Page 54 of Fae Crown

Chipped, the blade itself broken—no wonder I was in pieces!—I drew it free. Along the way, it sliced me some more. I didn’t figure another cut mattered when I was already mere slices away from becoming confetti.

The blade tangled in the scraps of my dress. My attempts to wrangle it free almost defeated me as my breaths grew dangerously shallow. But before I realizedI’d achieved it, it wrenched free, slipped from my slick grasp, and tumbled to the floor beside me.

Instantly, I tried to reach for it, but darkness consumed the pink of my vision even as I furiously blinked against it.

Awareness rushed in, a violent smack that startled me awake, as if I were being pummeled by a surging waterfall and I couldn’t escape. I couldn’t quite catch a breath.

I found myself back in my body only to wish I could abandon it, posthaste. The acute pains from before had settled into bone-deep, unbearable aches.

Whimpering despite myself, I urged myself back to sleep. Sadly, the agony of my body was too great for that, and I foresaw wallowing in my misery until death finally had the decency to claim me.

“Shhhh,” soothed a male’s voice. “It’ll be alright. Just rest.”

Dashiell.It was Dashiell!

The memory of everything that had happened, starting with Dougal stealing me from Nightguard until I walked through the queen’s dark doorway to find myself here, returned all at once in a barrage. Gasping, I attempted to open my eyes to plead for Dashiell’s help. If he was here, if my mother was alive—Holy shit, my mother is alive—then he was an ally. Or at least, he could choose to be one.

But the effort of wrenching my eyelids apart stung like a thousand bees.

“Shhh-shhh-sh-sh-shhhh. Don’t do anything, Elowyn. Not yet. You’re still too broken.”

It was likely a simple truth. Ifeltbroken. Every single, tiny, little part of me felt as if it would never work properly again. It was also the one thing the man might say that would spur me on. Urge me to fight yet another overwhelming battle.

No one can ever break you, my little cub. Not unless you give them that power over you.

Zako’s melodic voice whispered through my memories, unexpectedly louder than my pain. I’d forgotten he would call me that on occasion.Little cub. He’d also called me hislittle lioness, those few times I’d impressed him beyond his expectations.

You’re the only one who can decide you’re broken. No break is too great to heal from, so long as you keep the strength of your essence.

I suspected the extent to which my body was now shattered would test the limits of even Zako’s pithy wisdom, but it didn’t matter. If there were a way for me to survive this, I had to, even if I didn’t currently much want to.

For Rush. For Saffron. For Xeno, Pru, and all the rest of them. For the dragons I was duty-bound to protect even if I’d never been awarded the title ofdragon protector. For the many thousands of fae whodidn’t yet understand they were also my responsibility.

For the land, which had reached out to me first.

Feel free to heal me now, land, I projected through my thoughts.

Only Dashiell answered: “We’ve done our best to accelerate your healing, but the damage is severe. You’re lucky to be alive.”

I chortled bitterly and it sounded like a death rattle. I went to add an,I don’t feel lucky, but when I pried open my mouth this time, pain speared my jaw and stars blinked behind my swollen eyelids.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t try talking if I were you,” Dashiell said. “Your jawbone was practically shattered on one side. A couple of your teeth went through your cheek.”

That was consistent with what I was feeling. While the pain took its sweet fucking time to recede, I latched on to Dashiell’s use of the past tense. The fae were renowned for the skills of their healers. I’d bet Dashiell was resourceful enough to secure one of them for me, wherever the dragonfire we were.

“I would say I wonder who did this to you,” Dashiell went on since there was zero chance of my answering him, “but there’s only one possible culprit. And I’m sure she’s looking for you as we speak. Or, as I speak, anyhow.”

The soft chimes of bells indicated he was shaking his head in heavy lament. Yes, the queen looking for me was awful. The fucking worst. Because if she found me,there wouldn’t be a single thing I could do to defend myself. Killing me would be the easiest thing she’d do all day.

“Plus, if you’re here, then you’re no longer protected by the magic of the Fae Heir Trials.”

There was that too. Not that the magic did a damn thing to keep me from being sliced to pieces during the Nuptialis Probatio. For all everyone went on about the protection of the Fae Heir Trials, I’d sure been almost killed a whole bunch.

“Oh yes,” Dashiell said with another tinkling of the tiny bells that usually adorned the many braids sticking up around his head. “The queen will be coming for you. Which means we need to get you out of here fast before she finds you. I won’t risk … well, I won’t risk anyone else.”

Did he think I hadn’t overheard him earlier? That I hadn’t deduced who else was here with us? Did he plan on hiding my mother from me now that I’d discovered her alive?

I’d never disliked Dashiell before that very moment. How dare he pretend I didn’t have a living mother? Did these asshole fae from the royal court think I had absolutely no rights?

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