Page 19 of Where Broken Wings Fly

Dammit.

Just a dream.

Just a…

Just—

“Olivia, come here,” Raegan purred, forcing me to remember Killian’s warning of the Prince. With every step that I took towards the throne, I felt the fox-like stare of the Prince on me and the wheel of deceit spinning behind his eyes.

King Ronan scowled at Raegan as I paused in front of them. “You would dare bring a Faiche’Rugadh before me?”

“Not a Faiche’Rugadh, Father.” Now, Raegan’s smirk was tangible upon his face.

The King took a large step towards me, his oak-like eyes narrowing on my face as every one of my limbs froze. The hooked ends of his ears just protruded from the deep, auburn tint of his hair, which was noticeably free of any blood or gore.

“I see,” he huffed. “You’re collecting toys, Raegan?”

There was a hint of a threat beneath those words. Raegan could have saved himself the dishonour that was thrust his way from prying eyes by explaining I had been brought here by Killian, but he didn’t. His jaw only pulsed as he snarled the glares away.

King Ronan tried his best to soften his sharpness. “Tell me, child. What did you see?”

Every single pixie in that room was staring at me. Amongst it all I could hear the whispers and giggles, I could feel the way their eyes flayed me from shoulder to ankle. As if he could tell, Raegan strode forward and placed his body between me and the crowd. It only made me feel worse.

“We… We were attacked.”

The King nodded, looking more unimpressed by the second.

“Some were… were flying on… on something. Oth-others not. Bows and.. Bows and arrows. Swords. So much blood.”

“It’s alright.” He smiled. “You’re safe now. Did you see who attacked you?”

“Yes.” I twisted my fingers around one another as I tried to use Raegan’s body like a forcefield behind me. “They all looked different. Hair of blondes and greens and blues… But one thing was the same amongst them all.”

The King sighed as if he already knew what I was about to say.

“Not a single one had ears.”

At my declaration, the entire throne room erupted into unfiltered havoc. People were screaming, some began to direct their horror towards one another. Before long, several fist-fights had broken out. All the while, King Ronan simply walked over to this throne and dropped himself into it, plopping his chin on his fisted hand as he watched.

Raegan stepped closer to me, his fingers just grazing the small of my back as he whispered, “Good job.”

In a way, I knew it wasn’t a genuine response. Apparently Killian knew too, he arrived at my side only seconds later and pulled me away from the dais.

“You’re alright,” he murmured as he wrapped a large arm around my shoulders and yanked me against him.

It was strange, because I was alright. Not with all of the violence, with the images of dead bodies behind my eyelids and the constant streaming of blood that blurred my vision. But I was alright in the sense that my whole life I had floated day-to-day, feeling like I never had a true purpose. For the first time, as I watched the lives of innocent pixies be taken, I found myself not only feeling something, but wanting something.

I wanted to protect them.

Perhaps that made me a fool. I knew nothing about them. I wasn’t even fully convinced they were real. But it landed heavy in my chest, in my soul, that I had to protect this place, these people. Something capable of freeing me from the darkness of my own mind needed to be saved, no matter what.

I just wasn’t sure what a mere human could do amongst it all.

~

Killian was several paces down one of the hallways when he finally released me and planted his weight against one of the walls, rubbing at his eyes. “I should take you back.”

“What?” I exclaimed, only to clamp a hand over my mouth seconds later. “No.”