Unseelie Queen

by J. C. Diem

  Nicolaia halted the chatter by standing. “I am Lord Nicolaia, one of the late Prince Sindarian’s advisors,” he said and bowed. “May we ask you what your name is, child?”

  “I’m Asha Trinity,” she replied and more whispers broke out. King Lod gave him a smug look, as if she’d confirmed something for him.

  “You must be exhausted from your journey,” the advisor said. “I’ll have you escorted to your rooms where you can be appropriately clothed. After you’ve rested, we’ll discuss your future.” He smiled indulgently, but he kept flicking gazes between her and the man they’d chosen to be her husband. Corvine wore an arrogant look and clearly felt that she was beneath him.

  Nicolaia gestured at one of the liveried servants. They all wore blood red coats and black trousers. The chosen fairy waited for Asha to walk over to him, then led her from the throne room to a hallway that led deeper into the palace. The overall theme seemed to be red and black. Long scarlet drapes hung beside the windows and black marble covered the floor in every room she glanced inside.

  She was led to the sleeping quarters and was shown into an opulent room that had its own sitting room and bathroom. Nodding her thanks, she closed the door and slumped back against it. Her bed was gigantic and was easily large enough for several people to sleep in comfortably. The bedspread was as scarlet as the drapes and rug that spread out at the end of the bed. It looked almost like a pool of blood against the black floor.

  A huge fireplace sat over to the right. It was also made of black marble. Highly polished furniture in dark brown wood that she didn’t recognize sat here and there, along with ruby colored couches and armchairs. The bathroom had a massive black tub that she could easily drown in and a vanity and basin made out of more black marble.

  Olsa and Unwin appeared on the nightstand, wringing their hands in worry. “I don’t like the looks of that warrior, your majesty,” Olsa said. “Do they truly intend for you to marry Corvine?”

  “It sure looks like it,” she replied, trying hard not to succumb to tears.

  “I doubt he’ll be able to force you to bond with him, mistress,” Unwin said. “We saw what happened to those two fairies who dared to touch you without your permission.”

  A trio of brownies appeared on the table beside them. “What did she do to them?” one asked. All were female and darted glances at the girl who would be queen.

  “She turned into a goblin and tore them apart,” Unwin said.

  “She didn’t tear them apart,” Olsa retorted in exasperation.

  “She would have if the trees hadn’t stopped her,” he said sulkily.

  “Is it true you plan to free our kind?” one of the other brownies asked shyly.

  “Yes,” Asha replied. “If I become Queen, no one is going to be a slave. I’ll have your kin released and you’ll all be free to go.” They seemed skeptical, yet hopeful about her plan.

  “Why do you care what happens to us?” the third female asked in confusion. “If you’re half-goblin, aren’t you as evil as the rest of the beings who dwell in this realm?”

  She received an elbow in the side from one of her friends, but Asha just smiled. “King Lod might be my father, but my mother is a dryad. I was raised on Earth and we frown on slavery there.”

  “Still, we’re just brownies. We’re not important. We’re just servants.”

  “Of course you’re important,” Asha said firmly. “Just because you choose to serve others doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have rights and the ability to make your own choices.”

  “Tell that to the Unseelie fairies,” Olsa said sadly. “They took away our ability to choose who we would serve when they captured our kin.”

  “Where did they send the prisoners?” Asha asked.

  “We don’t know,” Unwin replied. “Somewhere far away, we suspect. Wherever they are, we can’t sense them.”

  “Do you think King Lod put them in his dungeon?”

  “They aren’t there,” one of the females told her. “We’ve spoken to our kin who work in the labyrinth. The captives are somewhere else.”

  “I’ll find out where they are,” the dryad vowed. “One way or another, I’ll set them free.” A strange feeling wrapped around her as she stated that quest. She sensed she’d become magically bound to her chosen cause.

  “That will have to wait for now,” Olsa said, eyeing her mistress. “We must ensure you are appropriately clothed to meet with the advisors.”

