Chapter 28
Asmall creature wearing a blue pointed hat pulls out the king’s chair at the head of the table. Never in my life have I witnessed something so graceful and mesmerizing. He makes me forget about Levi lying on the ground near my feet. I pinch my arm to tear my attention away from Cirrus and back to my friend. A welt about the size of a walnut protrudes from his forehead.
Levi rises to his elbows and takes my hand so I can help him to his feet. If a guard dares to hit him again, I’ll drive my iron dagger into his heart.
“Are you ok?” I ask as we walk to the table.
He keeps his lips pressed together and nods. The fae in Frostacre scare him senseless, but I don’t want to do anything to make things worse for him.
Cirrus holds an open palm toward the chair to his right. “Come sit beside me, Maribel. I’ve never had a savior in my court before, and the mere thought of it intrigues me.”
The pointy-hat creature pulls out my chair, and I sit, feeling the heady magic pushing at me from all sides. Levi takes my hand beneath the table and squeezes, as if trying to keep me tied to reality.
A fae woman with hair as white as Cirrus’s and dressed in a gossamer dress fills the king’s goblet with blood red wine. She seems to float over to me, filling my cup and then Levi’s before leaving the room.
“Tell me what it’s like.” Cirrus folds his long fingers together as he leans his elbows on the table, pitching closer, as if I’m the most fascinating creature he’s encountered. “The strange juxtaposition between playing the role of the savior of the wilderness and growing up in Avren.”
As much as I don’t want to play into any of his traps, this is my job. I need to give the others time. “I find it exhausting. To grow up in a pampered world where I’m taught to sew and to live the life of an influential society woman only for the Council to thrust me into a world of unforgiving conditions. It’s enough to make anyone give up. And then to find out you’re a prophesied savior, foretold to bring destruction upon my friends and neighbors, well, honestly, it makes my head spin.”
“I see.” A flash of light crosses through his eyes as he sets his chin on his folded hands. “What if I told you I can take all this pressure away—so you never worry again about which dagger you need to kill which creature?”
“Then I’d tell you I’d be forever in your debt.” Our conversation is getting too close to the king placing me in a cage and keeping me as his personal pet. “Tell me more about what it’s like living in Frostacre.”
The king slides his hand the short distance over the corner of the table and takes my free hand in his, sending icy chills through my veins. I swallow back the bile as Levi continues to caress my right hand to keep me sane.
“It’s an absolute dream. Imagine dinner spreads like this every night. Grand balls where the most handsome fae fight for the chance to seduce you. Midnight swims in the underground hot springs. And your own private suite, complete with a canopy bed and satin sheets.” His fingers trail along my skin, sending images of his descriptions flickering through my mind.
“And your queen? What is she like?” I don’t remember Levi ever mentioning a queen, but if there is one, and it keeps Cirrus talking, I want to know.
“Insufferable.” The king’s lips fall as if I’ve brought up a sore subject. “Had to lock her away in the deepest part of the dungeon after she took issue over my affairs. Can’t have a queen who won’t let me have a little fun. Might let her out in another hundred years.”
“How did you fall in love?” It’s personal, but it makes me think of Bastian creeping through the magic-filled tunnels, searching for the prophecy. If I focus on my reality, I might make it through this.
“Love?” The king appears as if he might burst out laughing. “Maybe a bit of lust at first, but the purpose of our marriage is to link two full-blooded families. I didn’t marry for love.” His fingers slide along my hand to my wrist and then to my forearm as if he’s admiring my skin. “What about you? Are you in love?”
I grip Levi’s hand tighter. As much as I want to learn about my connection with Bastian, I want to protect him. The fae don’t tell lies, but diversion using a good story might work. “There was a boy in Avren who captured my attention. More of an obsession than love. How far could we take our heated encounters without the Council knowing?”
“And what became of this boy?” The king stops his slow crawl up my sleeve to listen to my response. I don’t dare shake my arm free, knowing Cirrus’s power.
“He’s a soldier in the Avren guard. I guess he’s my enemy.” The thought of it leaves a hollowness in the pit of my stomach. Flynn did nothing to hurt me. He wanted to bring me back into the city.
“I can make you forget about him.” The king grips my elbow, massaging it and filling me with a betraying need. I close my eyes and inhale the magic surrounding me. My thoughts wander to an enormous bed covered in mounds of pillows. Images of Cirrus above me, moaning my name, make me squeeze my legs together. Above him is a frame containing a parchment with ancient script. The prophecy? If I accept his invitation, maybe I can get it myself and use my locket to get back. That is, if I’m strong enough to resist the king of the Unseelie Court.
Heart pounding, I open my eyes to see the king holding a strawberry between his slender fingers. “Taste, Maribel. Accept everything I offer.”
Levi’s fingernails dig so hard into my palm, I’m sure they’re drawing blood. He’s reminding me not to eat the food. The king’s eyes flash to my companion’s as if it’s the first time he’s noticed him in the room.
“The son of Lilibeth Swallow. What are you doing here?” His grip tightens on my elbow. “Didn’t I banish you with your whore of a mother?”
