AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You were quite the ugly duckling while you still had your dear departed father’s geas on you,” Mab went on. “I had no interest in you then. But once it was removed and I saw your beauty, well, then I knew I had to have it for myself. Not even your mother, as lovely as she was, had the power to fascinate, you know,” she went on. “Just think what I could do with such beauty at my disposal! When you hand it and your youth over to me, I shall once again become the fairest in the land and no one shall dare to stand before me—not even the Summer Court.”
“You must be joking,” I said flatly. “I’m not giving you my youth or my beauty.”
“Oh, but you will, my dear Granddaughter.” She smirked at me. “And once I have it, I shall invade the Summer Court and take it for my own. I’ll use the power to fascinate to disarm every guard and warrior that fool, Elia, sends against me.” Her smile widened. “With your beauty, I will rule over both Realms! All shall love me and despair.”
“No,” I said tightly, trying to hold on to my temper. “Stop talking about it—it’s not going to happen.”
“Oh, but it is.” She turned to her right, where Lady Isella was seated. I had been glad to see Lachlan’s mom at the head table, but a little worried for her too, when I saw where she was sitting. But since Mab had spent the entire banquet talking to me, I figured Lady Isella was probably safe.
Now, it appeared that I had been wrong.
“You have gotten quite fond of your dark consort’s mother, have you not, my dear?” Mab asked me. She had Lady Isella by the arm and was pinching her cruelly. I saw that her lovely face was frozen in a mask of fear.
“Leave her alone,” I said, my anger inching up another notch. “She’s never done anything to you.”
“Oh, none of them have, my dear. But I take their youth and beauty anyway,” Mab said calmly. “Of course, poor Isella here doesn’t have as much youth as she once did, but she has beauty to spare, don’t you my dear Lady Isella?”
Her grip tightened on Lady Isella’s arm and Lachlan’s mother let out a hurt cry.
“Mother!” Lachlan was on his feet at once and Bran was right behind him, but I beat them both to the punch—if you could call what I did a punch.
What happened was, the simmering pot of anger in the back of my mind finally boiled over. This evil woman had killed my parents! And now she had the nerve to demand that I simply let her take my youth and beauty so she could rule over both Realms and spread her hatred and evil everywhere! Not only that, but she was threatening the lovely lady Isella, who was Lachlan’s mom and who I really liked a lot!
It all added up to more than I could bear. And though I knew that magic and anger were a bad mixture, I found myself reaching for the river of silver sparks anyway, recklessly grabbing power. And then I threw it at her.
“You…” I pointed at Mab. “It’s time your secret was revealed. Everyone ought to be able to see how ugly you are on the inside—everyone should see your true face!”
Mab gasped and let go of Lady Isella as her features began to melt and run like wax. The tight, white mask of beauty disappeared and I saw under it for the first time—and so did everyone in the banquet hall.
No one dared to comment, but they didn’t have to—Mab’s true face was hideous.
It wasn’t that she was old or ugly—people can be beautiful even when they are one or both, if they have a lovely spirit that shines through their outer appearance. But Mab was rotten inside—corrupted, as Lachlan had said.
Her eyes were sunk deep in their sockets and her nose had been eaten away, leaving only a hollow, dark cavity where it should have been. Her cheeks sagged like grey, rotten dough and her lips were covered in cracks and sores—it looked like something with sharp teeth had been gnawing at her flesh. Her long black hair was coming out in clumps, leaving her head patchy and balding, so that her grey, scaly scalp showed through the few wispy strands that were left.
Also, she stunk.
The rotten meat smell emanating from her and the awful way she looked reminded me of Grund the ogre’s dead head. Mab was rotting away from the inside-out and had been for a long time, from what I could tell.
There were gasps all around the banquet hall as people saw the mad queen’s true face at last. Nobody dared to say anything, but they didn’t have to. Their horrified looks were enough to let Mab know what they were seeing—to let her know that her magical beauty had been stripped away so that everyone could see her true face.
