Chapter 14 #2
The throne room, though, that was all Noth.
Not even Brad’s hammer hid the chandeliers with dripping jet crystals that both reflected and consumed the light.
The sharp angles of the dais looked a little too aggressive to be Elven and built to withstand an ogre horde.
No wonder Brad couldn’t redecorate. Sure, black boxes with wires coming out of them littered the walls, and a blank black box took up one whole section where a painting had clearly hung, but as we stepped through the crowd, I couldn’t help but see Noth everywhere.
Nowhere was it more apparent than the rounded veranda that looked out over a massive set of gardens. A team of soldiers worked to rip it out plant by plant and I died a bit inside. Plants were infinitely easier to move, kill or burn than stone and magic. Petty move on Brad’s part.
The man himself sat on the throne topping the dais, his bride next to him.
Yaya was right. She looked too thin, but also wan and graceful paired with the usurper.
Her eyes though, they watched Brad the same way you watched a hungry tiger.
A spurt of sympathy welled up in my chest. Evie looked like that toward the end of her relationship with her ex.
He smiled too wide. A boy playing dress-up in fine king’s clothes.
His sandy hair, now grown out past his shoulders, his horse teeth, and the sense of sinister beige about him were just as I remembered.
Well, almost as I remembered. His skin looked slightly ashy, his eyes a bit too bright.
Since the last time we saw him, he had clearly done some magic to his ears to get them to point.
I could see the haze around them, but I guess it was enough to sell it to the Elves.
His bodyguard and the fake Calix stood to his right, his bride to his left, both on display.
Her dress trailed in an artful blue pile down the stairs.
It had to be impossible to move in that thing.
Yaya tapped my arm. “I'm going to talk to some of my contacts. Let me get the temperature of the room before you make your play.”
“You good?” I asked Jax.
“Fine,” he replied noncommittally.
“There will be plenty of gold after all this is over-”
“Don’t worry about it. Just don't let me end up with them.” Jax nodded his head to the soldiers lining the walls of the throne room.
It seemed we all had our own histories with Brad. It rested on the tip of my tongue to ask but we needed to focus. He hadn’t abandoned us thus far, or protested Brad’s demise, so I had to trust our gold would buy his loyalty. Things would get pretty “life or death” very soon.
The buzz of the throne room brought all sorts of gossip when I stayed still and listened for a change instead of charging ahead.
Have you tried again with his blessing?
No youngling. The sorrow on the male Elf’s face cut stark lines.
We’ve traded one freak for another.
At least this one will make me rich.
The braying female turned my stomach.
Brad is the best, a young Elf said. She wore a metal and wire crown on her head. More refined than one Brad fitted to Noth during his imprisonment, it looked like Brad tried his old tricks if he didn’t get his way.
I miss Dumpling Saturdays.
I willed my head not to whip around and slowly turned my body to glance from under my lashes. A young Elven guard fiddled with his flowing military skirt rather than watch the room.
Yeah, those were damn good and you could eat as many as you wanted. His partner agreed.
Okay, so not everyone had the fate of the realm as their top priority but why did I have the sneaking suspicion that Noth instituted Dumpling Saturdays too?
I didn't realize I had sketched a sigil of truth and influence over a nugget of blue marbled sodalite, carrying the room's whispers to me. I drew a deep breath for the very first time. Life’s itchy sweater fell away while I worked my magic.
I was always supposed to be able to do this and it felt damn good.
A tall–even for Elf standards–male stepped up to the dais. His long, curling staff of silver and ash thumped on the floor with a resounding echo.
Head held high, his voice carried across the room. “Allfenheim! Bow before your king.”
It took me a moment to realize I wasn’t bowing like I should be and I noted every single other Elf that hesitated as well.
When we all rose, Brad stood on the first step of the dais, flapping his hands like all the adoration was no big deal.
Still, he took a moment to adjust the bangles on his wrists.
As they glowed, the pressure in the room increased.
