Page 68 of Their Queen

“Nothing. Just ready to see my Chosen again,” I told him.

“Yeah, well, it won’t be for long. Once we have what we need, the first thing we do will be to destroy you all. Then there will be no one left to stand in our way,” he bragged, but I still didn’t drop my smile. I had faith in Rhowyn. She had a plan of her own, something that would give her the upper hand.

After hours of torturous traveling, the cart hitting every bump and stone in the road along the way, we pulled up next to the temple. They dragged us both from the cart, letting us hit the packed soil as they dropped us, and then jerked us up, the cart rattling away as soon as we had exited. As they led us inside, I caught sight of Titania’s army sprawled out along the road and heading to the back of the temple.

Inside, four guards carried a marble throne, placing it at the front of the room. Titania took her seat on it, claiming the chains attached to our collars, jerking us forward before securing the ends to the throne. Ellis and Ambrose kicked the backs of our knees and caused us to collapse on the floor. I leaned back onto my heels, my head falling to my chest with fatigue and pain, a part of me giving up. After thirty minutes, I could no longer feel my feet, but I didn’t dare move for fear of reprisal. We just needed to wait a little bit longer, and then Rhowyn would be here. What would happen after that, I hadn’t a clue.

I felt the moment she arrived, our bond urging me to rush to her, to hold her and protect her. However, doing so would surely be the end of me, so despite my desire to be with her, I held still, head bowed. My brain swirled with her scent, the tone of her voice, and the magic I could feel buzzing between us now. Still, I kept my chin tucked to my chest, not wanting to set Titania off. My thoughts felt scattered as the two women spoke, and I couldn’t get it all to fit together in a way that my brain could process what exactly was being said.

Rhowyn moved closer as Titania stood from the throne, my body thrumming with energy I hadn’t had in days, the iron at my throat chafing. Finally, a jerk on the chains had Jonathan and I standing. Rhowyn’s gasp echoed around the temple as she caught sight of my face and the damage that had been done in such a short amount of time. I tried to peer at her, to take her in and bask in the glory that was her, but my vision swam. I caught sight of the armor she was wearing and was able to see the warrior I had known was there all along. However, I couldn’t make out the details of the design or her face, my vision swimming as I struggled to focus.

The collars were removed, and instantly, I felt my magic starting to trickle back in, a weight lifting from my shoulders. I caught Jonathan before he could fall, barely able to make out that they wanted us to go to Rhowyn. Our feet dragged and shuffled across the stone as we slowly made our way there, but Titania’s consorts cut us off, preventing the exchange. As they stood in front of us, blocking our way to Rhowyn, all I could see now was their backs. I wanted to fall back onto my knees in defeat, weak as a mewling kitten, as Jonathan and I swayed on our feet. The soldiers moved to take Rhowyn and the others, but she held them back somehow, drawing everyone’s attention. While they were distracted, I felt a hand land on my shoulder. Looking down, I caught sight of Brannoc and let him whisk me away, grateful for his rescue.

He deposited me in a field swarming with healers and other fae, Rhowyn’s army. Multiple hands grabbed me as Brannoc’s eyes met mine before he nodded and disappeared again. I gasped as magic surged through me, healers laying hands on bare skin and undoing all of the Consorts’ handiwork.

Finally, after days, I could breathe deeply, could see clearly, and could hear without that incessant ringing in my ears. Looking over, I could see the same being done to Jonathan. Though he had retreated into his head again, his way of protecting himself. He hadn’t spoken once since we had been captured, and I just hoped he hadn’t completely shattered.

As soon as I felt the last bruise turn back to pale flesh, I pushed through the healers to stand. Now that I was well and whole, I needed to find Rhowyn?to help her. My eyes scanned the crowd of people, catching sight of a young male rushing about. I grabbed him by the back of his tunic and halted his progress. “Armor. Now,” I growled out as my eyes flashed yellow, my wolf needing to find our Queen, to protect her.

He quivered in my grasp, unable to speak. Instead, he pointed a finger to a cart set up with additional weapons and armor. I marched over to it and started flinging supplies. The fae who had been keeping it tidy tried to stop me from making a mess, but when I growled in his face, my teeth elongating as I fought the shift, he backed off.

Finally finding the bare minimum I needed, I strapped the equipment in place. Looking at the fae at the cart, I demanded, “Which way to the temple?”

“O…over th…there.” He pointed a shaky finger over the hill. Without even waiting for him to finish, I was moving, my limbs climbing the hill. My magic was still weak, and my muscles were sore and tired, but I pushed through it. Nothing would keep me from getting to her.

I crested another hill just as Titania yelled, “Attack!” The armies clashed together upon her signal. However, I noted that not all of Titania’s forces were fighting. Instead, they pretended to strike and lunge, no force or intent behind their swings. Their movements were slow and without purpose. Even a few of Titania’s forces turned on their brethren to fight for Rhowyn. Ignoring them for now, unconcerned by that outcome until I could ensure Rhowyn’s safety, I let my eyes drift over the swarms of men and women. There, at the front of the temple, was my Queen, standing in her glory as she threw out lightning bolts to save our troops. Brannoc ended Bernard, using Titania’s magic against him, and then went to stand at Rhowyn’s back.

