Page 83 of Prince of Never

There was nowhere I hated as much as the Unseelie Palace.That hatred ate away at me, caustic and vicious, as I stared up at its black spires, its looming towers that seemed to smirk down at me, witnesses to the misery I had experienced within these walls.When I took the throne, I would tear the place down.

Soldiers stationed at the door bowed as I entered, and a servant polishing the banister of the staircase squeaked, dropped into a curtsey, then scurried up the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her.She’d be on her way to tell the queen I was here.I didn’t have long before she came looking for me.

Briyala lived in a suite of rooms overlooking a bright internal courtyard.She opened the door as soon as I knocked, peering quickly up and down the hallway before ushering me inside.

‘Thank you for seeing me,’ I said as I stood in the entrance room.It was neatly appointed, tastefully decorated.She always took plenty of care with how she presented herself.

‘I’d ask you if you’d like to sit, but given the tone of your note, I suspect you’ll decline.’She smiled, tilted her head as she studied me.‘You look less angry than usual.Would I be a fool to hope you listened to me?’

It was hard to remember back to our last conversation and even harder to pretend that much of what had happened over the past few days had been the result of any conscious decisions on my part, but there was no harm in letting her think she’d convinced me.‘Something like that.’

‘Then you’re here to tell me you’re going to break our engagement,’ she surmised, folding her arms.

‘I am.’

‘Are you sure this is the way you want to go about it?We could hatch a plan that’ll bring it to a natural end instead.I know a gancanagh that owes me a favour.’

I shook my head.‘I’m not going to pretend for the queen any longer.You shouldn’t have to, either.’

She sighed.‘Who would have thoughtyou’dturn out to be an idealist?I think this girl has been a good influence on you.’She paused for a moment, her eyes drifting, to the window and an easy silence floated around us.‘From the relative peace in the palace, I assume you haven’t told her yet.’

‘No.You should get out of here before I do.’

She looked around her, trailing her eyes over the walls.‘I did so love this suite.’

‘I’m sorry that you’re caught up in this.’

She waved a hand through the air.‘You think you’re the only one who hates court, but I can assure you I’m ready for an excuse to be away from it.Though, for making me give up the time I spent on arranging this space exactly to my liking, I think you at least owe me some satisfaction.Tell me about your mate.What’s it like, to be in love?’

I stared at her, wordless.In love?Reflexively, I wanted to deny it.Being fated and in love were not the same thing.But the words wouldn’t leave my mouth.‘Imogen isn’t like anyone I’ve ever known before,’ I said instead.

The smile faded from her face.‘I hope for both your sakes the queen will see reason.She is your mother, after all.Surely that has to count for something.’

It was a useless hope, and we both knew it.It had never counted for anything before.‘I’d better go and find her before she finds me.Make sure you don’t linger,’ I said, stepping back out into the corridor.

She closed the door behind me with a whispered, ‘Fate be with you.’The words echoed in my head as I made my way through the palace to the multi-level collection of rooms that made up the queen’s private apartments.I was playing right into that fate Dhrigada had read for me now.I had to hope it was possible I’d misunderstood it.

I’d almost reached my destination when a messenger materialised out of the air before me.Her opalescent wings fluttered fast as she hovered before me, signing that she had a missive for me.I dug around in my pocket and found her a fennel seed, which she plucked off the centre of my palm in exchange for the tiny scroll before dissolving back into the ether.The scroll said only two words:throne room.

There was only one person who would order me around like that.

The cavernous hall was dark, windowless, lit only with thin veins of fae light in the walls and sconces of guttering yellow flame.Primitive, but effective as far as atmosphere went.A single beam of daylight cut through the ceiling at the far end, a long walk away from the doors, illuminating an elevated dais and fracturing off the obsidian throne that lorded over it.The queen was already seated there, spider’s-silver crown glinting in the dark, black eyes fixed on me.As I began to walk towards her, she tapped her pointed fingernails slowly against the arm of the throne, an accompaniment of clinking glass to my footsteps.If she wanted to see me here, then she was ready to subdue me.She already knew why I’d come.

‘Darling,’ she purred as I approached.‘What a surprise.You so rarely visit without my insistence.I can only hope you’ve come to tell me you’ve done as I asked of you.’

‘Let’s not play games,’ I said, my tone bland.I wasn’t Ves.I couldn’t—wouldn’t—charm her.Not even now.‘I’ve broken my engagement.’

She tilted her head, like she thought seeing me from a different angle would change the meaning of my words.‘You say that as though it is a decision you have any right to make.I am your queen.Your life is mine to do with as I please.’

‘Not according to our oldest laws.’I held up my hand, closed into a fist, exposing the small white mark on my wrist.‘I’m upholding my bond of fate.I can’t marry another.’

Throwing back her head, like I’d told a fucking joke, she laughed, her shoulders shaking with hollow mirth.‘So, you lay with your whore.Oh Tarian, you’re an even greater fool than I thought,’ she said.‘I knew you would never have the drive, theambition,to do what needed to be done.’She rose to her feet and began walking down the dais, her shoes clicking with each step.‘I knew you’d cave to your weakness.I know you so well that I even planned for it.That girl is going to wish you’d just cut out her heart.’

‘You can’t hurt her,’ I said.‘She’s not mortal.She’s fae.She’sSeelie.’

I had the satisfaction of seeing her briefly unbalanced, her eyebrows hiking higher, her mouth tightening.She wasn’t used to being outmanoeuvred.This was the one card I could play, the one thing that had made it possible to protect Imogen from her.Any within her own realm were hers, her subjects, her prey.But Seelie fae belonged to Solas.Any violation of one of his subjects was a violation of the treaty between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts.She hadn’t counted on that.

Rage glittered in her eyes, and in a move that was fuelled by emotion, she snapped her fingers.Pain tore through me, burning along every limb like fire, like acid, like razors scraping along my nerves.Mind-numbing pain.Pain that separated me from my senses, that clawed open my mouth and dragged a scream from my throat, that consumed every intention other than making itstop.

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