Chapter 35
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
ORION
The fae took me back to London, my backside aching from the saddle when we arrived at the north Faery gate in Finsbury Park.
An arch of white stone curled around a silver door. It sat in the middle of the overgrown green space littered with death. All Faery gates across both worlds looked the same, freestanding and strange.
Until you opened them.
I tried getting answers from these assbugs the entire journey here, my throat hoarse from all the shouting.
Not one fae acknowledged me. They stomped over zombies, cutting them down with swords, the retinue focused on getting to the north gate.
The silver door slid open to the left, the grinding of the gears a hundred heavy bells crashing into rocks.
“Be on your guard!” the head woman ordered.
Some speedies attacked, and were dealt with swiftly.
“Eat!”
“How are they speaking?” a man said.
The gates stopped about a quarter of the way, wide enough to let us through if we filed through in single file.
Which we did.
Why couldn’t they have opened for me like this at the beginning of my nightmare?
Now I wanted them firmly closed.
“Please…” I rasped. “I can’t go in there. I can’t…”
But no one paid me any attention.
Tears rolled down my face. “Miko…”
This wasn’t happening.
This wasn’t happening.
This wasn’t happening.
But it was.
We crossed the threshold, the air shifting from death-laced to beautifully fresh, the autumnal chill pushed aside to make way for summer heat.
“No…” I whispered, squinting against brighter sunlight.
The gate sealed shut behind us, the closing boom the sound of utter dismay.
“No…”
“Welcome home,” the horse rider said. “Doesn’t it feel amazing to be out of that hell?”
I didn’t answer him, my head bowed as the horse trotted along the white stone path cutting through rich green grass.
Looking up would make this real. Looking up fixed me into a reality I rejected. I wanted out of the clean air, the warmth, the rising sounds of the royal city and ocean waves. The field markets lining the path could piddle off.
Curse them all!
Shoes, legs, voices, bags stuffed with goods—they all lingered on the edge of my vision.
Curse it all.
Curse the king.
Curse this realm.
I wanted to be with Miko.
Stars. Cursing Faery and my king?
I really had changed.
My sobs hurt my chest, my heart calling for my mate. This distance stretched me like a rubber band, the pining worse than my homesickness. The thump, thump was muted, wilting with each clop of the horse.
Fae voices called out from the market stalls.
Eventually, the temptation to lift my head got the better of me. And it only made me sob harder.
To my right, beyond the sprawl of market stalls, the white sands of Crystal Beach sparkled in the sun, the grass giving way to those gorgeous grains.
Stunning, adorned with palm trees, incredibly blue waters gently rolling in and out.
No storm ever hit these parts, no gloomy days in the south of Faery.
Basically, it was paradise—albeit rather on the busy side due to its popularity and sharing a realm border with London.
Well, once upon a time. Those touristy days were dead.
Market traders watched on, curious yet not too startled by the gates having just opened. I mean, they would’ve seen this army march into Earth.
I smelled bread and cakes and fish and perfume—a thousand scents hitting me all once.
Perfume. Miko collected perfume bottles because his mum once did. I wanted to buy him one and hurry back to the farm. Make everything better.
My homecoming was supposed to be with him, not like this.
In the distance, as the grass and sand sloped upward in unison, Majestic City awaited my arrival. A swell of dread overwhelmed me, every clop of the horseshoes taking us closer to His Majesty.
Crap.
A place of wealth and excess, built from shards of multicolored crystal to form the shape of a crown, the city shimmered in the sun, an explosion of color towering over everything.
The retinue’s horses cantered the two miles along the path, leaving the markets behind, the beach coming closer to the grass here.
A plethora of sun worshippers lined the side of the road, watching us pass.
Before Dawn, humans would come here to trade in the markets, swim, and sunbathe. Stars, these beaches were always packed with bodies and laughter, never dirty, always clean.
I hated it here. It lacked the solitude of my beach hut along the Blonde Coast, forty miles west of here along the southern coast of Faery.
“Take in that ocean air,” the rider told me. “Breathe it all in.”
“What did you do to Basil?” I tried again.
No answer.
“Why can’t you tell me,” I pressed. Maybe fae tongues would loosen up back in the safety of this place.
Wrong. The royal guards gave me nothing. Some waved at jolly children, and some spoke excitedly about their impending days off when they could splash around in the perfect waters and drink Vodka Flowers.
I puffed up my chest, a surge of bravery in control of my lips. “Send me back.”
The rider laughed. “Don’t talk rubbish.”
“I mean it. Send me back. Just open the gates a crack and I’ll slip through. The king doesn’t want me. I’m not special. I’m not…Basil.”
“No, you’re not Basil. You’re Orion. Remember?” A rider close by laughed at me.
Basil. He’d said the king wanting me was a lie.
“Did Basil come after me for the king?” I probed.
The guards laughed, still giving me no details.
Sounding off at them achieved nothing, but off I went anyway.
“Assbugs!”
The horse came to a stop, the guard pulling on the reins.
“Oh, now I have your attention.” I rattled my chains, still completely secured to the spot.
He shot me a look over his shoulder. “You get one.”
“One what?” I knew what he meant. “One assbug? Don’t they work as a team to nibble a rash across your butt cheeks?”
“Just one,” he warned.
“Because you’ll do what? Beat me? Spit in my face? The king sent you into a dangerous realm to bring me home. What would he say if you messed me up?”
His nostrils flared. “You stink.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Actually, I smelled okay having showered last night. “Werewolf cum is what you’re smelling.”
He huffed, getting the horse moving again.
This mini rant achieved nothing but hot glares and more silence.
Majestic City spread for thirty miles inland, and twenty miles along the shoreline.
Noisy, packed with buildings all cut from the same multicolored crystal, the place was a varied mess of color and design. Electric cars and bikes stopped at each crossing as the guards headed down the long road to Royal Palace.
It reminded me of The Mall leading to Buckingham Palace.
Get me back there!
Royal Palace was a hexagonal-shaped building of iridescent white crystal, the royal standard of a gold star on a white background flapping on three flagpoles in the ocean breeze. High, silver fences surrounded the palace, a heavy presence of guards patrolling the grounds.
The place was an impenetrable, comely monster waiting to swallow me.
“I can’t be here,” I complained weakly, riddled with defeat.
“But you are here,” the rider answered as the gates opened.
“Miko…”
Wendy beeped in my pocket, drawing the attention of the rider.
When did I leave her off mute? I was sure I’d put her back on silent after Miko finished playing with her.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
“Wendy?”
“What is that?” the rider asked, the horse approaching the guard’s entrance to the palace.
Beep! Beep! Beep!