What did you do? (Infatuated fae #2)

8. The Past

8

THE PAST

Queen Saracen

T hey were so happy.

Tarani and Aurelius gracefully chased after the small cluster of butterflies. Langmure sat by the fountain, reading whatever human tale his nurse had gifted him this week. From the library’s tall window above, I watched them dance and laugh in the sunlit garden.

They were too young to know it was actually the butterflies that chased them and their pureblood Seelie bodies. Thanks to the marriage arrangements, these children had been bred to be the purest of Seelie.

A heaviness in my body grew, knowing what was about to happen. Aurelius began picking poppies like he didn’t have a care in the world—the perfect example of a happy, lighthearted Seelie faerie.

He would never work. He was never going to be the leader necessary for the world Thanes and I were creating. I suppose very few true Seelie would.

Langmure might have worked, but he wouldn’t be here long. The child had been cursed by Khaos in a deal gone bad and was owed to the pits of Tartarus as soon as the king of the Nether decided to take him. He didn’t even know it.

I noted the position of the sun.

Any minute now.

I grabbed the leather-bound tome close to me and took one last glance at the lighthearted children playing below. Tonight, I would take Aurelius and Tarani to the human realm, where they would remain.

I would leave them.

It was weak, but I couldn’t bring myself to kill them. I really did love them—they just weren’t useful to me anymore. Thanes could never know I let them live. The Unseelie king would be killing off Mendax and Tenebris at this very moment.

Earlier today, he had told me several of his “Fallen fae” were immeasurably stronger than anything we could have hoped for and that he was going to test their powers by using them to kill the Smoke Slayers.

My eyes, heavy and tired, dropped closed while I took in a deep breath of leather-scented air. I could almost feel the world lightening with Tenebris and Mendax finally dead. If Thanes had been able to rearrange and infuse the human minds to be that powerful—powerful enough to kill two Smoke Slayers—then maybe we were aiming too small just working on the humans. As I began to turn away from the window, I stilled at the last moment, the unusually dark look on Tarani’s face while she glared at her brother catching my full attention.

Aurelius had begun to scream at her, his voice raw and shrill. He was close to a meltdown, throwing himself on the ground at her feet.

My lips started to curve into a smile as I watched.

Tarani larked about, grabbing ahold of the butterflies that fluttered near her. She giggled as her tiny fingers masterfully pulled their wings off before dropping them to the ground and grabbing another as her older brother wailed at her feet.

Pride swelled in my chest. She was different—I could see it now.

She would stay.

Thanes and I could see to it that when the time came, she had felt enough pain to rule with a strong and steady hand. She was far too beautiful to be allowed in the castle with us though, where she would definitely catch Thanes’s attention, but I would make certain her darkness was properly fed.

On second thought, maybe catching Thanes’s eye would be good for her. He would toughen her up.

It was settled. Aurelius would go to the human realm alone.

A soft tap sounded at the door. It was time.

“Your Highness?”

My fingers clenched around the book I held. This had to happen. I needed to prove I wasn’t just some frolicking, simple-minded Seelie. Just because I couldn’t shift into a fox didn’t make me less than them. I would show them all exactly what I was capable of.

“You asked me to fetch you when King Felix was ready for his night’s tea,” the maid murmured softly, averting her eyes.

“Yes, thank you, Evelyn. His Majesty requested that I prepare it tonight.” I picked up the leather pouch from the small desk as I moved toward the young maid who held the door open.

My knees threatened to drop me as they trembled with each step.

I could do this. It would all be for the better in the end.

I paused briefly before stepping out the door to lean toward the girl, speaking as if in confidence. “How have you been liking your new position, my dear?” I asked kindly. She’d only been hired a fortnight prior.

“Oh, her ladyship is too kind. You could not have bestowed the employment on a more grateful family, ma’am,” she replied softly as a blush crept up her neck.

“That does please me. Tell me, what did your family think of your bonus wages? You did receive them, did you not? For starting on such short notice?”

She stared at me, bewildered, unable to speak.

