AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maybe it could. I didn’t know anything about fae beasts. The creature could have been sentient like Feri. I waited for the horse to start spouting nonsense about my fate and duty as a future queen.
Instead, the horse glanced back at Rhoan. He’d straightened and raised his chin confidently, but I could still see the yellow cast to his skin. The purple veins slithered across his ear and stretched over his face.
He was trying to hide his discomfort from the both of us. I wasn’t stupid.
“Follow me, you idiot.” I darted past the horse and grabbed the front of Rhoan’s leather vest.
He grumbled something, but he didn’t fight me. Behind us, the horse whined with worry.
“I’ll take good care of him! I promise!” I shouted back to the beast. Then, to Rhoan, I said, “You’re not allowed to die of stupidity.”
He huffed. “I wish you would learn that same lesson.”
My face warmed. He had a point, but this wasn’t about me right now. We needed to get an antidote in him before he keeled over on me. But when we got inside, he stopped me. He gestured to a drawer in the kitchen. It had a keyhole that I hadn’t noticed before.
“What do you keep in a locked drawer in yourkitchen?” I asked.
He chuckled.
“Now is not the time to laugh!” I grabbed his vest in both hands and shook him.
I wasn’t ready to admit how my hands were shaking in fear. The purple veins spread across his cheek. His pale lavender eyes were swimming in another, darker color. It reminded me of the way crow’s feathers shimmered in the presence of light.
He clenched his jaw, pressed his eyes closed, and turned away from me. The muscles in his neck flexed. Pain must have been tearing through him.
Rhoan
My beast respondedto her concern. I couldn’t bear it. The monster tried to rip its way out of me so that it could greet the princess for itself. I wasn’t going to let the damned thing out. Not now, not ever.
It would stay locked in me, trapped in this flesh prison I’d crafted for it. I didn’t want to be that monster anymore. It’d failed me in the war to save my court. I would never trust it again.
When I closed my eyes, I could see it all over again. The scene sprawled out before me. It was bathed in horror, in things that no one should have to see anytime they stopped drinking. I blew out a frustrated breath through my nose, but when I inhaled, all I could smell was blood.
The queen, face down with her fingers outstretched towards her husband, was already gone. He rose to hand and knees to crawl towards her. The click of heels on the stone floor warned of Beryl’s approach. My heart thumped in time with it.
The king turned his attention in my direction and gave one last order.
Escape.
Distantly, I heard Cerridwen working in my kitchen. She muttered to herself as she jostled jars and plastic containers. The small sounds pulled me out of the bloody vision. The ache in my chest slowly eased. The beast’s snarl faded and vanished altogether.
“I’m working with limited resources here. If you could jump us to my apartment, then I’d be able to brew a complete antidote.” She kicked something. Jars rattled like angry bells. “You still haven’t told me what’s in this damn drawer.”
Sluggish, I tugged a chain out from behind my shirt. A set of thin keys danced in front of my vision. They doubled as the room wavered. The cut on my ear barely broke the surface, yet Delphine’s poison tore through me as if it’d been a full dose. I marveled at the woman’s poison brewing skills even while it killed me.
It seemed that she’d changed the recipe recently. I really hoped this antidote could keep up.
“You had the key on you this whole time?” Cerridwen snatched the chain from my hand.
She didn’t even hesitate to snap the fragile silver cord. It tore free with barely a tug at the back of my neck. I watched as two of her knelt and jammed the key into the lock. I flopped back, hitting the wall. It supported me for now, but I knew I would start sliding down it.
Exhaustion gripped me. It turned my breath shallow. I wanted nothing more than to lay down and rest my eyes for a short while. That was all a part of the poison, though. The deadly concoction whispered sweet nothings in my ear, begging me to lay down and accept my fate.
Before me, Cerri’s jaw dropped at the sight of the thin vials I’d kept locked away. She ran her fingers over them. I started to tell her which one to grab, but she plucked it out before I could say anything. Sparkling arcana dripped from her fingertips.
She didn’t need me telling her what to do. Her magic had spoken to her and guided her to the right vial. I extended my hand and ignored the way it shook in the air between us. Cerri eyed my unsteady palm and shook her head.
Cerri stepped past my outstretched hand and gripped my chin. My heart thumped wildly, and the beast rose to purr at her touch. She pressed the mouth of the glass vial to my lips and tilted it. The antidote poured past my lips, into my mouth, and down my throat in a very intimate moment.
