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The queen followed my gaze. She looked over her shoulder to find Feremir. Feremir’s eyes remained focused on me, but his lips quivered.
“You see, Feremir,” she said, her tone feigning compassion. I could not see her face now, but I could guess. “She is working with our enemy. I am sorry you had to be here to witness this. I know you want to believe your sister to be good. And perhaps she is...”
She turned to me. “I don’t want to put you in a dungeon Jasmine. I know you’ve been deceived by those vicious creatures. I know you and your friends did not think you had any choice, but now, you do. If you stand with me, you will be free. If you tell me how you managed to resist the call, I will make sure you and your brother live freely.”
The threat underneath her words was clear. Now, it wasn’t only me who I was putting in danger by not telling her what she wanted to hear, but also Feremir.
Feremir’s expression tightened.
Did he understand what the queen was saying? Or was he under her spell and thought I was to blame for aligning myself with the Unseelie?
I would not blame him if he was being tricked by the queen. All the years we’ve lived in Terlyth under the Seelie Crown, we’ve been taught that the Unseelie were vile and were full of darkness. My experience had shown me otherwise, but Feremir had stayed in Terlyth. He did not know about the lies we’ve been told.
I stared at the queen.
“I won’t tell you,” I told her. “I don’t trust you to keep your promise. And even if I did, I would not want to live as a pawn to your evil plans. I rather die.”
“Neither will I,” Brigid said.
“Nor I,” Dearen added.
The queen’s expression tightened.
Had she really tricked herself into thinking we would choose to align ourselves with her?
I did not know.
“Bring them to me,” she said. “Start with the princess. I want her and her brother first. Jasmine will come too. Take care of the rest there. I do not want my room to be stained with their tainted blood.”
The soldiers moved. Fiona could not resist with her body; Cari’s spell on her was too potent for that.
“You vile beast!” She shouted. “You will not get away with this. My father...”
“Your father has concerns of his own,” she smiled viciously. “I would not count on him to save you.”
Fiona felt scared. As the soldiers dragged her to the portal, everyone inside the room felt the intense emotion as if it were their own. The soldier holding my hands behind my back flinched and released his grip on me, just a bit. Still, my body was not mine to control. Even if he had released me completely, I would not be able to move an inch.
“No!” I shouted angrily. Kieran could not speak, but I saw Brigid and Dearen to move as they dragged Fiona.
“You’ll pay for this!” Fiona shouted.
Her emotions rolled through us all. Anger and fear joined together. My hands were sweaty. I could not tell apart my own emotions from Fiona’s.
Cari flinched too. Her expression tightened as Fiona entered the portal. I was still in her mind, and I realized that when I saw the memory of the field again flashing in her mind. But this time, blood and the smell of burning covered the peaceful scenery. The memory came to the surface of her mind for a second, but as Fiona entered the portal and appeared on the other side, the emotion she was sending out abruptly left us.
Cari pushed the memory aside.
Is that how your mother died? I thought.
Yes, Carianswered. Her voice in my mind was almost as though it belonged to a scared little child.
You’ve been here since then? I asked. The queen put you here as a little girl?
Yes,she said.
I could not help it. Despite my anger toward her, I felt sad for Cari. Here she was, sending us to our death and giving the Princess of the Unseelie as a prisoner to the Queen of Light, and yet, I knew it was the queen who controlled her.
“Now the prince,” the queen said as the soldiers brought Fiona to her. The princess did not resist the men holding her tightly.
