Wrath of the Fae Queen (Dying Lands #3)

1. Keira

I made a mistake. A huge gods-damned error of judgment.

That much is clear as I am manhandled through thick, rolling mists scented with flowers. Brilliant white light burns my eyes, but it isn’t the reason hot tears roll uncontrollably down my cheeks.

My body aches from crashing down to my hands and knees too many times. I am battered, bruised and sliced up from each time they have shoved me to the ground or into a tree on the journey here.

I negotiated to be treated with respect in my bargain with my fae captors, but they still seem capable of doing the opposite.

I am splattered with mud. My skirts are torn and my feet bleed in my boots. My limbs are so tired they shake. They made me run all the way from Appleshield Castle to the Portal Interchange. It is an easy trek for a fae, but I still have enough of a block on my magic that I couldn’t keep up.

All I want to do is go back. Back to Aldrin. Back to my family. Back to the safety of Appleshield.

But it is too late.

No one is coming to save me.

I am surrounded by the enemy and utterly alone. Flanked on either side by men digging their fingers painfully into my arms, like they think I might run. Where could I go? The bargain binds me to my fate. It makes me the High Chancellor Titania’s plaything.

Torin is on one side, his long sheet of black hair billowing around him. Titania’s son.His ice-blue eyes fix me with a murderous glare as I lose my footing for the hundredth time and fall, striking my hip on a hard stone.

On my other side, a terrifying fae in full battle armor towers over me. His violent tugs are the reason I keep falling. I scramble on all fours, quickly pulling myself up before the red-eyed monster kicks me in the ribs again.

They cannot seem to decide if I am a prize or a burden to murder on the spot.

The billowing world of white mist comes to an end and the moonstone portal to the fae realm appears ahead. I try to dig my heels in. To stop the slow march toward my fate, or run screaming in the opposite direction, but the magic of this in-between realm forces me forward.

Torin must register my hesitation, because he shoulders me through the portal and I trip over the lip, my hands and knees striking the stone littering the meadow beyond. I bite my cheek and the iron tang of blood fills my mouth.

I don’t have a moment to brush the gravel out of the cuts in my hands.

My other fae guard wraps my loose hair around his hand and drags me to my feet by it. Intense pain screams across my scalp, but it is nothing compared to the agony in my heart.

I can’t get Aldrin out of my head.

The way he desperately fought to get to me with multiple warriors hanging off his back. How they forced him to the ground. My heart broke when the bargain was sealed and everyone who cared enough to fight for me was frozen like a statue, snarls preserved on their lips and fear in their eyes.

I begged you not to do this, Keira. Not to make this bargain with my greatest enemy and put yourself at her mercy. Aldrin’s voice rings through my head.

My only consolation is that we are still connected through the mate bond. His mind is a maelstrom, swirling with torrents of anger—at me, at my captors, at his own impotence. It is threaded with so much fear. Enough to cripple a lesser man.

Of everything I have put him through, this could be the thing that breaks him.

You would be dead by now if I had not sacrificed myself for you! I send back, wanting to wail at the necessity of my stupid actions.

Never sacrifice yourself for me. Never, Aldrin pleads. You are too important for that.

Torin pushes me again and I bang my legs into a large boulder, sucking in my breath sharply with pain.

Look at how they are treating you. I will kill them all. Slowly and violently. His sorrow burns like icy fire as it bleeds from him to me. He can see everything I see. Feel echoes of my physical pain. All he has to do is concentrate on the link of our bond to be right here with me.

This was my choice to make, Aldrin. It was no choice at all. Not when Titania threatened my mate and my family. When she sliced a gash down my baby niece’s face. We still have a chance to find our way back to each other. I can endure any torment for that.

I am vaguely aware of him engulfed within deep, inky darkness, and wonder if I have been gone so long that night has already fallen in the human realm.

I never wanted this for you, Aldrin says. I never wanted anyone to hurt you ever again, especially not for me. You have endured enough already.

There is so much pain between us now, when a day ago we only had love and peace.

I am grabbed by the arms, by the hair again, and dragged along when I am perfectly capable of walking. It dehumanizes me.

