Page 19 of The Realm That Falls to Her

“Lord Destan Lionsvale, Your Majesty,” Destan says, offering a deep, sweeping bow which I notice makes a few of the Unseelie smirk. “It is an arrow wound, my Lord.”

Lisinder waves his hand. “My healers can fix that in a blink. No need to consult Cragfoot for something so trivial.”

“There were other injuries sustained in the fighting, Uncle,” Ruskin says. “More complex, magical ones.” He emphasizes the last few words, and I can see Lisinder picks up on his meaning: he doesn’t wish to discuss the details of these publicly.

“And exactly who have you been scrapping with, then? I hope I won’t have more members of my court turning up, saying you’ve been causing trouble,” he grunts.

Ruskin shakes his head and begins relating some of the information we’ve already fed him. “I’m afraid the curse upon the Seelie Kingdom has gotten worse, and we’ve now located its source: my mother, Queen Evanthe.”

The gathered Unseelie immediately begin muttering at this announcement.

Lisinder leans forward in his seat.

“Your mother? You’re sure of this?”

“Yes,” Ruskin says, glancing at me. “Evanthe told me herself when she tried to kill me.”

More chatter from the seats, and Lisinder’s brow knits in concern.

I decide to jump in to better fill in the gaps Ruskin might struggle to explain.

“As you know, the queen has not been well these past few centuries. But her situation was worse than the Unseelie Court might have suspected. The cold iron she was attacked with poisoned her, infected her blood, bringing her to the point of incapacity. I was brought to Faerie to heal her, given my unique abilities with metal.” I lick my lips, aware I’m about to reveal precisely how vulnerable we are. “However, when she was revived, it was clear she had been poisoned in her mind and heart too. She seeks not just to retake her place as ruler of the court, but to remove Ruskin all together, and has been visiting a terrible curse on the kingdom to aid her in that goal.”

This isn’t the whole truth, of course, because we’ve not touched on Evanthe’s ultimate goal: not just to remove Ruskin, but to punish the entire Seelie Kingdom. Explaining Evanthe is behind the curse is one thing—we told Lisinder about the blight on the court on our last visit, and I believe he’ll accept it at face value now. But claiming Evanthe wants to raze her own kingdom to the ground is a much stranger claim, one which might prompt Lisinder to demand concrete proof. He hasn’t seen how much Evanthe has changed, and without the evidence before him, it might be difficult to convince him she really has become as brutal as we’ve seen. The problem is, we don’t have the evidence. Ruskin has no memory of her confession to us at the founding stone, and my testimony wouldn’t carry much weight because Lisinder knows I can lie. We don’t make reliable witnesses.

“It was my mother who attacked me, and her followers—High Fae of the Seelie Court—who injured Lord Lionsvale,” Ruskin explains.

Lisinder sits back, seeming to digest this.

“I am sorry the Seelie Court has proven such a dangerous place for my kin,” he says gravely. “For my brother’s sake, I will grant you sanctuary in this court, Nephew.”

It’s not the warmest invitation, but once again, relief finds me. Lisinder could’ve refused us entry to his court completely. We earned it last time, but things have gotten more complicated since then, and the Unseelie king might’ve considered it too risky to offer us help when Evanthe wants us dead or captured. I notice, however, that he doesn’t offer up any of his forces to help us combat Evanthe. I guess that shelter will be the limit to what he’s willing to offer.

“And can I assume that offer extends to my companions?” asks Ruskin. “Seelie he may be, but Lord Lionsvale is a loyal friend of mine, and Eleanor Thorn is my naminai match.”

He says it so casually that for a moment I don’t register it, then I hear a laugh of disbelief rise up from the seated Unseelie, and my face starts to burn.

We never discussed telling them this.

“Your naminai match?” Lisinder says, staring at me with renewed interest. He strokes his beard and his face breaks out into a pointy-toothed grin. “Well, Nephew, you have been busy. Most fae wouldn’t have a chance to find their soulmate in the middle of everything else. And a human too. I thought there was something different about you,” he says, squinting at me.

“Indeed, it is unusual, but it seems that her magic has afforded her a true name,” Ruskin says. I try to communicate my confusion with my eyes, but he simply meets my look and slides his gaze back to Lisinder, forcing me to look at the king too.

“Well, I believe we should be addressing you as Lady Thorn from here out,” Lisinder says. “And of course, Lord Lionsvale and Lady Thorn will also be afforded the protection of this court.”

At these words I look over at Ruskin with renewed understanding. There’s definitely a logic to him revealing that we’re naminai. Firstly, he elevates me in Lisinder’s eyes, and in the eyes of the court. Though he didn’t exactly look down on me before, now he’s given me a title, and I suspect he will be inclined to take me more seriously. Secondly, it guarantees my safety as much as Ruskin’s. He could hardly offer shelter to the prince of the Seelie Court but not his naminai match. It would be spitting in Ruskin’s face. Announcing how important I am to Ruskin might put a target on my back with our enemies in the rest of the court, of course, but it’s not like we hid our relationship the last time we were here. If people want ways to get to Ruskin, I’m probably already on their list.

Aside from making sense, the announcement fills me with an unexpected warmth. This is the first time Ruskin has told anyone about us, and declaring it so publicly…there’s a power in that. I want the world to know that we belong to each other, I realize. He is mine and I am his, and it feels good to hear it out loud, even with the rift still between us. Now I think of it, part of me wonders if the old Ruskin would’ve ever have done such a thing. This Ruskin is guarded, but the old Ruskin was so used to keeping secrets you had to pry every personal detail from him. I couldn’t see him giving up the truth of our connection so easily, even when it was the prudent choice to make.

Lisinder rises from his throne and descends the dais. His face has quickly become solemn.

“But I’m afraid there are still other matters to be discussed.” He raises his hand and gestures to Pyromey, who strides towards a set of doors at the far end of the cavern, knocking on them hard. Guards open them, dragging a limp figure between them. Something horrible is about to happen, I can tell, and my stomach lurches at the sudden shift in the mood around the cavern.

I recognize the long blond hair of the captive before I see his face.

Hadeus.

He’s in a terrible state, a fact that only becomes clearer as they bring him forward and drop him to the stone floor in between us and King Lisinder. His clothes are dirty, his hair knotted and stained with blood, and when he lifts his head I see why. The tips of his ears have been shorn off and his face has been carved with four runes—one on his forehead, chin, and each cheek. The cuts don’t appear particularly deep, but they bled enough for the blood to run down his face and dry there, crusting his skin and shirt with a reddish-brown stain, the cuts themselves still fresh and glistening, not yet scabbed. He looks around at the room, his eyes alighting wildly on Lisinder, then Ruskin, Destan, and me.

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