Page 39 of The Crown the Fae Forgot
“Stay close everyone,” Zev called, beckoning us to his side now. We bunched closer, our backs together as we took in the scenery around us, watching, waiting until, at last, slowly the trees began to shift back into the court. That shimmering veil lifted, however, not only to reveal the houses and streets instead of trees, but that we were no longer traveling alone.
The lady’s guard had caught up to us, and they already had us surrounded.
They had us. For a moment, they had us. But they made one crucial mistake.
I looked around the circle of guards far outnumbering us. They should have killed us while we were lost in the illusion, but they hadn’t.
And there was only one reason for that.
I saw it in their eyes, in the quake of their boots, in the shaking of their swords as they looked not at the three massive fae warrior males with their own swords drawn, but at me.
They felt the same fear that I did.
As much as they revered their lady, they feared me more.
And for once, and what I was sure would not be the last time, I was grateful for it.
Perhaps being feared would not be so terrible after all.
“Stop.”
This time, I didn’t even raise my voice when I made the command.
I wasn’t even entirely sure I’d laced my words with glamour.
It didn’t matter. It had the same effect.
I looked at the guards encircling us, none of them moving, and I commanded them to drop their swords.
So, they did.
The streets rang with the sound of metal clattering to cobblestone. The sound would have once been jarring, but now, it sounded like music to my ears.
Beside me, Zev, Finch, and Shiel took a moment longer to realize that this time they hadn’t been affected by the spell. They straightened up, half trying to reach for me as I stepped between them and moved towards whoever I assumed was the leader of their little company, and squared up to his shaking form.
“You’re going to clear the path ahead of us,” I said, looking into the eyes that barely dared to meet mine. “No more illusions. No traps. Do you understand?”
Their leader swallowed hard, once, and then nodded.
“And then,” I said, feeling all eyes on me still, “you’re going to report right back to Lady Phyrra, and you’re going to deliver my most sincere apologies.”
His mouth opened, as if surprised, before I added, “Not for what I did, but for what I’m about to do.”
I gave him no further explanation. I just stepped back, letting Shiel, Zev, and Finch step up to my side again, the four of us waiting only for a moment for the guard to re-compose themselves before their leader bowed his head once more in acknowledgement and then barked out the order for his men to fall in around us.
This time as our guardians, not as our adversaries.
And like that, we left the Southern Court—not as fugitives or refugees, but as conquerors.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Not that Ifelt like a conqueror.
We’d left the Southern Court in a shimmer of that illusion magic that left no sign of the fae in our wake. If only the pit in my stomach was so easily forgotten.
We’d gotten what we needed out of the Southern Court, but we were not yet safe. If anything, we were in more danger than ever. I’d revealed myself not only to the leader of that court, but to theentirecourt. It was only a matter of time before the rest of the world knew that I existed, and more than that, where I was headed.
There was one thing on our minds. A singular purpose.
