16. Keira #2
There is an archway at the far side blocked by an opaque white ward with swirling mist leaking out of it.
As Basil leads me through, the magic pushes me back, curling across my skin as it queries me, making each step a great effort.
Suddenly, we are allowed through, and I stumble multiple steps before I regain my footing.
I find myself in a large hall of elaborate stone masonry. The ceiling arches in intervals, meeting sculpted columns that cut across the floor in long rows. Only a dozen orbs light up the large space with a warm glow, leaving the rest to pool in darkness.
My heart stops as my gaze falls on the party amassed in its center.Every instinct within me screams to run.
Florian stands in their midst, running their little meeting.
I drag in a sharp breath as he glances over his shoulder, red eyes gleaming as they fall on me.
Of course he is Titania’s spy master. I was a fool to think I could trust anyone here.
Around him cluster Rainier and the woman, Juniper, that he always seems to be with; Jasper and Sasha.
Everyone who has shown me kindness clearly used it as a weapon to get me into this compromising position.
I try to take a step backward, but Basil is still pulling me forward, his grip tight on my arm. I glance around frantically, expecting Torin to burst through one of the other doors with a small army at his back, accusations pouring from his lips.
Florian takes a few confident steps toward me, spreading his arms wide and smiling broadly. “Keira, I thought you’d be pleased to see me.”
I almost trip over my feet.
That tone, kind and amenable, is not his. That voice is not his.
“Not with that face on,” Rainier calls to Florian’s back.
My heart stutters to a stop as the air shimmers over Florian.
His long brown hair, half pulled back by a leather strap, shortens until it is shaved close to the scalp.
His beard disappears completely. Blood-red eyes turn green, his features shift, and his skin turns so bronze it is almost red.
Then the silvery lines of his tattoo shimmer into place over that familiar face that I love and trust.
I almost cannot believe what my eyes are showing me, but there is no denying it.
I run at him, tears pouring from my eyes, and he wraps me up in a tight embrace. “Drake!” I half laugh, half sob. “What in the Darkest Realm are you doing here?”
“Infiltrating the enemy to protect you as best I can. Spy master, remember?” he says into my hair, not letting go, rocking us from side to side. He pulls back just enough to peer down at me. “What were you thinking, giving yourself up to Titania as her prisoner?”
“It saved Aldrin’s life, didn’t it?” I whisper.“And my family is safe.”
“And Aldrin…is he…?” Drake’s words die. Everyone else peers over his shoulder, desperate for my reply.
“Aldrin has passed the Trials of Belladonna and is currently negotiating reinforcements from their ranks to win his throne back.”
Cheers sound from the others. Drake smiles widely. Then I slap him hard on the chest.
“How dare you give me such a fright! I thought I was doomed, finding a trap laid here by Florian.”
Drake runs a hand over his head sheepishly. “Sorry. I’ve been wearing that bastard’s face for long enough that I sometimes forget the complex weaves of glamour are in place.”
I frown at him. “How long have you been posing as Florian? Because he has treated me horribly.” Memories rise to mind of how Florian manhandled and hurt me as I was pulled out of the portal, and all the cruel things he did and said on the road. “Drake. How long?” I bite out.
“Do you remember when the nymphs attacked your party in protest of Titania?” he says. “Well, that was us, trying to get to a member of Titania’s inner circle so I could take their place.”
It suddenly makes so much sense, especially why Rainier raced after Florian and was so protective of him in his injured state when he brought him back. It was his father he was looking after.
My mind whirls as it reframes every interaction I had with the man after.
Florian bringing me to my chambers instead of the dungeon.
His de-escalation of our procession into the city and the open riot it almost turned into.
Then I remember him coming to my cage right after the battle with the nymphs and throwing a half-eaten peach at me.
How he humiliated me for being filthy and tossed his dirty towel at me.
“The peaches? The towel? That was you being an asshole!” I pound his chest.
Drake throws up his arms in mock surrender. “I had a role to play, a particularly nasty one. Besides, I had just discovered the state they were keeping you in, and I couldn’t think of another way to get you fed and cleaned up. I can’t help you if I don’t keep my cover.”
