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I fell back into the bed and rolled onto my side. Beside me slept the massive black furred and feathered beast that was Rhoan. The creature lifted its head and blew warm breath into my face before pressing it’s wet nose to mine.
Immediately tears filled my eyes. I reached over and buried my hand in the beast’s fur, knowing that Rhoan was trapped in there, still dreaming. Our love had breached Rhoan’s contract with a powerful Unseelie Fae named Faust. While Faust gave Rhoan this beast so that he could be a strong warrior for the Seelie court, their deal stated that Rhoan would lose himself to his new beast should he ever fall in love.
I’d thought that Rhoan would leave us, that the beast would return to Faust’s side, and that I would never see him again. It seemed that I was wrong. The beast hadn’t left my side since the curse had taken effect. While I shouldn’t have been surprised after the first time the beast took over, I still couldn’t help but wonder what this meant.
“You have duties today, Princess Cerridwen,” Taliesin reminded me.
I groaned and flopped onto my back. The beast planted his heavy head on my stomach and huffed at Tal. The man audibly rolled his eyes. I didn’t even have to look at him to know what that heavy sigh meant.
* * *
A miserable cloudhung over my head the rest of the day. I itched to break free of these castle walls. The smell of coffee and the rumble of the espresso machine beckoned me, but I had too many duties here in the Seelie castle. I couldn’t just run away.
Now, more than ever, it was apparent that there was no escaping. I’d held onto the idea that I might give Rhoan the right to rule the Seelie court, but there was no way that I could leave him.
“You’re distant today,” Tal whispered at my side as we walked through the halls. “Smile and wave to your people. They’re starting to think that you’re turning Unseelie.”
I cut a narrow-eyed sidelong glare in his direction. “I alreadyamUnseelie.”
My Aunt, the bitch queen Beryl of the Unseelie Court, had cursed me. She’d left me with a blight that’d consumed my being the more I used my arcana. Having to protect myself meant that the curse had quickly turned me into an Unseelie fae, just like her.
My golden curls were still pale white, and the moth-wing tattoos were dark against the freckled skin of my back. I wasn’t who I used to be, and it showed.
Tal lifted both brows and raised a finger. “Actually, you’re more akin to the first of us. Many have assumed that you are neither Seelie nor Unseelie. You are simply fae royalty. And many trust in that neutrality right now. Should you show signs of leaning into an Unseelie nature, you might find yourself faced with a larger problem.”
We approached a cracked window, the glass spiderwebbed from the night Beryl tried to destroy the castle. I stopped and basked in the sunlight streaming through.
“What would that larger problem be?” I asked.
“Abandonment. Lower morale. Lost battles.” Tal leveled an honest look in my direction. “You need to show everyone that you can be the queen they originally put their faith in, or else they will start to leave.”
“Like your boyfriend?”
Tal recoiled as if slapped.
I didn’t blame him. It was an underhanded comment that I had no right to make. Lord Foxglove had promised his alliance with us only to leave when he couldn’t get what he wanted—which happened to be my hand in marriage so that he could usurp the throne from me when I wasn’t looking. The man realized that I would be a force to be reckoned with and ran for the hills.
Worst of all, Foxglove ran without telling Tal. As far as I understood, the two had been lovers on and off for centuries. Foxglove paid his lover no mind when he wanted to get out of dodge, and I was still cursing the man for hurting my friend like that.
Because Tal was my friend first and foremost. He was an ally to my cause second.
I took Tal’s hand in mine and squeezed. “I’m sorry.”
He ducked his head. “You’re not wrong, though. I’m finished with him for good this time.”
I almost wanted to ask him to promise me, but I knew the power of fae deals. I wasn’t about to bind my friend into something like that. Should he falter, I would be disappointed, but I wasn’t about to force him to stay away either.
Behind us, Rhoan slapped the floor with his heavy paws and huffed like he didn’t believe Tal would do as he promised. I threw a glare over my shoulder, but the beast seemed unperturbed by my scolding.
“You’re one to talk,” Tal said flatly. “Look at the predicament you’re in.”
The beast made a sound of agreement. It’d tried to keep Rhoan safe once before, but I’d coaxed Rhoan out of the beast and led us into trouble once more. Though, if I was going to be honest, I wasn’t the cause of the trouble.
It was Beryl.
I lifted my head and took in the state of the castle. There were cracks in almost every wall. A thick tree ran through the center of the castle. The only thing holding it all together was a few branches and some very determined willpower on my part. The core of the tree pulsed. It still begged for magic to keep it standing.
I could feel it, almost like the seed of arcana that I’d buried in the castle domain what felt like ages ago.
