Queen of Fate (Fae of Woodlands & Wild #3)

Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

The prison’s walls closed in around me. Rock. Magic. Suffocating chains. Everywhere I looked was the darkness of my future.

I’d only been here a day, yet already it felt like a lifetime. The King Justice had sent me to the maximum-security prison on the Nolus continent as soon as my charges had been read. He hadn’t even listened to me when I tried to tell him I’d twisted fate to protect the realm. That I’d tried to stop King Paevin from destroying the kingdoms. That I’d done it to save fae.

Instead, a sneer had marred his lips when I’d spoken so unbecomingly of a recently deceased monarch. Jax had grown so irate of his treatment of me that they’d slapped the magic-stealing cuffs on him to stop him from exacting his power. His cries of rage when I’d been dragged away and forced into a bright jumpsuit still echoed through my ears. At least they hadn’t arrested him too. It was the only saving grace.

To make matters even worse, the magic used in the maximum-security prison was the same as the ancient magic surrounding the supernatural courts in Jaggedston and the Isle of Song, and since I couldn’t access my magic, I couldn’t command the fates again to break me out.

I shook my head and closed my eyes. Everything had happened so fast. So fast. All of it felt like a blur.

But one thing I knew. The courts considered me an extreme threat. They wouldn’t even allow me to walk freely before my trial. And that was all because the ancient wards had told them what I’d done. It was only the remnant of the gods’ magic that had the power to do so.

Fate has been altered , their wards had whispered to them...and since there was only one lorafin currently alive on the Silten continent, they’d known it was me.

I didn’t even know such intricate magic existed before becoming involved with Jax, and it’d all worked against me.

Head pounding, I lay on the simple cot that my cell provided. A hard, scratchy pillow felt like a brick beneath my throbbing skull. Tears threatened to fill my eyes.

I was now contained in the most feared prison of our realm. As if I was a lethal criminal who couldn’t be trusted within a normal prison cell. As though I truly was a danger to everyone around me.

“Emerson!” a guard barked from the outside hallway. “Time for your potion.”

I blinked the tears back and winced, then brought a hand to my aching temple. Not again. They’d forced one down me after being arrested yesterday. The potion had been a sickly sweet concoction and had tasted like poisoned syrup sliding down my throat. Even worse, it had instantly suppressed my magic, and not only that, it’d hidden my mate bond too.

I could no longer feel the threads of magic linking me to Jax. Of everything that had occurred, that was the hardest part of all of this.

But I knew Jax still lived. They’d done nothing to him other than remove him from the premises in Jaggedston, but after that, my awareness of everything got fuzzy, as if the potion had clogged my mind too. I wasn’t sure how I’d been transported here, yet I knew it all occurred yesterday since the morning alarm that woke me up today had confirmed the day and time.

The slide of the guard’s baton clinked against the bars. He stopped just outside of my cell. The Nolus fairy’s hair was nearly as bright as my jumpsuit, pink strands shaved close to his head.

Sparks emitted from his baton, painful zaps that would sting a prisoner into catatonic submission if used. I would know. I’d seen a guard using one firsthand on a prisoner several blocks down from me just a few hours ago.

“Up!” The guard rapped his baton on my cell. A zap zinged from it.

Groggily, I stood. Cobwebs filled my mind, but I stumbled dutifully to where he stood.

“Turn around, hands behind your back.”

“Is that truly necessary? I’m not going to hurt anybody.”

“Turn. Now .” He bared his sharp teeth at me.

Sighing, I complied, as I had so many times in my life.

Once positioned as he wanted, he slipped cuffs around my wrists, securing me completely, then shifted me until I faced him again.

“Mouth open, head back.”

I winced when the movement jarred my aching skull, but I parted my lips as instructed. There was no point fighting this. He’d likely call more guards to hold me down if I refused.

He tipped the potion’s contents into my mouth, and the syrup was just like yesterday. It was so thick I wanted to gag.

“Swallow. All of it.”

Somehow, I forced myself to ingest the sticky liquid. It slid down my throat in a rush, its effects instantaneous. Horrible magic washed through me, suppressing and stifling everything inside me. My lorafin powers, already subdued from the previous potion, disappeared even further, falling down, down, down until I could no longer feel them, access them, use them. It was as if my magic had been snuffed out inside me like a blown-out flame.

“Open your mouth.”

My head spun, and the realm tilted, but I opened my mouth, and the guard inspected every corner to ensure I’d fully swallowed the magic-suppressing potion.

He grunted and removed the cuffs. “We’re done. You may return to your cot.”

I toppled toward the bed, barely making it before I fell onto it. Mouth now dry from the potion’s after-effects and head still pounding, I turned on my side just as magic reverberated through the walls.

Rock groaned. Stone shifted. Before my eyes, my cell moved as the ancient magic of this impenetrable fortress transported my cell to somewhere else within its bowels. When it finally stopped, the rock grew still.

