Eight

Addie

 

“How do you expect us to let this stand, Kellan? First, you ask us to go against our every belief and law and let this, this atrocity live. We gave you this. The mongrel is meant for great things, you told us. You swore she was the Reborn of the prophesy, that she would change the world as we knew it for the better. But now, now you ask us to give her a pass on the oldest law we have because she thinks she is in… love,” The councilwoman states with disgust.

“I cannot allow it,” she continues. “I will not stand for it. Enough damage has been done to our Kingdom and I will not stand by and see this child play havoc with everything we hold dear because of a selfish whim. Maybe, if she can’t abide by our rules, the decision to let her live should be revisited. I know I am not be alone in my thoughts.”

A rumbling of voices gains ground around the hall. I try my very hardest not to roll my eyes as I sit next to Kellan, trying to show these hysterical bigots that I don’t need destroying because I’m…. nice. It’s all I can do not to laugh.

I look to Kellan who looks angry, but defeated all at the same time. He may be the King, but everyone knows a King is merely the face of power when it comes to the law. While he might have power over somethings, apparently my life isn’t one of them.

“May I speak?” I clear my throat as I stand, all eyes on me. I look a Kellan who gives a small nod of permission.

“I understand the hesitance in regards to breaking such a sacred oath. I even understand your reluctance to get to know me as a person and to choose to see me as what was it you said, an atrocity, a mongrel?

“Being who I am, I have the power to decimate you all where you sit and burn this world to the ground, but do I do that? No, I sit here with you, like a civilised person so that we can try and come to a reasonable agreement.” I take a few steps forward letting my words sink in.

“Do not take my words for a threat, because they are not. I merely wish for you to see reason. The bond between Dante and I was never sealed, and both of us wish to be free of it.”

“So you can lay with a filthy Fallen,” I hear from the far left of the room.

“A filthy Fallen?” I spit, rage filling me, the threads of it wrapping around me and a fire burns through me. “How dare you! That filthy fallen is the reason most of you sit here in your pretty houses, in your seats of false power and pretence. He is the reason most of you are alive!”

“Adelaide. Calm yourself,” Kellan bellows from behind me, and I know I’m close to letting the Demon out of its cage. I close my eyes and swallow down the simmering hatred that threatens to overspill on these ridiculous Fae.

“You see! She cannot be trusted in any sort of position of power if she cannot even have a conversation without losing control. I am calling for a new vote.” Emily shouts, slamming her hand onto the table in front of her.

“No!” Kellan shouts, but his cry is drowned out by another council man calling his second for the vote.

“All in favour of keeping Adelaide imprisoned until it is deemed she is safe to be in the public,” she calls.

I look around in dismay as the hands in the room rise, condemning me to yet another prison.

“You people are monsters!” I shout, unfurling my wings. “I will not let you lock me up. I will not be locked away again.”

Panic grips me, and a red haze taints my vision. I push off from the ground and soar. I cover my head as I blast through the ceiling of the room and out into to the fresh air.

What the hell just happened?

I don’t have time to contemplate it all as I fly further away from the Palace. I try not to dwell on the people I’ve left behind, with yet another mess I’ve made. I’m going to make this right. I just need to work out how.

I head straight for Xander at House Bane. He’ll know what to do. Goodness, what a mess this all is. I feel like we’re fighting for a love that we’ve not had chance to revel in, in so long. I miss him, with every fibre of my being. Since that night in my room when he told me everything, I have let him back into my warded heart. It’s been an uphill battle ever since he got back.

We still haven’t found my mother, but the focus isn’t even on that anymore. An absent queen doesn’t appear to have anyone worried. They’re all too busy judging me and the man I fell in love with. I wish we could just have some time to ourselves. Outside of all of this. Away from all of the worry, all of the craziness, to just find ourselves again. To get entangled in each other and rediscover one another.              

Unfortunately, that seems to be nothing more than a pipe dream. I don’t know exactly when the tide turned against me in the council. When this went from a simple plea, to them planning my arrest, my overthrow. I don’t understand any of it, and I’ve not been in their world long enough to even begin to try to work them out.

Everything in the Fae world is different to the one I grew up in, but longing to be nothing but human will get me nowhere.

I touch down on the back green of House Bane, and Kaden is the first to find me.

“Addie, what’s wrong?” He asks. I sometimes forget how well he knows me; this me. The true me. Maybe he knows me more than anyone else, including myself.

“The council,” I start, seeing Xander and Dimitri appear in the door behind him, followed quickly by Logan who pushes past them all and hugs me so tightly I almost can’t breathe. I catch the smell of him, and it reminds me of my old life when it was a far easier time. I sink into his embrace.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” I tell him before pulling back.

Kaden clears his throat, interrupting our reunion.“You were saying… The council?”

“Yes, what a giant, crazy mess. They want to lock me up until the can determine I’m not a threat to life as they know it. Emily has gone crazy, but she’s got so many people on side. And Kellan… well he’s not been the same since Eolande left. It’s like he’s fading away a little more each day. Everything is spinning out of control.”

“I was worried about this,” Kaden says, cursing as he turns and walks back into the house.

“Are you okay though?” Xander asks.

Dimitri looks me over and his concern is evident.

“Other than blasting through the roof to escape capture, I’m just hunky dory,” I snap.

“Sorry,” he says sheepishly.

“No, I’m sorry, it’s not your fault.” I walk towards him with Logan following behind. “I suppose we’d better think of a way to fix this, right?”

“Probably,” Xander agrees. “Though my brother seems to be quite the fixer these days. I’m sure he already has an idea.”

He leads us through the house which seems so different since I was here last. I guess it’s Kaden’s now, so it’s going to, but it still feels familiar. Safe.