Chapter 21
VALANCE
Having been bathed by servants, dressed in itchy yellow robes, I now sat chained to a chair, no gag in my mouth.
The huge room was filled with many yellow chairs and a throne atop a dais. I faced that throne, wondering how such a grim place within the warm beauty of Spring could exist. So much stone and metalwork around me.
Just me and Gentry guards for the time being.
The last thing I’d heard from Kormac had been him asking what someone was doing in his room. Who? After that, I heard endless silence. I’d been too afraid to reach out to him again, wondering who might be listening. That we may not have gotten away with talking through the vent after all.
A day had passed since seeing my grandmother and speaking to Kormac. I’d been told so by the guard who fetched me hours ago for the bath.
Today was the day of my trial.
Soon, the room filled with fae—Gentry, Sidhe, even Fomorian. An interesting sight. A thick tension crackled in the air.
Fools.
Some members of my family were there, cousins and other pathetic relatives, as well as members of my father’s royal council. All of them facing me, waiting for the circus.
A trial. How ridiculous.
My grandmother entered last, sitting at the front between two Gentry women of the highest station. She brushed her lap, didn’t make eye contact with me. Looked around the room, blatant about not wanting to gaze upon her grandson.
Silence. Stares. A door opened moments later, Florent making his way to the throne, his arm linked with Lasair’s.
What a strange couple they made. The warrior and the pampered lord.
The Fomorian leader left her future husband at the throne, opting to come closer to me in her gleaming Gentry armor.
My, how quickly she blended in. How loud would her voice be as queen with her king being the one with the real power.
Kill him in his sleep, disgusting unseelie beast. Go on. You know you want to…
I watched Florent climb into his seat, sparkling with jewelry and glee. The gathered stood for him, including Grandmother.
How far you have fallen…
They sat when he sat.
“Proceed,” Florent said.
Lasair’s attention was on me completely. Unflinching.
I looked right back at her, unflinching before her red gaze. “We meet again,” I said.
“You weren’t permitted to speak,” Florent countered.
Lasair lifted a hand. The lord didn’t seem to like that, but he said nothing more.
“I’m glad to see you, Your Highness,” she continued.
Again, the lord wasn’t pleased. “He is no prince. Your titles are stripped, Valance.”
“By you?” I asked. “With what power?”
“I will be king,” he answered smugly. “I can strip what I like.”
“You are not king yet, lord.”
His beady eyes were angry slits. “Such insolence. Such a gross display of your true character. Do you think you have power here? That somehow you can hold on to—”
“I think nothing of you or any of this,” I cut him off.
“You dare to speak over me?”
“I dared.”
Florent jumped up, stomping a foot like a child. “Kill him now!”
“Patience,” Lasair said, lifting her hand again. “This is a trial.”
“Fuck the trial in its face! I want him dead. Now!”
Lasair spun, her braids whipping the air. “Sit down and wait!”
He sat down, shocked by the savage bite in her tone.
I didn’t blame him. This Fomorian thorn in my side was dangerous, highly skilled at evading capture. Even if he held the power here, she was the fist behind it.
She faced me again. “You are on trial here, Valance. For murder. This is the end of your royal days.”
“This is the end of all my days,” I said. “You mean to execute me. Do not pretend otherwise.”
I didn’t want to die here. Kormac was right. Giving up so easily wasn’t a personality trait of mine. Especially in the face of scum like this.
I hope you have a plan, human…
“This is a trial, Valance,” Lasair responded. “For the crimes you have committed against your people, on the mer. For all the needless slaughter.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course.”
“But why?”
“What do you mean?”
I gave myself time for a dramatic pause. “You’re hiding the truth of the berserker curse from the masses, are you not? Spinning the tale of a monstrous prince to justify my end. Why this farce?”
Murmurs from the crowd.
Lasair crossed her arms, glancing behind her at the furious lord. “A necessity, Valance. War requires a degree of tactics and skills to win.”
“Including lies?”
