Mark of Truth (Wicked Kingdoms Book 1)

by Graceley Knox

  Nodding at me, she turns back to the fight at hand. Doyle and Dagan are going at it, and from the looks of it, they are pretty evenly matched.

  I grab my hoodie and another bottle of water for the road and walk back up to the house. As I reach the top of the stairs—slightly less winded than I was yesterday, I might add—I stop short. My bedroom door is cracked open. Weird. I know I shut it because I didn’t want Anarchy and Chaos to get stuck in there.

  I approach with caution. Practical jokes are something none of my crew are above pulling. I slide against the wall next to the door jamb and stop for a second. I listen for any noises that are unusual. After a few seconds when I hear nothing, I poke at the door, inching it open. When nothing comes crashing down, I scoff at my own paranoia and walk right into my room. I toss my half empty water bottle on the bed and toe off my boots. I stop dead when a throat clears behind me. Standing rigid, I slowly turn my head to look over my shoulder.

  A willowy elven maid who should be gracing the cover of a magazine with her angled cheek bones, her ice-blue-toned eyes, and perfect posture is standing there with a tray in her hands. I turn to face her fully. It’s actually a tea tray. Like with a pot and a little saucer and some pastries. Smiling at her, I open my mouth to say something because the silence at this point is awkward, but she beats me to the punch.

  “Lady Ever, my name is Arradel, at your service. Merelda thought you might want some afternoon tea and asked that I bring this up to you.” She bows slightly and stays leaning over.

  As I watch, fascinated that she can balance the tray like that, she makes eye contact with me and grimaces.

  “Oh, shit! Right…uh…you may rise?” I’m not sure on protocol with this stuff. Technically, her blood is purer than mine, so this must really be chaffing for her to serve a leath cine.

  At the nod of her head, I take it I was close enough to what I was supposed to say for her to unclench a bit.

  “Listen,” I say, trying to formulate a way to tell her not to bow to me without sounding like an uncivilized brute. “The whole bowing thing is not really necessary with me. So you know, just…uh…don’t. ’Kay?” I end my stumbling statement with a wave of my hand.

  At her look of horror, I try to back track. “I mean no offense, but I’m no one important. I won’t be insulted if you don’t bow, so you don’t have to with me or my crew, okay?”

  As she turns slightly less red with my clarification, I unzip my hoodie and toss that onto the bed so I can keep it with me for later. Arradel is still standing there, so I step toward her. My sock-covered feet sink into the plush rug, and I reach for the tray.

  “Here, I can take that so you aren’t stuck holding it.”

  She shakes her head adamantly. Her frost-colored hair creates a sleek wave behind her, and I step back. Goddess, I’m hopeless at this conduct shit.

  “Well, how about you just put it right over there on the table? I don’t want to hold you up. I’m sure you have something else you need to do than listen to me make a mess of protocol.” I smile and then realize I just told a maid she has other things to do. Which sounds so freakin’ rude. I frown. “I mean, not that you have things to do because you’re a maid. Just that, you know, I’m pretty boring, and I’m sure you’d rather be doing something less…painful. I’m just gonna stop talking now.” I duck my head in shame. Open mouth insert foot. Where is Doyle when I need him?

  Instead of flouncing away like I expected her to at my horrible manners, she giggles. “Would you like to try your tea before I take my leave, my lady?”

  Before I take my leave, I mock in my head. How come I can’t sound sophisticated like that?

  I wave a hand. “Oh, I’m sure it will be just fi—”

  “I insist, my lady.”

  Since she put down her tray, she has been feverishly running her fingers over a large leaf pendant at her neck. The skin below it looks raw from her ministrations.

  “Are you okay, Arradel? Your neck is red beneath that necklace. Are you sure there is no iron in it?”

  She laughs and her eyes widen. She still hasn’t stopped stroking the pendant. “Oh, this old thing. It is from the Light Elven Kingdom. It brings me comfort.” Her tone’s not as nonchalant as she probably wants it to be.

