Chapter 50 #2
“Of course you’re going to think that.” My father’s voice is patient. The voice he used when I was small and didn’t understand why I wasn’t allowed to do something. “That’s why Maester Aedis is here. To help you see clearly again.”
He believes it. He genuinely believes I’ve been enchanted, and that once the mage fixes me, I’ll be back to believing fae are monsters.
The mage extends his hand toward me. “If I may? This won’t hurt.”
“I don’t—” The look in my father’s eyes stops me.
I could try to fight, but what would be the point?
They’ll believe that’s part of the spell I’m under, and then they’ll hold me down and do it anyway.
If I comply and do this willingly, maybe once he looks and finds nothing, my father will listen to what I have to say.
I round the chair and sit down, then look at the mage. “I’m ready.”
The mage’s fingers touch my temple. Cold slithers over my skin, beneath it, crawling into my head. I shiver, wanting to pull away, but the mage holds me firm. And then I feel it, his magic sliding like oil through my thoughts.
I’m panting and shivering by the time he drops his hands, and turns toward my father.
“Well? What did they do to her?”
The mage doesn’t answer immediately, turning his head to fix on me with eyes that glow.
“Master Aedis?”
“Your Majesty, I regretfully have to tell you that there is no enchantment. There is no compulsion, or magical influence of any kind.”
Silence falls across the room, and then Brennan steps forward.
“That’s impossible! She fought me. She tried to run—”
“I can assure you, Captain, her mind is her own.” The mage’s voice is calm. “Whatever she has done, she did by her own choice.”
My father hasn’t moved. He’s staring at me, and the look in his eyes turns my blood cold. “Alleria?” His voice is very quiet. “Tell me he’s wrong.”
“I can’t,” I whisper.
My father closes his eyes, hands flattening on his desk. “You’re telling me that when you tried to escape Brennan … both times you did that fully aware of what you were doing?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” His eyes open. “Make me understand, Alleria. What did they do to make you turn against your own people?”
“They didn’t do anything. I saw the truth.”
“The truth.” He spits the word. “And what truth is that?”
“What we do to them. The cages at the Dell, the collars, the—”
“The preserves exist for a reason,” he shouts. “The fae are dangerous. They’ve always been dangerous. The collars, the modifications, the hunts. All of it keeps us safe.”
“They’re not animals, Father.”
“No. They’re worse than animals.” He rises from his chair. “Animals kill to eat. Fae kill because they enjoy it.”
“And we are just as bad. We kill them for sport!”
“Whatever they told you, whatever they’ve made you believe, they’re using you. I don’t know what for yet, but I intend to find out.”
He strides around the desk and comes to stop in front of me.
“Alleria, I—” He frowns, and one hand lifts to brush my hair away from my throat.
“What is this?” He turns to the mage. “You said there was no enchantment, but these marks … What did they do to you, Alleria? Is this why you’re defending them? To hide what has been done to you?”
Heat floods my face.
“You should not be ashamed, daughter. If they forced you, if they—”
I can’t meet his eyes. “I wasn’t forced.”
My father’s hand drops and he steps back. “You let it touch you? You let one of those creatures—”
“He’s not a creature.”
My father flinches as though I’ve struck him.
Behind him, Brennan makes a sound. Low and rough, almost a growl. When I glance at him, his face has changed. Gone is the man I knew, replaced by something angry and ugly.
“You fucked it?” His voice is thick with disgust. “You spread your legs for a fae?”
“Brennan. We don’t know that.”
“Then ask her. Ask her what those marks mean. Ask if there are others.”
Both men stare at me.
“Well, Alleria? Did you willingly whore yourself to a fae?” I’ve never heard such an ugly tone from Brennan before.
“It wasn’t—” I swallow, clearing my throat. “It wasn’t like that.”
Brennan’s fingers curl into fists. “You were mine. You were promised to me!”
