Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Kane
A few hours had passed, and there was no sign of the human. If she hadn't returned by now, then it was apparent she wouldn't return at all. Tradition or not, I would be remembered as the king who let the child of prophecy die.
But that was our way, and even if I truly believed and wanted to marry my little thorn, nothing would continue if she failed this test.
“Go in,” Anna urged. She stood on the grass in front of me, hands on her hips, frustration clear in her pointed brows.
“No one is allowed in,” I reminded her.
“There is actually no rule in retrieving a body,” Gideon said as he lounged on the grass next to us, playing with the petals of a flower.
“Tradition says we're not allowed to interfere,” Olivia snapped back. She rested on the top of my bent knee, dangling her feet. “I'm hungry. Let's go back to the castle. It's obvious she's dead.”
“Don't say that,” Anna cried. “You said so yourself she's really powerful. Maybe she received the blessing or what if she escaped?”
“Unless she can fly, there is no way out of the grove except through the cave, but I will go see.”
A slight apprehension entered my bones. It was not as if I was nervous to go in there, but I didn't want this game to end so quickly. I had gone through a lot of trouble and favors from the dryads to find Deirdre’s location. It would seem a waste if she died so quickly.
Perhaps I had been a bit hasty in bringing her here so soon.
I stood, brushing the grass from my pants. “We will at least give her a proper burial.”
Liora stood at the mouth of the cave, hands clasped in front of her. She had not moved at all since her lady went inside. She held the robe in her arms.
“Here,” she said, handing it over. “She'll need this to come back out.”
“You think she's alive?”
“You don't?”
I raised a brow and she quickly bowed her head.
“I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I did not mean to speak so boldly.”
“It's alright.” I took the robe and folded it over my arm. “She is unique and it wouldn't surprise me if she survived, but you and I both know that is rare.”
The hood of Liora’s cloak hid her expression, and she said nothing more.
I walked into the dark cave. I didn't have to go through this trial since I inherited the throne through my father and I was a moon fae from my mother’s side, but anyone entering the royal family had to. There had always been a moon fae on the throne.
Only moon fae could wield illusionary magic, one of the more powerful elements, and our people refused to let the bloodline be sullied, unless of course it was with a child of prophecy or a dragon like my father.
My father refused the tradition after usurping the previous king, but no one was going to argue with a dragon. I was only half-dragon and people barely argued with me. I could only imagine the terror my father would have unleashed if anybody tried to force him to do anything he didn't want to.
Since I hadn’t been born when he usurped the previous king, killing him and taking my mother as his own bride, I could only rely on what I’d heard of that fateful day and the staggering fear that swept through the court, immobilizing our toughest guards.
There were whispers that his death and madness were due to him bypassing one of our most sacred traditions, and without the unicorn’s blessing, the throne was truly never his.
While I believed what happened with my father was some type of dragon sickness, I was not one to openly defy our traditions… just in case.
I followed the cave to the secluded grove and paused at the entrance.
Would she have survived?
I didn't want to see such a powerful creature ended so quickly. But she was human. There had never been a human on the fae throne. There was no telling what the unicorn would do.
“Well, let's get this over with.”
I stepped into the grove and stopped.
Massive flowers and vines crept along the ground, wrapping around trees. Strange bark weaved around the grove like a wooden bramble maze. I stepped forward, moving around the strange structures, following the thorny maze until it opened into a very peculiar sight.
My breath caught in my throat. I blinked once, twice, wondering if the magic of the grove had created a hallucination.
Deirdre sat on the ground, her long hair hanging over her…
not completely bare chest. Odd strands of grass wrapped around her breasts, creating a banded top.
Her eyes were puffy, her face blotchy, as if she had spent all this time crying.
The unicorn lay next to her, and she stroked the creature’s side, humming.
As the king, many beautiful females had crossed my path, but none had ever conceived such an image of innocence and beauty. Fae or not, I didn’t think I had ever been left breathless.
She looked up. There was no smile on her face, but there was some sort of contentedness, as if the grove had surrounded her in a blanket of serenity.
I had been convinced that the prophecy surrounding her birth had been a foolish old tale the priests created to heal the balance between fae and humans.
What if I was wrong?
“…Is that…” I stumbled over my words as I took in the scene in front of me, my logic failing to make sense of this image before me.
