Page 44 of A Kingdom of Monsters

The thick, acrid smoke filled my nostrils and burned my lungs, causing me to cough and sputter. My mind went numb as I surveyed the destruction before me. Strangely, I wasn’t afraid. Confused, yes. Angry, certainly. But not afraid. We wouldn’t die here–not tonight, not ever. I only wished the same could be said for everyone.

And then, just as quickly as it had begun, everything stopped.

The deafening screams and cries suddenly fell silent, leaving only a thick, eerie stillness in the air. The fires died, like all the air had been sucked from the world. The malevolent mass of afflicted seemed to evaporate, vanishing into thin air. The only thing that remained was the destruction. The ground was littered with charred debris and broken bodies, some crying out for help while others lay motionless.

Behind me, Bael grabbed my hand, and held on to it, as if afraid I might disappear too.

“What happened?” I gasped, only loud enough for Bael to hear.

Beside me, Scion shook his head. He wasn’t looking at me, and I followed his gaze just in time to see movement in the crowd on the edge of the dais. I went stiff.

The bedraggled Fae parted, to let Idris stride into the middle of the clearing. He moved with purpose, climbing up on the dais and turning slowly like he was expecting applause.

As if sensing my eyes, he looked across the clearing and smiled the same benign smile he’d worn nearly every time we’d spoken. Only this time it didn’t reach his eyes. He looked me up and down, a hint of sickly sweet disgust in his expression, before he deliberately turned his back on me.

“Friends!” He cried, raising his arms out to the sides as if welcoming the crowd. “Please don’t be afraid. Nothing can harm you while I am here.”

A sick feeling of dread bubbled up in the pit of my stomach, and I gripped Bael’s fingers even harder.

The monster had shown his teeth, and he was bearing down on us about to strike.

Slowly the crowd began to surge. Those who had not shadow walked back to the city, or fled into the woods began to emerge from makeshift hiding places, looking up at the dais with a kind of hypnotic wonderment.

Idris bent down, and reached for a crumpled pile of robes heaped in front of the throne. I gasped, when a split second later I saw it wasn’t a pile of robes but the body of the druid. I hadn’t even noticed him fall. Idris dragged the druid's hood back fromhis face so that all could clearly see the dead, staring eyes that looked up blindly.

Shaking his head as if in sorrow, Idris returned his attention to the gathering crowd. “This was a man of magic,” he roared, pointing down at the druid. “A dedicated worshiper of the Source who was cut down needlessly right in front of your eyes. I wish, for your sake, that this was surprising, but all I have seen of this court is violence, war, and treachery.”

He plucked the obsidian crown from the priest's limp hand, and held it aloft, still addressing the crowd.“For years you’ve been deceived. Tricked. Dare I say, lied to by those who were supposed to keep you safe. Your lives have been made infinitely worse because you are ruled by royals with Unseelie blood in their veins, the descendants of the cursed and the condemned.”

Beside me, I felt Ambrose go stiff, and Scion audibly growled. Bael gripped my fingers so hard it hurt, but I didn’t even try to pull away.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I recognized that this was bad–so much worse than I ever would have guessed, even through all my suspicions of Idris. No one in the entire kingdom of Elsewhere knew that the Everlasts were descendants of Aisling and the first Unseelie king. No one, except those who knew of their curse.

The crowd began to murmur, vicious whispers penetrating the air. They seemed to push closer to us, and immediately Scion threw out a hand. Shadows spilled from his fingers, creating a barrier around us, protecting us from the crowd.

On the platform, Idris threw back his head and laughed. His unnerving musical laughter was high and cruel, grating on the ears.

“Look how they hold you at bay with their magic.” he shouted, spinning around to point directly at us. “The Slúagh queen who infects this court with her inferior blood, calls the afflicted to her and burns your homes to the ground. The butcher turned king, who leveled countless villages and holds the threat of endless pain over the heads of every person in this city. The Unseelie mutt who has further infected the gleaming court with the evil power of Underneath, and this—” he turned finally to Ambrose, sneering “—traitor, who holds no loyalty to either his blood nor his chosen family, and only seeks to use you as a pawn in his quest for power.These are the monsters you’ve followed blindly, because you had no other choice. Let me offer you that choice.”

“Once, I knew a country where high Fae were prosperous. Where we did not have to tolerate creatures who are inherently beneath us. Where magic flourished. I believe Elsewhere can be that country again, but not until we have purged the curse on this land. Follow me, and I’ll show you what this court was always meant to be. I’ll build you a kingdom free from monsters, in the name of my mother, Aisling the Uniter.”

14

BAEL

THE GROUNDS OF THE OBSIDIAN PALACE, EVERLAST CITY

The monster in my head smelled blood.

The angry crowd pressed in around us, screaming curses and smashing their bodies against the semi-solid barrier that Scion had erected around us.

Over the heads of the mob, my gaze locked on Idris’s manic smiling face. An involuntary growl escaped my lips, and I wrestled with myself, trying to hold the lion at bay.

I gripped Lonnie’s hand so hard I was sure I was hurting her, but I couldn’t force myself to let go. Instinct had taken over, and some irrational part of my mind screamed at me that if I let her go now we’d never see each other again.

“Bael!” Scion barked. “What are you waiting for? Fucking kill them.”

I shook my head, struggling to focus on my cousin when the blood rushing in my ears had turned deafening. I knew what hewanted from me. I knew I should have acted immediately, but I was afraid that if I did, my body might give out.

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