12. Keira #2
I reveal my true pointed ears and allow the glamour to flicker in and out again, so it looks like someone has done a poor job of making me look human. I will allow Titania’s entire court to see me like this and question her every word. All except the High Chancellor and her inner circle.
I take a final look in the mirror and insecurity fills me. Are you sure I look okay like this?
Am I sure? There is a high note to his voice. Besides the fact that you are absolutely ravishing, you look like a queen. Royalty often sets the fashion trends and you are making a statement with that piece. Don’t cower before Titania. You will determine what message is sent.
I allow his confidence to fill me like liquid fire. I will not allow a single gown to be my undoing.
With a twist of my hand, I remove the cabinet from in front of the door and step out. Torin, clearly about to knock, staggers backward. He frowns as he peers into my eyes, at the lack of tears there.
I give him the sweetest smile. “Thank you for the gift, Torin. It was very generous of you. I love my new gown—is it pure gold?”
He grumbles and scowls, charging off ahead of me. I am surrounded by a cloud of guards as we leave my chambers, but none of them touch me.
We reach an immense throne room of white marble and gold-trimmed opulence, bordered by thick columns with flowering vines curling up them and across the ceiling. A dozen crystal chandeliers hang from the roof, each lit up by fire orbs.
The royal dais is positioned at the far end of the room, with a long carpet leading up to it.
The stone platform has multiple steps before it and a wall of gnarled, twisted branches of ancient wisteria at its back.
Long, cascading sprays of purple flowers drape from the entire surface of the tree like chains of jewels.
Titania sits on a throne at its center with a cruel smile on her lips. She thinks she has the upper hand.
Torin and his guards all but force me to walk down the entire length of the throne room, through a large audience of fae who are parted on either side of the carpet leading to the dais.
The crowd of courtiers turns deadly silent as they scrutinize me, then hushed whispers and gasps break out.
So many are packed into the space, watching this spectacle, that some reach out and almost touch me.
I want to recoil, but I cannot show any weakness.
I am here with you, dear heart, Aldrin’s voice rumbles in my head. Do not allow her to degrade you before these people. You have faced worse abusers than her—show them your strength and willpower.
Torin climbs up the steps and stands beside his mother’s throne, slightly behind it. She is so power-hungry, she can’t even have a smaller chair for her son.
Golden light swirls within her eyes as they examine me from head to toe.“Come, little mouse. Sit at my feet, pet,” she croons in a voice loud enough for the entire chamber to hear.
I refuse to move from the foot of the dais. “Get out of my throne, Titania. You are fooling no one.”
Good, Aldrin says. More. Rile her up. Make her look like a fool.
I turn my back to the High Chancellor, facing the audience of courtiers instead. “As King Aldrin’s mate, I am the rightful queen here, and this woman is an imposter.”
Many faces pale, and whispers break out, but I receive no angry backlash from them. Interesting.
Titania’s laughter rings out behind me. “You speak of Aldrin? He is a dead man.”
I turn to her, my gown clinking as it flows around me. “Do I look like a mate in mourning?”
“You look delusional to me,” she snipes. “Sit. At. My. Feet.”
Don’t do it, Aldrin growls.
I wasn’t planning to.
“Do you think you can steal me from my lord father’s castle and lock me away in this palace as your plaything?” I take the steps up the dais. “You will not break me. I will make sure you will not be sitting on that throne for much longer.”
The murmurs in the crowd become louder. I have been here before: a victim of a cruel leader on display before a mass of powerful onlookers. None will raise a finger to help me. I have to save myself.
Titania leaps from her throne and pounces on me so fast I don’t have a chance to react. She turns me swiftly on the spot to face the people, standing at my back, digging nails into my shoulders.
“This petulant child, this human girl, thinks she can rule the Spring Court, just because she spread her legs for its exiled king?” Titania bellows.“What does she know of this realm? Of what it is to be fae? All she was good at was seducing Aldrin away from his people and responsibilities.”
My smile widens as I allow my glamour to flicker in and out, revealing my pointed ears in glimpses. To show them that I am as fae as I am human, and make Titania look like the liar that she is. People gasp and Titania believes it is at her words. She straightens even taller behind me.
