Chapter 39
“I SENT PEREGRIN out earlier with an urgent message,” Soren whispered to me while King Mordeus gave Alaric and the other winged creatures a long formal greeting.
“When we discussed your mother, you seemed to believe that she truly would act on her family’s behalf if she knew, so I concluded that perhaps someone should make her aware. ”
He said it so simply.
But if he hadn’t told me about it, he must not have been sure it would work.
I searched their faces a second time.
The winged fae stood there grimly, fitting their namesake perfectly, enduring the king’s long-winded speech, but I didn’t recognize anyone besides Peregrin.
“Mom isn’t here,” I managed to tell Soren, feeling like I had a piece of glass in my throat.
“Hmm,” he murmured, brows lowering. “Perhaps—”
“We’re here on behalf of Maeve Thorneveil of the Grimhollow clan.” Alaric’s voice carried across the space, and Soren cut off to listen. “Please present her human relatives, one male and three females, for immediate inspection.”
Caius opened his mouth, but when his father shook his head, he held back whatever he’d been about to say.
“My sincerest apologies. I was only recently made aware of their presence in our court,” King Mordeus said, waving a hand at Caius. “My son will fetch them personally.”
Though the prince’s face flushed, he stood stiffly and obeyed.
It took less than ten awkward seconds for him to return. He’d kept them close. What did that mean? Had he been prepared to make a deal all this time? Or maybe he’d wanted them serving drinks so he could rub them in my face after saying no?
Dad, Rissa, and Olive shuffled across the stage, coming to stand by the thrones, where Caius pointed. “Pay attention,” he snapped at them. Looking around, he found me in the shadows and pointed at the open space between himself and them, dripping with arrogance. “Brynn.”
I flushed at being called like a dog.
Soren’s calm gaze met mine. “We’ll be right here,” he reassured me quietly.
Slowly, I obeyed. As I reached Dad, Rissa, and Olive, tears welled up when I realized they were watching me, alert and aware this time after Caius’s instructions. I ignored the prince, grabbing Rissa, then Olive and Dad, and yanking them close as we cried happy tears.
“I thought I’d lost you guys,” I sobbed into Dad’s shoulder, trying to hold them all at once. He hugged me back tighter in reply, and I could feel Rissa shaking with silent sobs while Olive’s sniffles were loud and frequent.
Caius spoke over us. “I assume the Grimhollow clan will reward us for caring for this family and keeping them safe from harm?”
“You want a reward for stealing these humans from their homes?” Alaric repeated, enunciating each word.
“It’s not that . . . I merely meant . . .” Seeing the prince flustered almost made me smile. “I supposed you would want their contracts—”
“You assumed correctly.”
Caius swallowed, but he didn’t give up easily. “And given your reputation for honor, I presumed you’d want to offer payment in exchange.”
“I see,” Alaric said in a dark tone. “You gave me the impression that they’d been apprehended by accident and that their freedom would immediately be returned. But if they were taken intentionally to harm our clan . . .”
“We did not by any means intend harm to your clan.” King Mordeus stood, taking over and gesturing for his son to take a seat. “My son is young, not yet in his second century. Please forgive him for this misunderstanding. We will, of course, absolve their contracts immediately.”
As he said it, he waved his hand. Roots shot from the ground beneath as if bending to his will, rising up and forming a rough standing table.
“My signature will override their contract,” King Mordeus declared, snapping his fingers at one of the folk waiting on him, who leapt forward with a thin, flat board covered in papers.
“Good,” Alaric responded, unimpressed.
With a flourish, the king made a show of flipping through the pages until he found the one he wanted and scribbled something across the bottom. “There.” He held it out to Alaric. “It’s terminated.”
Dad’s hand tightened on my arm, and we all collectively held our breath.
But the winged fae shook his head. “Give it to the humans.”
King Mordeus’s face soured, but he obeyed, handing it to his attendant to deliver, glaring at us in a way that promised retribution.
Good thing we were getting out of here.
When Dad stepped out of our hug to accept the contract, he blinked in shock, staring down at the page, then out at the crowd. He grew more animated by the second, as if fully waking up for the first time. “What’s this?”
“Your freedom,” Alaric told him in a bored tone. “Per Maeve Thorneveil’s request. Now, if there’s nothing else, we’ll be on our way.”
“What?”
Every face in the room turned to me.
I’d said that out loud without realizing it.
I gulped, but I couldn’t back down now. Stepping away from my sisters, who shriveled under the attention, I cleared my throat. “I mean . . . Aren’t you going to take us to Mom? To, um, Maeve Thorneveil?”