  Instead of saying what I wanted to like, okay, it’s your skin that is going to peel off, I manage something civil-sounding. “It’s lovely. I will try my tea just as soon as I am done with my shower. I need to clean up. I’m covered in dirt from sparring.” I walk toward the bathroom. “I’ll make sure that Merelda knows you brought the tea, and I’m sure I’ll love it!”

  Stepping quickly toward me, she grabs my hand. “I insist you try it.” A bit of an edge creeps into her tone.

  I break her hold on my wrist and attempt to stay calm. “Listen, I am not all up on protocol with the full-blooded Fae here, but last I checked, you don’t grab someone. No harm, no foul this time, but I’m going to shower and then I’ll check out the tea. Okay?”

  She sets her jaw and I almost groan.

  “You know what? I will try it.” I walk briskly over to the table with the elegant tea tray set atop it. I grab the kettle and pour some of the dark liquid into the tea cup. Adding a sugar and some cream I take a sip and make a delighted sound. I pretend to take another sip. “Mmm, so good. Thank you so much! I’m going to take this cup into the shower with me!”

  Gag me. Not. That little cup is going to sit on the counter untouched and I’m going to enjoy dual shower heads. Uninterrupted this time.

  “I’m so glad you enjoy it, my lady,” she answers sweetly. She folds her hands in front her as she shifts from side to side. Instead of taking her leave as I had hoped, she stays where she is, a creepy smile forming on her lips.

  I feel a bit dizzy while I stand there, so I grab a scone and shove half of it into my mouth. Chewing fast, I’m trying to stave off a belly ache from not refueling right after I sparred. I step away from the table and grab my head in my hands. “Whoa, I feel wicked dizzy.” I look to her to help me. She has one hand on her leaf pendant, but the other is now covering her mouth as she giggles, her shoulders wriggling.

  “What was in that tea?” I try to shout at her and fail. My vision goes in and out of focus, and cramps assault my stomach.

  She slides closer. “Just a little something to make you more compliant.”

  “Compliant? Are you on elf crack or something? Why would you put something in my tea?” I pull the chair out from the table out and let my knees give out, falling back into the chair.

  She smiles wide, and I get the feeling her response is really going to irk me.

  She furiously rubs at her pendant. “I’m to get you to my love. And in return I can finally return home.” Sighing, she tilts her head upward, her eyes closing for a moment.

  “Home? Your love? Who—what now?” If this crazy bitch made any sense, I wouldn’t be asking questions like I was a half-wit.

  “Home to the Light Elven Kingdom, of course. But you are coming with me. You see, the plan was quite brilliant. I had access to you, and Cashel needs you to secure his reign.” She smiles wide.

  “Cashel? As in Cashel Finarben? You’re joking.” It’s getting hard to keep my head up now, but I give her the best droll look I can muster. That tea is making my arms feel as if they are made of jelly but weigh ten tons each. Shifting one over toward the scone, I can’t even bring it to my mouth. Probably a good thing since it could be full of whatever the hell she gave me.

  “No, I assure you. Cashel will marry you as he intends, and I will be made his official court máistreás in exchange for getting you to him.” Still stroking her pendant like a mad woman, she continues her delusional speech. “I will return to my beloved home, all of my transgressions forgiven, and of course I will take which ever name Cashel graces me with. And I will serve him as is my right—”

  “Ever, I’m jumping in the shower, and then we can meet downstairs,” Eryn shouts from down the hall, excitement coloring
her tone.

  Arradel’s blissful expression turns to one of ugly rage. Her mouth twists downward and her eyes narrow. “Answer her. And don’t think about trying anything funny. I have your entire little entourage’s rooms wired to blow with the click of this button right here.” She removes her other hand from her back, holding a black remote complete with a few red buttons.

  Jesus, this bitch right here. Never again was I taking tea from anyone. “All right, let’s not make any hasty moves.” I raise my voice and respond to Eryn. “Sounds good, Eryn. Twenty minutes good enough?”

  “Yeah, that will work!”

  At the sound of her retreating footsteps, I heave a sigh of relief. She’s safe. Eryn is safe. If I do what this crazy elf wants, I can keep them all safe. My top priority has always been my crew, and she obviously knows that. Someone had to have given her the information to get to us. But who?

