by Chloe Jacobs
Across the front something had been carved in a Mylean language Greta hadn’t ever come across before…then again, she’d never come across faeries until recently, either.
“What does that say?” she asked Siona.
“Ever seeking.”
“Seeking what? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Seeking all things. Wealth. Power. Strength.” Siona’s features pulled tight.
“Are you okay?” Greta asked out of simple curiosity. “It’s got to be hard coming back here after the way they forced you out.” She might have reached for Siona’s hand before, but now felt no need to do so.
Siona looked as if she didn’t know how to respond. Finally she said, “My concern now is for you.”
Greta snorted and turned away. She noticed that the gates were actually open. Just enough to let people in and out—if they could pass the army standing guard, positioned at all angles and armed to the teeth with steel and arrows, which she supposed was in addition to whatever magickal weapon each one of them happened to be packing.
Did any faerie ever get a nice ability? Like maybe creating flower arrangements in the blink of an eye, or turning tubers into cupcakes? Not that it mattered. The seething monster inside didn’t seem to care what ability it could snag. It salivated over them all, like walking up to a mile-long buffet table with plate in hand for the first helping.
She looked around, blatantly ignoring the fact that hundreds of pairs of eyes had immediately focused on her. She held her head high as they passed through the gates, but when extra faerie guards fell into step ahead of and behind her until she was completely surrounded, she started to get suspicious.
Her skin itched, and her fingers twitched with every step.
The prince and princess hadn’t exaggerated the situation inside the Glass Kingdom. Greta could see why they would have petitioned the queen to open the gates. The faeries were seriously running out of space. Everyone was living on top of one another.
Up ahead, the castle that gave the kingdom its name cast a jagged shadow over the small portion of land that had been allocated for crops. The rest of the space within the walls was taken up by ramshackle housing, buildings so close there was no break between the walls, and the narrow streets were more like walking paths. Every available space was being used.
Faerie kind had always been reclusive, yes, but these close quarters would make anyone go stir-crazy. She wondered how Queen Minetta had managed to keep them all in here without a massive revolt long before now.
Not to mention, how many faeries had been left out in the cold when the doors shut? There must have been more than just Lazarus and Siona. Had they gone underground? Did they know they were the lucky ones, or were they like Siona and yearned to return?
Leila and Byron led the way. She felt like the virgin being paraded through town before getting carted off to the dragon’s lair as a sacrifice. They kept picking up stragglers until the group that stopped in front of the castle doors had to be hundreds strong.
Although she’d generally liked to avoid busy villages for obvious reasons, Greta had been in her fair share of crowds, even mobs, usually after bringing in a particularly nasty Lost creature for execution. She’d never understood why everyone wanted to be there to see something like that. She could never look into those dying eyes and see anything remotely entertaining in it. Lost or otherwise, everyone deserved to meet the Great Mother with dignity.
That’s why after the first few times, she’d made it a point never to bring in any of her bounties alive if she had a choice. Sure, it sounded cruel, but at least those creatures got the chance to meet their end on their own terms, and if they happened to best her in the process—never happened, but there was always that chance—then they’d buy themselves another day of freedom before the next hunter came along.
She did it that way not only for her and them, but for the families left behind when a father, brother, mother, or sister went Lost. They didn’t need the double whammy of having to stand by while an entire village of their friends and neighbors cheered for their loved one’s death on top of having to see that person in their Lost state.
So with her, at least, they had a better option. Instead of fighting to the death, she liked to tell herself she was giving them the opportunity to fight for their death.
That’s the way she wanted to go when it was time. Fighting. Not strung up, helpless as the blade came down. Not with the din of a crowd of jeering strangers screaming obscenities in her ears.
A sliver of awareness broke through her haze as she took in the expressions on the faces of her “escort.” Was that where she was headed now? To her own execution? With all these people eager to watch? Her battered soul didn’t even flinch at the idea. Would her head roll, or would they hang her instead? Did they expect her to beg? Cry? They’d be disappointed in that.
This particular crowd was different than the others, if only because it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop on the cobblestone. There was no noise from anyone besides the shuffling of footsteps and the banging of weapons against hips.
The silence must getting to me if this is what I’m focusing on.
Suddenly, she looked ahead and realized that somewhere between the gates and this point, Wyatt had disappeared. Where had they taken him?
One glance at the strained look on Siona’s face and Greta suspected two things: first, the eerie silence was only on the outside—the faeries’ mental broadcast must be humming along at a deafening level—and second, Siona’s avowal that she was no longer part of the telepathic highway had been a lie. It was so obvious.
Siona glanced over and saw Greta’s frown. “What is it, danem?”
“Oh, nothing.” She shook her head. “I was just wondering how many more lies you’ve told me.”
Her face froze. Guilt flushed her cheeks just as the faerie procession stopped in front of the grand entrance to the castle, and Greta had her answer.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Greta laughed and had her sword drawn before the sound could fade, but she didn’t get very far. As she brought her blade down she was met with a clash of familiar-looking daggers crossed right in front of her face.