“I thought as much. Here,” I said, thrusting the leather pouch into her hands. “A token of our gratitude, from King Felix’s personal collection. I’ve added a few tokens from the royal treasury as well.”

“Oh! Ma’am!” she cried, her face filled with joy.

“You deserve it.” I leaned in and lowered my voice. “I shouldn’t tell you this, but if you go to the servants’ quarters and make a big stink about it, they will trade you anything you could possibly desire to be in your favor. Mary makes the most gorgeous day bonnets. You would look absolutely divine in one!” I squeezed her palm lightly.

“You think? Would they not be upset with me?” she asked.

“Oh, good heavens no! They were not lucky enough to receive such a gift. They will be thrilled to share in the excitement.” I smiled, making certain that it reached my eyes.

“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! I will go now! Are you certain her ladyship doesn’t need my help to prepare King Felix’s tea?”

I leaned in even farther now. “Strictly between us, my husband has recently brought up concerns that his tea has been tampered with the last few weeks. Apparently, every time he drinks it, he becomes violently ill,” I whispered just loud enough that the two butlers who had just appeared down the hallway could also hear.

“But, ma’am?—”

“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing. Though I did hear he looked rather pale while I was in Duneberry last week. Once the healer returns from his trip, please send him up immediately. I don’t know what I would do if something were to happen to my Felix.”

She curtseyed deeply and nodded before running off to the servants’ quarters as I continued to my parlor.

Unfortunately, the healer would not respond to their summons when the time came, as he was floating in the Golden Sea, dead as of two days ago.

I turned the corner into my parlor and pulled the poison sachet free from the hollowed-out book. Next, my trembling fingers collected the small green tin of loose tea that sat next to the small memoillusion cube of Felix and I on the desk.

I stared at the little glass box and watched as our tiny figures of light danced together in a perfect waltz. The gold glow of our opaque bodies moving with grace.

We looked so happy. It was the first time we ever met, at our wedding ceremony.

I had been brought up knowing that I would wed the crown prince of Seelie. He only had a few brides to choose from, and my wings almost guaranteed me the position. I had no other powers, which was unheard of for a pureblood. It would have damned me had I not been blessed with monarch wings. They all believed it was destiny, but I knew I was just a mascot.

Royalty weren’t allowed to choose their partner, not really. It was a matchup of pure, royal-blooded families. The men were the ones that chose. It was based purely off of dancing with the eligible women in a ballroom and then marrying them hours after. I held the memoillusion cube, feeling its solid weight settle in my hands. Felix’s handsome face stared back, his deep amber eyes stabbing into my soul from behind the glass.

I had loved him from the moment he swore he wouldn’t treat me the way the other queens were treated. That he wanted me to be an equal and rule beside him. That was unheard of for a king.

Felix worshiped me. Anything that made me happy, he made flourish as only a king could do. When I asked for a novel, he built me a library. When I showed interest in war strategy, he allowed me to sit in during briefings on the procession of the Unseelie War. He always treated me as an equal, showing me anything and everything I could ever want to know.

But then that was the problem.

He had shown me how much I didn’t wish to be his equal. I wanted his power.

Putting the memoillusion cube down, I grabbed the poison, poured the dried herbs into the tea sachet, and tightened the small, cream-colored strings, setting it in the teacup and hurrying out of my parlor before I could lose my courage.

“There you are, my flower.”

I bumped into Felix’s chest, causing me to nearly drop the fragile cup. “Felix.”

His familiar hands wrapped around my waist. “Agh, the woman with the tea. Chef Samuel mentioned that you wished to deliver my tea tonight. I desperately hate to be a pest, but after the day I’ve had, I’m afraid I need quite a strong brew,” he said squeezing my middle.

Oh, I’d give him a strong brew.

I’d have doubled the dose had I thought I’d have to sit and listen to him talk about his boring day. He had no idea what a tough day was. He and everyone else in Seelie were oblivious to the horrors outside of Seelie’s veil.