  “Don’t put me in any dresses like the courtiers wear,” Asha said with a grimace. She didn’t have any desire to put herself on display like the fairy women did. It would be all too easy for the Unseelie males to succumb to their basest instincts. She’d been on the receiving end of unwanted advances far too often already.

  “We wouldn’t dream of it, your highness,” Unwin said. “You are not like the dark fairies. You are sweet and kind.”

  “Except when you turn into a gray-skinned goblin,” Olsa added. “Then you’re kind of scary.”

  “I know,” Asha said glumly. She was well aware of how horrible she looked when she was in her other form. She was even uglier than her father, if that was possible.

  All five brownies huddled together to discuss the wardrobe they would create for her. Eventually, they turned to face her and went to work. Asha stood still while they conjured up outfit after outfit. Some were discarded and others were sent to her closet. All were dresses rather than shirts and pants. It seemed she was going to be dressed far more femininely than she was used to.

  Finally happy with their choices, they settled on a simple gold dress with amber, green and brown gems sewn into the bodice. It had capped sleeves and a shallow neckline that covered her modestly and fell to the floor to hide her gold shoes. The shoes had a one inch heel that was comfortable to walk in. They left her long blonde hair to flow around her, but gave it a trim so it wasn’t quite waist length.

  “Are you hungry, your majesty?” Olsa asked. Pleased with their work, the trio of females vanished.

  “I could eat,” Asha admitted. She took a seat at a small table while Unwin conjured up a platter of fruit and cheese. She ate her fill, then pushed the rest away. “Thanks,” she said and nervous flutters hit her stomach at the meeting she would shortly be attending.

  She’d barely had time to use the bathroom when a knock sounded. The door swung open before she could cross to it and another liveried servant stood there. “The advisors are waiting for you,” he said curtly.

  “Don’t enter my room without my permission again,” Asha told him, annoyed that he’d barged inside so rudely.

  He sneered at her and looked her up and down. “You aren’t our Queen yet, goblin,” he retorted.

  “I will be soon,” she said coldly. “What do you think will happen then?” He frowned and she smirked at him. “You’ll be the first servant I get rid of,” she said.

  Unable to think of a comeback for that remark, he jerked his head for her to follow him, then stalked off. Asha took her time to follow him, forcing him to stop to wait for her several times as he led her through the halls to a sitting room. “You may go,” she said dismissively before regally sweeping inside.

  Chapter Thirteen

  ALL SIX ADVISORS SHARED amused looks when the servant’s face flushed bright red at being dismissed. He bowed stiffly, then pulled the door shut as he left. Asha took a quick look at the room. It was the same as the rest of the palace, with a black marble floor, red drapes and scarlet furniture.

  “Have a seat, my lady,” Lord Nicolaia offered, pointing at a chair that sat by itself after introducing his colleagues to her. She did as he requested and felt as if she was facing an inquisition with the lords and ladies staring at her. King Lod perched on his chair with his feet dangling over the edge. They all held a crystal glass. The fairies were drinking wine, but the Goblin King drank something black that smelled a bit like tar.

  “You have declared that you refuse to marry Corvine,” one of the females said. Her name wa
s Lady Mildra. She was haughtily beautiful, with jet black hair that had green streaks and green eyes with black flecks. Her hair was piled on top of her head like a four-tiered wedding cake. “What makes you think you have any right to reject the man we’ve chosen to be your King?” she asked archly.

  “What makes you think you have the right to choose a man for me?” Asha retorted.

  “Be careful how you address us, girl,” one of the male advisors said. His name was Lord Vanse. His hair was an unnatural shade of red that looked like clotted blood. He had disconcerting yellow eyes. No fairy could be classed as unattractive, but he gave her the creeps. “We have agreed to allow you to become our Queen, but we could easily change our minds,” he added.

  “You have no control over that,” she said, tone reflecting her unhappiness. “Queen Wysterial saw my fate. I will be the Unseelie Queen.”

  “You see?” Lod demanded in triumph. “The Seer also foresaw my daughter’s reign. This confirms that the oracle was not lying.”

