Chapter 10
Everything happened so fast that I wasn’t even sure what happened until it was all over and there was a dead guard in Flurry’s arms. People were screaming and bumping into me as I tried to get to Flurry and everyone else tried to get away.
And then it was like everything slowed down until a second took a minute, and I could see everything that happened.
Flurry clutched his guard to his chest and screamed, flung a hand out, and ice shot from his fingertips.
Not shards but vines of ice that wrapped around Lorne as he turned to flee, fully encasing and freezing him where he stood.
In the time it took for Flurry to stop and take a breath, Lorne and his companions were all sealed in a writhing mass of icy tendrils that quickly solidified.
A dead man, an enraged prince, and five people frozen in ice.
Time returned to normal as other guards cleared the room or moved their comrade onto the floor.
I refused to leave, pushing my way to Flurry’s side.
I’d known he had a temper and figured he could be brutal if he wanted to be, but the absolutely broken expression on his face as he looked down at his guard had me desperate to get to him before he fell apart.
“Hey,” I whispered and cupped his cheek, “look at me. Right here. Come on, Flurry.”
He looked up at me, tears in his bright blue eyes, and when one fell, it turned into a snowflake and floated away. “He’s dead. For me,” he croaked.
I nodded, wondering if it was the first time one of his guards had sacrificed themselves for his safety. If the brothers had been at war so much, surely people had died fighting?
“It was his choice,” I told Flurry. “He dove in front of you because he wanted to.”
Flurry shook his head, more tears falling. He swatted at the snowflakes and wiped at his face. I’d helped stop him from breaking, but now his rage was returning. When he looked toward the frozen people with a ferocious snarl, I put myself in front of him to block his view.
“Are they dead?”
“No,” he gritted out.
“Like the wolves?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the normal procedure for when someone’s committed murder?”
He looked up at me, confused. “What?”
“Regardless of where it happened, someone committed murder, got caught, and there are witnesses. What happens next?”
Flurry swallowed hard and touched his forehead. “They’re arrested. Held. A trial is set.”
“Melt them then.”
His gaze snapped to mine, eyes narrowed.
“Flurry, you need to follow the law, right? Your ice stopped them, but now you need to let the guards apprehend them and do their jobs.” I got down in his face to whisper, “One murder doesn’t deserve another. Don’t kill them in revenge. That’s not you.”
Or at the very least, I wasn’t going to let it be him.
He seemed to gulp back his anger before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.
I just kept caressing his shoulder and waiting, hoping I was doing the right thing.
I understood his rage, of course. If that had been one of my friends jumping in front of a blade to save me, well, maybe I wouldn’t have stopped going after the bad guys until they had daggers lodged in their throats, too.
Unless someone stopped me because they knew I wouldn’t ever want that on my soul for the rest of my life.
Flurry stepped around me, and I turned to see what he was looking at. Several guards were in front of Lorne and the others, their eyes on Flurry like they waited for his next move. He gave a nod and then reached out and made a fist.
The ice trapping them shattered.
Lorne started begging for his life like it hadn’t just been saved.
Had he not been aware while frozen? Had he not even known he’d been frozen?
The guards bound Lorne and the others as they, too, begged for forgiveness or insisted they’d had no idea what Lorne planned.
As they were led away, I got the feeling not a single one of them would be loyal to the others.
I watched as the dead guard was carried away by his fellows, until I felt Flurry bump into me. He was looking at his hand, the front of his gown, both of which were bloody.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” I told him and held his other hand.
“This way, sir.”
I discovered a staff member holding open what looked like a hidden door. I hesitated to go through, but Flurry didn’t, so I followed along.
It felt like we were using one of those secret passageways inside castles, where someone could pull on a book and a door would pop open.
The floors were clean but the only light was the glowing ball in the staff person’s hand as she led the way.
We went up two staircases and took a sharp right turn before she opened another door that let us out into a much bigger hallway.
We’d come out through a huge winter landscape painting and were standing in front of Flurry’s bedroom door. He had a secret passageway from his bedroom to his throne room. Despite the circumstances, that was pretty cool.
“Wait here a few minutes,” I said to the woman as Flurry went inside.
“Of course, sir.”
“I don’t know if someone would want his gown as evidence,” I told her quietly, “but I want to make sure they have the option.”
Her brown eyes widened and she nodded. “I’ll wait here, sir.”
I went into the suite and heard water running. Flurry was at the sink scrubbing his hands, red water swirling down the drain. I got a hand towel for him but ended up being the one to turn off the water when it ran clear because he was just staring at his hands.
“Why would he do that?” he whispered as I dried him off.
“Who?”
I set the towel down and pulled at his sleeves, intent on getting him out of his gown. He was quiet as we worked on that, both of us doing our best to keep the soiled part away from his skin. When I had the gown in my hands, I carefully folded it so that the stain was inside.
I was about to take it to the staff person outside when Flurry looked up at me, his expression so lost. “The guard,” he said. “Why would he do that?”