“You can call them lies We call them a fresh start.”
“I see. Sprinkling sugar on shit.”
She laughed. “Beautifully put. And there is a lot of shit at your feet, including the events at Whistoning.”
“I see. My fault.”
She shrugged. “More sugar.”
Blamed for everything, no one in here prepared to stand up for me. Why would they? This tale served them best, not saving a cursed man like me.
I caught my grandmother’s eye. Her panic, her fury.
That’s it. Squirm. Fear for your life.
“You’re all afraid, all brought down to your knees because of iron,” I said to her, to all of them.
“That’s all this is. I have been cursed by shadow magic.
I killed against my will. You know that.
Some of those deaths I would have gladly given out without the curse, but others I did not.
But I did not kill my own people because they would not yield to the enemy.
Call me what you like, tell as many stories as you must. It doesn’t change the fact that you’re all going to char nicely in the hottest corners of the hells. ”
I enjoyed the whispers, the Sidhe anger especially.
“You’re traitors and you’re cowards,” I added. “Own up to it. Stand tall and proud. Actually, better to stay sitting. You have no spine between you to support such weakness.”
A cousin of mine, Lilybeth, a seed sorcerer with the power of air, jumped out of her seat. “We have no choice, cousin!” she shrieked.
I didn’t answer my fair and vicious cousin. She would forever be the freckled child who pinched and bit and screamed for her own way or else. A brat of the highest order.
She sat down, sobbing.
“Do you own your actions, Valance?” Lasair questioned me.
I closed my eyes, recalling the things I’d done to Kormac. Happy to have done them before, now full of regret. My own remorse or a magical kind, I did not know. What I did know was his bravery, his resolve to succeed. Even if under normal circumstances, they would be used as tools against me.
“Danu…” I breathed.
“You speak the name of your goddess?” Lasair said.
“I… I won’t speak anymore.”
“So you admit guilt?”
My determination to argue waivered. What was the point? Even with knowledge of the truth firmly in their understanding, no one would counter this. Everyone in this room wanted me dead.
“At least be honest,” I said. “And say what you mean. You beat us, you want power. You’ll take power. Also, you want me dead.”
“I do want you dead.”
“There you go. Honesty is so much better.”
She laughed.
Florent laughed, though with bratty rage in his eyes.
“I did consider sparing your life,” Lasair said, “to remove the curse or send you away. Even keep you here as a slave, as a reminder of the old days being dead. But I can’t do that. My lord Florent cannot do that.”
The lord nodded in agreement. “Because you are dangerous.”
Lasair moved closer. “Everything ends today. You will die. Kormac will be free. The madness will end.”
“Kormac gets to live?”
“Of course. He’s under a spell.”
“Just like me.”
She leaned in, her lips close to my ears. “He is not an obstacle.”
She stepped back, turning to face the crowd. “Your lord will speak now. Listen well.”
Florent lifted his heavy robes and stepped off the dais. He walked over to me, offered a smirk, and began to address the crowd.
“Today is the day when we begin the greatest change we have ever seen in Faerie,” he said. “Today, we choose a new life.”
A tiny black spider ran past my foot, clambering toward the gathered fae as Florent waffled on.
I watched it for as long as it stayed visible.
Oh, to be a spider and clamber to freedom.
“Unlike the Rosestar regime, I want to build a democracy,” Florent continued. “Power is not absolute. Those who wield it need to be held accountable for their actions. If the people of the world do not like something, a democratic vote will be carried out. Like now.”
Here it comes…
A liar of the highest magnitude. This Gentry bastard would not give the freedom of votes to the people.
I didn’t know him well enough, but passing judgment on him came easy.
I saw it in his stature, in his eyes. Once power was truly his, a crown on his head, Faerie certainly would change. For the worst.
Let them all choke on it…
After my revenge.
“I put it to you now, Gentry and Sidhe, Formorion, elf, and human. All of you here in this room today will vote on the fate of Prince Valance.”