  The other advisors surreptitiously rolled their eyes, or heaved quiet sighs as if they’d heard this a thousand times before.

  “The Seer also saw me sitting on the throne?” Asha asked.

  “Long ago, when she was first sent to my domain, she spoke to me,” her father told her. “She foresaw that my female offspring would one day rule the Unseelie realm. She told me I would bed a dryad and that you would restore the balance when the realms become unstable. Of course, I assumed she was lying as dryads never venture to this realm. Then one day, six or so decades ago, I was in the borderlands and saw a dryad walking alone.”

  Asha held up her hand to stop him from going into detail. “Let me guess, she was a royal and you got her pregnant with me.”

  He grinned nastily. “That’s correct. After all, it was my destiny to produce the offspring who would save our realm. It was the dryad’s destiny to bear you.”

  “Corvine is a fine warrior,” Lord Nicolaia said in a cajoling tone that didn’t match his cold eyes. While he looked just like Jake, they couldn’t have been more different. “He will make a decent King,” he added.

  “My friend, Dalrin, told me Corvine is a brute and that he enjoys hurting women. We all know a man like that would be a terrible ruler. You just want someone you can control to sit on the throne.”

  “She’s smarter than she looks,” Lady Mildra muttered and received a glare from Lod.

  “Prince Sindarian refused to listen to our council except when it suited him to do so,” Lord Nicolaia said. “The Unseelie realm could be far greater than it is with us to guide the new rulers.”

  “You want us to be your puppets,” Asha said flatly. “There’s only one problem with your scheme.”

  “What’s that?” Lord Vanse asked condescendingly.

  “No one can control fate.”

  “Ah, but we have controlled fate,” Nicolaia said in triumph. “We unseated Sindarian from his throne.”

  “And look what happened after you did,” Asha pointed out as a particularly loud crack of thunder pealed out and lightning brightened the room. “The realm is in chaos and magic is fading from the land. Thanks to your meddling, all realms will be doomed unless calm is restored.”

  “That’s why you’ve been chosen, daughter,” Lod said. “Your very name proclaims your purpose. You are the balance of three realms, although why Earth has been included is beyond our understanding.”

  “I won’t marry Corvine,” Asha said stubbornly. “You’ll have to find someone else. Someone who doesn’t make me want to rip his face off for just looking at me.”

  “You will marry him,” Lady Mildra said in a stern, forbidding tone.

  “You can try to make me, but it won’t end well for him,” Asha predicted.

  “In three days, you will bond with him and he will become your husband,” Lord Nicolaia said firmly, ending their discussion.

  Asha tried to swallow down the dread that rose in her at the thought of what was going to happen in three days’ time. Nothing good, that much she was sure of. Either the warrior would overpower her and force her to sleep with him, or her goblin side would prevail. Either way, the outcome would be disastrous.

  Clearly unwilling to listen to her warning, the advisors proceeded to tell Asha about the wedding they had planned. The actual nuptials wouldn’t be performed until after she’d been bonded.

  “She hasn’t already been bedded by a man, has she?” Mildra asked suddenly, aiming the question at Nicolaia.

  “No,” he replied, squinting at the dryad. “There are no gold threads binding her to another.”

  “You can see the threads, too?” Asha asked. It made sense, since he was Jake’s father.

  “You know of another who has that ability?” he asked.

  They hadn’t asked her any questions about her past. He had no idea his son was her friend. “I met a fairy in the Seelie realm who could see them,” she replied. It wasn’t exactly a lie. She and Jake had both been in the Seelie realm together and he was half-fae.

  “So, the girl is untouched,” Vanse said, yellow eyes glittering. “Whomever beds her first will become bonded to her and he will be our next King.”

  Nicolaia sent him a sardonic look. “You have a gift for stating the obvious, Lord Vanse.”

  Flushing at the insult, the scarlet haired advisor drained his glass, then it magically refilled itself.