“Get your hands off me!” I try to scream, but my voice wobbles as it comes out. I thrash, wanting to shove them away, to strike at them, but a single large hand suddenly grabs both of my wrists at once and twists them easily behind my back.

“Then stop fucking falling, you useless human,” one guard growls as he leans right into my face, his bright red eyes narrowing.

Strands of his dark hair slip out of the knot he has half of it up in, falling over his features.

The white scars peppered through his cropped beard stretch with his snarl.

“You are trying to make this as difficult as possible.”

“Stop tossing me around and I will stop falling.” I shove my shoulder against his chest hard to push him back, thrusting all of my body weight and strength into the motion.

He hardly moves an inch and laughs at my efforts.

I could have him fall on his ass if I threw my magic behind me, but I cannot reveal my secrets yet.

Weak. That is what I am in this moment. And so gods-damned vulnerable.

Dozens of warriors exit the portal behind us, streaming past on either side in two thick channels. They unintentionally cage us within their center. None even glance my way.

Torin grabs my arm and pulls me toward him, until our bodies are flush.

He grabs my chin and forces me to look up into his eyes, which are dancing with thrill.

“You are nothing here. Not a lord’s daughter.

Not a king’s mate. Not even a creature worthy of notice.

You are dirt beneath our boots, and you should pray to whatever gods you believe in that we don’t crush you with each step. ”

Aldrin bristles from far away, but there is nothing he can do.

“I am your rightful queen,” I growl.

Torin throws back his head and laughs. “You are a queen of nothing.”

My power brims within me, especially the newfound ability to turn a man to ash, but I have to force it down and take this humiliation. I cannot fight and win against nearly a hundred fae warriors. I cannot show my power now, when they think I am a fragile, magicless human. One to be underestimated.

Titania and her son are known for having very little magic of their own. It is a fact that makes them bitter to the point of hatred, and of course it is humans they despise, humans whose blood they share so much of and blame for their own inadequacies. For not being fae enough.

Prejudice is like that. It rarely makes sense. It is the reason both Titania and Torin wear pointed ear caps of golden wire, made to look similar to the jewelry worn by other fae, but theirs hide the tips of their ears completely. It is rumored that they are as rounded as a human’s.

“Torin, if you’re done taunting our little guest to the Spring Court, I would like to get moving,” Titania calls out. “Play your petty games later, son, when they are not wasting my precious time.”

Torin flinches like he was struck. I drag my eyes away from him and take in the clearing for the first time. Cascades of colorful spring flowers erupt from the bright green grass of the meadow. The late-afternoon sun is dappled through branches bursting with apple blossoms.

Its beauty is a mockery of my dire situation.

It is a knife in the chest, to be here again without Aldrin.

Titania calls out orders and suddenly all those guards funneling out of the portal circle around me, trapping me in their midst. More join them from this meadow, where they clearly awaited our arrival.

I back away from a wall of tall, broadly muscular figures in segmented armor, but it only brings me closer to others.

Those sneers and glares twisting their faces as they look me up and down are enough to break a cold sweat across my skin.

I am completely at their mercy.

They can force me to do almost anything.

My breath catches in my throat and I struggle to drag in air as the moment stretches out. As I wait and watch for the next attack. Fear freezes me within its clutches.

Use your magic if they try to hurt you, Keira. Don’t let them harm you! Aldrin’s voice breaks within my head.

I will be a useless spy from the dungeons if my powers are discovered. I straighten my back, even though my hands shake violently.

I don’t care for a damned spy! I want my mate unbroken, Aldrin roars. I want you safe.

The bargain I made with Titania prevents her from treating me worse than any other noble in her court, I say. Surely there are limits on her.

A bargain with Titania never means what we think it will, he replies, and I have to clamp down on the bond to stop his hopelessness from infecting me.

Titania breaks through the crowd and stalks straight up to me. I force myself not to cower under her observation. She clutches my chin with sharp nails, turning my head from side to side as she inspects me. “Not a very impressive thing, are you, little mouse?”

The only thing that holds my tongue is the grim ring of hostile warriors that surrounds us.

Titania’s black-tattooed lips curl cruelly while the orange glow swirls in her eyes. “Florian, if you will. Show Lady Keira to her litter. She will travel in a manner that suits her station.”