Those hadn't changed. Could his mecha have saved him from Evie’s mighty hurl into the sky?
“You guys! Come on. We’re basically one big family now, right?”
I gritted my teeth. We certainly were not and watching the twitching reaction of the Elves closest to me said they weren’t either.
“It’s been a hard road to get here, but I believed in us. We’re building something greater than ourselves. I know. A lot of long hours…”
“And no dumplings,” the guard muttered.
“... but I only have winners on my team and that has meant a lot of sacrifice. It also means we’re finally ready to expand my kingdom.”
So it was “his kingdom” when it suited him. If ever the stars aligned to teach me a lesson, this was it. The anger missing with Noth and Yaya came pouring over me like a bath of lava. I needed to save my anger for the people who really deserved it and Brad certainly deserved it.
Brad’s smile slid like oil over his face. “And we have a new ally.”
The man who stepped from behind the throne looked enough like Noth that he should have stolen my breath.
Tall and lithe like him, his dark hair glinted with cherry undertones.
He filled out his royal attire with a well-muscled frame and a sword that saw more than its scabbard.
His long hair, not quite as long as Noth’s, framed delicately pointed ears and his moss green eyes.
But Noth would have torn the crystalline wings on his back right from his body.
The copious light from the windows shimmered his dagger-like wings into a rainbow of colors.
It was the only soft thing about him. Haughty, reserved came to mind as he stood next to Brad and surveyed the crowd.
Gasps leapt up at his appearance. Murmurs of confusion confirmed he was the Fae King, as Brad took his hand and raised it like the asshat had won a prize. Distaste flashed so fast on the King’s face, not even Brad caught it with them standing next to one another.
“Together, we will take the Siren Queen’s kingdom.”
“We will discuss,” the Fae amended.
“And the Harrowlands!” Brad shouted.
Too full of himself to hear the Fae or acknowledge the lackluster cheer the crowd farted out, Brad turned back to his throne.
The Fae sat to his right as Brad snapped his fingers to be served refreshments.
Apparently that was about as rousing as he got for a plan that seemed dumb even to me.
But the ambition of a mediocre man knew no bounds.
I retreated to the edge of the room.
“What about the Calix? And the children?” A voice popped up that sounded suspiciously like Yaya’s. Everyone looked at everyone else to see who had spoken first.
“Yes!” The male Elf who had whispered his despair earlier took a brave step forward, then one back when Brad stood again.
In fact, everyone stepped somewhere else at Brad’s start and it gave me an excuse to move closer.
“When will the Calix bestow its blessing?” the Elf asked in a quieter voice.
Brad came down from the dais to make his point. Sweat gathered as I reached the foot of the stairs. I had never actually taken anyone out, not even Noth, as spicy as I usually lived my life. I had to make good on that promise now.
Brad put his hands on his hips and leaned forward, still taller than the crowd that would dwarf him if he weren’t standing on the stair. “Well, are you doing your part? How many of you have banged?”
The murmur of the crowd became a swell with his crude language. And was that a delicate sigh I heard from the throne? The Fae remained as stone-faced as ever so it must have come from the bride. I don’t know how anyone thought this donkey dick was even in the same league as Noth.
“The human experiment was doing better than this! They at least had children with the monsters of the Harrowlands.”
Some brave soul moved forward, Yaya at his back, literally propping him up.
“Don’t start, Erendriel, it's announcement day, not debate day. We can raze that human village now. That dull-witted experiment is over. Maybe we can make it into a polo field.”
“Of- of course, my Liege. Ow!”
Brad didn’t seem to notice Yaya elbowing the man in the kidney.
“What a stupid idea to begin with. Who searches for anything good in such easily manipulated and fragile creatures? They only produced bastard whelps, anyway. Didn’t you tell me you all hated the halfbreed on your throne?”
If I needed another reason to detest Brad, he was apparently chock-full of them. But my rage didn’t burn hot; it had turned ice cold. No one called Rat Face a halfbreed and lived.
