Page 4 of The Crown the Fae Forgot
More guards greeted us outside, and their faces, at least, watched us in a way the other fae’s hadn’t. But with Eldrin and his guard at our side, they don’t try to stop us as I’m finally helped down from the carriage with Shiel still bundled in my arms, his fox form now barely larger than that of a pup. I ignored the way his fur left bloody streaks across my skin, refusing to let go of him, even when one of the new guards stepped up to offer his assistance.
Shiel was in his current state because of me, the very least I could do was carry him the last steps to the throne room.
Zev and Finch had fallen into the same kind of uncomfortable silence as me, but I’d noticed that they seemed to have grown more uncomfortable the closer that we drew to this Lady of the Southern Court. That discomfort, their shifting gaze and clenched jaws, only grows as the corridors led us towards a towering main hall.
It was too beautiful for words, but even then it was nothing compared to the Lady that sat in its center.
The Lady of the Southern Court.
The next fae that would determine which way the winds of fate blew.
CHAPTER THREE
The Ladyof the Southern Court is as beautiful as the court she rules over. She was stunning and shimmering, her hair a color that was hard to describe as just one, her face seren and figure so small, it could only be described asdainty.She exuded grace in a palpable way I didn’t know possible. Merely existing in her presence made me keenly aware of her power, but not in the way Icarus’s resonated from him, or even the way Shiel demanded his. Her power was shimmering and airy, elevating her instead of putting others down. I was aware of the fact that she was so muchmorewithout that power making me feel anyless.
No wonder her subjects spoke of her with such reverence.
It was hard to imagine a better fae to represent this Court.
As we approached, the courtiers that she was talking to disperse, their echoing footsteps soon leaving us alone with her. Finch stepped up and met my eyes as he nudged my to hand him Shiel’s quivering body, wrapped tight within my arms.
I resisted at first, until I felt the pressure of Zev’s hand on my shoulder next and glanced up to see his face. He urged me forward without words, his brows knitted with the sameconcern that now squeezed me from the inside. It was still with reluctance that I let Finch take Shiel from me, and more still as I had to look on as he set the ball of fur down onto the cold stone floor.
He knelt over his lord, his lips whispering something into his twitching ear until the finally lifted his fox face to look up in exhaustion at the Lady on her throne, waiting silently for us.
In that moment, Shiel somehow summoned the strength that allowed his limbs to lengthen and transform until it was not the fiery-colored fox pup sprawled out before us, but rather, Shiel’s pale, golden-haired fae form instead.
Both Finch and Zev were at his side in an instant, arms reaching out to lift him up to his feet. They did their best to steady him, but there was no hiding the way Shiel’s body shook, the muscles fighting to collapse beneath his own weight. Brown, dried blood mixed with fresh red streaks across his tunic and skin that had once been a dark golden color that nearly matched his hair.
Even as he straightened up to his full height, his face a stoic mask he was all too practiced at forming, I couldn’t help but notice how he leaned heavily against Zev, as if his other leg pained him too much to put any weight on it. My stomach, already twisted, now lurched at the sight of his knee twisted too far to one side.
Just how bad had Shiel actually been injured?
Stupid, stupid fae. I told him not to come back for me.
Despite the injuries making it difficult for him to even stand, he managed to raise his face to meet the gaze of his equal now looking down at him with a look that didn’t hide the fact she was impressed.
“My Lord,” the Lady said to Shiel, her head bowing slightly. Her voice was musical and almost whimsical, like a child’s laugh blowing through a breeze. “It seems you’ve fallen on some kindof trouble. Lucky, then, that my guard happened upon you when they did.”
“Indeed, my Lady,” Shiel replied, bowing to her as much as his broken body would allow. “We have much to thank you for. Eldrin was of great service to us. I have no doubt that without your timely intervention, we’d not be standing here today.”
He shuffled on his feet until he was able to straighten up a bit more, despite the momentary flicker of pain that crossed his face. “I do have to wonder how your guard just so happened to meet us when they did, however,” he said. “It’s such a strange coincidence that I actually struggle to wonder if it was coincidence at all.”
Even in his current state, Shiel managed to make his concerns heard. I had resist my own urge to reach out and try and steady him. Now was not the time to show weakness…not any more than was already unavoidable, anyway.
“It’s quite thecoincidenceindeed,” the Lady said, unphased by Shiels veiled accusations, “But I too have questions. I can’t help but wonder…no, not wonder…can’t help but beconcernedas to why you were in Icarus’ Court to begin with. I’d thought his court remained unrecognized by those stilling sitting on theirlegitimatethrones.”
“If I may, your Lady,” Finch said, glancing up from where he watched Shiel’s face, every second struggling harder to mask the pain. “We were lured into that court under false pretenses. We didn’t have much of a choice but to accept his hospitality.”
“Is that so?”
“It is,” Shiel said, forcing the words out from between gritted teeth. “We were on our way here, to your court, when we were driven into the forest.”
“Now…you see…somehow I have an even harder time believing that.”
The Lady of the Southern Court leaned forward in her seat, her eyes searching us from beneath lids hooded in suspicion. “What would bring a lord to my court so close to Midsommar, when he should be spending it with his own people in his own court?”
It was the same thing Icarus asked, the same thing that drew his suspicion.