My lips part, and I look between them. My father, who won’t meet my eyes, and Brennan, whose face is twisted with fury.
“Promised?” I repeat slowly. “What do you mean?”
My father moves back behind his desk. “When you were seven years old, I made an arrangement with Brennan’s father.” He still won’t look at me. “A betrothal contract. It was to be announced when you returned from your birthday hunt.”
“What?” I press a hand to my mouth. I feel sick, nausea churning my stomach. “You sold me … when I was a child.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re a princess. Did you really think you would marry for love? And it is a good match. Brennan’s family has served the crown for generations. He would have given you a good life.”
“Would have.” Brennan’s voice is bitter. “Before she let a fae rut her like a—”
“Enough.” My father’s voice is mild.
“All those years … You taught me to ride, you stood guard outside my door, and really you were just waiting for me to be old enough to collect.”
“I was being patient.” He stalks toward me.
“Fourteen years, Alleria. I watched you grow from a child into a woman. I turned down other matches and opportunities, because I knew what was promised to me.” His eyes drop my throat, and his lip curls into a sneer.
“And you let that thing put its hands on you. It’s mouth. What else did you let it do?”
I don’t answer.
“Did it fuck you?” He’s close enough now that I can see the vein pulsing in his temple. “Did you moan for it the way you should have moaned for me?” He turns to my father. “That creature took what belonged to me. I want to know what it did to her. I want to know everything.”
“Alleria, tell me about the fae who did this to you. Where is it hiding? Is it still in the village where Brennan found you?”
I shake my head. “I won’t tell you.”
“You will tell me everything.”
“No.”
His hand slams down onto the table. “As your king, I am demanding your loyalty!” he roars.
I barely manage to stop myself from flinching. Holding my head up, I meet his gaze.
“I said no.”
And as I watch, I see the final remnants of my father leave his eyes, until only the king remains. “It seems my daughter needs reminding where her loyalties lie.” He looks at the mage. “Take her. You have my permission to do whatever you need to find the information we need.”
The mage inclines his head. “As you wish, Your Majesty.”
“No!”
Before I can move, Brennan’s hand closes around my arm, hauls me to my feet, and shoves me toward the mage.
“Wait!” I try to twist free. “Father, please!”
“Take her to the lower chambers.” My father’s voice is flat and empty.
“Father, listen to me.”
“You have consorted with the fae. You gave yourself to them. You are no longer my daughter.”
“Father!”
Brennan’s grip tightens, and he drags me toward the door. I stumble, my feet tangling in my skirts, and he yanks me upright without slowing.
“You brought this upon yourself.” The door closes on my father’s final words.
“Guards, to me.” Brennan snaps the command as he strides down the hallway. The three guards move into position around him, the mage at his side.
I scream, and struggle, fighting to get free, but it’s no use. No matter what I do, Brennan’s grip doesn’t falter, and I’m dragged along hallways, down stairs, and through doors I’ve never seen before. The air grows colder, damper, and the walls change from polished wood to rough stone.
I’m breathing heavily when Brennan stops in front of a heavy iron door. The mage steps forward, producing a key from within his robes, and puts it in the lock. It groans as the key turns.
The room beyond is small and windowless. A single chair sits in the center, bolted to the floor. Chains dangle from its arms.
“Sit.” Brennan shoves me toward it.
“No.”
His hand cracks across my face, and the blow snaps my head to the side. Blood fills my mouth.
“Sit. The. Fuck. Down.”
He shoves me. My knees hit the back of the chair and I go down hard.
Brennan fastens the chains around my wrists, pulling them tight, then he straightens. “Get what we need, then bring her to my quarters. She’s already been deflowered, so I might as well get what I’ve been waiting for. Then she goes to the cells until the king decides her punishment.”
Then he’s gone, and I’m alone with the mage, who circles me slowly, his robes whispering against the floor. When he speaks, his voice is gentle.