Deirdre held a finger to her lips and then pointed at the sleeping unicorn.
How did she master the beast? Not once in all of fae history had the unicorn sat with the one on trial. That fae either walked out of the grove alive or not at all.
Rows of daisies circled around the two of them, an otherworldly garden full of white daisies and bloodthirsty roses.
When I moved closer, the unicorn’s head shot up. It turned its head toward me, red eyes blazing with power. I paused, holding my palm out. Its gaze darted to the royal rune on my hand.
It nuzzled Deirdre’s arm, stood to its feet, and ran off before I could say a word.
Deirdre held out her hands, summoning the nearby daisies to crawl along her chest, covering more of her pale skin.
My palms sweated at the sight of the flowers slithering around her. They curled around her shoulders and chest, the white petals brushing across skin I shouldn’t have been gaping at.
Right palm raised, she called to the roses nearest me, their thorny vines seeking out my legs.
As King of the Fae, I would never insult the ancient grove by fighting.
“Here.” I tossed her the robe and turned around, remembering what Liora said about humans needing privacy. “You're alive.”
“Surprised?”
After a few moments, I turned back around. She stood there, the robe tightly closed, arms folded, the previous flowered attire on the ground except for a daisy bracelet she wore on her wrist.
“Somewhat,” I replied. “I guess this was all you're doing?”
Deirdre played with her bottom lip. “Uh. I made a bit of a mess. The unicorn charged and I just called to the grove, and then this began happening.”
Her brow furrowed a bit, as if something about this area bothered her, but she should have been proud of this accomplishment. She had no idea how many fae had died here because of their unworthiness.
“Magic is different here,” I told her. “How did you get it to lie with you?”
“I’m not sure… I thought it was going to kill me, but I think it likes daisies.”
“Well, you passed.”
“But nothing happened? Wasn’t I supposed to get some type of blessing?”
“The unicorn didn’t kill you, which means he approves. That is the blessing.”
Her eyes widened. “What if I killed it?”
I laughed. “Now, that would have been something.”
“Does this mean I’m going to be queen?” Her voice dropped to a whisper as she stared at her feet, refusing to look at me.
“Yes,” I replied, the finality of that response solidifying our future.
She flinched, the truth seeming to twist something inside her. Had she hoped for death instead?
“When?”
“That's for the priests to decide. Come.” I nodded for her to follow me out of the grove.
Tugging the robe tighter, she walked to my side.
“This needs to go back on.” Holding the collar up, I motioned for her to turn around.
“Is that really necessary?” Her shoulders tensed, and she took a step back.
“Yes.”
“Why?” Her voice rose, her brows furrowing. “What is the point of all this if I am treated like your pet instead of a future queen?”
Dragging a hand across my face, I groaned. “Because you will try to escape, and I don’t feel like chasing you.”
She laughed and shook her head.
Whatever moment I thought we were having in the grove disappeared as her stubbornness roared in defiance.
Chin held high, she folded her arms, waiting for me to respond.
Tossing the collar to the ground, I called the shadows to my fingers. “Do you want to fight me? It will not go the way you think.”
Ivy crawled up my legs, but I didn’t flinch. I invited her magic in.
Shadows slithered around her magic, choking the vines that dared to trap me. Stepping forward, I shot my shadows around her, encasing her in a dark cocoon.
“Listen well, little thorn.” As I moved closer, I kept my shadows tight, ensuring she would have no room to maneuver. “Prove to me you can be trusted, and after the wedding, I won’t make you a collared queen. You will have your magic. I am not your enemy, but I can be.”
One tear slid down her cheek.
My fingers twitched to brush it away, but I fisted my hand and took a steadying breath.
Releasing my shadows, I sent them over to one of the rose bushes and grabbed a bundle. The flowers floated in the air in front of her. As I recalled the dark cocoon encasing her, I brought the roses to her hands.
“Walk out of this grove, head held high, and show my court that not only are you ready to be Queen of the Fae, but destiny has deemed it so.”
Taking the roses, her mouth parted, her chest rising and falling with quick breaths. She gripped the flowers, ignoring how the thorns pierced her hands and drew blood.
Without a word, she turned and pushed the hair off the back of her neck, allowing me to clasp the collar back on.