I closed my eyes, not even wanting to contemplate any of this. For all I knew, I was now on the second floor or perhaps a subterranean floor. Only the guards knew.

Maniacal laughter suddenly burst from down the corridor.

I winced anew and rubbed my temples, but it did little to alleviate the pain.

“This is just great,” I grumbled. It seemed I had a new cellmate in this wing. Cackling sounds emitted from whoever else had been moved to this section.

I pulled the thin blanket up and over my head, trying to drown out the sounds. Drown out my new existence. And drown out the reality that I’d created.

But one tiny part of me felt relief. Jax was still free. So was Phillen. So was Alec. All of the Dark Raider’s band remained unimplicated of any crimes. Bastian was also back home, and all of the half-breeds would be healed and returned to where they lived after Norivun forced Saroly to remove their anklets. The king’s plan had been abolished. War would never come between the kingdoms because of that. All of that had been accomplished because I twisted fate.

A moment of lightness hit me as I clung to that. Because while my current state was severe, it hadn’t been for nothing. Because of my lorafin magic, all of those lives would continue as they’d been. And while I’d never relished nor wanted to go to prison, I grasped onto the fact that my magic hadn’t been used in vain.

So many lives had been saved because of me.

“Emerson! You have a visitor.”

My head lifted, my neck twinging from the abrupt movement. Crustiness filled my eyelids, and bleary-eyed, I wiped it away.

A guard stood at my door, waiting expectantly.

“Someone’s here?” I croaked. I’d lost count of how many days I’d been imprisoned, but I thought it was close to a week.

“You have an hour. I suggest you get moving.”

Somehow, I staggered to my feet and went through the motions required of me to leave my cell. The prison shuddered around me, and I knew the time limit had almost been reached for when the walls would shift again.

Once I was cuffed and had my shoes on, the guard led me down a hall to another secure portion of the wing. He guided me into a small room. It was empty save for a chair.

“Sit there.” He pointed at it.

Once I was seated, he chained me to the chair using glowing strands of magic that lassoed around me. I stared at the opaque wall in front of me. “Where am I?”

“Visiting room. Keep your eyes on the wall.” The guard shuffled to the corner and stood stoically.

I peered ahead, searching for my visitor, but no one was visible on the other side. “Where?—”

The milky wall abruptly shimmered, and my eyes widened when Jax and a female appeared on the other side. Both sat on chairs facing me.

My heart soared. Jax . Even sitting, he looked tall and broad. A crisp white button-up shirt covered his top. It looked clean and freshly laundered. Yet his eyes were bloodshot, his midnight hair tousled, and several days’ worth of beard grew on his cheeks.

His gaze traveled over my appearance, and his lips parted. Anguish and a flash of rage twisted his features. His hands fisted, his attention whipping to the side, and he said something rapid-fire to the female beside him.

I felt frantically for our bond. Jax was so close to me. So close. Yet, like my magic, our mate bond was too suppressed for me to feel him.

The female sitting beside Jax pursed her lips, and she indicated something to the guard behind them.

Another shimmer of magic, and Jax’s voice abruptly filled my cell.

“Elowen? Can you hear me?” His raspy words filled the air around me.

I closed my eyes, and love thrummed steadily in my chest. My mate. My love. Just hearing him was like a soothing balm smeared over a scorched wound. My lips curved as tears threatened to moisten my eyes. “Yes, I hear you.”

I opened my eyes just in time to see his jaw lock and a flare of light shining in his irises.

Gods, how I wished I could feel him, touch him. But just looking at him helped calm some of the panic that was perpetually coating my soul in this horrid place.

But my mate looked anything but relieved at seeing me. Veins swelled in his neck, and his fisted hands were shaking.

He inched forward, his gaze skating over me. “Goddess, what have they done to you?” He whipped his attention to the female at his side. “This cannot be allowed. She’s not a danger to anyone.”

The female nodded and leveled her focus on me. “Elowen, my name is Magistrate Fortifine. I’ve been hired by the prince to represent you during your trial.”

My heart throbbed, its beat picking up. “You’re my magistrate?”

“Indeed. I’ve looked over your case, and I agree with the prince. The court’s decision to imprison you immediately while awaiting your trial, and at the maximum-security prison across the sea nonetheless, was done hastily without full evidence of all that has occurred. They acted only upon one bit of evidence from the ancient wards, not fully understanding the complexity of your actions. This is an egregious error, which the prince has hired me to correct. And I’m confident once your trial ends, you’ll be walking free.”

