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You should have had more of that stew the Fae cooked up for you. How are you supposed to win a battle on an empty stomach?Nathalian scolded.
Don’t scare the girl,Tamar snapped. Ace fully expected her to follow it up with some quip about how fear would turn her hair gray prematurely.
Fear has its place in war, isn’t that right?Ramdon smiled wildly, his question aimed at Judia the goddess of war. Not that Judia could answer because she’d been punished for helping Ace on the day the gods had promised silence.
Like a heavy shawl thrown over her shoulders, Ace could feel the weight of the gods watching. All of the gods. They’d all turned their eyes to this one moment they’d waited so long to orchestrate.
“Don’t forget to breathe or I’ll be catching you as you faint from the top of your horse,” Rehan said.
“If I fall, just leave me there and let the horses trample me,” she muttered with half a smile in return.
His brows pinched. “I thought you had gotten better at dealing with those dark thoughts. It has been a while since I’ve heard you say such a terrible thing.”
She thought back, trying to remember too. Had it been such a time? Was she…happy? In some ways she had been; even now as she said it she knew she no longer meant it. Not if it meant giving up her chance at finally living. Her thoughts wound around and around inside her skull taking the meaning of time with it.
Only when there were curious whispers and they’d reached the city streets of Marlux did she come to her senses once more. The fuzzy blur of her unfocused mind lifted to reveal the perfectly managed cobblestone roads. Storefronts were decorated in cream tones accented with golds. Every tiny thing you could want was offered somewhere along the roadside.
Marlux was a dream, a place that as a child she might have wished to live in. Now she looked at it with disgust. Pretty people with pretty things lived here. This was not a home; this was a godsdamn stage.
A very quiet…very empty stage…
Where was everyone? They’d seen not a single soul since breaching the city’s limits. That didn’t mean that no one was about. In fact, King Osiris had whispered with another Fae and word had spread advising that they had been spotted. The queens’ guard or the likes of their own troops had hidden themselves well.
Reaching up toward smokey drifting clouds, a glass castle reflected the sun before it was covered once more. Carriages lined the entire courtyard and even at their distance, Ace could squint and make out the bodies that filled the castle.
Were they riding to war and her sisters were… they were throwing a fucking party?
Ace wanted to laugh. She did laugh.
The cream colored horse with the tan freckles huffed a breath under her before a shimmy ran through its golden mane. Ace tipped back in her saddle, cackling up to the heavens.
“What could you possibly find so funny?” Shelby asked.
Probably because she’s suddenly realized that out of all the people she could love, she picked you.Ramdon snickered. He was being particularly vocal today. Which was probably not a good thing…
Rehan made no suggestion that he’d even heard the musing of the god. It could be that he was just good at hiding it.
“Can you not see? Does it not appear as if they’ve thrown a party in our honor?” She tossed the long braid that her hair had been tucked into over her shoulder with a dramatic flourish and batted her eyelashes. “Don’t forget to ask me for a dance.”
“I don’t dance,” he quipped.
“Good thing I do,” Rehan chimed.
“Perfect.” Shelby grunted, digging his heels into his horse and trotting forward.
This was a mess. They were a mess. Her entire life was a mess and here they were just marching along to take down Idalia. At this point, Ace was certain her life couldn’t get any weirder.
Ace clamped her mouth shut, determined to keep quiet until they finally made it. That ended up not being as hard as she imagined as her mind began to swarm with prayers. Yes, the entire castle knew they were coming and the people who’d come for whatever sort of entertainment had been offered were scared.
The iron gates had been pulled closed but the large clear doors swung open to allow Queen Idalia to exit. Ambrose followed next. Any air that had been in Ace’s lungs was punched out of her as more figures followed.
Farah.
Sienna.
Mother.
Father.