  Asha listened to their detailed plans of parading the new rulers of the Unseelie realm after Corvine was bonded to her. They were apparently going to travel to the various towns and settlements to ensure everyone knew they had new rulers. It sounded like an ordeal she didn’t want to go through.

  They assumed that becoming bonded to Corvine would somehow restore the balance and end the chaos that was making their magic fade. Asha knew it couldn’t be as easy as that. She also knew she wasn’t destined to wed their chosen warrior.

  An image of Dalrin flitted through her mind. He was the only Unseelie fairy who had shown her any respect or kindness so far. If it was her choice, she would pick someone like him to sit on the throne beside her, but it wasn’t meant to be. He was just a lowly exile and the advisors would never allow someone like him to become their king.

  Chapter Fourteen

  WHEN ASHA WAS FINALLY allowed to escape from the sitting room, she ignored the servant when he appeared to escort her back to her room. “You’re going the wrong way,” he said to her back when she walked away from him. When she didn’t respond, he strode after her and caught her by the arm.

  A warrior clad in black armor who was standing guard straightened up from his bored slouch, but it was already too late for him to intervene. He watched through his visor as their future queen turned on the man. Her skin changed to gray and a spike shot out of her arm to impale the servant through the throat. “No one touches me without my permission,” she told him in an icy tone.

  Gurgling in pain, the servant looked down at the spear as it suddenly retracted. Blood gushed from his wound, splattering his already red jacket. His wound healed, but she was already turning away from him. He fled before she could inflict any further damage on him. “You,” Asha said to the warrior who had witnessed the incident.

  He straightened up even more. “Yes, my lady?” he asked cautiously.

  “You’ll be my new escort,” she decided. “Show me around the palace.”

  Looking around for help, he saw he was alone. The servant was gone and he was the only guard in this hallway. “Yes, my lady,” he said in resignation.

  “What’s your name?” she asked as they continued down the hallway.

  “You can call me Kurtus, my lady.”

  “My name is Asha,” she said, already tired of the titles she was being lumped with.

  “It wouldn’t be proper to call you by your name, my lady,” he said stiffly. Although the dryad was beautiful, he had no desire to attempt to touch her after what he’d just witnessed. It wasn’t that her goblin half had shown itself that
had bothered him. It was the spear that had protruded from her flesh that had unsettled him. He’d never heard of a goblin doing anything like that before. It had to be her mixed heritage that had made it possible.

  “How big is the palace?” she asked as he showed her through the wing. She saw several libraries, each containing thousands of books. A lot of them were spell books and would be useless to her. Other rooms were locked and the doors remained stubbornly closed when she tried the handles.

  “It has five levels and over a thousand rooms,” Kurtus replied.

  Asha almost stumbled a step at that news. “A thousand rooms?” she asked incredulously.

  “The courtiers live here,” he reminded her. “There are over six hundred in residence.”

  “What about the guards and servants? Where do you live?”

  “We reside here, too, my lady. We sleep in barracks in the basement beneath the palace. The soldiers and servants have separate wings.”

  “That sounds horrible,” Asha muttered, but she guessed it wasn’t that uncommon. Soldiers back home didn’t exactly live in luxurious conditions when they were on deployment either.

  “It isn’t so bad,” Kurtus shrugged. “At least it’s better than being sent to the goblin dungeon.”

  “Yeah, that would suck,” she replied. He gave her a look that she couldn’t see behind his visor. “Can you take your helmet off?” she asked, not liking that she couldn’t see his face. The helmet vanished, leaving him exposed and surprised. One of the brownies must have acted on her wish. Kurtus was as handsome as all fairies, but his hair was auburn rather than a fantastical combination that some had. His eyes were a startlingly pale blue. “That’s better,” she said. “Now I’ll be able to see when you’re laughing at me.”

  “Will you punish me if I do, my lady?” he asked uneasily.

  “Probably not. That only happens when people touch me when I don’t want them to,” she replied, waving away his concern that she would transform into her alter ego and puncture his body with her defense mechanism.