t move. “And what of Summer? Rhiannon has ostracized all of her children except one. The noble knight who guards the Tree of Life. If he is a man of his word, and I know him to be, he won’t abandon the tree to take his mother’s place. She will die, and I will swoop in and take Summer, too. I have several powerful Summer queens who would oblige me.”
“Like Stephanie? She will turn on you just like she has everyone else. She’s only in it for herself.”
“No, there are others. One in particular who is my favorite. She’s waiting for her moment to emerge,” he grinned, and it made me sick.
“If that is the case, then why are you so concerned about destroying my reputation? Driving Dylan into madness? Killing an innocent human child? I think it’s because you know what she can do. You hope to break her. I’m telling you that you are hoping for the wrong thing. If she’s broken, she will destroy the realms to get to you. If she is allowed to continue in a weakened state, you will gain time. Either way, she will come for you. You can’t stop her.”
He bristled and grunted. “Kill the phoenix. I’ll let the girl go and prove it to you. Then, we kill you.”
“Still a bad plan,” I mocked.
The guards jerked me away from him. I took one last look at Winnie. She focused on her drawing. My heart pounded. I loved that child like she was my own. No matter what happened. I had to make sure that she got back to her momma.
“I said I wouldn’t lay a hand on your, but I think you’ve earned it,” Brockton said.
“Surprise, surprise. Going back on your word,” I taunted.
“Turkyn, show him pain,” Brockton said.
Among our entourage that I should have paid more attention to, a man stepped out of line. He didn’t look like much, but he moved fast. In a swirl of motion, he had me pinned to the floor. He slammed a dagger through my hand, and I screamed out in pain.
He took my other arm and twisted it behind my back. With every tug, my shoulder got closer and closer to being dislocated.
Then, I heard her.
“Levi.”
It was like I could see her in my head. She was wearing a turquoise dress that flowed down over her bulging belly. I knew the scenery around her. She was in Summer. Alarms pounded in my head as Turkyn twisted my arm.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I responded in my brain. I hoped that no one would notice the communication between us. I didn’t know what they could see. Perhaps the magic binding us.
I yelped in pain again. Unfortunately, that went through the bond to Grace. She felt my pain.
“Come home,” she ordered. I felt the command grip my heart. It was going to rip me to pieces.
“I can’t,” I said. “Grace, if he finds out you are here, he will send everything he has into Summer to conquer it. You cannot allow Rhiannon to fall without an heir. All of fairy will fall.”
I felt her confusion. Then, I felt her pain in return. She grasped her belly.
“I know about the tree. Damn it, Levi. I need you. Please,” she begged. I didn’t know how to withstand her. She was breaking my heart. Our bond and connection meant so much to me. Turkyn took my lack of response as the indication that he needed to hurt me more.
He dug something under my nail on my center finger and ripped it off. I screamed like a soprano.
“No. Release me.” We had discussed it before and I knew it would make her mad, but I needed her to let me go before they could trace our connection.
“We’ve talked about this.” She was so damn stubborn. I loved her for it, but right now, it was frustrating me. Turkyn ripped another fingernail off.
“Stop,” Brockton said. His eyes widened. “Where is she?”
I shook my head. He nodded at Turkyn who jerked another one of my nail
s off. Through my pain, I begged her to let me go. “They can track you through me. Stop talking to me. They know, Grace. Release me!”
I felt others around her, questioning her.
“Where is she, Bard?” Brockton pressed.
I ignored him.
“Grace! Please! They are killing me! Please don’t let me be the reason they get you!” I had to stop talking to her, but she had to let me go. It was the worst moments of my life.
“She’s not in Shady Grove. She can reach him which means, she’s either in Winter or in Summer,” Brockton said with a smile. “Take another one.”
Turkyn dug under my nail and slowly pulled it away from the skin. I cried like a baby, but I didn’t dare tell them where she was.
“Levi.” I felt her sorrow. She didn’t care about the pain she felt. She feared letting me go. Hell, I feared it. I didn’t know what I’d be without her.