“I was just bringing it up, my dear. Will you be taking it in your study?” I asked, taking note of the faded scroll he carried under his arm.

“Yes, I need to place a few things in the burnaway.” He removed his arm from my waist to rub at his forehead.

We continued up the stairs and into his study without words. I made my way to the warm wrought-iron kettle in the corner of the well-lit study. I poured a bit of the hot water, filling the teacup I held. The black kettle refilled itself with hot water before I had a chance to set it back on the table. The tea sachet leached a small swirl of purple into the clear water as it steeped.

I couldn’t do this. This was foolish and wrong. Felix was a good man, a good king. He had been so kind to me.

What was I doing? I was Seelie. I didn’t do things like this.

“You and I will be unmatched in power. You will show all the realms what you are truly made of. No one can stop us with an army so powerful.”

Thanes’s dominating promises echoed in my head, the words he said to me every time I delivered another group of humans for him to break, each more sinister than the last. Though I was having a harder and harder time impressing him with my finds. We needed someone more powerful than a regular human, but the trouble was, anyone more powerful easily blocked him from entering their mind.

My eyes clenched shut.

This was the only way to get power over the other realms.

I needed to claim the throne for myself and become the most powerful queen in existence. It wouldn’t matter that I couldn’t shift into a fox or that I was just a chosen bride. For once, it would be me with all of the power.

I opened my eyes and moved the teabag around. The water deepened in color.

Felix had gone to the fireplace, waving his hand in front with an easy flick that caused a bright glow of sunlight to cast upon the sooty-black inside and burst into flames.

“Here is your tea, darling. It must have been an eventful day if you have scrolls for the burnaway,” I said, sending up a silent prayer that he didn’t feel the need to tell me about it.

Felix began to set the scroll in the fireplace, then paused. The fire of the burnaway would seal it from all eyes but his until he requested to see it again. It was where he put all of his most important documents.

Taking the ivory teacup from me, he sat with a great huff in the dark-green love seat facing the fire.

“It’s been a day straight from the seven levels of Tartarus. I was in the confidence of Zef this afternoon.” He paused to take a sip of his tea.

My breath stilled. Would he taste it? Would he know that I betrayed him?

He let out a relaxed sigh.

I gripped the gold-and-white dress hanging heavily over my legs and sat in the love seat across from him, my back to the fire.

I’d rather watch the hedges grow than listen to him talk about Zef. The Ancient had been close with Felix prior to his Ascension, and he had always hated me.

I couldn’t have cared less. Zef was Artemi, and as such, could ascend to Moirai and preside over the veil with the other grandchildren of the gods. He thought he was better than everyone . It was no wonder the Artemi had gotten themselves wiped clean off the realms.

I hated Zef.

As he was the god that created all shifters, I couldn’t help but wonder if he had something to do with my not being able to shift.

“How is your tea, dear?” I asked with a little more bite than I meant to.

“It’s lovely. Bring Eli up here, would you? He would love to taste the berries in it,” the king mumbled.

“Oh, I’m afraid he’s resting. I’m taking him on his first trip to the human realm tonight.” I smiled as I watched him take another large gulp of the tea.

“The human realm? Oh my. Do be careful. I know Unseelie can no longer cross, but I’ve heard the Smoke Slayers can. From what Zef tells me, all hell broke loose at the Unseelie palace today. Such an unpleasant lot they are, murdering their own family, such vile nonsense.” He shook his head, causing the purple tea in his cup to tremble.

He had done it. Thanes had killed Queen Tenebris and that little nitwit of a son.

Pure euphoria coated my insides. I could have sung. In one swift motion, I moved to the seat next to my husband and tipped the cup more deeply as he drank, emptying it in his mouth as I leaned an elbow on the back of the seat.

“Oh my, good heavens,” he chuckled as he pulled the empty cup away and set it on the small table next to the sofa.

Already his normally tan skin had taken on a pale, waxy sheen. The heavy wrinkles under his amber eyes were moist with sweat. Tiny beads of sweat lined his reddish-blond hairline.