“Because he decided you’re that important and you needed to be protected, even if it cost him his life.”
Flurry shook his head and wandered out of the room. I watched him go to the breakfast nook and stand there staring out the window. This was…not good.
Before I was going to dive into what was happening in his head, though, I took the gown out to the woman waiting for it. She wasn’t alone now but had a guard with her. He held out a large bag. “You can put the gown in here, sir, and I’ll take it to the investigative team.”
Reassured that I might’ve done something right—and that they had a whole team working on things—I put the gown into the bag before going back inside.
Now to get Flurry believing he was worth saving.
He still stood staring out the window wearing only his skintight pants and ankle boots, but now his wings were present. What I knew about their appearance seemed to indicate that he was feeling vulnerable and maybe even moments away from escaping.
Since his wings weren’t fluttering, I went over and gently touched them. He looked up at me immediately, and I smiled.
“They look like they’d be brittle. Delicate. But they’re not.” I could flex them like the icicles on his head. “You’re so incredibly beautiful.”
He turned and leaned against me, his face tucked between my pecs and hands curled between us. I cupped the back of his neck and wrapped an arm under his wings to hold him.
“Is this the first time a guard has died protecting you?”
He nodded.
“Is it the first time you’ve seen someone die?”
He shook his head. “I’ve been at war with my brothers for most of my life.”
“So why would you think soldiers would fight for you but a guard wouldn’t die for you?”
Flurry shoved himself away from me. “Because I’m not worth it!”
“Baby—”
“I don’t know his name!” he screamed. But then he crumbled and hugged himself. “He died for me,” he whispered, “and I don’t know his name.”
I wanted him to get it all out, so I didn’t approach him or say anything now because he was shaking his head and starting to pace.
“I’ve seen hundreds of them die,” he said with agony in his voice, “and I just made more of them. I refilled their ranks like they were nothing but weapons for me to wield. One broke, and I made a new one. And I never knew any of their names!”
He screamed that again and then it was like his knees buckled because he hit the floor. Hunched over and overcome, he sobbed, the sound heartbreaking.
I ran to him and pulled him into my arms. “So change,” I said. “Change how you treat them, learn their names, talk to them, stop making more… Do whatever is necessary for you to see them as important as they see you.”
“They’re more important,” he mumbled into my shoulder. “More.”
“No, now, come on.” I made him look at me, snowflakes tumbling down his face. “Everyone here can be equally important. You’re all fae. They just need someone in charge of this crazy place, right? And you’ve got the skills, so it’s you.”
I swiped his snowflake tears away and then hugged him close as I stood up and took him with me. There was a big wingback chair by the fire, so I took us over there and sat down with him facing me on my lap. I tucked his face under my chin and hoped I could get him to understand.
“I saw today that your people trust you. They came to you for help because they knew you’d help them. All of them left with the solutions they needed, even if it wasn’t the exact thing they came in wanting. And they were satisfied.”
“Not him,” Flurry whispered.
“I’m pretty sure all that guy wanted was a fight, so yeah, he got what he wanted from you, too.
He just wasn’t thinking there’d be any consequences to his actions.
And right now other guards are investigating what happened, building a case, or doing whatever they’re supposed to do when one of their own is murdered. ”
“They are?”
“They are. I gave your gown to a guard who said there was a team working on things. Your gown might be evidence, so they have it now.” I caressed up and down his back from wings to waistband.
“If you want to know his name, we can find out what it was. We can find out what all their names were. Make a memorial and carve their names on it. We can make sure none of them are ever forgotten.”
Flurry sat up a bit to look at me. “I want to, but we’ve never done anything like that.”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re changing for the better. Seeing the error of you ways, right?”
He flopped back against my chest with a groan.
“Oh, stop. That’s a good thing.”
And it might just help break the curse. That was right there in my mind, but I did not want to say it out loud.
“Listen,” I said and jostled him to get his eyes on me again. “Are the guards or soldiers or whatever compelled to protect you, fight for you, or die for you? Like they can’t refuse even if they wanted to? It’s built into their bones to do that?”
“No,” he said, horrified. But then his face smoothed out and it looked like something had dawned on him. “Oh.”
“Has anyone said no? They won’t serve or fight or whatever?”
“Yes, some.”
“And what happened to them? Did you have them killed?”
He looked affronted. “Absolutely not. They were relieved of duty and sent home.”
“They made their choices. All of them.”
Flurry sighed. “Even this one.”
“Even this one.”
Relief washed through me because I knew he understood now. Maybe he’d been a heartless tyrant before, someone who didn’t see the worth in the lives around him. But he wasn’t anymore. He’d grown and changed.
Even if folks like Lorne were out there calling for Flurry’s head, I couldn’t believe they were in the majority.
Flurry and all his lordly advisors were worried about their people and doing what they could to make life better.
Did the general public throughout the land know?
Maybe they needed some kind of outreach program. I could help with that.
For now, I wrapped my arms around my prince above and below his wings and just held him.