“Grace, I love you. I will always love you, but you’ve got to let me go. Let me go,” I begged through the pain and fear. If they found her because of me, it would destroy me. I didn’t know why she decided to go to Summer, but it was dangerous. She was very, very pregnant. I had to hope that she had enough people there to keep her safe.
I felt her stubborn resolve crumble. My heart shattered.
“Turn him over. Focus on his stomach,” Brockton said. He’d figured it out, and I fought back with everything I had left in me, but it wasn’t enough. Turkyn landed blow after blow into my stomach. The pain echoed through me to her.
Then, I heard the words that would break me.
“I love you, too. Levi Rearden, my bard, and servant, I release you from your servitude.”
I screamed, not from the punches, but from Grace being ripped from me. It was worse than having my nails removed. I mourned. Maybe it was the overwhelming situation. Maybe it was just losing her. Either way, I hurt in ways that I didn’t know I could hurt.
“She cut her ties,” Brockton said bitterly.
The nobles muttered to each other. I had to rest in the fact that now, he couldn’t use me to hurt her. He pulled a chain out of his pocket. I immediately knew what it was. The necklace that Dylan had given her with the tiny teacup on it. He dropped it in front of me.
“She will never choose you. Do what you have to do, Levi Rearden.” I snatched up the necklace with bloody fingers. I’d forgotten that I’d ripped it from her neck as I shoved her through the portal. I’d forgotten a lot since I’d come to this place. I wondered if I stayed much longer that I would start to lose my mind like Dylan.
The guards practically dragged me back to the dungeon. They allowed me to keep the clothes. But the nobles were already taunting Dylan.
“Let him get a closer look,” Brockton ordered.
The troll dragged me over to a ring on the floor. They threaded a chain through it and locked it on to my cuffs. I faced Dylan. His eyes were dead and blank.
Brockton jerked my head back with my hair. I looked up at him. He took a vial out of his pocket and poured it down my throat. I felt the healing power wash over me. My wounds healed quickly. My fingernails regrew.
“I promised not to harm you. Since I failed, the least I can do is heal you up,” he smirked, then released my head.
The nobles took their turns beating Dylan. I watched in horror. One of them knelt down next to me. He put his hand on my leg. I watched as he dragged it from my knee to my crotch.
“Lord Olwen, now isn’t the time to indulge your desires,” one of the others said.
“But he’s so virile and manly. I just want one round with him,” the lord said. He tucked his hand into my pocket. “Oh, he’s happy to see me.”
“Get your hands off me,” I growled.
The noble leaned into my ear. “Drink the vial. Eat the fruit. Say these words, By the Queen of Winter and the Queen of Summer, I call upon thee, fairy child, rise. I will get Winnie. You get out.” Finley’s tone wasn’t hidden by his glamour. I didn’t know what he meant, but the oath seemed familiar like something I’d read in the songbook.
He placed a cold kiss on my cheek. He rose up to join the others who were already planning Dylan’s next death. They were speculating when Finley drew a gleaming sword and cut off Dylan’s head.
“Just because we wouldn’t let you molest the boy,” one of them griped.
“Your next if you get in my way,” he growled.
The fairy rolled his eyes at Finley.
Dylan’s body faded to dust. I waited for them to remove my chains.
“Hey, let me go!” I yelled.
“Do we have a deal, Bard?” Brockton asked from above me.
“I told you my terms!” I shouted back as the embers began to flicker.
“You are in no position to demand anything!”
“Still, you can’t kill him without me. A real king could snap his fingers and wipe him out which means that I’m more of a king than you will ever be!” I shouted back. I wondered if Brockton had some sort of mental malfunction. I was no longer bonded to Grace. I didn’t have her power.
“Leave him shackled,” Brockton ordered.
I yanked on the chains, but they were much bigger than I had the strength to break. Dylan rose within a few feet of me.
“It’s a shame. I wanted to play with him,” Finley as Lord Olwen said.
