Reality washed over me and seized my lungs. I may never see my brother again. Every breath I took pierced a little deeper. The weight of each one pulled my shoulders in as the ache spread through my tense body. It wound tight, ready to spring at a moment’s notice. I curled onto the bed with the same poky spring in the same place, feeling life was coming to an end, and clutched the frame to my chest until the corners dug into my flesh and threatened to finish the work my labored breaths had started.
Astaroth
The torches lining the throne room created infinite reflections in the mirrors spaced between them. Ever patient, Mergle waited by my throne and lowered his chin a hair to acknowledge my arrival. I returned it before focusing on a mirror to adjust my shirt and jacket. My velvet, ashen skin disappeared beneath the collar, allowing only a bit of my throat to be seen. I tugged at the cloth gloves, thin from wear, until they were tight around my fingers. They quelled the reminder I was different from mybrethren who had darker, leathery skin. Even humans didn’t have the pallor I possessed.
Jessandra’s reflection appeared behind mine. But she did, I thought. She didn’t shrivel into a husk of a fae like the others when she entered this realm, either. Although no one could tell, there was a large gap in our ages. We adorned the same grayish skin with the perfect complexion and long dark-gray hair that she always wore in a braid. I wondered how long Jessandra had lived in the labyrinth or if she retained any memories of who she was before she came to be here. It was one topic she would never broach with anyone.
She blipped into my space when I turned toward her. Nearly nose to nose, she opened her mouth to speak, and I snatched her off the ground by her throat.
“You would do best to watch the way you approach me.” My long fingers squeezed the column of her throat. “We are not equals. Stitch that to memory.”
Jessandra behaved as if I weren’t choking her. This was why I needed her. We needed her. All the others quaked in their boots in my presence. She did not. Even now, as my fingertips dug deep around her windpipe and the fabric of my gloves rubbed her skin to the point of burning it. Not that she couldn’t heal quickly. Didn’t mean it didn’t hurt her. It was the fact that the pain didn’t faze her.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Her croak made me smile. I lowered my arm until her feet touched the ground. We stared at one another for a beat longer until I released her.
Mergle punched Jessandra in the back of the knee, and it caved. “Kneel before our king or I’ll turn your legs to nubs, and you’ll never get off them.”
Jessandra snarled at him, but Mergle wasn’t scared of her. He stood against her with nothing but his fists. It was unfortunatethe others weren’t like him. They needed to be when the time came. Otherwise, we were doomed.
“It’s fine, Mergle. You may wait outside.”
He bowed. “Anything for your majesty.” Uncertain, he jerked to standing and looked between us.
“I will be fine. Won’t I,Jess?”
Her narrowed gaze lifted. Through gritted teeth she said, “Yes.”
Wary and ready to pounce, Mergle backed toward the door, keeping a studious eye on her. Jessandra remained on her knees but never lowered her gaze. I would accept it. For now.
“You may stand.”
She didn’t budge and continued to glare at me.
“Unless you would rather have this conversation on your knees.” I smiled at her. “Do you enjoy that position?”
Jessandra bared her straight, white teeth and shot to her feet. “What were you thinking sending the realm’s power to Earth with a child?”
Many things. I was also young, selfish, and naive at the time. “You, of all fae, question my actions?”
“Calista could have destroyed us all! Both our worlds! You are an ignorant fool!”
“There wasn’t enough power for her to do that. Magic doesn’t run in her veins, so she can’t wield it. I approved and denied every wish.”
“And the fact that someone from Faery sensed it?”
I didn’t have an answer for that because I hadn’t thought of it when I sent it with her.
“You should have known that if you can cross into her world, so can they.”
“They didn’t before today.”
“By the luck of a Roth ball hair they didn’t.”
I tilted my head to the side at her comment, but she ignored me and began pacing.
“This is why the others continue to wither at a slow rate. Why the realm is decaying.” She looked at me. “Why it is hungrier.”
