Page 94 of Fae Champion

She pursed her lips and stared down her nose at me, shaking her head. She still wore the same getup she’d worn for the grand finale of the Gladius Probatio. The many arcs and dangling chains of white gold caught the sunlight streaming through high windows; the fat rubies refracted their rich color along the walls and floor. Everything about the queen was beautiful, but the inside that mattered most.

Finally, the queen frowned. “As ignorant as the beasts you were raised by… The mirror world’s only safe from invaders because I’m powerful enough to keep them from coming. If not for me, you all might be slaves, or worse, by now.”

I bit back on the obvious retort. Was the woman as ignorant as she accused me of being? Was it possible she really didn’t see that practically every one of her subjects was effectively her slave?

“The world’s a very dangerous place,” she added. “Beasts of all sizes and sorts, wizards and witches, shapeshifters, horrid people-like creatures who drink blood, on and on the list goes. They all would gain advantage by laying claim to a population that has been untouched by their kind.”

She sized me up again. “Ignorant bastard, so obviously not of my blood.”

“Definitely not,” Braque cooed. “She hasn’t the strength and wisdom in her entire body that you have in a speck of a pinkie nail.”

The queen studied me before coming to some decision. “You’re right in one thing, Elowyn. Awarding you anything for your dubious win in the Gladius Probatio is pointless. Soon Rush will win the entire Fae Heir Trials, and then his victory will be far greater than can be stuffed into any one pointless trophy. Rush … step forward.”

When he did, the queen said, “You’re bound to your destiny. Like me, your duty was written in the Etherlands long before you took form in this”—she trailed an openly appreciative gaze across Rush that had me biting my tongue not to lash out at her—“obviously skilled, fine, capable body.”

Rush didn’t so much as blink in response as I waited for my blood to settle in my veins.

“Elowyn’s a danger to me and my duty, to Embermere and the entire mirror world. She tells my subjects that I’m a liar, undermining their faith in me. That’s horribly perilous. She defies me at every turn, and publicly. Her continued existence is a threat that must be extinguished.”

She drew out her pause. “By you.”

Rush didn’t seem to be breathing, but surely he couldn’t be surprised.Iwasn’t surprised and had realized before entering this room it was likely I’d have to battle the queen today—test my new magic against the ultimate challenge.

The queen’s eyes, back to a pretty, alluring blue, were on Rush alone. “I need you to prove your loyalty to me.”

Rush swallowed visibly. “Your Majesty, have I not done that time and again? I’ve done everything you asked of me over the years…”

“I commanded you to kill her in the ring just today. You didn’t.”

“That’s because I promised to protect her. I swore an oath to the king.” And to her too, I recalled. Not that it mattered.

“Speaking of my husband,” she gritted through tight teeth, “that’s part of why it is you who must kill her. I need you to prove to me that you’re not part of this conspiracy Sandor confessed to.”

“But … but I took an oath with Azariah’s magic as witness.”

“You did. And then Azariah betrayed me.”

My stomach sank at the thought of whatever vengeance she might take against the unisus who’d risen to save me when no one else had.

“Kill her and confirm that I can trust you.”

Rush swallowed another time; his forehead crunched into ridges of worry. “I beg for Your Majesty’s forgiveness, but … I cannot. I can’t kill the Lady Elowyn.”

“And why ever not?”

“I believe her majesty already knows the answer.”

“If I did, I wouldn’t ask,” she snapped.

The warrior who’d faced down his opponents in the arena without fear now glanced at me, terror darkening his eyes.

“Rush,” the queen pressed. “Don’t test my patience. I had to leave the festivities I carefully supervised to deal with the two of you. You know how little we have to celebrate sometimes.”

Her court celebrated even death, it seemed, but then I’d never witnessed the queen to be concerned about accuracy or truth.

“I love her,” he said so softly I believed for several moments I might have imagined it.

“You … love her?” the queen snarled as if he’d admitted to butchering her entire family.

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