Page 15 of The Cursed Crown

He had a point. Reluctantly, she climbed behind him.

The king took off at full speed, leaving his company far behind. Though they galloped to catch up, no beast was going to rival his impressive warhorse. The steed was fast as an arrow. Feeling the wind around her, Rissa couldn't help but smile. They reached the lake and took a long slender bridge, never slowing down.

"Isn't it too warm for the lake to be frozen still?" She had to shout to be heard.

"It's frozen year-round."

She frowned. That wasn't right. The keep had been strategically built at the center of the lake for a reason: protection. In the event of an attack, no army could hope to reach it without the bridge. As the keep was self-sufficient, the folk could withstand any invasion.

"It shouldn't be."

"No spell we attempted so much as melted a drop of water.”

Rydekar was in dire need of better sorcerers.

Soon, they reached heavy gates held wide open. "The high king!" shouted men from the guard tower. The scream echoed again and again, till the sound faded in the distance.

No wonder Rydekar was so fond of himself.

He slowed his horse at the gate, where a well-dressed redheaded fae curtsied as deep as she could in heavy knight's armor. "Send word ahead," he ordered without a greeting. "I am escorting the seelie queen."

Rissa's jaw dropped.

Oh, he didn't.

Foes and Foes

"Iam no queen." When would he get that through that thick, overly smug, unfairly gorgeous head of his?

One hand holding the reins lightly, he expertly led them along the endless paved avenue."Are you or are you not the granddaughter of Mab, the only child of the line of Braer currently accounted for?" Rydekar was light and casual as ever, completely ignoring the fact that he'd thrown her to the wolves mere moments ago.

"Bloodlines don't mean a thing. I have not been crowned, therefore I am not a queen." Pretending otherwise was a good way to end up with a sharp blade between her shoulder blades.

His only reply was a derisive snort. The cad!

Appealing to the sense of propriety of the unseelie high king was pointless. She tried another angle."Look, if you wish to get along with the seelie lords, you can't go around dismissing their power."

The fire of dawn had yet to win its daily fight with darkness, but folk swarmed into the avenue, stumbling and stifling yawns to greet their monarchs.

The crowd stank of all kinds of indulgence, vices sticking to their skins. They hardly looked ready for any activity more stimulating than crawling into bed. Rissa realized that like her, these folk favored the night.

Rydekar indulged his people with the occasional wave and nod, but their eyes were set on her. Rissa grimaced.

"I am entirely uninterested in thirteen useless little lords who can't keep their affairs in order." He didn't bother to whisper. "The seelie folk, the seelie army concern me. Both need and desire unity. Unity you're here to provide. Remember our deal, Serissa."

She was about to argue that no part of said agreement involved her claiming a title she didn't hold, but a drunken, tottering fool tripped over his own feet. His frame hit the ground a mere foot away from Rydekar's horse with a hollow thud. Though he had the sense to bring his hands up to protect his face, one of his light green curved antlers chipped at the edge. Rissa winced on his behalf. That must have hurt.

The puck only had time to wobble to his feet and mutter the start of what sounded like an apology before Rissa felt a wave of power wash over her. It felt like a seduction—coaxing, cajoling—but having been at the receiving end of that particular spell, she knew it for what it was. Complete domination. She couldn't help a shiver. The puck's body rose in the air, and approached them, pulled by invisible strings. A look of absolute horror haunted his bulging eyes.

He tried to speak, but his words caught in his throat.

He was getting strangled. Rissa swallowed. She'd expected cruelty. She'd expected violence. From Rydekar, and from the rest of the court. This was one step beyond that. There was no true purpose in harming a drunken fool. Yet Rydekar's amethyst eyes remained fixed on him as he begged and cried as well as his empty lungs allowed.

"Enough!" Until then, she'd kept her arms behind her back, balanced on either side of the horse's flank, touching Rydekar as little as she could in their position, but she shook his shoulder to get his attention. "The boy learned his lesson."

Half a smile curved his cruel lip. "Am I teaching something?"

No, he wasn't. He was entertaining himself. Hurting a lowly puck because he could. And because he wanted to showherhe was a brutal beast she shouldn't displease.

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