Page 54 of Their Queen

“She blocked me from flying us out of there somehow, trapping me in fae form. Callum attacked her, and when she dropped the magic, he told me to run. He told me to get this back to you,” she sobbed out at the memory and the guilt that was eating at her.

I should be consoling her. It wasn’t her fault. I knew this, but I couldn’t move. Baer took the book from her outstretched hands, bringing it closer to me. Immediately, I could feel the dark whispers coming from it, threatening to overtake my mind in my current state. I jumped up and pushed away from it, fear racing through my heart. If I touched that book right now, I would never be the same.

“Where’s Callum now?” I asked, my head turning away from the book to look at her as my back pressed against the wall, trying to get as far away from it as I could.

“I don’t know. Titania has them both, but she wanted that book. She needed it for something. She spoke about needing it to become gods,” Cyerra admitted, more tears streaming down her face as her eyes met mine. “I’m so sorry.” Her voice broke on the last word and threatened my stability.

Fuck. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real. I had fallen asleep while reading the book, researching, and now this was a nightmare haunting me. A trick my mind was playing on me based on my fears and the history I had learned. Callum would be back with my father in the morning. All I had to do was wake up. Just wake up.

“No,” I whispered, my mind unable to grasp the reality of the situation.

“We’ll get them back, Killer. Somehow, someway, we’ll get them back before she does anything with them,” Baer vowed to me, walking to me tentatively, the book discarded on the table as he approached me like I was an injured dog, liable to strike out at any moment.

Ever the voice of reason, Arryn spoke, “She needs that book, whatever it is, to accomplish her goals. She won’t hurt them. If anything, she’ll want to make a trade.”

“We can’t give her that book,” Lennox said firmly. “She’ll have everything she needs once that happens, and we’ll lose all hope of defeating her.”

“We can’t just abandon them. We’ll need to use it to bargain with her,” Baer argued.

I tuned them out as they went back and forth. My shock was wearing off, and a plan was beginning to form in my mind. “Stop!” I spoke loudly and firmly, drawing all of their attention to me as I still stared off into space. “We’ll make a trade with her,” I said, mind made up, my eyes finally meeting theirs. There was no way I could leave my father and Callum with Titania again. They had already suffered so much at her hands, and I refused to let them go one more day in her presence than they had to.

One way or another, I would get them back safe and sound, and I would make her pay for this. My plan started to solidify in my mind, and I began to smile maniacally. This was just crazy enough that it might work, and then we could be done with her for good. Now, I just needed to make the proper preparations.

Chapter Thirty Eight: Arryn

Rhowyn’s words scared me. More than that, the look on her face made me wonder if she had indeed cracked from the pressure. Her eyes danced with barely controlled anger and the need for revenge, but I could still see a small glimmer of sanity there. I held onto the hope that she had some kind of plan.

“How can we contact Titania?” she asked us. We all looked at each other, dumbfounded by this side of her. When we didn’t answer quickly enough, she snapped, “How do we tell her we want to make a trade?”

“Jude should know,” I answered tentatively, unsure of her state of mind.

Before she could speak again, Lennox ran out. “I’ll go get him.” She stared at the book, not bothering to look at us. Feeling along the bond, I felt nothing but confidence and assuredness. Whatever she was thinking, she was determined to see it through.

Slowly, she stepped forward, taking a deep breath as she did so. When Cyerra presented the book to her, she ran from it, something I had never seen her do. She’d spoken about the malevolent whispers in her mind, the cold fingers of death and darkness that had scraped along her mental shields trying to gain access. And that was just from the orb. Whatever that book was, it wasn’t good, especially if it had caused her to distance herself from it in that way.

I blocked her trajectory, not allowing her to reach the book lying on the map table. She snapped her eyes to mine, her anger flaring. “No. Whatever it is that you’re thinking, I won’t let you do it.”

She huffed out an annoyed breath, her hair stirring from the force of it. She laughed harshly. “I’m not stupid. And I’m not crazy, so quit looking at me like that.”

“Forgive me, my Queen, but right now, you’ve had a lot dumped on you. I wouldn’t be doing my job as your consort if I didn’t stop you. Let us look at the book. You don’t need to touch it,” I reasoned with her.

“Fine. I don’t need it for my plan anyway, but it would be wise to know what secrets it holds. I don’t care who looks at it.” She stomped off and poured another glass of water, gulping it down as she let her eyes drift closed. As she inhaled and exhaled purposefully, I turned to face the book. Brannoc had had a similar reaction to the orb.

Turning to Cyerra, I asked, “What did you feel when you held the book?” I studied her face, streaked with drying tears, as Brannoc remained next to her, a solid and comforting force to support her.

She pulled her shoulders back, stiffening her spine as she stood and approached me. “It was weird. As soon as I touched it, I didn’t want anyone else to do so. Callum tried to look at it, but I physically couldn’t let him take it. But now that I’m here, I don’t feel that same desire to protect it.”

“It wasn’t dark or malevolent?” I asked, needing to know for certain.

She shook her head. “No. Why?”

“Baer and I found an orb earlier, but it was certainly malevolent. I felt the same protective need when I touched it. However, it was also trying to convince me to keep it safe through violence,” Brannoc explained, stepping forward to look at the book.

“Baer, when you touched the orb, did you feel anything?” I asked him, turning to look at him.

“No. Nothing like that. If I had, I wouldn’t have handed it to our Queen so easily,” he said, slightly offended at the question. His posture grew rigid, and his shoulders stiffened as he defended his decisions.

“I’m wondering if it has to do with the Raven magic. A protective need woven into the objects. Rhowyn felt it because of her bond with Brannoc, but it was different because she’s not a true Raven,” I thought out loud, trying to puzzle out the safest way to read it.

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