Page 60 of Fae Crown

I drew so close to the parvnit with the formerly yellow hair that I could make out the wispy eyelashes framing her eyes. Once, the lashes had been a matching, vivid yellow. At present, they were pale as spider webs.

“How do I get you down with the least pain?” I asked gently. Pain was guaranteed however I did it.

The small fairy shook her head; the effort seemed to drain what little energy she had left. “Just end us. End us all.”

Several groans erupted from around the room, which was perhaps twenty by forty feet, seeming to say,Yes. Kill us all. Mercy, please.

“You don’t want that,” I answered right away. “You can recover from this.”

“No, we can’t,” the yellow parvnit said, sorrow riding each of her words.

“You can,” I insisted fiercely. “You must. She can’t win.”

“She already has.”

“She only wins if we let her break us.”

“Can’t you see? We’re broken already.”

“No, you aren’t,” I said in an insistent hush unlikely to draw attention outside this salon. “Your kind is fierce. Strong. Ferocious. I’ve heard the rumors. You’re more fearsome than fairies ten times your size.”

The yellow fairy didn’t reply for several long moments before uttering a begrudging, “That’s true…”

“Then let me free you. I’ll free you all.” No response, so I added, “Yes, it will take time. And yes, it won’t be fun. But you’ll eventually heal and become stronger. This experience will turn you into something brighter, even fiercer than before.”

The yellow parvnit’s head held steady as she stared at me so intently I doubted she saw me at all. An entire minute must have passed before she said, “And then we’ll pin the queen herself to the fucking wall.”

“That’s the spirit.” I studied the pins, thick as nails, some more. “Now, guide me through this. There are a lot of you, and I don’t know how long I’ll be undisturbed.”

“There are sixty-three of us here,” squeaked a small, breathy voice from my left.

“No time to waste, then,” I said, injecting real urgency into my tone.

The yellow parvnit’s eyes gleamed, her voicehardened, as she said, “Hold my body around the waist, but don’t be getting fresh with me, you hear?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” And I smiled despite the horror of the scene. There was real fire in that tiny voice now.

Between thumb and forefinger, I clasped her gingerly around the waist—and yanked on the first pin.

Breathing heavily, the little parvnit swallowed her scream so the sixty-two others would also have a chance at their freedom.

Brave as if she were ten times her size as well as fierce.

I clutched the second pin, held my breath, and tugged.

15.THE TIMID CENTAUR AND HIS DAPPER, WELL-DRESSED FRIEND

ELOWYN

Several days slugged past. How many, I didn’t know, didn’t care to. All that mattered was that every time I woke, someone was there to pour an overly sweet concoction down my throat.

I hadn’t yet been able to open my eyes due to the swelling, but it wasn’t Dashiell. For one, whenever the king’s most trusted attendant and advisor was there, he would scarcely shut up about the danger my presence, wherever we were, posed to someone else: my mother—a fact he still hadn’t bothered to tell me about. To be fair, I likely seemed incapable of paying attention. But besides that, the tinkling of the tiny bells that adorned his hair always gave him away.

No. Whoever was continuously coming to my aid was the healer, I presumed, but couldn’t be certain, since no one bothered with introductions.

The hands that clutched my chin to eke apart my lips the smallest amount, only far enough for the liquidto slide down, were gentle yet firm. Their skin was callused and rough wherever it brushed against my face, which was tender and sensitive to an extreme.

Several of the times I’d woken, it had been with a start, dragged to the surface of consciousness by sharp pain as the healer tended to my innumerable injuries. Disgruntled tutting would follow, along with some indecipherable mutters, and moments later the sweet tonic would lead me back into oblivion.

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