When the vial was empty, Cerri remained. She watched me with wide, worried eyes. Her touch on my chin turned soft and anticipatory. Her fingertips grazed the beard stubble growing along my skin.
No one had ever shown me this much care. To all those who came before her, I was nothing more than a tool. I was a weapon crafted to keep a court safe. Tools were kept sharpened and tucked away, not touched with loving caresses. No one watched me with such open fear while I bandaged my wounds.
These thoughts roused the creature inside me and made it restless. It paced, feathers bristled and tail lashing. It had no name, no way to define it. I didn’t want to think about its constructed form or the way it’d been forced into me. Not when Cerridwen was only a step away.
I could pull her to me. I could hold her tight to my body and kiss her hard to reassure her that I would be all right.
The princess didn’t want that. She backed away. Her hand dropped back to her side. She studied the vial with a droplet of antidote left lingering in the bottom.
“Where did you get this? Why is it a near perfect antidote to that specific poison?” She lifted her gaze to meet mine. Her eyes were narrowed, the softness gone.
Already, I could feel the effects of the antidote. My lungs expanded and allowed me to suck in a fresh breath, filling my body with new life. I straightened myself and pulled away from the wall.
“Tell me why you were at Beryl’s restaurant then. You tell me first, then we can talk about where I got that antidote from.” I snatched the glass vial from her hand.
Cerridwen went suspiciously quiet. After pushing past her, I glanced back. She remained motionless, much to my dismay. Whatever was on her mind would remain locked behind her impassive stance. I would glean nothing from her right now.
Anger swelled in my chest. It set me on fire and filled my lungs with acrid smoke. I wanted to spit it up, but I knew that would only lead to pain. She would suffer…Perhaps that was what she needed. If she had secret plans, then I would need her to understand the true gravity of the situation.
“I watched your parents—your biological—ones die.” The words dropped like stones in the space between us.
Cerri flinched, as if struck by each word. I didn’t want to go on. Regret soured my tongue. If I didn’t, she would continue to get in trouble. I couldn’t risk losing her, though. If she didn’t understand the danger she was in, then she would do something foolish and get herself killed.
“I was there when Beryl overtook your court. She wasted no time in spilling blood. To her, it was simply a pretty decoration. When it dried, she spilled it again to keep it a gleaming crimson.
“Your mother stood up to her first. They were cousins, so your mother thought that she could reason with Beryl. Beryl struck her without hesitation. There was no familial love between them. If there was, Beryl must have faked it. She attacked your mother with a vicious grin.”
I paused, pain lancing across my chest.
“I took Beryl’s second blow. I’d been too slow to take the first.”
Cerridwen’s mother had warded me off at first. She’d used her affinity for air magic to create a barrier between us. It was only after Beryl’s first blow that the barrier weakened enough for me to get between the women.
From there, the fight turned vicious. Beryl’s minions swarmed the court. There’d been assassins with spider limbs, banshees with haunting howls, and pookahs with nightmarish auras. The denizens of her Unseelie court still live in her hollow, the part of the court that still remained to this day.
Beryl had turned the glimmering court into a hole in the ground. It was unsightly. The portals to the Seelie castle were lost in Beryl’s underground labyrinth, just another attempt to keep us away from the throne.
“If you were there,” Cerridwen growled, “then why didn’t you save them?”
I swallowed. Extending my right hand, I opened it to show her the brand in my palm. Her breath hitched in a nearly inaudible gasp. She reached for the raised skin that she must have overlooked when feeding me the potion.
“This is the mark of my vow. When given a command by those who hold my loyalty, I am unable to disobey.” I closed my fist around the mark. “I was told to escape. My body betrayed me and did exactly as your father wanted, even though I’d been ready to die in that battle.”
Cerridwen’s eyes gleamed with thought. When the corner of her mouth lifted, I knew she hadn’t learned anything. She was thinking about all the ways she could use my mark to her advantage.
Too bad she was a fool who didn’t have my loyalty yet. My vow had been given to the king and queen. As a princess, she couldn’t command me the same way. She would have to take control of her court if she wanted to order me around.
I wished she would listen. There were important lessons in my story, but she was thinking only of the ways that she could use me to her advantage. I wanted her to use me, but only if she was going to save our people.
Cerri pulled back. She clutched her hand close to her chest and averted her gaze.
“I have a lot to think about. I…I need time to gather my thoughts.”
She pulled away. As she made her way to the exit, the little ferret skittered up to her feet and climbed her body so it could rest around her neck.
12
CERRI