Chapter 17
Maggie
Brad on the Elven throne proved to be one of the least intimidating things I had ever witnessed.
Brad in an empty throne room, a towel hastily thrown on–thank the Godds–was downright comical.
I only judged a little, but there was not an ab or a bicep in sight.
His bride stood beside him, draped in a bright silk mauve morning gown fit for a Queen.
It dripped and frilled in all the right places, tumbling down the stairs.
It made her “woke up from a midday nap” dishevelment appear purposeful, like she posed for a portrait. All that material might strangle her.
As Brad screamed at the soldiers streaming downstairs, I sent a silent manifestation into the Universe that Noth would escape the sheer numbers arrayed against him. Whether invincible or not, even a Nightmare would fall if overwhelmed.
Brad turned back to me. I put on my best annoyed face.
“You seem pretty good at getting everyone else to do your dirty work.”
I would try anything to get that dick waffle riled up.
Brad looked at me with contempt. “Why shouldn’t I? You’re all so eager to do it to each other. That Fae rushed to be the first to congratulate me for unseating the halfbreed.”
Well, that explained why the rebounding spell didn’t work.
If he never lifted a finger, it wouldn’t kick back on him.
I would have to think of another tactic to get out of this mess.
After all the shit Noth gave me for being incautious, he blew our cover.
A taste of my own impulsiveness had me swallowing hard.
I wanted to make Rat Face the enemy out of habit, but I knew he would be the only one coming for me.
I had to be patient if I wanted to be alive. Not always my best look.
“I could just fit you with a new headband and order you to kill the monster, but I think I would rather play with you first.” Brad spoke in low tones to his soldiers but I caught the words “torture” and “machine”.
Okay, that sounded bad. I gauged the exit swarming with Elves. Of course, it wouldn’t be as easy as just running out the front door.
“Bring her,” Brad said.
I tensed as two soldiers grabbed each of my arms and I dug my heels into the floor.
Painting them with sigils would do fuck-all if I couldn’t get out of here.
More would just replace them. Reaching for any handhold to claw me back from my fear, I realized I still sensed Noth.
The thread of magic I pulled on earlier still connected us. He was alive… and angry.
Dragging was my least favorite mode of transportation but instead of heading down dark halls full of impending doom, we all trudged to the receiving room that Noth and I mistakenly entered the first time.
Somehow it looked even more of a mess with clothes flung over tables and a questionable corset hung from the central chandelier along with the sock.
Brad promptly destroyed it further, holding up and discarding clothes on the floor like a fussy child.
He turned to his bride in a pair of beige trousers and an Elvin tunic that had to be padded because it suddenly added bulk to his shoulders and arms. Cinching a bejeweled silver belt around his waist, he then flung out his arms, trying to impress her.
“You look great,” she said, with more enthusiasm than he really deserved.
That didn’t seem good enough for Brad. His petulant frown was only the beginning of the storm. He rearranged the belt with hunched shoulders before he snapped back at her.
“This place is a disaster. Shouldn’t you be doing something about it?”
The poor girl flinched and I was immediately dragged back to Evie’s hateful ex who never said anything quite as obvious but definitely had the same small-dick energy.
That’s why he was so hard to pin down. The asshole never crossed the line and Evie got sick of me telling her to leave him.
If I couldn’t kill that butt waffle, Brad was the next best option.
I wasn’t waiting around for him to start hitting her.
I strode forward.
“Get to it then.” He rounded on me and took a black stick from a guard.
When it touched my skin, a thousand fires lit all over my body.
My limbs straightened and locked with a horrible will of their own.
My teeth clenched to near bursting until he took the stick away and I slumped into a heaving heap.
That was the thing he used on Noth before.
How had Noth survived? I wanted to vomit.
So I did. All over his piles of clothes.
Brad’s screeching sounded like a bad dream as he ordered the torture chamber ready and whipped back to his bride. “You can clean that up too and make her help or you’ll end up next to her.”
The guard, a human one, stayed to block the door of the receiving room. That was a mistake. A gentle hand touched my back.
“Are you okay?”
I wanted to knock her hand away, but everything still hurt.
“I’m getting there.” I wiped my mouth with what looked like Brad’s clean shirt.