“If that’s all?” Brad raised a brow; daring anyone else to say more.
That he silenced an entire throne room would make this all the sweeter. I took a first step onto the dais, tracing the sigil in my mind. I kept tabs on the three biggest threats, but the bride, the Fae and the bodyguard didn’t move, frozen in Brad’s anger.
The sigil I had planned should never be used lightly.
Rue made me swear to reserve it only for the worst the Harrowlands had to offer because it was a rebound spell.
Any hurt caused by the target would rebound upon them threefold.
Brad looked like a murderer in my book so he was as good as dead.
I understood it in my bones. Rue would have been proud of me for this.
Another quick few steps and I stood behind him with no time to waste, but I had to get in the last word.
“I’m going to enjoy this.” I told him as his eyes widened.
The magic came without effort. There wasn’t a lot when I still maintained the illusion, but it was there, ready, leaping into my fingertips, which grew dark as sin.
The beauty of that sigil was that it didn’t take a lot of power, using what already resided inside the target.
Easy to paint on Brad’s back. Simple to drive the magic into him. I didn’t even need a crystal.
He crumpled to the ground, writhing in agony and his bodyguard swung at me in slow motion.
Adrenaline and magic tasted metallic on the back of my tongue.
I froze, unsure I would survive this mad attempt.
A large pair of hands snatched me out of the fight.
Jax shoved me away, engaging with the bodyguard in a flurry of muscles and speed.
Weapons clanged together loudly enough for everyone to wake up and converge on us.
If his screams were any indication, payback was in process even if Brad looked decidedly not dead.
The Fae popped up next to me like an icy villain statue. “And who are you?”
He raised a hand and slowly smudged my illusion.
I didn’t have enough power to prevent him, maintain the mirage and fuel the spell coursing through Brad.
So I slapped him right across the face. A red handprint matched the shocked expression on his features.
I guess no one had ever done that to him, which, honestly, was a surprise.
He carried himself so remotely, someone must have checked if he still breathed from time to time.
I slapped him a couple more times before he gathered himself and grabbed my wrist. If complete pandemonium hadn’t broken out around us, I would have been worried, but where there was chaos, there was opportunity. Brad cried like a baby and most of the room’s focus remained on him.
I kicked the Fae straight in the nuts, his wings straightening like two exclamation points.
I really perfected my Fallon moves. She and I might not have been the best of friends like she was with Evie, but the girl imparted quality knowledge.
The sound of all the air leaving his body doubled as Jax and Yaya barreled into us.
“Thank God it worked,” Jax said as we all tumbled into the inky shadow that appeared behind us.
A magical rush skittered across my skin as we fell through nothing. The pile of us rolled out into Yaya’s kitchen garden, crushing plants, setting Noth to screeching.
I did it. My magic came when I called. Every time I used it, I felt a fraction better, more clear-headed, less willing to destroy every relationship in front of me.
It still coursed through me even though the illusion fell away and cut off from the rebounding sigil.
The magic was everything I hoped it would be after all those failed attempts and hours of practice with Rue. I was invincible! Unstoppable!
Except for the part where Brad wasn’t dead.
I crashed back to reality as I stood up in the garden split into half moons of shadow and light.
I was grateful the Fae and Noth had squared off amid the squashed plants, looking like they were about to end the world.
I took the opportunity to edge closer to the house.
He couldn’t find out I didn’t kill Brad.
Noth’s disappointment was something I didn’t know I would hate. I already had Evie’s to carry.
Like a second sight, his eyes found me even if his head didn’t turn from his opponent. Shadows wrapped around my legs and carried me to him, where he automatically cupped his hands under my ass. My body twisted away from him but he proved as relentless as the dark.
A kiss was apparently worth his break in concentration. And as his piercing slid across my tongue, I realized no matter what this journey turned out to be, some part of me understood Noth would be the death of me in a whole other way.