Based on what the king has told me, he shouldn’t point fingers on this matter.
Until this point, Levi has shown decorum and respect for his people. Any misstep might ruin the mission. I hear the tightness in his voice as he growls, “My mother did nothing wrong except fall in love with a human.”
“That’s fine, but to marry the creature?” Cirrus turns up his nose, unable to contain his disgust. “And procreate with it? To weaken Frostacre’s bloodline is an act of treason. You and all your descendants deserve the curse put on you by your mother’s insolence.” A flash of light crosses the king’s eyes again as he assesses both of us. “But if you were to leave, letting this fine woman stay with me, I’d repay you by lifting the curse.”
Levi’s body stiffens as my hand tingles from his iron grip. This isn’t the plan. But the visions Cirrus placed in my head have me seeing things differently. I can snatch the prophecy and use the necklace to get to Tenny Rocks. My brother will be free to walk out the door without a hair misplaced and possibly with his hearing.
“I will never leave her with the likes of you.” Levi’s eyes narrow with such fire, I’m afraid he might knock Cirrus to the ground. “You call it a curse, but in reality, it’s a blessing.” He holds his thumbs up to his lips and throws his hands out, palm down, in front of him.
“Oh, my. You know her life in Frostacre will be a million times better than shacking up in the wilderness with you.” He touches my cheek with his long fingernail, sending delicious quivers through me.
I hate how his magic affects me. I’m not sure if I can even get Levi to leave.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Your Majesty.” Levi drops my hand and stands, holding a shaking iron dagger in his other hand. “The Kindred Few have one thing you’ll never have.”
“And what’s that, fool?” Despite the weapon pointed at his head, the king looks calm.
Levi steps around my chair, moving closer to the king.
I want to snatch the dagger from his hand, but it’s out of reach.
“Love.” He crosses both hands over the center of his chest, keeping hold of the weapon. “You keep people close for power and greed. We’d lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters because we’re family. That’s what my parents did for each other.”
This wasn’t part of the plan. He was supposed to get the king to give us clues as to the whereabouts of the prophecy, not antagonize him. I wish I could let him know the king clued me in already with his mental invitation to his bed chambers.
Cirrus’s face tightens and turns a strange shade of pink as he plucks a grape from the table and pops it in his mouth. He assesses us while he chews. “Let’s put that to the test.” With a flick of his wrist, the dagger in Levi’s hand falls to the floor. He leans his elbows on the table, the arms of his robe slinking downward. “If I promise to let this human go after she entertains me for a while, will you let me kill you where you stand?”
The blood seems to rush out of my body. The king must be joking. Levi and I are both walking out of here with the prophecy. I won’t have it any other way.
“Let him go.” I touch my brother’s arm before rising and standing between them. “Do what you want with me. He’s done nothing wrong. Haven’t you punished him enough because of what you consider to be his mother’s sin?”
Cirrus leans back in his chair, crossing his arms and one leg over the other. “No. I’ve made up my mind, and it takes an act of monumental effort to change it.” A final burst of light flickers through his eyes. “Forfeit your life for the girl’s.”
A lone finger links with mine as my best friend turns to me with a sad smile on his lips. He mouths, “You are kin.”
The iron dagger rises from the floor, flips two times in the air, and drives itself into Levi’s chest. He falls to the floor in a heap, and this time, there’s no saving him. I crouch beside him, intent on holding it together despite the rage and heartache threatening to tear me apart. The dam keeping back the massive wave of sorrow holds fast. There’s no time for tears.
I slide my hand into my boot, my fingers wrapping around the smooth handle of a dagger.
“You will learn eventually that life’s temporary, dear Maribel. Friends, enemies, and lovers come and go.” He’s still reclined in his chair, acting as if nothing happened. As if he swatted a bug with his hand.
I want to rip his fucking head off.
Finally, he moves to crouch beside me, lifting my chin with his fingernail. “You need to learn to feel no emotion. I learned this in the first decade of the five centuries I’ve lived in this world.”
Hating every melodic note of his voice, I squeeze my eyes shut, wanting to block him out, but also knowing what I need to do. “Take me to your room. You’d better follow through with your promise to him and let me go after we... let’s get it over with.” Everything inside me is screaming to kill him right now, but I’m not sure how to get to his bedchambers. Killing him might set off a series of events that will keep me from finding the prophecy. Burning tears sting my eyes, so I brush them away with the sleeve of my dress. As much as I want to curl into a ball and cry, I need to stay strong for Levi.
The king wraps his slender arm around mine and holds me close to him, leading me through the narrow corridors of his underground lair. Images of Levi working in the sunshine of his garden fill my head. He lifts his eyes and smiles, holding a plump tomato in his hand as I approach. I need to swipe the images away to keep my composure. There’s no guarantee I’ll ever leave this place.
At an enormous gold door, Cirrus removes a key from around his neck and unlocks it. He pushes it open and ushers me in. My attention is immediately on the wall behind the bed. It’s a bit startling to find that it’s an exact replica of my vision. I hope that doesn’t mean I’ll soon be in bed with the fae king.