“Aldrin claimed that our lands are dying and our people need saving. If this is true, then where has he been?” She pushes me hard and I stagger away from her, almost tripping on the length of the gown. “In the human realm, even though it is a crime to travel there.”
I turn to Titania and laugh. “And where did you find me? Have you told your people about that?” I swing around to the crowd, calm, my shoulders straight.
“My father is the Lord Protector of the human realm. A powerful man in his own right, and he has a strong alliance with our king. Titania brought an army through the portals and into our protectorate, taking possession of our fortress while we were in the capital and holding my mother, my sister and my niece as hostages. Then she had the audacity to threaten my father and my king. These are all acts of war, right after Aldrin negotiated a trade deal with the humans that would bring immense wealth to the Spring Court. In taking me from my home, she has likely destroyed that deal and started a new war.”
The High Chancellor flicks her nails right in my face.
“Dear little ignorant pet. What do we care for the threats of humans? They can try to invade these lands to get you back, and we will crush the weaklings beneath our boots without a second thought. Why don’t you stick to what you are good at: spreading your legs. ”
She grabs me by the wrist, digging her nails in deep enough to puncture the skin and pull a gasp from my lips. The sudden pain throws me off balance as she drags me across the dais toward the throne.
I will not sit at her feet.
“Look how she is dressed. Do you think you will attract the eye of another powerful man here and hide behind him?” She snickers. “Once a whore, always a whore.”
I glance down at myself, heart racing and skin heating with shame, but I push it all away.
“I am wearing a ball gown of woven gold and a tiara. Now, there is not much more regal than that when holding court.” I raise my eyebrows at Titania, finally allowing her and her inner circle to see my glamoured circlet.
“Do you often shame the bodies of ladies? I thought we were much more liberal and open-minded in the Spring Court.”
The High Chancellor doesn’t even react to my words. She turns toward Torin and snarls at him in a low voice while he rushes over. “Why the fuck is she wearing that?”
“I—I have no idea where she got it from,” he stammers, eyes wide. “She wasn’t wearing it before.”
Titania shoves him backward with enough force that he falls on his ass, humiliating her own son in front of all these important people. “Get off my dais! Get out of my sight!” she hisses at him and he scrambles away. Her wild eyes turn to me. “Kneel before my throne.”
“No.” I part my legs to even out my center of gravity and square my shoulders.
“KNEEL!” she screams, grabbing the chains connected to the collar at my throat to force me down.
“No.” I grasp her wrist and pull her away from me, snapping the delicate gold links. She almost rolls an ankle in those high heels. I lean in close to her and whisper, “I have been professionally trained in hand-to-hand combat and swordcraft, so think twice before you assault me.”
Titania rears away, her eyes widening. She swings her arm back, then brings it forward with momentum to slap me in the face, but I easily sidestep her. She lashes out with a second blow, but I grab her arm and twist it.
“GUARDS!” Titania screams, visibly shaking with fury. “Force her to the ground! I want her lying at my feet in submission.” She turns and stalks to the throne, throwing herself into it.
I swing around to see multiple guards materializing out of the crowd and making a beeline for me. My mind whirls, trying to find a solution where I am not face down on the ground. One where I don’t have to reveal my magic to so many onlookers.
Aldrin! I screech at him. Any ideas?
You could fucking kill them all, he snarls.
Not helpful. I take a quick step back as the guards reach the bottom of the dais. Ideas, Aldrin.
I’m still thinking. Another heartbeat passes and they take the first step toward me. Could you disarm one, hide your air wield from the crowd behind their bodies, then use their sword to fend them off?
I can’t take on five fae men. Not without magic. My heart is like a mad beast thrashing against my ribcage.
Suddenly a form charges through the middle of the guards to the top of the dais, stopping right in front of me with his signature scathing, degrading look.
Florian. Those blood-red eyes simmer with bottomless rage as they narrow on me.
As the guards attempt to surround us, he holds up a hand, and they halt immediately. Then his gaze flicks up to Titania.
“My High Chancellor. Let’s not have this…
seductress ruin the proceedings.” His voice is hoarse from the barely restrained resentment within it.