Running forward, I allowed momentum to carry me into the throngs of people, hacking and slashing my way through anyone who got in my way. Slowly, I made progress, the fighting thickest closest to Rhowyn. I shoved one of Titania’s soldiers out of my way, sending him to the ground where one of our men ended him with a sword through his chest.

Finally, I broke through to see Lennox, Baer, and Arryn fighting the remaining consorts. Baer was flagging with only one hand and his magic to rely upon, but he was holding his own against Samual, the Summer Consort. Moving in, I blocked the blade that was aimed at his gut, the angle too difficult for him to maneuver without his other hand. His eyes met mine in gratitude briefly before we pushed forward, swinging our swords. The sooner I could end Samual, the sooner we could get Rhowyn out of here.

Samual stumbled, Baer’s blade slashing his left side. It was a fatal blow, even if it would still take time for him to die, which was unacceptable. He needed to be ended now. We couldn’t allow him the peace to perish slowly. Taking advantage of his shock, I swung my short sword with all the might I had left, my muscles bunching as my blade swiped across his neck and decapitated him.

Before his body could hit the ground, Baer and I turned to the remaining two consorts to assist Lennox and Arryn. As I moved to help Lennox, the sky darkened, and I halted to find the cause. My eyes widened as I realized that Titania was reading from the book, dark magic and shadows swirling around her to be absorbed into her skin.

I watched as she finished reading, the air trembling with the amount of magic that Titania had consumed. Rhowyn stepped forward to face Titania, escaping Brannoc’s attempt to hold her back, determination lining her face. Fuck!

Needing to be by her side, instinct driving me, I ran forward to take on the Spring Consort, taking advantage of everyone’s distraction. Lunging, I jabbed my sword through the back of Ellis as he engaged Lennox, his attempt to avoid Lennox’s blade pushing him back into mine. Nox’s eyes met mine over Ellis’s shoulder. A fleeting part of me wondered what it must feel like for him to be fighting his own fathers and what damage this would do to his soul.

He simply nodded at me, sadness hanging heavy in his eyes as he shrugged off the scene of Ellis falling forward and dislodging my blade. That just left Ambrose, the Autumn consort who was holding his own against Arryn. He was the last thing standing in our way of taking down Titania. The last obstacle keeping me from my Queen.

Chapter Forty Eight: Lennox

Jumping back, I caught the swing of Ellis’s blade, my mother’s Spring Consort. The scene I found myself in now felt so surreal. I knew this confrontation was coming and knew this might be an outcome, even if I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. However, it seemed my own father had no such compunctions about killing me now despite my lack of desire to do the same for him.

For so long, these monsters had been my parents who did their best to corrupt me. They had tried for years, and for a long while, I let them believe that they had succeeded, using my mask to hide the fact that their actions were slowly killing my soul. At some point, they had rid me of all desire to keep going, leaving me with only the hope that I could gain my freedom from them upon the completion of the Trials.

Looking back, I could see how foolish I had been to hope for such a thing, and yet, Avalonia had given me the freedom I hadn’t known I desired. She’d given me Rhowyn, the first person to truly love the real me. She had despised my mask and had somehow made me feel safe enough to become the kind of man I revered. For her, I would do anything. Even if it meant killing my own fathers.

I hated them all, despised them with such intense disgust that I never wanted to see them again. However, there was a part of me, one I think I could never fully rid myself of, that yearned for their love and approval. Even though I knew they were all incapable of such love, unconditional and forgiving, my heart didn’t care about logic. It wanted what it wanted, and despite the reasoning I had done with myself, it refused to budge.

So, as I fought against my father, I couldn’t quite bring myself to strike the killing blow. Instead, I occupied him, my own skill far surpassing his after being trained by Callum when we were younger. After he’d been taken as a slave, I hadn’t kept up with my training, but I’d found that the skill was like riding a bike, coming back the more I used it. And I’d had plenty of opportunities to use those skills since meeting Rhowyn.

Stepping to the left, I avoided a thrust from Ellis’s sword meant to impale me on the end. My heart broke at the intensity on his face, the utter determination to end me despite having raised me and possibly being my actual sire. Mother had never told me which one was my actual father, having raised me to believe they all were, which was the fae custom.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Brannoc using Bernard as a shield against the ice daggers cast from my mother’s magic. Instead of killing Brannoc, she ended her own consort, anger and frustration her only emotion at the loss of him. The contrast between Rhowyn’s feelings toward us and my mother’s need to use everyone, including her own consorts, was stark.

A glint off the blade swinging toward my right side brought me back to the fight I was in. I blocked his attack easily, dancing around to retaliate. Back and forth, tit for tat, we traded blows as both of us slowly tired of the dance. He wanted to finish me, but he wasn’t skilled enough.

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