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Lira did those things. She’d taken the magic despite not wanting it to protect me, and I’d stood by and said nothing at all. Fear of death had stalled me, and I’d allowed Palaria to force Lira’s actions. No, I’d not only allowed it, I helped Palaria hunt her down, stood at her side as she cornered her, and walked into the alcove when she’d beckoned me.
Heat crept up my neck, and my throat grew tight. Shame coursed through me. It was a new feeling. Palaria always said we apologized for nothing. We took what we wanted out of life, and others had to deal with it. We were designed this way—blades of destruction and wrath, created to take.
Lira had shifted my perspective on that, but something about seeing Palaria tear into Lira as the latter stood bold and unflinching before her, made me realize I was wrong. We—our entire group—were wrong. Palaria was fucking wrong. My stomach twisted and bile rose in the back of my throat that had nothing to do with the smoke lingering in the air.
Palaria wrung her hands together, her gaze fixed on the dais at the front of the room where the King spoke with several fairies in velvet suits. “As soon as the room clears out,” Palaria said to me, “we’ll speak with the King. I already told him Lira is my daughter.” Her lips pinched, a wash of wrinkles cascading around them. “He wasn’t pleased but sent a thrush to Sai that should stop them.”
“The guards will retrieve her?”
Palaria’s expression hardened. “They’d better. I spent a hell of a lot of my life keeping that girl pure for her to get dragged into the filthy Unseelie court of all the goddamned places.”
She took a step forward, dismissing our conversation, her boots clicking against stone as she stepped over a shattered branch of a tree. I bit the inside of my cheek until the copper tang of blood flooded over my tongue. She acted like Lira was her possession to do with what she wanted. Had she always been this… horrible? How had I not seen it?
My breaths came in great heaves that pressed the stays of my gown against my ribs. I smoothed a hand over the silk fabric covering my waist. My entire life had been one of luxury born on the suffering of others.
Lira had always been right. In fact, she’d been too generous about her mother and our troupe. She’d seen the reality of us, and I’d brushed her off. I’d labeled her as naïve and immature—vocabulary I’d picked up from Palaria.
Now, Lira was the leader of our group.
I would abandon Palaria. Even if she still held the magic, I would. I’d rather face her punishments than continue to support her. I would do whatever I must to help Lira.
“Margo.” Palaria snapped and pointed towards the throne where the King sat alone. “Let’s go.”
No. The word sat on the tip of my tongue causing my mouth to water with the taste of it. I’d never imagined rebelling against her and now I wanted to scream the word. I parted my lips and then pressed them back together.
Refusing to help her would do nothing for Lira.
It might end up with me killed, and I was the one siren in our group who loved her.
That pulsed through me. I did love Lira, like a sister. Over the past five years, I’d taken for granted her tender heartedness. I’d harmed her by aligning with her mother. If Lira hadn’t left the confrontation with Palaria shaken and upset as she stumbled out of the alcove with the guard, perhaps she wouldn’t have ended up in Sai’s hands.
This was all my fault, and I would make it up to Lira. I’d always been an excellent actress, and now I’d use those skills in service for Lira. Lying to Palaria would come as easily as a note of a song. I’d be Lira’s eyes and ears as I discovered whatever plans her mother and the King had in mind. When Lira returned, I’d help her escape, and aid her in disappearing from her monstrous mother.
Palaria shifted back towards me, frowning when she noticed I hadn’t moved forward. I draped my fingers over my forehead like the fumes had gotten to me and followed behind her as she made her way up the stairs and towards the throne where the King had taken a seat.
“I’d rather have this conversation alone, Palaria.” The king side-eyed me.
“Margo is my closest associate, Your Highness. I beg you to allow her to stay.” A tang of satisfaction crept through me as my plan settled in my mind. Palaria’s closest associate was about to tear her world apart from within.
The King sank down and clicked his fingers against his armrest. “Very well.”
The room was empty and only a few torches behind the King provided illumination which gave me the eerie impression of standing in a crypt.
“Did you send your daughter into my court to spy?” the King asked, his words clipped and biting.
“Of course not. She…” Palaria looked away and her cheeks burned with color when she raised her face again. “She ran away.”
“What a strong handle you seem to have on your family, madam.”
The color deepened, spreading over her nose. For a moment, I almost felt bad for Palaria, but then the anger rose again, the memory of all her horrible actions fanning it. I couldn’t blame the King for his fury with Palaria, but Sai had stolen Lira, violently. Beyond the fact that she possessed our magic, she was family. If I could get that damn Unseelie trash in my claws, I’d use my magic to rip him apart.
“She’s going through a rebellious streak,” Palaria said to the King. “I’m sure you can understand.”
“I absolutely do not. Do you see my son going through such a streak?”
“No, Your Highness.”
“What did you wish to request of me?”