“Make yourself comfortable.” Cirrus removes goblets from a glass cabinet. He pops the cork on a bottle of wine and pours two glasses, then carries them over to a table. “There’s a bath behind the double doors.”
“Can you draw it for me?” I sit on the edge of the bed and cross my ankles. “Maybe we can take it together?”
I’m not sure how much of this act he’s buying. He must feel the aura of my all-out rage.
“Very well.” Cirrus picks up a wine glass and carries it into the bathroom.
I climb onto the bed, taking the frame down from the wall and laying it on the floor. With my dagger, I make quick work of the bindings and free the parchment from the casing. My hands sweat. I don’t like that I can’t hear Cirrus over the running water in the bathroom. If he catches me, I’m not sure what I’ll do. I fold the parchment, tuck it into my corset, and shove the frame under the bed.
Cirrus appears in the doorway, nose in the air and glass of wine in hand. “My father used the dwarves to dig out Frostacre in the sixty-seventh century.” He pauses when he finally looks at me. “What are you doing on the floor?”
“I dropped my ring.” I swipe my palms over the thick carpeting frantically. “Oh, never mind. I found it.” I hold up the ring, I’d slipped from my finger moments before at the sound of his voice. “It’s a size too big and keeps coming off.”
He stares at me as if he can’t believe the prophecy picked me to assume the role as savior. “Your bath is ready.”
I scramble to my feet, trying not to trip on the skirt of my dress, and hurry into the bathroom. Knowing nothing about the king, I’m not sure how observant he is. It might take him two minutes or two years to notice the frame missing from above his bed.
With my limited time, I roll up my sleeves and remove the dagger from my pocket, ready to force myself into a mindset where I can kill the fae king in cold blood. The weapon shakes in my hand as I take in shallow breaths, contemplating my next move. Every creak of the floorboards beyond the door sets my heart into wild palpitations. It’s a strange game of who will open the bathroom door first.
To both my dismay and relief over not drawing it out any longer, he makes the first move. As the door opens, I hide the dagger behind my back, carefully slipping it into my pocket.
“Can I help you with your dress?” He moves behind me, not waiting for an answer, his lithe fingers sliding the buttons through the eyelets. Cool air hits the bare skin of my shoulders.
My heart is now in my throat. I don’t want it to go any farther, and if I don’t stop him, we’ll end up in bed like the vision he implanted in my mind earlier. Without a word, he slides the green velvet from my shoulders, his cool hands skimming along my skin. He’s an expert in using his glamour, threatening to make me forget all about the dagger in my pocket.
The garment slips from my hips to the ground, and I’m standing exposed in my corset and underclothes. The weapon seems impossibly out of reach.
His lips brush my shoulder, stopping to nip the sensitive spot where my neck meets my collarbone, and work their way up to my ear. “Join me, Maribel. Make Frostacre your home. As my pet, you’ll never need to lift a weapon again.”
In my clouded judgment, it sounds so inviting. This drop dead gorgeous fairy wants me around. He’ll protect me from Arazian and Lady Raven. I drift into his dreamworld as I feel his fingers working the ribbon on my corset. There’s some reason he shouldn’t do that. There’s something hidden, but I can’t remember what.
He stops long enough to pick up a glass of wine from a small wooden ledge beside the tub. “Here. Have a drink. It will relax you.”
I hold the glass of wine, staring down into the red poison.
A voice calls out in my head. Don’t eat or drink anything. Fae food and drink will drive you into madness.
Levi.
I turn and throw the contents of the glass into Cirrus’s face before diving to the floor to find my dagger in the dress.
“You’ll pay for that, you Undesirable wench.” His slender fingers turn from gentle to unforgiving as he grips my hair and drags me across the bathroom floor.
I keep hold of my dress, patting the folds for the hard iron. There’s too much material. My scalp cries out where his fingernails dig into flesh.
Using my hair, he lifts me to my feet and shoves me against the wall, holding me by the shoulders. His eyes are wide, and dark lines threaten to burst through his pale skin. In anger, he can’t hide his true self behind his glamour. “You’re going to die like the miserable half-blood lying on the dining room floor. It will take my staff weeks to get the stain out of the marble.”
My searching fingers finally hit the hard object in my dress, so I plunge them into the pocket to retrieve it. Hands no longer shaking, I stare at the king as his hands slide from my shoulders to my throat, trying to choke the life out of me. As my head spins, I use everything within me to thrust the weapon’s blade into his side.
He staggers backward, staring down at the projectile protruding from his waist. For most, this wouldn’t be a fatal blow, but he’s fae and the weapon’s iron.
“What have you done?” He yanks the dagger out and tosses it to the ground as the black lines on his face become more pronounced. “You’re a human. Mortal. You’re weak. I’m the king.” His skin morphs from its usual perfect ivory to ashen as he stumbles, trips, and lands in the tub. His head lolls to the side as he gets the bath he wanted.
I just killed the king of Frostacre.