“This doesn’t have to be unpleasant, Princess. Simply tell me what I need to know, and we can avoid any … discomfort.”
“I won’t betray them.”
“Loyalty.” He stops in front of me, and uses one finger to tip my head up. “It’s an admirable quality, in its proper place. But your loyalty is misplaced, child. The fae are not worthy of it.”
“You don’t know them.”
“I know what they are.” He leans closer, bringing his face level with mine. “I know what they do. I’ve spent my life studying their kind, learning their tricks and manipulations. Whatever you think you feel for them, it isn’t real.”
“It is real. And I will not give them up to you.”
“Then I’m sorry.” He straightens. “Because this will hurt without your compliance.”
His hands come up and his fingers press against my temples. The cold comes again, but this time it doesn’t slide like oil, it stabs. It tears into my mind like claws, ripping through my thoughts and shredding everything in its path.
I scream.
The pain is blinding. I can feel him inside my head, searching. Faces flash past—Kaelith, Therin, Vel. I try to hide them and push them down where he can’t reach.
Where are they?
The question hammers into my skull. I clench my teeth, fighting to keep the answer buried.
Show me.
“No!” My scream bounces off the walls.
Show me, or I’ll tear your mind apart until you’re nothing but a shell.
He means it. I can feel his magic pressing deeper, cracking through walls I didn’t know existed. Pain lances through my head. I’m sobbing, sucking in breath after breath, as I fight to stop him.
Where is it?
I won’t tell. I won’t—
The mage’s magic slams into me again, and this time something gives. A wall crumbles. Memories spill out. Cairn’s hands on my skin, his mouth against my throat, the sound of his voice saying my name.
There it is.
No! No no no.
And then, cutting through the agony like a blade—
Moirthalen?
The voice is inside my head. Familiar in a way that makes me sob.
Moirthalen. Can you hear me?
Cairn!
I press my lips together, hoping I haven’t said his name out loud. The magic is still tearing through my head, but beyond it, there’s something else now. A thread of warmth, faint but steady, pulsing in time with my heartbeat.
I’m here, Moirthalen. His voice is strained. Hold on.
The mage pauses. His fingers dig harder against my temples, and he probes, searching for the source of whatever he’s sensing.
“What is this?” His voice is sharp. “There’s something—”
Don’t let him find it. You need to push him out.
How? I don’t know how.
I think of walls again. Stone and iron and thorns. I build them around the thread, around Cairn’s voice, and hold on tight.
The mage’s magic slams against the barrier, and pain explodes through every nerve ending. I scream again, but I don’t let go.
“Impressive.” The mage sounds almost admiring. “You have more strength than I expected. But it won’t help you.”
He pushes harder. The walls crack. I sob, feeling him getting closer.
Alleria. Cairn’s voice cuts through the chaos. Listen to me. There’s a way to stop this, but you have to trust me.
How?
The magic that’s been weaving around you. The Nightwild Guard. If you accept it, I can reach you. I can help you fight him.
The thread pulses, and I feel it. The magic that’s been curling through me for weeks, waiting. All I have to do is say yes.
What will it do to me?
I don’t know. It won’t kill you, I know that much. But if you don’t, then the mage is going to take everything you are, Moirthalen.
The mage’s magic tears at my walls again. Another crack, followed by another surge of blinding pain.
Alleria … Aethryn. His voice softens on the word. Let me in.
He said if I accept then I’ll be tied to him, bound to the Nightwild Guard forever. I don’t know what that is, not really. And I don’t know what it might cost me.
But I know what it will cost if I don’t.
Therin, Caelum, Vel, Serath. All the humans in the village who hide the fae.
The mage will rip their identities from my mind, and my father will send soldiers to slaughter them all.
Alleria.
The walls are crumbling. I can feel the mage pushing through, his magic cold and relentless, reaching for the memories I’m trying so hard to protect.
I have seconds. Maybe less.
Aethryn, please. Let me in.