She met Siona’s gaze across the gleaming steel. The goblin hunter’s expression was dark and unreadable.
“So much for friendship,” she said bitterly.
“Greta, you don’t realize how much rests on—”
“You know what? I think you can go back to calling me danem.”
Siona winced, but Greta didn’t care. Had the hunter been lying from the very beginning? How long had she been colluding with the faeries? What did they really want from Greta? Or was this about Isaac? Had they planned to make him go Lost all along to leave the goblin kingdom vulnerable?
Once the idea took root, she couldn’t let it go. Maybe Siona had been planted as a spy when she was still a child, with orders to wait patiently for the right moment.
Man, that took some serious patience and dedication.
That took a heart of stone.
She recalled all the times she’d gone to Siona for advice. Siona had been the one to advise her to give the faeries a chance. Every time Greta showed any uncertainty, Siona had been there to reassure her that this was the only way, that she was making the right decision going to the Glass Kingdom. She’d been the one who told her over and over again that there was no hope for Isaac.
The screech of steel against steel echoed between her and Siona as they strained against each other, arms trembling with effort, but so far no one had intervened.
Was that because Siona knew Greta couldn’t win and had mentally ordered them to stand down? Well, the goblin hunter hadn’t learned all of Greta’s tricks these last few weeks.
“Don’t try it,” Siona warned as if sensing her thoughts.
“You’re right,” she said with an exaggerated sigh. “We’re too evenly matched…”
She relaxed her stance and started to lower
her blade. Siona reacted slowly, trying to decide if Greta was really giving up or…
She grabbed Siona’s wrist and twisted, angling the hunter’s own dagger toward her midsection. Siona jerked out of Greta’s grasp in time, but Greta had expected that and was already stomping on the goblin hunter’s instep, following that up with a knee to her face. Siona stumbled back, but she shook it off quickly and her blades came back up.
The faerie warriors had closed in, but Greta didn’t engage them. She knew she was outnumbered, and her actions hadn’t been about getting away.
She’d just wanted to see Siona bleed.
Her sword was plucked from her fingers as the warriors drew her arms behind her back roughly, but Greta kept her gaze on Siona and let a brittle smile twist her lips.
Greta glanced to the front of the crowd, where the faerie prince and princess stood in front of the door to the castle. They had known that Greta trusted Siona more than anyone else, and they’d used it to lead her exactly where they wanted her to go, just like a rabbit with a carrot on a stick.
She’d pretty much decided that this must be part of a plot to seize Isaac’s lands, but didn’t doubt that either way, she wouldn’t have long before finding out for certain.
“It didn’t have to be this way,” Siona muttered, touching a finger to her lip and nodding at one of the faerie warriors standing guard. Greta’s smile vanished as he gave Siona her sword and the goblin hunter slipped it under her own belt.
“Tell me one thing,” Greta said. She winced at the tug on her arms as someone wrapped a length of rope around her wrists. The faeries obviously saw no more reason to pretend that she’d been brought here to negotiate.
She instinctively flexed, knowing the small swell of her muscles could theoretically leave a little bit of give in the bonds. Probably not enough to slip free, but it might be worth a shot at some point. “After all Isaac did for you…how could you purposely drive him over the edge and make him go Lost?”
“No, danem. We didn’t have to do any such thing.” Siona squared her chin, looking more like a faerie with every passing second. “You did that all on your own.”
The faeries shoved her forward roughly until she stood directly between the prince and princess in front of the gate.
The doors were shut.
“I guess no one’s home,” she shouted. “Or maybe queen bee just isn’t in the mood for visitors.”
She was getting lippy. It had been bound to happen. Something disconnected between her mouth and her common sense in times of stress. Sometimes she could get it back together before getting clocked in the face or punched in the gut, but maybe not after all she’d been through today.
Yep. Unsurprisingly, someone cracked her in the back of the head. She pitched forward, balance being one of those things that usually required the free use of hands and arms.
Someone else—assuming it was someone else and not the same person who hit her—grabbed her shoulder to keep her from tumbling face-first into the castle wall. With stars dancing behind her eyes, she snatched her arm back even before realizing it was Siona.
The door began to groan, and all the faeries seemed to hold their collective breath. Maybe she was about to get lucky and they would just forget to breathe altogether and keel over. A girl should be able to hope for something, right?
The groaning turned to a loud creak that echoed in the sudden silence, and the door swung open slowly.
By. Itself.
She glanced left and right. Good to know she wasn’t the only one surprised by this, although she got the impression that the shock on the faces of the faeries was less about how the door opened and more that it was opening at all.
As they went inside, she looked around. It wasn’t anything like she’d expected. The brilliance of the building’s outer architecture certainly wasn’t reflected within. She’d kind of pictured sunshine and color and the hustle and bustle that always came with a large demesne, but it was dark in there. Dark like no one was home. Like no one had been home for a long time. Maybe years.