The fight falls from me, and I am left with immense gratitude that someone strong and safe is here for me to lean on. “Why didn’t you reveal yourself sooner?”
Drake lets out a long breath. “Don’t think I didn’t want to. That it didn’t kill me each time I had to keep up my facade and treat you badly.”
Rainier approaches. “We had to wait until it was safe. There is no way we could have revealed our true allegiance on the road, and we have only been in the palace a handful of days.”
Gods, it feels like I have been here for weeks, months, not only days.
Rainier’s stormy eyes glance over my shoulder, then back at me. “Basil wouldn’tbring you down here and expose our secret operations until he fully trusted you, and the others needed the same chance.”
The butler waiting patiently behind me only tips his head in my direction. My eyes run over Sasha, suddenly realizing our meeting wasn’t by chance at all, then to Jasper, who was probably trying to indicate that he was on my side the entire time.
Drake draws my attention back to him. “Look, I’m going to have to continue to say some very nasty things to you.
People will get suspicious if Florian stops acting vile and aggressive.
I will scratch my chin as a signal, and when you see it you can remember none of this is real.
That Florian is gone and it is really me, taking care of you. ”
I nod as a potent relief cascades through me at having such an ally in this. “What happened to Florian?” I ask.
Drake raises his eyebrows. “What do you think? That man committed many atrocities in the Winter Wars. We couldn’t find him afterward and he would have been executed if we did.
He was probably hiding out in another court.
It is no surprise he returned when Titania rose to power and weaseled his way into her inner circle. She breeds cruelty.”
A few paces behind Drake, Sasha visibly shudders.
“I saw the bloody aftermath of his work during the war. He ravaged defenseless villages and cities full of civilians to try to coax out our army, killing children and adults alike, never bothering to bury their bodies. Sometimes he left hundreds of heads on spikes as a message.”
A shiver runs through me at the image she depicts and I am suddenly very glad I was hardly exposed to the real Florian.
“This is where you hold secret meetings? As a resistance against Titania?” I glance around. There are no signs that anyone comes here regularly, not even chairs arranged for today’s session.
Rainier lets out a long breath. “I will be brutally honest: we do precious little to hurt her reign, though that will change now you are here. The disgruntled masses are afraid and fractured, but you could unite them behind you. Our work, though just as important, is to smuggle the minorities she uses as targets out of the city. Titania’s rule is built upon the people fearing and distrusting everyone around them, with her as their only protector against false enemies. ”
“You do us a disservice.” Juniper places a hand on Rainier’s arm, and he looks down at it, then at her with intensity.
She immediately pulls her hand back and flicks long, dark green-and-navy hair over her shoulder, a light blush staining her cheeks.
“It is the difference between life and death for the people we help.”
Rainier shakes his head. “I should be doing more, considering the role I played to help her onto this damned throne.”
As Drake pulls him to the side and speaks intently in his ear, Sasha steps forward, taking my hands. Her coat flutters and I realize it doesn’t have a fur-lined collar at all, but a long-haired puka nuzzled around her neck.
“You know of Titania’s hatred of the Winter Court.
Of how she uses us as scapegoats, blaming the corruption that kills these lands on my king’s technology and imaginary acts of war.
” She strokes the puka’s fur absentmindedly.
“Well, words aren’t enough for the High Chancellor.
She sends out her army of Truth Templars in the night.
They tear out into the street anyone who migrated from the Winter Court and burn their homes and businesses to the ground.
My people are beaten bloody in a brutal display before onlookers.
Too many have died. They target those wealthy enough to have assets to be confiscated but not politically powerful enough to protect themselves.
They are my people, and I am their ambassador and princess.
I am supposed to help them.” Sasha’s voice breaks on those last words and my heart aches for them all.
Juniper rubs her arm soothingly, but her eyes are on me.
“In the last year, many of the common citizens have started to flock to the Truth Templars’ warpath, helping them burn, pillage and maim.
It is only getting worse. They have been brainwashed and revel in the sense of superiority the violence gives them. ”