I cut into the eggs, which bled scarlet yolks. With my blood, the Sword of Tethra, and some strong fighters, we could rid the land of Queen Melusina’s influence and then find a way to destroy the mist.
Osmos cleared his throat. “We need your help with the humans.”
I choked down a mouthful of egg. “What’s happened to them?”
He stepped back with his palms raised. “I’m referring to the humans you ordered Gerald and Coleen to release from their ensorcellment. They are now gathered outside the throne room awaiting an audience with their queen.”
My throat dried, and I gulped down a mouthful of nettle tea. In all my concerns about ruling over the faeries, I had nearly forgotten about them. “Show me.”
Osmos swept out his arm, indicating that I should create another doorway. Anxiety fluttered in my stomach like the wings of trapped butterflies. Queen Melusina’s throne room was where she stole the life force of two human slaves and injected them into Father, where King Balor of the Fomorians tried to emerge from the mist, where she tried to consume my body.
It was where I opened a rift to let Father escape into the human world, and where Drayce ripped out the souls of Queen Melusina’s generals and banished them to the Otherworld, leaving the corpses of my brothers.
I wasn’t nearly ready to return there.
Concern etched Drayce’s brow as he stood and crossed the room. I offered him a tight smile and commanded the palace to take me a scenic route to the throne room.
An entrance opened up into a flint walkway that extended around the building’s exterior, bringing with it the mingled scents of juniper and pine. The sun hung over the distant mountains, bathing them and the treetops in its orange light. I stepped out into the warm morning and let the breeze caress my hair. It was the first time in ages I hadn’t left anywhere with an impending sense of dread roiling through my belly.
Most days, I would wonder what manner of faerie I would encounter. Recently, worries about Father gnawed at my soul with the fever of rabid hounds. Today, the only thing that consumed me was an overwhelming sense of being swallowed by this new, frightening world.
I glanced over the parapet that separated me from an unfathomable drop to the bottom of the steep mountain that comprised Apex palace. Did anyone really need me? Father was safe and halfway to Caledonia. Drayce would manage without me if I floated away like a dandelion seed.
A steady hand landed on my shoulder and grounded me to the stone floor. “Neara, are you alright?”
“What if I say the wrong thing?” I whispered.
“That’s why you have a private secretary.” Drayce stared down at me with eyes greener than the forest. “And you also have me.”
Warmth spread across my chest. It was hard for me to picture Drayce inheriting the power of the Otherworld at such a young age. He had been alone with only Father for company, and then he helped Father escape with me.
“Of course.” The smile I gave him came from the heart.
He wrapped a strong arm around my waist, and we continued walking around the stone building, our footsteps crunching over the gravel covering the walkway.
In the distance, birdsong mingled with the distant nickering of horses, filling my ears with the pleasant sound. I glanced over my shoulder, to where Osmos and Rosalind trailed behind us at a respectful distance.
“You’re getting good at manipulating the castle,” Drayce murmured.
“I tried to sneak around behind Queen Melusina’s back to rescue Father, but she turned it around on me and trapped us.”
“She drained Queen Pressyne’s power the way she took the life-force of those humans and gave them to Ailill.” He squeezed me around the middle. “Now that we have stripped most of her power, she will need to preserve what’s left to stay alive.”
I paused at the end of the walkway and glanced down at the white buildings, where grooms tended to the capall. “Where did the magic go?”
“Back into Apex palace,” Osmos replied from behind.
His white hair shone in the sunlight like moonstone, picking up a myriad of colors as he moved. It contrasted with Rosalind’s whose crow-black hair seemed to absorb the light.
Osmos spread his arms wide. “This palace is the seat of the Fae Queen’s power, and it recognizes you as its mistress.”
The door at the end of the walkway opened, revealing a throne room completely different from the one Queen Melusina occupied. An entire wall of rectangular windows illuminated a mosaic-tiled floor patterned into the design of a chamomile flower. Low stools with curved golden legs stood in rows along the room’s edges.
Drayce squeezed me tighter around the waist as we stepped into the vast chamber.
“Owing to the violent manner in which Queen Pressyne lost her life, her throne room also closed until you avenged her death,” Osmos said in a low voice.
I gave him an absent nod as I took in the splendor of the room. Although the walls were white, its doors were edged with gold motifs and gilded cornices spread across a ceiling depicting a forest of gold. I sucked in a deep breath. There was enough wealth here to buy everything in Bresail.
Osmos swept his arm to the end of the room, where a staircase of white marble led to a single golden throne upholstered in ivory fabric. “Please be seated, Your Majesty..”
“Shouldn’t there be two?” I eyed the golden statue behind the throne of a woman wearing flowing gowns. This was probably the goddess Dana.
“I don’t rule over living faeries.” Drayce took my hand and led me across the mosaic floor and up the stairs. “Think of me as your trusted advisor and enthusiastic consort.”
His words tickled my soul, and warmth spread between my legs as I lowered myself into the soft seat. We had only made love once, but that didn’t count as I nearly killed him afterward.
While
