Page 20 of Fae Exile

Searching for Hiroshi, Ryder, or West in the crowd, I noticed only how difficult it was to find anyone. Like rats, the half-dressed nobles were attempting to scatter, running into each other, bottlenecking at the double doors out of the room, others more afraid of the queen than of whatever this was, huddling against the wall farthest away from the windows and the chandeliers.

Another cry of outrage seemed to seep from the walls. More unsettling than the tremors, it was bestial, not fae—or of fae the queen had broken so completely there was nothing of the former person left.

Deep, bass shouts; the distant, sharp snapping akin to that of a whip; and then everything shook.

Even my teeth rattled as I squatted, hands above my head, and waited for the worst of it to pass. Dust sprinkled down to irritate my nose and throat. I swallowed a cough as the crack that ran through the glass beneath my feet widened and deepened, fresher air ushering through to the serpents. Two of the daughters condemned to be executed fell, and the severed heads of their parents slid a few inches toward them atop the coagulating pools of their blood.

When I next glanced at the queen, she was still seated on her throne, arguing with Ivar and Braque.

“It can’t be,” the queen snarled at Ivar.

More firmly than I’d ever seen him speak to her, he said, “But it must be.”

As if she sensed my attention, she turned toward me, her eyes a furious blue.

Before she could unleash some of that obvious frustration and order me to kill the four descendants quickly before we had to evacuate—and certainly before I’d had the chance to figure out what thehellwas going on—I spoke.

“Your Majesty, you must leave immediately. Get outside, beyond the walls of the palace.” She narrowed her eyes and parted her lips, as if to berate me for daring to give her suggestions. I hastened to add, “Should they come down with you inside...” I shook my head theatrically. “We won’t be able to get you out in time. You must evacuate now.”

Braque pursed his lips in pinched disapproval, but said, “He’s right, my queen. We must go now.”

She scowled and glared out at her subjects.

The floor and walls shook so violently that I lowered to my knees, my hand landing and sliding in blood. Glass exploded, sending shards of it flying; the chandeliers rocked musically overhead. Men screamed, women cried, and the hissing of agitated snakes rose from below.

I stared down at a fissure in the floor as wide as my arm, the mass of serpents slithering over each other to reach it.

When I sought out the queen again, she was gone, along with Ivar and Braque, though many of her sentinels remained behind. They might later report my next actions, as might any of the courtiers constantly seeking her favor.

I had to hope the general chaos was enough to distract them.

As the floor shook beneath us, and a viper’s head emerged through the glass, its forked tongue tasting the fear in the air, I stepped behind the nearest guard, and slammed the butt of my sword into the base of his skull. I lunged out of the way so that when his body crumpled, it would appear he’d been knocked out by falling debris.

Skirting the severed heads, escaping snakes, and showering crystal fragments, and now with the attention of the four condemned upon me, I snuck up on the next two of their guardsmen, repeating the same action. When I reached the fourth and final one, I found him waiting, weapons holstered.

“I won’t say a word,” he said. “I promise. Get them out of here while you still can.”

The man looked young, fresh around the collar, not yet jaded by the futility of resisting the queen. His eyes were wide and earnest as he held my stare until the next quake arrived, another distant roar. Plaster clouded the air thickly enough to obscure a clear view.

“You can’t tell anyone,” I said sharply. “It’s incredibly important.”

The guard clasped my arm and met the doubt in my stare head-on. “I promise,” he repeated.

At court, out of necessity, fae of all sorts honed their skills of deception.

I still believed him. “Go. Busy yourself helping someone who’ll later report your assistance to the queen. You lost your charge in the fray.”

Without confirming his understanding, the young man bolted, tripped over a snake, crunched on some glass, and righted himself, before disappearing into the sea of agitated aristocrats.

I didn’t waste a second before ducking next to the brother. When the next tremor arrived, a column toppled, sending stonecrashing to the floor in a startling clap that made my ears flinch and his sisters cry out. Dust rolled into a dense cloud, and I coughed as blood-curdling screams pierced the din: calls for help—someone was trapped beneath the rubble.

Willing him to understand the urgency, that moments counted, I looked the brother in the eye. “You need to get your sisters out of the palace without anybody noticing. Can you do that?”

His eyes were steady, determined. “Yes.”

“Good. The queen and her retinue will be trying to get out of here too, until whatever this is settles. Head out the back, through the kitchens and servant areas, and stay away from the gardens. With all this going on, you’ll have time to run by your house and grab any necessities. Take anything of value to use for trade, leave everything else.”

“Where should we go?”

---