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Surprisingly, that came out fine. What’d happened earlier? Though I wanted to turn inwards and see what I could do about this curse, my hands were tied. We had to move.
I straightened and called Ostara to my side. She would take care of everyone here while we were gone. For a moment, I considered asking her to take our people somewhere safe, but no where in New York would be safe if we failed tonight.
As shaken up as I was, doubt had a solid grip on me tonight. Beryl knew exactly what she was doing. I couldn’t let her have this, though. She used these same manipulation tactics over and over again to keep me on shaky ground. I simply had to get used to walking on difficult terrain.
CHAPTER 22
CERRI
Tal led the redcaps.
While it was an odd sight to see, he nodded and headed off into Lakesedge to help the redcaps track down Unseelie fae who might rush to help Beryl. If we could keep those fae busy long enough to completely take the court, then they would have no choice but to run or bend the knee.
I didn’t like the idea of letting the remaining Unseelie into my court, not because of their Unseelie status but because of their long proximity to Beryl. Tal reminded me that he’d stuck around Beryl for a long while, too. He’d been biding his time to return to the Seelie court. There would be others seeking refuge, as well.
I watched as he and the redcaps disappeared. When I looked to Rhoan beside me, his angular face was illuminated by the light of the Sluagh soldiers standing around us. Blue light graced the side of his nose and whispered along his lip.
Without thinking, I yanked him to me and pressed a long kiss to his mouth. He returned the favor, cupping the back of my head in the process. There, we lingered as long as we dared. There was a fight on the horizon, and we couldn’t risk missing it.
From here, I reached out and touched the seed of power in the underground court. I could feel it pulsing, waiting for me to step into my new Lakesedge court. My breath hitched.
Still, there was a current of corruption running through it. I didn’t mind as much as I expected. It was just like me, a bit Seelie, a bit Unseelie, and powerful enough to set things right here in Lakesedge.
I glanced to my left. Vi and Addie waited. There was an apprehensive glow under Vi’s skin that betrayed her excitement. A glow clung to Addie, too, but it wasn’t under her skin. From the light in her pocket, I knew she hadn’t returned the leaf to the world tree yet.
Vi clapped her hands together. “I am ready to wreck some shit!”
We pushed into the night as one. Beryl would be expecting us. That much I knew for sure, but when I reached into the seed of power at the court, I could feel Beryl’s distraction. She was having a meltdown.
Even out here, I caught glimpses of Unseelie fae watching from the shadows. Their eyes would flicker like an animal’s caught in the light of an unsuspecting car. I watched them catch sight of us and rush in the other direction. They knew that an empire would fall tonight, and they wanted nothing to do with it.
I would have breathed a sigh of relief, but this curse in my bones throbbed whenever I stopped thinking about it. It only acted up to remind me that it was there, as if my full attention should have been on the curse and not on the person who placed it. My tongue still felt like a traitor in my own mouth. I’d kept from issuing too many orders out of fear of what I might say.
It wasn’t so much that I had to fight this back, only that it knocked on my bones whenever it thought that I’d forgotten about it. Which, I had to say, was almost worse than the betrayal of my own tongue. At least, for now, I could keep my mouth shut and trust those around me to do what they needed to do.
Thankfully, Rhoan and Tal had my back. They were my hands tonight. The two of them would make sure that our plan could not fail.
Outside the restaurant, I stopped. I reached deep into my arcana. Reaching too far into the untamed dreams would be a bad idea considering that Beryl had the same power. Instead, I grabbed ahold of my life arcana and fed it into the seed so that the flowers now growing underneath could unfurl and rise above the restaurant.
Thankfully, this was Lakesedge. Anyone who saw what was happening here would know to stay far away as massive flower petals wrapped the restaurant and the court underneath in a protective cocoon.
Now, to steal a throne.
I shuddered, not looking forward to what needed to be done. There was so much life arcana singing through my veins in this moment that the idea of taking a life sickened me. I hadn’t felt this much power in such a long time; I’d forgotten what it meant to embody it.
I looked to Rhoan. His smile was tight but reassuring all the same. He took my hand, and we approached the court.
Rhoan
I had a queen in one hand and a blade in the other.
Deep down, I knew what needed to happen tonight. I would have to make sure that blood was spilled. While it should have fallen on Cerri’s shoulders, I could see the hesitation swimming in her eyes. They were pinched with concern and grief, which only made me love her even more.
She’d said something earlier about possibly giving Beryl the court back should she learn how to truly lead. It’d felt like an omen or a prophecy. The words had more weight than I’d expected. So, I kept an eye on my queen tonight.
Her aura had changed, that much was for sure. When Beryl touched her at the party, another curse had been laid on Cerri. I kicked myself for being unable to stop it, but there was a silvered glimmer in her aura that told me this might not be the worst thing that’d happened.
No matter what, my queen turned any curse into a gift. When Beryl tried to turn Cerri into an Unseelie, Cerri used that to show how she could stand in both worlds and still be a good person. Cerri would do the same here.
