Chapter 50 #2
We finally arrived at the square, and I found Ulmar and Baron Elgord waiting between poles with bound adolescents.
Bile rose in my throat at the sight of them.
Two of the most evil men in my life had smiles on their faces as their dark elf minions forced Faina and me to move in their direction.
The ropes chaffed as I tried loosening them, but they were too tight.
We’d have to wait for help to get them off.
“Ah, cousin, it’s so good to see you again,” Ulmar said, looking at me through his good eye. The one the tractvine had destroyed had a black patch over it. Unlike the townspeople, he looked impeccable in his crisp gray tunic and black pants, dark red hair neatly trimmed.
I didn’t bother to respond. As long as Faina and I kept the most powerful fae’s attention, Darrow and the others could quietly implement their own plans.
We hadn’t known the magic would be dampened.
The sebeska didn’t pick up on it, but she wouldn’t, since she only had minor magic that wouldn’t be affected, much like telepathy.
Elgord gave me a menacing smile and came forward. His terrible breath preceded him once he stood only two feet away and reached up to tug a strand of my hair. I wanted to throw up at the awful body odor wafting from him and leaned back as far as I could.
“You eluded me in the spring, but before the Unseelie arrive, I will have you in my bed for one night,” he said, leaning forward to whisper in my ear. “You’ll be tied and spread naked for my use, begging for the dark elves to save you before I finish. They won’t, though.”
As he straightened, I spat in his face, and then I kicked him in the groin. “You’ll never have me, you sick asshole.”
He groaned, fury in his gaze. As he raised his hand for a strike, someone walked up from behind. Shock filled me when Sariyah reached up and grabbed Elgord’s wrist. She wasn’t tied up. She looked fine, but how was she free?
“I told you before that you won’t touch Aella,” my best friend said, pushing the vile elf away. She’d always hated him and found him disgusting as well. With a final glare at me, he walked away to speak to some soldiers across the street.
Commander Norvin, Sariyah’s father, appeared a moment later.
They moved to stand before Faina and me as I tried to comprehend what was happening.
Neither of them appeared harmed or under duress.
Their clothes were clean, their bodies were free of injuries, and they didn’t act the least bit worried or scared.
“What…what’s going on? Did you make a deal or something?” I asked, gaze falling on Sariyah.
Her expression wasn’t at all what I expected. It had transformed to pity and loathing as she stared at me. A blue sebeska landed atop one of the polls, but I avoided looking that way. It was Darrow’s bird, Tullar, up there.
“Oh, Aella.” Sariyah shook her head. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to stop playing this game—soooo long.
Listening to all your whining and complaining about your life, pretending to be impressed by how good you are at your magic, and then there’s your plants.
Dear nameless ones, how I hate those things and wish your uncle had killed them all. ”
Was I in a bad dream? How could she say those things and do it so cruelly?
“But…but…we’re friends,” I said, throat constricting. She couldn’t mean those things after nearly three decades of us being close. Did the dark elves force her to do it, and it was an act?
Sariyah shrugged. “When we were little, yes. I liked you back then, but not after you got your powers and everyone became interested in you. Little Aella is so impressive…blah, blah, blah. I hated how your parents fawned over you, and everyone spoke about your potential.”
She never mentioned being bothered before, nor did she show any signs of envy that I could remember. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“I told her not to because I needed her to keep your confidence,” Commander Norvin said. His expression was flat.
“Why?”
I couldn’t understand how these two people were betraying me after all the years I’d known them.
We’d had countless dinners together, laughed, and played board games late into the night.
How could they pretend for all that time?
It made no sense. Even my uncle didn’t bother hiding how he really felt about me.
“You were important to our plans, including Lord Morgunn’s,” he said, sighing.
Sariyah gave me a satisfied look. “The best part was you crying to me when your father died, having no idea my father arranged his death. All along, you thought the Lord of Veronna finished him off, which was so naive, as usual. Has it been awkward seeing him at Crystal Castle, thinking he did it?”
“Wha…what?” I couldn’t breathe. Lord Gannon had proven his innocence, but I’d thought my uncle had a soldier finish him off—not my best friend’s father. “But why?”
“He didn’t like our dealings with the dark elves and most certainly not the Unseelie. The problems only grew after we discovered your powers.” Norvin shook his head. “Your father was threatening to speak to the king, so we did what was necessary.”
