Page 15 of The Heir the Fae Forgot
It was my turn for blood to rush to my cheeks.
I couldn’t look at him, not now that I knew he felt the moment my heart quickened at his words.
“I know you have to do as your lord commands you, Zev,” I said, more calmly this time. “I understand why Shiel lied to me, why all of you concealed the fact that he’s lord of your court. That doesn’t change the fact that youdidlie to me. Whatever Shiel’s intentions with me, noble as they may be, they’re still skewed in favor of his own interests. How could they not be? The very fact that he’s protecting me means that he needs mealivefor some gain of his own. Unless Shiel is ready to share what that is with me so I can make a fair judgement of my own, whether or not to trust him, and to decide if going along with him is also in myownbest interest, then there’s no forgiveness to be had. I won’t be used against my will, Zev. Never again.”
He couldn’t argue with that, it seemed.
He just nodded once, his shoulders straightening as he resumed the silent role of my shadow that followed me up into the trees. I was grateful for the darkness that had fallen, because it meant that no one, Zev included, could see the tears I’d been unable to hold back.
I’d held my ground, but it didn’t exactly feelgood.I was more shaken by the encounter with the fae in the shop than I was ready to admit to myself. I’d known the Wildness was a dangerous place, but I’d been promised safety—and like a fool, I’d believed myself immune to that danger. I couldn’t begin to think what would have happened if Zev wasn’t there to rescue me again.
I was a poor excuse for a fae, let alone one who was supposedly meant to inherit the crown of the entire kingdom. All I wanted was to forgive Zev long enough to let him wrap his arms around me once more, to forget for a night that the fae following me was sworn to another, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Whether or not I turned out to be the heir to this kingdom, if I intended to survive in it, I needed to learn how to take care of myself. I needed to figure out how to protect myself, and that started with protecting my heart.
CHAPTERSIX
My heart was,unfortunately, the most treacherous of organs.
It was a wonder that Zev didn’t find a way to barge into my rooms in the middle of the night from the way my heart raced at the nightmares that flooded my dreams. They were worse than the fever dream of the Wildness that once led me so far into its clutches. These dreams were the kind that held onto me well after sleep no longer claimed me, the kind that made me startle at the sight of the servant when she reappeared with a new dress for the new day, and then again when she returned with a steaming basket of pastries that I immediately wolfed down in an attempt to banish the last of the lingering nightmares.
There was to be no exploring the court today, not until I’d figured out how to protect myself from the fae still willing to stray from their lord’s orders.
Though…I soon learned…I doubted I’d have any more trouble with the court of the Wildness. Not once the rest of his court learned the lengths that their lord would go to deter any further deviation from his demands.
It wasn’t just one body that hung from the branches of the tree outside my door when I emerged, butseven.At first, I feared the worst, my heart stopping as I searched among the swinging bodies.
“Don’t worry,” Shiel’s voice said, from where he stood waiting for me on the platform half a level below. “You won’t find anyone you know among them.”
He was wrong about that, however. One of them I did recognize, the female strung up closest to my door, the long claws that had once dug into my arm now hanging lifeless at her side.
I’d never seen a body before.
They were like hollow shells of their former selves. Their skin had paled, that slight blue hue of the Wildness Court making them look more like mannequins than creatures that had, until recently, been very much alive.
“This was…”
“Icarus’ doing,” Shiel answered, his eyes still on the lightly swaying bodies as I half stumbled down the stairs towards him. Anything to get further away fromthem.His hand reached out to catch me, but he stopped a hair’s breadth away before we actually touched.
He withdrew then, uncertain, as he finally tore his eyes from Icarus’ message to look at me, instead.
“Zev told me about yesterday. Are you alright?”
“Of course, I’m alright,” I snapped, even though I felt anything but. “Clearly, the issue was dealt with. “
Still, I didn’t complain as Shiel followed me down the stairs at my side.
The eyes of the court that had once followed me now glanced away in fear, or anger, or hate, I wasn’t really sure. I supposed it didn’t really matter. If it hadn’t been clear enough already, it was clear now the fate that awaited anyone who dared defy the lord of this court.
All that remained to be seen was whether that fate also applied toallfae who fell out of Icarus’ favor, not just Wildness fae.
Before either of us could voice the thought I was sure we both shared, one of the insect-like servants appeared at my side, as if out of nowhere. This one was male—at least as far as I could tell—and from the finery he wore, clearly a higher ranking one than the servants that had been assigned to our bathing, dressing, and feeding.
He bowed low before both of us, those black eyes of his still watching us closely, as if to make sure we didn’t try to run at the sight of him, before he straightened up. “Come,” he said, offering out his hands. “Icarus and his court await.”
Both Shiel and I stared at his hands for a long moment, unsure if he meant for us to take them, or if it was one of those gestures that simply didn’t look right on these inhuman creatures.
I glanced once more over my shoulder at the swinging figures now barely visible overhead. It didn’t matter that I was no longer close enough to see the color of their lifeless, staring eyes. The sight of them still took hold of me, making my skin crawl and my stomach twist.
