Page 71 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

Footsteps neared, and the sack was pulled off.

I blinked, my vision adjusting to the empty, dimly lit stone chamber. Parson bent over me, his light brown hair pulled into a low bun.

He stared at me, betraying no emotions. A sinking feeling swelled in my gut.

“Parson,” I said, my voice low. “What am I doing here?”

He remained silent, just watching me.

“You, yousnake,” I hissed. “Who do you work for? Another of Neferti’s lapdogs?”

He stood unmoving and said nothing. Another conclusion dawned on me. Jana had never figured out how Fayzien knewmy location in Argention was compromised—how he knew Jana was coming to extract me. It had left her to wonder if she’d had a mole in her ranks.

“You told the Rexi that Jana had found out I was alive, didn’t you?Youare the reason my family is dead,” I growled.

Recognition sparked in his eyes. It looked like he wanted to say something but couldn’t. And a moment later, voices echoed through the room.

Dread sat like bricks on my chest at the prospect of seeing the Rexi. But my mother did not appear in front of me. King Darlan did.

He looked jubilant as ever, his cheeks rosy and a twinkle in his eye. One would never guess he was a captor approaching his prisoner.

The king took a deep bow, extending his arms out. “Princess Terra, hello! Idoapologize for the regrettable circumstances of this encounter. I promise you, they are absolutely necessary. I would never do such a thing without utter cruciality.” He rested his hand on his heart.

“Your Majesty, why am I here?” I fought to keep my voice even.

“Yes, of course. We might as well get on with it.” He sat in an empty chair his companion set out for him. I did not recognize the other male, a tall and slender Fae with a sallow, distant expression.

“I need you to do me a favor, my sweet Terra. I need you to compete in the Skøl.”

I rolled my eyes. “Is that what this is all about? I told Cas this morning that I would compete in the absurd competition.”

The king’s face contorted in an instant. “I will allow your petulant interruption this once, Terragnata. If you roll your eyes at me again, I will remove them from your skull. Now, back towhat I was saying. I need you to compete in the Skøl, and I need you to lose. On purpose.”

My insides went cold—at more than just his graphic threat. “Iamstill a bit unclear on the mechanics of the competition, but isn’t it a fight to the death?”

“In some cases, yes,” the king replied. “But not all. Will you face competitors who want to kill you? Most certainly. However, some contestants disqualify for performing the tasks slower than others. I truly cannot tell you more than that without spoiling the surprise. I trust you’re clever enough to situate a scenario in which you neither win nor perish.”

I shivered. “And may I askwhyyou request this? I can’t agree if your motivations are unknown to me.”

“Well, it should be in your best interest, no? You said yourself you don’t want to marry,” Darlan said.

“While your deflection is much admired, King, I won’t alter fate intentionally without knowing why. And it would crush Cas. Why would you want to do that to your son?”

“Cas may speak beyond his years, but at his core, he is a besotted young male. He is much too naïve to understand certain things, though he believes he understands them better than I. He says he wants to marry you for the advantage of our kingdom, and certainly, that was the idea in the beginning. But much has changed. The needs of Viribrum have changed. And he is blind to those changes, for all he sees is you. I, however, do not. I seeeverythingthat goes on in Viribrum. Even what goes on in backwoods silver mining towns, deep in the human realm.”

“You knew,” I spat.

“That your mother was the one that sent you away? That you were never, in fact, dead?” The damp perspiration of the cellar beaded on his brow as he squinted at me. “Of course, I knew. I knew from the beginning! Such fools they are, the lot of them. To think I have no idea what goes on inmykingdom. I was nothappy about it, initially, for she meddled in an agreement we had without consulting me. But my young boy had become so smitten with you, so weakened by emotion, I nearly thanked her for it. I hoped he would become stronger in your absence. And for a time, he did. But then he discovered you were alive and became obsessed with finding you. Now that he’s got you, he’s fixated on the image of you two sitting side by side, ruling over Fae and Witch alike. The fantasy of a child.”

“What do you mean, the needs of Viribrum have changed?” I murmured, knowing I could push my luck too far with the cantankerous ruler.If the king no longer wants to unite Nebbiolo and Viribrum through marriage… what does he want?

The king sighed. “I have no obligation to answer you, my dear, but itisbetter you learn this hard lesson now. Witch and Fae are not meant to coexist, at least not as equals. Fae live longer; we’re stronger and wiser. Thousands of years ago—millennia before Nebbiolo was even a twinkle in the first bitch queen’s eye, Witch served the Fae in Viribrum. In my younger years, I thought it prudent to align with Nebbiolo, to hurry along the transition back to the old ways. Change starts at the top, they say. But your mother’s display with your abduction proved the unreliability of your kind. Cas believes he will remain in command of himself, but he is weak. I know he’ll fall to your will—a Fae male becoming subservient to a Witch,” the king sneered. “The thought makes me sick.”

“You think the Witches will one day… serve you,” I whispered, more to myself than to the king.

King Darlan’s chest bobbed to a deep chuckle, and he clapped himself on his round belly. “Oh, my Terra, I am not saying Fae will be restored to greatness in one century—it may take many! Anyhow, it is not your concern. Focus on one thing. The Skøl.”

I swallowed the urge to roll my eyes atmy Terraagain for the sake of them remaining in my skull. “So, I lose the Skøl, on purpose, somehow I survive, and then what? Cas marries someone else?” An image of Cas’s white-haired lover in a white dress flashed in my head, but I shooed it away. “What becomes of me?”

---