Words Like Blades #2
I followed her out and down the wing toward the front entrance of the castle, fae stopping in the halls to bow as we went. Each time, their smiles turned to sneers when they looked at me.
I guessed I would have to get used to that.
She didn’t speak again until we were outside. As soon as the late afternoon sun hit my face, I felt like a new person, completely reborn. The air had chilled since Nella and I had arrived here under that carriage, the season having changed from late summer to autumn.
“Your Majesty, could you tell me what day it is?”
“It is the sixteenth day of the tenth month.”
Nella’s sixteenth birthday had been three days ago. Not even a midsummer sun could have melted the ice that slipped into my stomach when I realized I had missed her birthday.
We rounded the corner to the row of pink and purple flowered trees that the prince and I had strolled through so long ago, but now most of the blooms dusted the ground like a colorful autumn snow.
I would have thought it was beautiful if I hadn’t felt a sudden, strange tingle break out across my scalp, making me run my fingers through my hair.
I noticed the queen watching me, and I was suddenly very uneasy.
“Tell me about your other sister, dear.”
“Aemilia?”
“Yes.”
It was an odd request, I thought. “Growing up, she terrorized me with her lightning once her ability emerged. She could get anything she wanted from anyone, but especially from our father.”
A look passed over her face when I mentioned my father…was it sadness again? It was gone before I could be sure.
I wasn’t sure why I was opening up to the queen about Aemilia, but I supposed having a fae in my family could only help my cause with the royals.
“Was your father kind to you all?”
I frowned. “He was to her. He was…indifferent toward Nella. But he was cruel to me.”
“And did he ever talk about your mother?”
A pang of sadness radiated through my heart. I guessed the queen sensed it.
“Oh, dear, how insensitive of me. It must seem to you as if she just passed, despite how very long ago it was. It’s still so new for you.”
She was right. It was still new. “That’s okay. No, he never talked about her. It was as if she had never even existed. Aemilia tried to convince me when we were little that I never had a mom.”
A flicker of amusement flashed across the queen’s face. “I’m very sorry for your upbringing. It’s getting chilly outside. Why don’t we get you back inside now?”
I pondered our bizarre conversation and its abrupt end all the way back to the bathroom, where I changed back into the green tunic and pants set, and she asked the guards to escort me back to my cell.
“It was such a pleasant afternoon, Naci, thank you,” she said before she left.
Pleasant isn’t what I would have called it…
I wondered why she cared so much about my family, why she was so interested in my upbringing. Noxie agreed it was weird.
It was also strange how willing I was to share all of that with her. I wasn’t sure what had come over me.
But those thoughts quickly faded when Dumb brought in my dinner. It wasn’t the usual cup of shit with brownish water, but a wooden tray with a whole cooked meal. When he slid the tray under the small gap in the bars at the floor, the scent of roasted chicken and vegetables assaulted my nose.
“You can thank the queen for this,” he said bitterly before he left again.
Thank her indeed. It was the best chicken I had ever had, even if I had to eat it with my hands like a heathen.
* * *
Another week went by of counting the days until I’d see Nella, talking to Noxie, the queen sending one large meal to my cell per day.
Much of my fear was being replaced by monotonous boredom. But the actual food was making a tremendous difference in my energy and hope.
I decided I didn’t want to keep getting weaker and wasting away in this cell, so I started doing push-ups and sit-ups every day when I woke up.
After the first time doing this routine, my arms and core were so sore I could barely move.
But each day it got a little easier, and each day I could do one or two more before collapsing back to the ground in trembling exhaustion.
I ate all my food, whether it was the slop or a meal from the queen. Even the banter between Noxie and me felt fun again, like I was remembering who I was before.
And today was my Nella day. I was actually happy.
Right on schedule, the king walked in with the guards and Nella in tow.
“Five minutes,” Caedryn barked at us as Nella came running to my cell bars, then he left us alone.
I was on my feet, fingers already reaching for her through the small square openings. And I was smiling.
“Naci, you look…wonderful. And weird. What’s going on?”
“Happy sixteenth birthday! I know I missed it and I’m sorry, but I’m sure you can understand why.” I even added a little laugh at the end. I really wanted Nella to know I was okay.
“That’s okay. You can make it up to me when you get out.” She smiled back, and I could almost imagine for a moment that things were normal—except for the imprisonment part.
“How is everything going up there? How are Moe and Ott and Miss Melda? Halden?”
She told me how Ott and Moe didn’t want to talk to her. They didn’t trust that we weren’t both traitors siding with the fae, despite Nella’s protests. They weren’t my favorite people, but I felt bad that they were giving Nella a hard time.
“But Halden believes that you’re being forced, that you’re not a traitor to mortals and rebels.”
“Well, that’s good at least. And how are things going with him?”
Her cheeks flushed with a wry smile.
But before she could answer, the king came back and told us the time was up. Round escorted her out of the dungeon.
“I love you, Nella,” I said as she vanished from sight, only barely hearing her yell it back before the dungeon door slammed shut.
The king and Dumb remained.
“I hope you have realized by now that I am, in fact, a male of my word. I have delivered on every promise I have made thus far. Do you agree?”
I frowned. I didn’t want to agree with the king on anything, ever. But he was right. He had brought Nella to see me every week as promised, and she had been unharmed and safe, as also promised.
“Yes…”
“Good. I want that firmly in the back of your mind. There will be a ball in one week that you will be expected to attend. You will not only behave but present yourself as if a heathen did not raise you in a barn.”
I could feel the rage building at the slander that I assumed was aimed at Keryth. But if he was talking about Cassius…well, he wasn’t actually too far off. I let it slide.
“The queen will fetch you once a day between now and then to ensure you know how to act and speak. Heed my warning, Naci, one hair or breath out of line and—”
“You’ll make me a whore and kill Nella. I remember.”
“Those are not empty threats.”
I could hear the animalistic growl behind his words. I’d heard the king was a Veythryn, but I made a mental note to find out what his vey was. That sound made me pretty sure it was a terrifying beast of some sort.
A ball…I tried not to think about the fact that Varyn would likely be there. Or that I would be surrounded by so many people that despised me. Tried…but failed. My heart sank.
After the king left, I resumed my pacing, thinking of what the week ahead would bring. A week to prepare for the ball. A week of lessons with the queen.
I shuddered. Something about being in her presence made my skin prickle. Whatever it was, it wasn’t harmless.