Arms holding torches high shook just a little, and there was a kind of global hesitation. But then the faerie guards entered first, and others followed, flowing around her like she was a rock moored in a streambed.
Siona pushed Greta inside.
“You know your chance to get me to cooperate is long gone,” Greta snapped. “I don’t give a damn what your faerie bitch queen wants with me, there’s nothing that could make me give it to her now.”
Siona jabbed Greta between the shoulder blades with the butt end of her dagger. “You would do well to behave yourself,” Siona warned in a low voice.
“Like I’m ever going to take advice from you ever again.” She twisted halfway around and made sure Siona could see the disgust in her expression.
Siona shook her head. “I did warn you not to trust anyone.”
She snorted. “And are you satisfied in knowing that you were absolutely right?” She quickly faced forward again, feeling no desire to look at Siona.
“I find no satisfaction in any of this, danem. You will not believe it, but this was the only choice.”
“You keep telling yourself that,” she muttered.
More faeries came into the castle. They started unboarding the windows and pulling open heavy, dusty drapes. Light finally filtered in, looking just as miraculous through all that glass as she’d thought it would. But the place still felt empty, cold, dead. It gave her the shivers.
“What’s going on? Where is the queen? Why does this place look abandoned?”
Siona looked around with wide eyes as if she, too, had expected something different.
Greta snorted. “This place is big enough to house the whole damn village. What kind of queen lets her people live on top of one another like rats in the sewer when this place is here, sitting completely empty?”
Dryden approached with ice in his gaze. “Shut up,” he said.
She huffed and would have crossed her arms if they hadn’t been tied behind her. Five faerie warriors surrounded her, and she laughed.
Dryden frowned. “What could you possibly find amusing?” he asked.
“The fact that you faeries are supposed to be the most feared race in Mylena, and you’re all scared of one human girl.”
“If that’s all you were, you would not be here. You would be dead.” He made it sound so simple. They’d kill her. No qualms. No second thoughts.
She wanted her damn sword back so bad and played out different scenarios for taking it from Siona. Her jaw clenched with determination. It wasn’t going to do her any good to try now, but there would be a moment. It would come soon, and she wouldn’t let it pass her by. When that moment came, God help the goblin hunter if she tried to stand in Greta’s way.
The faeries took her up a flight of stairs. She had a flash of hope and started to plan, until she saw that Siona was accompanying them, too. It might have been worth making a break for it against five of these faeries, even tied up like she was. But with Siona’s magick-canceling power and combat skills in the mix, her narrow margin of success bottlenecked down to nothing.
The steps got narrower, the walls closed in. They were ascending one of the tall towers and didn’t stop until entering a room at the very top.
She was shoved and stumbled to the other end of the room, mentally taking stock of her options.
When only Siona remained in the room with her, she made a run for the door. “Hey,” she yelled, kicking it. “I won’t try anything if you just take this lying, worthless faerie with you.”
Nothing. She booted the door once more in disgust and spun around. It wouldn’t do to leave her back exposed to a traitor.
“What did you do with Wyatt?” she demanded.
“He is being kept separate from you, but he will remain unharmed if you cooperate.”
Siona knew her well if she was using such threats against her. What she didn’t realize was that Greta still didn’t really care about anything
.
The hunter crossed the room to look out the only window. “The least you could do is untie me,” Greta muttered.
Siona glanced back at her with raised brows. “I think not,” she replied. “I plan to keep my head attached to my body.”
“So what, then? We’re supposed to just stand here staring at each other for how long? I don’t think I can stomach your presence another minute.”
Siona huffed with impatience. “You are making this more difficult than it has to be.”
“This?” She sneered, leaning against the door with as much insolence as she could with her hands bound behind her back, partly to be forewarned in case anyone else decided to try and get in this room. “Did you really expect that I would just fall in line and help the faeries destroy Mylena?”
“No one is going to destroy Mylena. I won’t let them,” she said in a diamond-hard, determined voice. “You and I are here for my mother, and that is all.”
She shook her head, epically confused. “Your mother?”
Siona crossed her arms. “My mother is the faerie queen.”
“You said your mother was dead.”
“That was a misrepresentation to protect myself after I was banished from the Glass Kingdom. If the rest of Mylena had known that I was Queen Minetta’s daughter, I would have been used as a weapon against my own people.”
“Calling it a misrepresentation still makes it a lie. You lied to me, to Isaac, to the only people who ever actually cared about you.” Her stomach rolled. She should really be used to getting lied to by now, but it still sucked ass. “And if you lied about that, what other lies have slipped off your tongue?”
Her nostrils flared. “It’s true. I wasn’t cast out of the faerie kingdom because of my half-goblin blood, but I certainly wasn’t welcome to stay, either. Once my magick manifested and everyone learned what my ability was, I became a threat to every faerie…including my own mother.”
“If you do that canceling-out thing with everyone, I can see why the faeries wouldn’t have wanted you around messing with their mojo. So why would they risk letting you back in now?”