Her rubbing my back felt better than it should have. I couldn't remember the last time a friend had comforted me like that. Maybe when Evie and I were kids. I had made myself so spiky people stopped trying. I took in her practiced, brittle smile and immediately thought of my sister.
“What’s your name?” I asked her as I sat up slowly, my muscles finally relaxing.
“Dolly.” She fluffed her hair like I awarded her a prize.
I bit my tongue on whatever sarcastic retort wanted to fly out of my mouth.
It wasn’t Dolly’s fault her creamy skin, slightly curled, wheat blonde hair and violet eyes were a soft kind of stunning I would never be.
Men thought I was hot as lava and just as likely to burn them without mercy.
Dolly’s pouting mouth was the kind you locked behind glass and admired. Or smashed into a million pieces.
“That’s… nice,” I tried.
I felt awkward at this but Dolly didn’t seem to mind.
“We better get started,” she said, and helped me up. Her hand was the perfect amount of soft–not too wet, not too dry.
Just as I pulled her up, a red portal opened and a man in an equally red robe ascended from the darkness. He blinked owlish eyes at the mess around us and looked down at the wood tablet he carried.
“Have you seen…” He checked his notes. “...Mr. Morgan?”
“What the actual fuck?” I turned to Dolly, who shrugged in return.
I summoned magic to my hand in case he tried anything funny.
“No?” the man asked.
“How did you get in here?” The guard was finally useful for something, stepping forward.
“Nevermind.” The red-robed man sunk back into the floor through his crimson portal before the guard got too far.
Okay, that was weirder than usual, even for the Harrowlands. My fingers remained stained black from my waiting magic. I shook off whatever the seven hells that was and turned back to Dolly.
“You know we don’t have to do…” I gestured around the room. “All this.”
Dolly stooped in front of the first pile and began sorting through black socks. How she sorted them when they looked exactly the same was beyond me. I couldn't contain a bark of laughter. What a perfect karmic punishment. My sister’s sock collection was legendary.
“We do, in fact. You don’t want to see what happens when you say ‘no’ to him.”
My blood started to boil and I stilled her hands. “What do you mean?”
Her eyes welled with tears. “You can’t tell him,” she said.
There wasn’t much you could blab to a dead man.
“I won’t.”
“He told me I was going to be a Princess, with a crown and everything. We were going to have a baby, a family, and I guess I was stupid to think everything would just work itself out slowly. I left everything for him, thinking we would get to know each other. He meant a baby now. Right now. Not for a family, but for proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That his thingy works.”
My brain twitched at picturing Brad’s tiny dick in the bath. “I’ve seen it. He’s got a lot to prove.”
Dolly giggled and then stopped herself. How many times had I watched Evie do that and done nothing? “That too, but his magic thing. The sword.”
Oh, she meant the Calix. “Well, that’s going to be tough because it’s a fake.”
Her eyes grew huge. “Don’t tell him that!”
“Pretty sure he already knows.”
“He does?”
Where had Brad found this innocent lamb? “Yep.”
The information overwhelm spread over her face in real time. “Well, he’ll figure it out.”
This poor girl looked to Brad to answer all of life's questions. I felt a pang of sympathy for Evie. While she was never that na?ve, I made sure of that, I was glad she was in a healthy relationship now. She could have been this so easily.
I owed Evie a real grovel for making her situation even harder. Dolly picked through the socks with a look of concentration I only gave to magic.
“I’ll help you sort. It will go faster.”
Dolly’s smile actually warmed my heart. I grabbed the first sock and tried to be helpful, pairing and folding them, but my patience quickly ran out after the fifth pair.
“Where can we put these so you don’t have to fold them?”
I gathered them up despite her fluttering hands. His wadded-up socks belonged in the fireplace, but this was for Dolly, not for me.
“The cabinet over there.” Dolly pointed to a piece of furniture full of pegs and velvet backing. When I opened it, I found a pile of expensive-looking weapons tossed in the bottom.
I might not be the best assassin in the world, but I still slipped the palm knife in my pocket and arranged Noth’s treasures in a somewhat respectful pile.
Unwilling to put the socks on top of them, I pulled open a drawer beneath and found a bunch of jars organized with a meticulousness missing in the rest of the room.