“Is it warm in here?” he asked. “I suppose it will be safe enough in the human realm, if it’s safe enough for Zef…” He trailed off. His bloodshot eyes snapped to the scroll still hovering in the fireplace before catching mine. “Oh no…”

He clumsily moved toward the blaze, realizing he hadn’t sent the scroll away with the fire yet. Just as he reached for the scroll, he fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

King Felix struggled a moment to sit up, looking to me in alarm. “You…you must send the scroll away. Zef entrusted me… I-I have to watch over them,” he said as the poison did its job and he struggled to breathe.

He had a sickening gray pallor now as he leaned back against the sofa, clutching at his chest.

Wait, what did he just say?

“What do you mean, Zef entrusted you with watching over them? Watching over who?” I asked.

“I’ve… Get the healer. I’ve been poisoned.” His head lolled to one side as he began to cough. “Burn the scroll, Saracen. It’s a matter of life and death. There are more Artemi. Zef has them hidden… Wait…my—my tea,” he whispered as his fading mind struggled to put the pieces together.

My handsome fae husband looked up at me with so much hurt in his eyes, I nearly felt bad.

I grabbed the scroll from the fireplace and sat down next to him. “It will be better this way, Felix, I promise you,” I whispered into his ear as his breathing slowed. “You wouldn’t want to see what’s about to happen to this realm. I’ve joined forces with the Unseelie King Thanes. We’ve created an unstoppable army. We will rule the Seelie, the Unseelie, and the human realm before we take the Elven and Hanabi realms. Soon all the realms will bow to me.”

“How could… The kids… Swear to me that the kids…will be safe, Saracen…swear to me!” He struggled to keep his eyes open.

“I can’t do that,” I whispered with a frown.

I’m not sure why I had thought it would be hard to watch him die. It wasn’t.

It was invigorating.

His last breath sputtered from his chest with a low, rattling sound. I unraveled the thick, tan scroll, letting out a lungful of air myself.

Unit 1 No. 11 Upper Morn St.

Donegal Town, Pennsylvania

Human realm

Calypso, Jennifer, and Adrianna

Interesting.

I leaned across the couch and grabbed the old iron scissors from the small wooden table behind the sofa, lost in thought.

“Don’t worry, darling. I have no doubt a good soul like yours will visit Aether in the Elysian Fields.” I pressed my lips against his damp, slightly warm forehead. “I have a feeling I won’t be meeting you there in the afterlife either, after what I’m about to do.”

With a firm grip and the most force my arms could muster, I grabbed the hair on top of his head with one hand and forced the iron scissors into his skull with the other, hitting the exact place I had planted my kiss.

I had to push and fight a bit to get the scissors all the way through, the odd squishes and pops catching my attention as the scissors tunneled farther in.

The more pure-blooded the fae, the harder they were to kill. Most pureblood immortals were immune to illness and recovered from poisons and superficial wounds easily. Shifters of pure blood, like Felix, required a severe and thorough head injury.

Steadying myself, I tugged until the scissors exited the dripping hole in his forehead. I was nearly mesmerized by the slow drips of metallic blood that dripped off the point, shining against the warm sunset rays that came in through the large windows of the office.

Calmly walking toward the door, I patted the pleats of my gown until I found the hidden pocket and placed the textured scroll inside, trading it for the few tolkiens and gems from within its hidden depths.

Soft thunks sounded as I opened my hand and the bloodied scissors and tolkiens crawled across the intricate carpet by the door.

A sharp twinge of regret suddenly rippled through me at the realization that Felix was truly gone from my life forever. I didn’t look back. I didn’t dare. This was what had to happen.

I reprimanded myself for being so weak. This had to be done. For Thanes and me.

I stepped out of the room and into the hallway before clearing my throat and letting out a blood-curdling scream.

By now the new maid would have already shown the entire castle staff her “bonus”: the prized pouch of Felix’s most sought-after and collected treasures.

The ones the entire staff knew he would never part with.

There were no bonuses for the staff.

The elder staff had likely restrained her already.