“I’m the one who suggested burning the body for extra effect. Then we took your home and family’s position at Tradain while Lord Morgunn gained you and your powers,” Sariyah added with a maniacal twinkle in her eyes that rivaled Ulmar’s. “It was so poetic.”
My throat swelled with the betrayal not only to me, but also to my father.
“What did we ever do to you to deserve this? Our families were close.” I couldn’t imagine this level of cruelty to an enemy, much less people who should be friends. As far back as I could remember, we’d spent holidays together, and before our mothers died, they were close, too.
“We were never really on the same side, Aella,” Sariyah said.
Norvin gave me a disgusted look. “Especially once you went off and married Lord Gannon’s son. We’d needed to keep you tucked away and out of sight for our plans, but now the Unseelie will settle for nothing less than having you to themselves.”
“Why did you want to keep me away from the Unseelie?” I asked, voice croaking. Everything I’d thought I knew was falling apart, every memory rearranging as they spoke more damning words.
“They’re divided into two sides. One wants us to return to Faelaria to help them balance the world’s magic again.
That’s what your uncle and I wished—to return home.
” He worked his jaw. “The other is happy to leave us here and go to Earth to get what they need instead, so of course, they want you alive to get them there.”
I gritted my teeth. “Because humans are easier to control.”
“Yes, exactly.”
I pulled at the rope on my wrists, still too tight. “I’m surprised you didn’t just kill me to prevent them from getting what they want.”
“Lord Morgunn wouldn’t allow it. You were too useful for his war against Veronna, so he preferred to hide you away as soon as he could find the right person and place.
The Andalagar Chief wasn’t my favorite choice after Baron Elgord didn’t work out, but by then, the dark elves were starting to hear rumors about you, and we needed to get you somewhere they couldn’t find you easily. They would have killed you.”
I barely managed to suppress my tears. “And I thwarted that plan, too.” Then, something occurred to me, and I looked at Sariyah. “Why didn’t you tell my uncle when I confessed I’d married Darrow?”
“Oh, that was too much fun.” Sariyah grinned.
“Watching you scramble to hide your marriage while your husband made you help him attack Therress. The way both sides jerked you around without caring at all how it hurt you. It was so good to watch everyone make you miserable while you tried to hold onto your so-called honor.”
“You should have told us instead of keeping us in the dark,” Commander Norvin said, glaring at his daughter.
“Oh, father, unlike Aella, I do what is best for me and wasn’t ready for the game to end yet.” Sariyah made a tsking sound. “The world stomps on her, and she still tries to be good. Thank the nameless ones that the Unseelie will be here soon, so I never have to see her again.”
“How soon?” Faina asked, shooting me a sympathetic look.
Norvin scowled at her. “That’s not your concern.”
It was too much. My world was falling apart as the one person I’d thought I could count on to be loyal to me, to love me, and accept me as I am, confessed that I meant nothing.
She actually enjoyed my suffering! It would be one thing if I’d truly wronged her—I would understand that—but I’d never done anything to her.
At least, not beyond keeping a few secrets, and even then, I had eventually told her.
Oh, the irony that I’d felt guilty for hiding things from her.
I collapsed to my knees as tears ran down my face. Was nothing in my life real? Had anyone ever cared about me, or did everyone lie? Was I that stupid? Were my abilities and how they could be used my only value?
Aella, don’t let them do this to you, Faina said, crouching next to me and rubbing her shoulder against mine.
It was all she could do since we were both tied up.
Sariyah doesn’t matter anymore because you have Darrow, Rynn, me, Loden, and Jax.
I swear to the nameless ones, we do care about you for yourself.
I shook my head, unable to form a reply even silently.
“Get Lord Gannon’s daughter out of here,” Commander Norvin shouted.
My tears blinded me, but I felt them pull her away. “No.”
Maybe she cared, maybe she didn’t, but Faina didn’t deserve what they had planned.
“Oh, dear.” Sariyah let out a dramatic sigh. “She thinks the bitch sister likes her now. When will she ever learn? Maybe we should have her whipped the way her uncle did until she sees sense.”
Shock hit me even worse than before, and I struggled to my feet. “You knew about it?”