Kaitlyn
Iopen my eyes, groan, and close them again. It’s bright above me, and a heat seems to be searing over my skin.
“The female is awake, Lord,” a scratchy voice calls out.
I’m rolling from side to side as if within a boat on the water, except I can’t smell water. There is only the old socks smell which usually hangs around the Faerie and the Redcaps. Which means I have to be in some sort of carriage.
“Good, good,” Tam Lin says, and his face moves into my vision. “You might find you can’t move for a while and possibly see things which aren’t there, my dear,” he says genially. “The nightshade can have that effect.”
“Nightshade?” I get out through chattering teeth as the searing heat turns to deathly cold.
My eyes have adjusted to my surroundings, and I find I’m lying on a plush scarlet velvet cushion, a silk awning drawn over us, but the sides of the carriage are open to the elements, in this case, the sun, high in the midday sky.
“Not as deadly as it’s made out to be.” Tam Lin chuckles. “After all, I need you alive.”
The chill reaches my heart.
“Linton.” His name comes out as a cry ripped from my very soul.
“The Bluecap.” Tam Lin shakes his head. “He shouldn’t have mated with you.”
I can’t speak because if I do, it will be a howl of pain.
“It could only end one way, for him,” he says, as if he really cares. “Which is a shame as he was a useful empty vessel.”
“You monster,” I force out through teeth gritted so hard, I’m surprised my jaw hasn’t broken.
Tam Lin whirls on me, his face transforming into a terrible visage, as if ravaged by a wild animal, bloody, ripped to the bone, horns sprouting from his forehead.
“I am not the monster. The Faerie are not the monsters in the Yeavering,” he snarls before recovering his composure and the mask he wears.
The mask all Faerie wear.
“There are monsters here. Your dead Bluecap was one of them. The Barghest is another. And they will all discover what happens when you challenge the Faerie,” he announces imperiously.
“It seems to me challenging the Faerie has resulted in the loss of your queen and a number of your lords.” I discover my voice is working, driven by the anger which rises volcanically inside me at his arrogance.
“It seems to me you are losing to what you call monsters and what everyone else might call heroes.”
Tam Lin’s face morphs once again before he recovers his composure and forces out a laugh.
“I am not losing, and once you do what you were brought to the Yeavering for, I will use my powers to destroy all of them.” That terrible face is back close to mine again. The foul sweet odour of decay makes me want to recoil…if there was anywhere to go. “Your Bluecap was just the start.”
Fortunately for my sense of smell, he withdraws, and his glamour returns. Although once you have seen a Faerie without it, it’s almost impossible for them to completely restore their former persona. It’s as if the magic doesn’t work as well once their true self is revealed.
The Faerie believe they are invincible, all powerful, and it’s that belief which has driven them to take over the Yeavering. Their real lack of power became painfully apparent once they were challenged.
“And as for your so called resistance, they’re the reason you’re here in the first place.” He sits back against his seat, a smug smile on his face as he lets this particular nugget sink in. “Your sister, the one you vowed to protect”—he inspects his fingernails—“ended up here anyway.”
“What?” I sit bolt upright. “No!”
“You really thought there was a way to outwit us?” Tam Lin chuckles, pleased to have the upper hand.
“Where is Hazel?” I growl. “Where is my sister?”
“Her whereabouts are the least of your worries,” Tam Lin says as the carriage comes to an abrupt halt. “We’re here.”
He jumps out of the carriage. I attempt to look out to see where ‘here’ might be but discover my strength has deserted me.
All I can do is stare up at the billowing canopy and curse the so called resistance who told me Hazel would be safe if I volunteered to go in her place. At the same time, my heart is in pieces. I daren’t close my eyes because I know I will see the arrow hit Linton over and over.
A sob escapes my lips. Everything is destroyed. I have lost my Linton to the Faerie and now it seems I have lost my sister too.
I have nothing left.
Nothing at all.