Chapter 16 #2
I’d find a window.
I just had to.
Gentry soldiers marched into the room, spreading out to display strength. As intimidating as they tried to be, they weren’t like the royal army. No army was. Those fae were the best—the strongest, the highest-skilled. Able to sustain seelie and Rosestar rule for a long, long time.
At least until this iron turn.
Other Gentry followed, dressed in yellow and black clothes—lots of lace and breeches and corsets for both the men and women. The lords and their ladies, a sea of red hair. An army of wasps on fire.
They took their seats, staring at me.
Then came the man with fair skin and long, curly red hair spilling past his waist. Dressed in swaths of yellow robes piped with black and threaded with diamonds, he was helped to the throne by two soldiers.
Preened and pampered, fingers sparkling with rings, he took his seat, his green eyes on me. An ugly display of wealth and privilege and never having to get off that ass. At least Valance never looked so disgusting.
He steepled his fingers together, a wicked grin on his face. It told the world he’d won.
“Hello, Kormac Aeson,” he said in soft tones. “How are you?”
“I’ve been better.”
“I’m sure.”
“You must be Lord Florent.”
“Correct, human.”
A door opened, footsteps followed.
Lasair appeared before me, not dressed in yellow but in copper armor glistening against her copper skin.
Her raven-black plaits bounced as she stepped into view, swords crisscrossed at her back.
She was cleaner than the last time I’d seen her, no longer in the brown leathers but still built from hard edges.
Strange to see her in that armor. A warrior future queen—the complete contrast to her soon-to-be husband on his throne.
Traitorous… Florent had been seelie-aligned until now. She’d… She’d… Fuck! She’d gone where the power lay, that’s what.
Her scarlet Fomorian eyes narrowed.
I swallowed, my chest a ball of thorns in her presence.
“Kormac,” she said. “I’m glad to see you’re safe.”
“Safe?” I responded. “You want me safe?”
Another body joined her. Jeremiah. Fellow human from my village. In love with Lasair. A complete hellpisser in copper armor.
He kept quiet, his eyes downcast.
“What are you saying, Kormac?” she asked.
I didn’t answer.
She folded her arms across her chest. “I hear you had yourself an adventure in the White Wilderness.”
Wastes… Some folk called them the White Wilderness, but that was rare. “Yes.”
“How was it? I’ve yet to see them for myself.”
“Not very nice. I’m surprised you didn’t follow us there.”
“I’m no fool, Kormac. I wouldn’t subject my army to relentless heat and dry air.”
“It got better when we hit the coast. For a while.”
A smile a crocodile would make. “Clearly.” The smile dropped.
“What happened to you? What madness drove you to become a mer, albeit fleetingly?” She lifted a hand to stop my answer, even if I didn’t even begin to offer her one.
“This strange spell by the strange old woman sending you to Winter. Still bound, still lost.”
Fuck you!
I was pleased to know the dark caress part had been left out of her knowledge.
“It breaks my heart to see you like this, Kormac.”
“Give me back the prince.”
“And that really breaks it again.”
Your heart isn’t full enough to break. “I need him. I need to help him.”
“You can’t have him,” she said. “This madness is over.”
“No. I have to see him. You have to let us go.”
She took a moment to answer. “So you can head toward death? So he can kill again with his berserker rage?”
I growled. “You did that to him.”
“Ren did that.”
“Don’t say his name.”
“Ren. He performed the spell. He gave his life to bring down the Rosestars. He succeeded. Let’s not ruin his legacy.”
“You—”
“I what, Kormac? Tell me.”
“You want me dead.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because you said it,” I countered.
“Did I?”
“You called us dead men. Said you wouldn’t forget this.”
She glanced over to the side, drawing in a deep breath. “I was angry. I didn’t know any better about this curse on your soul.”
“I… I just want to get back on the road.”
“And that is a ridiculous want, Kormac. You’re not leaving here anytime soon. Neither is the vile Sidhe prince.”
“Don’t call him that,” I warned.
“Am I your enemy now? Is that it?”
“No… I… You made threats against me.”
“As I said, I was angry.”
Fuck off. Just fuck off!
“But I want to save you from yourself,” she added with a shake of her head. “You know, deep down, who Valance is. What he is. What he has done. What his family has done.”
“Don’t—”
“He’s finished. The Rosestar reign is at an end. Soon a new era will replace it. A better one, as we’ve talked about many times.”
“I just want—”
“If you say you want to leave one more time, I’ll be the one to cut out your tongue!”
Her voice echoed around the room as the aftermath of thunder. Silence fell over everything, breaths held. The eyes of the Spring lords and ladies hungry for a show, Florent himself leaning forward with anticipation.
That thing up there was going to be king?
“Kormac,” Lasair finally said. “I am willing to look past this, to bring you back into the fold. To untangle the complications of this situation. We are hunting this old woman. She has to be somewhere. Do you know where?”
“No,” I lied. “I wish I did.”
I wish she was here, not waiting in Autumn. Here to help us out of this bind. Gods, we were useless in reaching our destiny.
Destiny…
Destined to be around the prince. Always near him.
Destiny…
Fated…
“I can get you free,” Lasair said. “You can be yourself again. You can join us, glory in the end of war.”
“The end?” I questioned.
“The iron has ended the endless war. No one is foolish enough to challenge us. There has to be peace now, or the lands will burn.”
“Burn? What is this, Lasair?”
“This weapon, do you mean?” She laughed. “It is magnificent.”
“I thought… I don’t know. Iron swords and spears, not something that burns. That’s insane.”
Florent laughed on his throne, his lords and ladies mirroring him in a ripple of joy.
“Oh, human,” he said. “There is no insanity in peace and change.”
Lasair smiled at me.
An iron weapon that burns?
Gods!