I canted my head. “But the ancient magic alerted them to what I’d done. They know that I?—”

“Yes, they know you’ve twisted fate, correct. That fact cannot be denied.” She huffed, and I would have guessed that if I’d been in the same room as her, I would have felt her indignation rising. “But what they don’t know is why you twisted fate. The prince told me that you tried to explain that to the King Justice, but he wouldn’t listen, so I’ve petitioned the courts to expedite your trial. The prince has brought forth evidence that the appointed Justice who will oversee your trial needs to consider. We’ll be returning to the Jaggedston courts by the end of the week.” Her sharp eyes coasted over me, taking in every detail of my pathetic state. “You will need to stay as you are until then, but have faith that this will all come right in the end.”

My lips parted, and despite feeling like everything was moving in slow motion, I gazed imploringly at Jax. While I wanted to believe that the courts would only find out about King Paevin’s plans, I didn’t know how much their investigations would uncover if he truly tried to free me. It was possible they would also find out that I’d twisted fate to save the Dark Raider, in which case, we would both be damned.

Jax leaned forward, his eyes locking with mine, and I could have sworn that the intensity of his devotion slid through the wall. “My love, trust me on this. I will not allow you to stay in this prison. Do you hear me? I won’t rest until you’re free.”

I could only nod because I knew when that look entered Jax’s eyes, there was no stopping him. No matter what I would say, his mind had been made up. But at what cost?

The worried question swirled through my foggy mind because I also knew that Jax would give up everything to save me, just like I would do for him, in which case he’d surrender himself as the Dark Raider if it meant that there was any chance of me walking free.

A week later, the magic-killing potion hummed through my system as the guards brought me into the courts for my trial. I’d been transported back to Jaggedston, to the same courts where the ancient wards had alerted the kingsfae to the illegal use of my lorafin power.

Imposing stone walls pressed in around me. I tried to focus and see everything clearly, but I’d been subjected to the magic subduing potion for so many days now that my head felt perpetually coated in shadows.

But my mind was made up. I wanted to trust Jax, but I also wouldn’t allow him to surrender himself to save me, so I would lie if needed. Yell. Plead. I would do whatever was necessary to keep him safe.

But I didn’t know if it would be enough.

Shuffling in my worn prison shoes, I somehow managed to put one foot in front of the other as two guards flanked me.

My magistrate was already seated behind the table the guards prodded me toward. Jax sat just behind her, in the area where fae from the public were allowed. Beside him sat all of our friends.

Shocked, I realized that they’d all come: Lars, Bowan, Lander, Trivan, Alec, Quinn, Phillen, and Saramel. All of them were there. Every single one of them had shown up for me.

And when I spotted two wildlings sitting right next to Saramel, who I initially hadn’t seen because Phillen’s bulk had been blocking them from view, tears sprang into my eyes. Lillivel and Esopeel were here too.

Love burst through my heart, ripping through the cloud that caged me, as I gazed at the fae in this realm who truly cared about me. Loved me even.

My gaze found Jax again as I shuffled closer to my magistrate.

Jax’s hair still looked tousled, as though he’d been running his fingers through it repeatedly for days on end, but his eyes were bright and determined, his demeanor foreboding, and his aura palpable as the guard brought me forward.

“Sit.” The guard pulled out a chair beside my magistrate, and I fell onto it.

Jax growled from behind the bench that separated him from me and my magistrate and eyed the guard with a lethal stare.

The guard’s throat bobbed, but he kept his head high.

Before I’d even fully settled myself, Jax leaned forward and placed his hand on my shoulder. The contact was like an instant balm to my nerves, and his heat warmed my chilled skin in the thin jumpsuit. That simple touch had my eyes closing and my pounding heart slowing.

Sluggish from so many potions forced into my system, I turned slightly so I could see him. “Did you invite Lillivel and Esopeel?”

He shook his head. “They reached out to me when they heard what happened to you, but I provided their transport and a place for them to stay in Jaggedston.”

Another ray of love wove through my veins, and I dipped my head at my wildling friends. My former attendant, Lillivel, and my cerlikan wilding friend, Esopeel, both gave me signs of encouragement from where they sat, and just as fast, Jax’s friends, or rather our friends, also leaned forward and offered me words of support.

“We won’t let them keep you in that place, lovely,” Phillen grunted. “You can count on that.”

“It’s the last place you deserve to be, Elowen,” Bowan added.

“Arseholes, all of them for keeping you in there,” Trivan muttered.

“Don’t worry, Elowen. We’ll ensure you’re set free.” Lander crossed his arms. “You’ll see.”

Alec nodded. “We’re not giving up until you’re out, Elowen.”

Quinn and Saramel also murmured words of support and affection, and by the time everyone finished, my eyes were entirely filled with tears.

I glanced back at my mate. Jax’s irises shone like glimmering gemstones, and his jaw was tight. Determination radiated from him, and something Bastian had told me once flitted through my mind. My brother’s unstoppable when something’s driving him.

“What do you have planned?” I whispered.

A sly smile lifted his lips just as the Queen Justice and two other judges paraded into the courtroom. He squeezed my shoulder once more before letting go. “You’ll see.”