  Turning back to me, she gives me a smile, calm now that she got her way. “Where was I? Oh, yes. Cashel and I will of course produce heirs, and you will be placed aside, Queen only in name.”

  “Queen?” I say with a frown. “Honey, I don’t know what he told you about me, but I’m leath cine. The day the Light Elves accept me into their Kingdom, let alone as a monarch of said Kingdom, will be the day I’m dead.”

  “Cashel will work it all out.” She waves her hand, assured in her delusions where she’s Queen of Crazyland.

  “Mmhmm, if you say so.”

  Nostrils flaring, her teeth bared, I worry I may have overstepped. “Don’t presume to think you could understand the inner workings of the Light Elven Kingdom, half-breed.” She curls her lip and sneers.

  I can barely keep my head up to meet her eyes, but I hope that if I keep her talking, Eryn or someone will come check on me when I don’t come down to meet her in twenty minutes. Slumping back into my chair, I keep my head up and my eyes locked on her. She giggles manically. The sound grates against my ears like nails on a chalkboard.

  “Was-so, fun-ny?” I slur and keep one eye on her. At the sound of another knock on my door, I look from her to my door.

  “Ev? Are you napping?” Doyle yells through the door, knocking again and saying my name in a sing song way. When I don’t answer right away he asks again, concern now weaving its way into his tone. “Ev, you okay?”

  Suddenly the maid is next to me, hissing instructions in my ear, poison dripping from her tone. “Tell him you are fine and you will see him soon. Do it!”

  “I-I’m fine, D,” I get out before my tongue starts to feel numb. “Soon.” I collapse against Arradel. Or as I have now dubbed her, the maid bitch from hell.

  “Okay, I’ll let Eryn know you will be down soon. You coming down for lunch?”

  At his second question, Arradel huffs. “Get rid of him. Or I blow one of your friends to pieces courtesy of the explosives Kirin was nice enough to bring into the compound with him. Remind me to thank him later if he is still breathing,” she adds, finger to her chin.

  “Yeah,” I get out, barely able to form my mouth around the syllable. Taking my confirmation at face value, I hear him make his way back down the hall.

  I just had to take the room at the end of the hall, out of the way of everything. I mentally chastise myself. I should have known something like this would happen. How does that Irish saying go? If we didn’t have bad luck, we wouldn’t have any luck at all or some shit like that. Clearly I’m not in my right mind, but the good news is, she didn’t give me enough of that drug to knock me out, only keep me impaired. So impaired that I can’t hold my head up, but at least I can listen to her crazy babbling and think of a way to get out of this mess.

  After a few minutes of her flitting about the room and talking mostly to herself, she snaps to attention. “Time for us to head to your final destination, half breed.” She sneers and wrinkles her nose. Approaching me, she lays a hand on my forearm and my vision goes black.

  CHAPTER

  TEN

  I wake with a start and blink a few times. I’m surrounded by bright green rolling hills. The change of scenery sends a pulse of adrenaline through my body. Before I can look around to see where we might be, Arradel drops my limp form like a sack of potatoes to the ground. The dirt and grass beneath my fingers is soft and a bit moist. The air smells sweet like wild flowers and freshly cut grass. The high grass swaying with the wind is serving as a cover for the small door set in the back of one of the hills.

  A fairy mound. Great. No telling where this leads to. Fairy mounds are tricky that way. Hopefully she has enough wits about her to get us through to our destination in one piece. I sit there, swaying side to side with the effort of holding my upper body up. Arradel paces a tight circle. Again she feverishly rubs the necklace around her neck. Round and round she goes, arguing with herself and casting forlorn looks at the door.

  She stomps her feet like a toddler having a tantrum and screeches. A lanky elf appears a few feet from her, and she lowers her hands. His hair is the color of golden honey and his skin shimmers green under the sunlight. He must be royal. This is either my insane cousin Cashel or one of his lackeys come to assist in this asinine plane of his. Judging by the delighted smile on Arradel’s stupid face, I’d bet money this is Cashel and not one of his goons.

  She trips over herself to get closer to him and whispers his name reverently. “Cashel, my love, look who I have brought for you.” She points towards me.