“We don’t have time for child’s games. Perhaps a night in the dungeons will remind her she is a queen to a dead, exiled king and has no power here.
” He laughs.“Who would even support a human in an election for your throne?”
I glance over his shoulder to the crowd beyond. Many lean in to watch our power struggle with rapt attention. Some whisper between themselves and glance at me with light in their eyes. Sasha’s mouth hangs open. She has a hand to her chest and the usual rosy glow of her cheeks is completely gone.
Rainier is pushing his way through the crowd, his dark eyebrows slashing downward over his face. A high fae woman with long locks of dark green hair tries to pull him back, talking urgently in his ear. Gods, I hope he doesn’t reveal himself as one of my sympathizers.
“Yes. I like that, Florian,” Titania’s voice rings out behind me, suddenly cool once more. She has calmed enough to realize she is only damaging her own reputation here. “We cannot allow this insolence to go unpunished.”
“I will take her there myself and personally oversee her discipline.” He glances down at me like I am the biggest inconvenience, then gives me a smile that turns my blood cold.
Florian grips my arm tightly and drags me down the steps, shaking me aggressively for emphasis. The long train of my skirt gets tangled between my legs, but he holds me upright. I’m surprised he doesn’t let me fall on my face to prove a point.
The crowd stares at us in horror as we make our way down the long carpet leading out of the throne room.
I cannot allow the courtiers to see my fear, but cold sweat breaks out across my skin when I think of what must be waiting for me in the dungeon.
Is it kept in pitch blackness? Are there vermin scurrying through the filth in the cells?
Will I be chained to a wall? Imprisoned along with rotting bodies forgotten there?
The dungeons are clean, well lit and humane—well, they were when I ruled. I never wanted you to see the inside of a cell in our palace. Aldrin’s heartbreak is potent.
Florian’s brutal grip on me loosens the moment we leave our audience behind. It becomes almost civil. I give him a curious look, but he stares directly ahead, his jaw pulsing as he grinds his teeth. Jasper falls into step beside us, offering an apologetic nod.
Instead of the dungeons, the general takes me to my chambers.
He opens the door, stalks right past me and checks that every room is empty, then pulls me in.
“You will not leave your chambers. Do not make a sound in here. Let them think you are in the dungeon. Titania won’t check. Do you understand?”
The blood drains from my head, making me dizzy, and for a moment I don’t comprehend the orders spewing from his mouth. “Why—why would you help me?”
Florian looks over his shoulder, at the open door, then runs a hand across his face before looking back at me. “There are eyes and ears everywhere here.”
He stalks off with no more explanation than that. I stare after him, all words frozen within my throat, until the doors close behind him.
Jasper lingers in the entrance, guilt flushing his features.“Bolt your door when I go. I will make sure you are brought food and I will let you know when it is safe for you to leave your rooms again.” He stops and frowns. “When it is safer.”
I let out a long breath as all the fight leaves me. I just want to curl up and cry.
Jasper hovers awkwardly. His mouth opens, then closes again. Pain ripples across his face as he finally speaks in a soft voice. “Did he ever talk about me?”
My mind is completely blank. “Who?”
A deep sadness rolls through Aldrin at the same time that it crumples Jasper’s face. “Silvan,” the guard says. “Your ignorance of who I am—was—to him is enough of an answer.” He turns on his heel and walks out the door.
Realization dawns on me. Is Jasper…
Silvan’s life partner, Aldrin replies. The one he believes abandoned him, and me, when I was exiled and he chose to remain in the palace instead of going into the wilds with us.
Oh. It is all I can manage. Silvan has been in exile for over a decade and that heartbreak is still eating him alive. Both men, clearly. No wonder Silvan has a constant simmering rage and Jasper is so desperate to look out for me.
Go stand in front of the mirror. Aldrin’s rumble breaks me out of my thoughts. Do you have any idea how much that dress drives me wild?
Delightful shivers ripple across my skin at the lust that heats his blood and coils deep in his belly, traveling lower to his rapidly thickening member. The sensation takes my breath away.
I do exactly as I am told.
Good girl .