“No.”
No explanation.
Part of me thought there must be some misunderstanding, but the more rational side knew he meant exactly what he’d said.
My panicked gaze swung back to Dad, Rissa, and Olive. We had nowhere else to go. Not to mention, if we didn’t go with them now . . . The king’s vicious glare worried me. Would we even make it through the night if we stayed, or would we have an unfortunate “accident”?
I shrugged off the weight of everyone’s gazes and turned back to Alaric. “You have to.”
“We do not, in fact.” Alaric’s impassive gaze sharpened into annoyance as he repeated, “If there is nothing else, then?”
“You will take us with you.” I clenched my fists. “Mom wouldn’t just leave us here.”
“The Grimhollow clan does not have a place for humans,” Alaric said through gritted teeth, speaking to a point slightly above my head, as if unwilling to meet my eyes. “We came to release you from your contracts for your mother’s sake, but we wash our hands of you after that.”
They didn’t want us because we were human.
The message was clear: You don’t belong here.
It was what I’d believed my whole life, confirmed.
I didn’t belong anywhere.
Did I still believe that?
No.
I’d found acceptance here, with Soren and his friends. I glanced back at the shadows, finding Soren’s worried gaze. Without really realizing it, they’d shown me what belonging actually felt like: family.
So who cared if this giant jerk thought I should come with them or not?
Mom needed us. I could feel it. And we needed her. No more caring what other people—or fae—thought of me. They’d take me with them, whether they wanted to or not.
“It’s okay, Brynn,” Dad whispered. “We’ll figure something out—”
“It’s not okay.” Swallowing hard, I shook my head at him.
Did he really want to risk losing Mom forever?
I looked at them. Rissa and Olive huddled behind Dad, and he tried to hide his fear as he looked around the room.
He was scared. He just wanted to go home, but he didn’t know the veil was closed.
Staying here would be asking for trouble, even if he didn’t know it yet.
If he couldn’t fight for our family, I would.
Impatiently, Alaric waited, but only on formality, clearly expecting me to release him. “If there’s nothing else?” he prompted yet again, more forceful this time.
That tone might’ve made the other fae here tremble, but it made me angry. “We’re not some random humans,” I snapped, taking a step toward him. Despite the way he towered over me, I somehow found the nerve to yell, “We have the same blood. We belong to your clan. You will take us with you!”
My last words echoed throughout the room as a hush fell over the court.
I got the sense that no one talked to these fae like that.
Ever.
But I didn’t care anymore.
I stood my ground, glaring at Alaric, who no longer looked past me. Now his gaze pinned me in place. His face twisted in fury. “You dare to command me?”
Crossing my arms, mostly to hide the way my hands shook, I raised my chin. In my coldest tone, I tried to sound equally lethal as I told him, “I do.”
My serious voice definitely did not have the same effect.
Snickers came from fae below, and whispers rose as they no doubt told those farther back about my audacity—or maybe, more accurately, my insanity.
Alaric had turned into a stone statue except for the darkening hue of his skin. He was either taking a minute to decide what to say or was about to lose it. I had a bad feeling it might be the latter.
Both King Mordeus and Caius had settled onto their thrones to enjoy the show, watching with morbid fascination, like if someone handed them popcorn, they’d have everything they needed.
Taking a deep breath, I figured I’d already pissed Alaric off, so I might as well go all in. “If you don’t take us with you, we’ll find our way to Mom ourselves.”
That made more than one of the winged folk behind Alaric snort.
They clearly didn’t think we’d make it.
Considering I had no idea where to go, they might be right.
Unfortunately, my words seemed to release Alaric from his need to stay. “We have come to an agreement. Since I have orders from the royal family to leave you here, I wish you luck on your journey.”
With a nod, he spread his wings, which seemed to signal the others to do the same.
“Stop.” Soren’s voice rang out over the court with an authority I hadn’t heard from him before.
Alaric sneered at the shadows where Soren’s voice had come from. “Who dares to command us now? Perhaps we’ve been too lenient of late and an example should be made.”
As Soren stepped out of the shadows and moved toward the thrones, the big winged fae in armor visibly shrank back, eyes widening.
“Your orders from the royal family have changed,” Soren told him as he strode calmly forward, coming to stand by me. “You’ll bring Brynn and her family to the Shadow Court. And me as well.”
The huge scary army of fae shocked me by bowing their heads to Soren in deference.
Even Alaric dipped his head low in a bow. “Yes, Your Highness.”