CHAPTER 19
Dorian
ALICE LIDDELL SAT BEFORE me, tears glistening in her eyes but they did not move me. “I was only trying to help. The shadows said I could be one of you and I am. Look.” She tried to extend a hand out to me, but I was too blinded by my rage to give her a second glance.
The area was dim and surrounded by a stone wall, closed off to everything else except a door-shaped hole where two guards stood awaiting my command. No one came here anymore. The tree before me was sacred, and it was forbidden for anyone to touch its fruit. Not just one person but two had tasted the sweet juices from the tree.
One being the human now turned Fae before me, and the other…my eyes trailed over to the tree. My peach. How could you? Sadness filled me for a moment before my rage returned.
“I’m quite aware of your new found abilities, Alice,” I cursed causing the young girl to cringe, “did you think for a moment that the shadows could have lied? That they would tell you anything you wanted to hear? Just so you would do what they wanted?”
“But why would the shadows want to keep you apart? Surely they couldn't care less about your message?” She stuttered as she tried to rationalize her actions.
“You couldn’t be more wrong.” My laugh was bitter and heavy. “They have as much invested in my marriage as I do, except I had more to lose.”
And I lost it all. My heart clenched like a troll had its hand wrapped around it and was tightly squeezing it with each breath. How could I have been so foolish? I should have realized what was happening. How was I so weak not to know the difference between real and fantasy?
“Why? What do they gain from breaking you two up?” Alice cocked her head like a child trying to understand grown-up things.
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” I hissed. I knew very well what the shadows wanted from us.
The Seelie Queen thought she was fooling everyone, but I knew what she had done. At least part of it. My mother did not keep many secrets from me and this was one that was too important to keep.
The Faes cast out by the Seelie Queen were not happy with their sentence. They wanted to come back. To be as they once were. But they had stayed in the Shadow Realm too long. There was no going back.
I knew that my marriage to Lynne was supposed to help us fight against them when they time arose but had I known the shadows were so close I would have been more careful. Made Lynne more aware of the danger.
But it was too late now.
“And you will have plenty of time to think about the answer. Guards!” My voice rose as my anger spiked. “Everything that happens from here on out is on your shoulders.”
My words caused Alice to crumble into a heap of blue on the ground. Her cries racked her body and only grew louder when the guards wrapped their hands around her arms and dragged her away. I watched as they took her out of the area and then turned my back on her.
There was nothing left for me now. The one person I had ever truly loved was gone and the ones who had caused it was still out there. I couldn’t let myself become weak again. The Underground couldn’t afford for me to.
As I walked back to the palace, I came across the white roses I had been waiting to show Lynne. They had finally bloomed, and it was the perfect time to show them to her. Except she wasn’t here to show.
I marched over to them intent on destroying the beautiful flowers when I saw that they weren’t white at all. The edges of the petals had begun to turn red as if painted. The longer I stared at them, the more the white changed until eventually, all that was left were red roses.
The color made bile rise in my throat. Blood. They were they color of blood. Like the blood that was now on my hands. The hands that would have to tell the Seelie Queen what had happened. I could only hope that the next blood that would be spilled was my own.
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MY FACE BURNED. I’D imagine that this was what it felt like to have hot pokers shoved into my face. Not that there was any physical injury.
There was no blood. Not cuts. But the swirling glyphs that now marred the left side of my face were foreign to me. As was the conversation being had while I lay on the hard marble floor of the Seelie palace.
“What are we going to do now?” the Seelie Queen hissed at my mother.
“Do not ask me. I was against this from the beginning,” my mother snapped back.
“Well, it is your son’s fault that all of our planning has been ruined in one day.” The high-pitched screech that had become the Seelie Queen’s voice caused me to wince.
I didn’t know what they were discussing. I honestly didn’t care. My heart ached almost as much as my face, and I could feel something nagging in the back of my mind trying to force its way to the forefront.
“And the human child is not to blame? You did not have to curse him. I would have made sure he was amply punished.” My mother’s eyes glanced to me with sadness. Why was she sad? This was my fault. I did this. I should be punished. If it weren’t for me my peach, my love, wouldn’t be gone.
“She’s human no longer, my cousin. A poor imitation but Fae, nonetheless. No doubt the reward for her deceit.” The Seelie Queen sniffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I have punished her as well.”
“Taking her head is far less of a punishment than what you have done to my son!” my mother’s voice finally rose to echo off the walls of the throne room. “She may suffer, but he will suffer more and not even be able to do anything about it. Hardly fair for a royal Fae.”
“I cannot show leniency. Especially now,” the Seelie Queen tried to soothe my mother, “I understand how you feel. You are losing your son but at least he is not dead.” The weight she put on the word permeated the room.
“Yes, I suppose not.” This time my mother’s voice was small and almost fragile. Usually, I would want to go to her. My own heart aching to comfort her in her sadness, but for some reason, I couldn’t feel my usual empathy. In fact, my heart did not ache at all.
My eyes darted to the mirror the Seelie Queen had set up so I could see her work. The dark blue of my eyes had faded to a pale blue. The same exact shade as Lynne’s. A sharp pang sent pain throughout my body, and the symbols on my face flared to life in a glare of light so bright I was blinded briefly.
“What have you done?” I could hear my mother screaming out beside me. Her hand touched my shoulder rolling me over to face her. Tears rolled down her face but instead of wanting to comfort her my lips curled up in a smile.
“As I said before, he will suffer for his grievances against the Seelie Court until we can find a replacement.” The Seelie Queen smirked, clearly happy with her choice of punishment.
“But what does that mean?” my mother asked for me. I wished to know as well but the bubbling laughter filling my chest kept me from asking.
“Your dear prince will not be able to mourn his lost love. It’s a blessing, really. He should thank me.” The cruel smile on her face did nothing to stop the laughter from falling out of me.
I jerked away from my mother’s hand and clutched my stomach. I tried to force the laughter back, to remember that I should be upset, but the more I tried to reign in the feeling the more my face burned.
“You are an evil witch,” my mother’s voice snarled as she stared down at me in disbelief.
“We all do what we have to for those we love,” was the Seelie Queen’s response. She turned from my mother and snapped her fingers at a guard. “You, call for the Cheshire and Poppy. It is their turn to serve their kingdoms.”
“Of course, your highness.”
The laughter finally dissipated, and I lay on the cold floor catching my breath. The words of the arguing royals faded away and while my face still burned from the spell, I could feel something new in my heart. An inkling that had not been there before.
This was only the beginning.
THE END
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Dorian and Lynne’s story is not over. It is just the beginning. Check out the first chapter of the full series on the next page!