His voice triggered my memory of what he had said. I hunched over my side and worked the chains as if I were trying to get them off. I found a vial of liquid and a small piece of fruit wrapped in plastic. I concealed them the best that I could. I didn’t have time to question Finley’s purposes. I struggled with the lid as Dylan’s firebird hovered over me.
“Fuck it,” I said. I stopped trying to conceal it, removed the lid, and drank it down. I followed it with the fruit. “By the Queen of Winter and the Queen of Summer, I call upon thee, fairy child, rise.” I didn’t feel anything. Nothing happened. I looked up to Finley who’s eye widened. He twisted his wrist. It wouldn’t work, whatever it was, without my magic.
“Well, well, they gave you to me without your power,” Dylan said as he formed into a flaming human body.
“Listen to me. I did not break my oath to you. Grace is safe. I made sure of it, and I am going back to her. I just need you to cooperate with me,” I said.
“Safe? No, Levi, I realize now that you never had it in you to keep her safe. In fact, you have been the cause of her demise. You came into her life and brought back Brockton and his minions. You are working with him, aren’t you?” Dylan asked.
“Never. I swore a blood oath. I’ll swear one to you if that is what you want. I would never do anything to harm her or you,” I said.
“Really?” Dylan grabbed me by the neck. Thankfully, there were no flames. He squeezed. “Tell me why you wouldn’t harm her.”
He lifted me up far enough that my feet didn’t touch the ground. “You know why.” I didn’t want to say it and infuriate him more. He stepped forward and the vial I’d dropped crunched beneath his foot. Lifting it, he looked down at the vial and the piece of plastic.
“What is that?” he snarled.
I whispered, hoping no one could hear me. “Finley gave it to me. Extremely cold water and a piece of fruit.” Dylan’s eyes flared with flames.
“You spoke the oath?” he asked.
“I did, but the shackles are stopping my magic. Dylan, what was the oath?” I asked.
“You will become a fairy, full-blooded, the moment I break these cuffs,” he replied.
“You are going to break the cuffs?” He’d lost me.
“This is boring,” Sir Olwen said above us. A warning to figure it out.
Dylan narrowed his eyes at me. “You won’t die. It will feel like death, but you snap me out. Then, when you get your chance. You go.”
“I won’t do it,” I said, knowing that I probably couldn’t anyway.
“I have to die for this to work,” he said as if he knew the plan. A plan that I still hadn’t put together.
“Can’t you just pretend to die until I get out?” I asked.
He tilted his head. “Hmmm. Maybe next time.” His hand began to burn. I screamed in pain. “Tell me why you will never harm her. Say it, Levi!”
My voice cracked through the pain. “Because I love her with every bone in my body. I’ll love her until I die.”
He slammed me down on the ground, grabbed the cuffs, and heated them to molting metal. My skin burned and hissed, but the moment I was free, Winter rushed into me. It began to heal my wounds without my will directing it. I backed away from Dylan.
“Snap!” he urged.
“No,” I replied, watching my skin repair itself. I stuck my hand in my pocket and pulled out the necklace. I held it in my fist. A selfish part of me wanted to keep it. But Dylan needed it more than me.
Winter continued to roar through my veins like a blizzard on crack. I shivered and convulsed. I began to lose consciousness. I held up the necklace to him.
“You have to keep hope alive,” I said. He plucked the necklace from my hand. A tear ran down his cheek.
“Gracie,” he muttered. He brought the necklace to his lips and held it there. My vision blurred watching him. It was though all his memories with her were playing out in his mind. I couldn’t see them, but I could see the effect they had on his demeanor.
“Damn it. Kill the phoenix,” Brockton muttered. He didn’t mean me. An arrow flew through the grate above, striking Dylan in the temple. He dusted immediately.
I vaguely remembered being dragged back into my cell. I supposed that after Dylan melted my cuffs, they knew they weren’t going to get their show. I hated to inform them that they were never going to get their show.
Finley had tricked me into becoming a full-fledged fairy. Grace would be pissed. I felt it in the way that the cold didn’t make my bones ache. I felt in in the way that I didn’t feel the need to cover myself with a blanket, but I did anyway to keep appearances.