  I sit on the moist grass, still unable to control my own movements. He smiles saccharine sweet, and I know that Arradel has been duped. He has something in store for her, she just doesn’t know it.

  Great. Just lovely.

  “Ah, my fair cousin, I don’t believe we have been properly introduced,” he says in a formal tone.

  Like this is a freaking festival at court and the entire Kingdom is watching. Lunatic.

  “I am your intended, Cashel Finarben, of the house McElva.”

  Well, no shit, Sherlock. What am I supposed to say to that? Oh, I thought you were another Cashel Finarben who also happens to be my cousin? I try as hard as I can to muster a chilling glance, but due to the lack of reaction from him, I doubt I have any luck doing so.

  “My cousin, you are indeed more beautiful than I was expecting from a leath cine. Certainly no deformities that I can see.” He walks in a circle around me while he talks. “Although I will require further inspection to ensure that you are able to bear heirs for me once I take the throne.”

  Take the throne? Bear heirs? Oh, man, this guy takes the cake. He thinks he’s going to take the throne from our Uncle Caddox. Newsflash, bro, but there are about six people in front of you for the throne, including my mother and your own parents. At that thought, the full realization of his plan strikes me. He intends to assassinate most of the royal family. All so he can take the crown without objection. He’s stark raving mad—like should be in a strait jacket in a padded room mad.

  But what on earth do I have to do with this plan? Surely those pompous assholes would have an issue with a Queen who just happens to be forbidden from stepping foot inside the Light Elven Kingdom. If he’s planning to take out everyone that opposes his actions or words, he’s in for one hell of a fight. Fae are notorious for disliking change, and a change like this isn’t going to go over well. The sound of the maid’s whiney voice interrupts my thoughts, but what she says quickly captures my attention.

  “Cashel, I have earned my place back in the Kingdom, yes?” Her tone is so high pitched it could make a pixies’ ears bleed.

  Cashel levels her with a glare. “All in good time.”

  “But you promised—”

  “I know what I said Arradel.” He turns his attention from my prone form to hers. “Your reward will come in due time.”

  She stands there looking adoringly at him as she continues to rub her necklace.

  “But for now we must get her into my chambers and settled. I’ve got everything prepared for her arrival, and I am ready to set our plan into motion.
”

  “Right, of course. Silly me, I forgot about her in all the excitement.” She waves a hand and smiles wide.

  “Well, what are you waiting for? Get her, and let’s go. Certainly you didn’t think I would be picking her up.”

  “N-No, my love. Right away.”

  She gets closer and closer to me, and I try with all my might to move. If I can flick a finger at her, I can make an illusion appear to distract her. But luck isn’t on my side, and I’m still unable to even wiggle my toes, let alone a finger. If I wan’t about to be fed to the wolves, I’d admire her for the use of whatever mixture she put into my drink and its ability to completely incapacitate. I might even ask her how to make it or what it is. But seeing as I’m headed into unknown territory where I’m persona non grata with my delusional cousin and his equally delusional assistant here, I’ll have to refrain.

  Smiling as she approaches me, Arradel grabs my wrist roughly and hoists me up. I can’t move, but I can still feel pain. I gasp as she wrenches my arm and drags me behind her like a bag of trash. Stupid Fae and their strength. Each rock and rut in the ground shoots agony to my shoulders like they are being beaten with a sledge hammer.

  “Easy with her, Arradel!” Cashel roars. “She is more breakable than we are!”

  “I forgot, Cashel.” She looks down and hunches her shoulders. “I’m so sorry, please forgive me.” She looks up at him, and her lower lip trembles.

  She apologizes constantly. Grow a backbone, for the love of the goddess!

  Grunting and waving her forward, he stalks toward the beat-up-looking door. It’s covered in deep green moss and built into the hillside. Cashel mutters a few words in the ancient language of the Fae. He circles his hand, and a sigil appears. Locks tumble and a latch clicks before the door pops open. Cashel steps into the fairy mound and motions Arradel through. Arradel drags me behind her through the door. She only stops long enough to lift me over the thresh hold of the door before she promptly drops me me. I land hard on my side and the air whooshes out of me.