Kormac…
“Cast your vote on the following points by raising a hand in the air.”
Additional torches were lit for more light on the gathered.
“First point. The prince is sent to the southern isles to live his days with the berserkers.”
No hands.
“Second point. The prince’s curse is removed, and he is sent to the Sidhe mounds.”
No hands.
“Third point. The prince’s curse is removed, and he is kept here as a slave.”
Still no hands.
I suppressed a laugh at this ‘democratic’ process in action.
“Fourth and final point. The prince is put to death by beheading.”
Every single hand went up, including my grandmother’s.
“And there we have it,” Florent said. “The—”
My cousin screamed, jumping out of her seat and knocking into my other cousin beside her. Daro. He was a seed sorcerer of the water element.
“What’s wrong?” I heard him ask.
“Something bit me,” Lilybeth said, hopping on one foot. She bunched up her skirts, leaning on him.
“What is this?” Lasair demanded.
Daro yelped, staggering backward. “Something bit me!”
Two bites? An insect? A—
A spider?
Lilybeth choked, hunching over. Coughed and retched.
“Someone help her!” Florent demanded.
But the crowd broke away from her as she violently gagged, clawing at her throat.
“She’s choking!”
“Help her!”
No one helped her.
Daro displayed the same symptoms.
I enjoyed every moment.
Lasair turned to me, a wall of fury. “What’s happening?”
“Why are you asking me?” I countered.
“You’re doing this.”
“I wish.”
“Stop it.”
“I cannot take credit. Believe me, I would if I could.”
Lilybeth brought up the white mucus first. It flew out of her mouth, oozed down her chin. She sucked in air, fell back into a chair.
“By Danu…” she gasped.
Daro repeated the action, falling beside her.
“There is something on the floor,” a Gentry pointed out. I couldn’t see, the floor out of my line of sight. “Two things. What—”
A white mist burst upward, followed by a second. Both clouds burst again, spreading across the room, smothering everything.
Screams and delicious chaos. Bodies falling down, clambering. If only I were in a better position to enjoy it properly.
Happiness. A warmth like a lover. And there was his earthly scent, fresh grass and masculinity, embracing my senses. His hands on me.
“I’m here,” Kormac said, lost in the thick white.
“You’re here…”
He unlocked my chains, unraveled them quickly. Did he have a key? He didn’t give me a chance to stand, scooping me into his arms instead.
“I can walk,” I protested weakly.
“Not now.”
He ran through the cloying mist, screams swirling around us. The mist cleared as he reached a tunnel, his features becoming clear.
“Dressed as a Spring man,” I said.
“Shut up.”
He didn’t stop, running through the tunnel and down some stairs. Bearing my weight, keeping me safe. If it weren’t for the bouncing motions of being in his arms during an escape, I would snuggle up and be lost in his embrace. Enjoy the moment.
Instead, I said, “I can walk.”
“You can now.” He put me down.
Pick me up again. “Thank you.”
“Run.”
I ran, following him past torches and shadows.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“To Autumn, hopefully.”
“How?”
A guard with a sword blocked us, demanding we halt. Kormac charged at him, dodged a stab, and claimed the sword for himself. He ran the bastard through, kicked him to the ground.
I leaped over the bleeding corpse, hurrying after him barefoot, very much determined to survive.
Eventually, we came to the end of the tunnel and into another—this one with a river.
A boat bobbed on its surface, moored to the stone walkway.
To my left sat a grate covering an arched tunnel, the water swallowed by darkness.
On my right, the water vanished into more shadow, but with a cool breeze wafting from it.
“What—”
Movement from behind. I spun to see the old woman in the tunnel we’d come through, flanked by Lilybeth and Daro.
The shock of her face sent a jolt to my heart. “What… What are you doing here?”
“Get in the boat, Your Highness.”
“What are they doing here?” I added.
My cousins were vacant shells, their eyes pure white, that white ooze drying on their chins.
“Get in the boat, and you will learn.”