Page 17 of Queen of Ever

The boy stuffed the cookie into his mouth before shrinking under his shoulders and dropping his head again.I wanted to make him feel safe but I didn’t know how to do that right then.Still, I knew that Marietta wasn’t going to ruin my efforts.

I turned to her.‘I see you found me,’ I said a little sheepishly.She looked past me to the boy, her brow furrowed in thought.I followed her gaze.‘I found him in the gardens, some courtiers were...testingout the new collars,’ I said, the words leaving a bitter taste on my tongue.‘Did you know about them?’

She let out a sigh.‘Yes.My brother had one put on every lesser in the palace this morning.’

‘Because of what happened last night?’

‘Yes.’

It made me feel faintly sick.‘Marietta won’t hurt you,’ I said, turning back to the boy.‘Please, keep eating if you like.’

He looked up at me, then at Marietta.I caught the small smile she offered him, the slight nod of encouragement, and I was grateful when he began to eat again.

‘It seems excessive,’ I said to her.

‘I agree.But the king has made his decision.And if you want to protect this boy, then you need to get to your lessons.’

‘How is that going to help?’I asked, bewildered.

‘You act like everything is business as usual, which will keep from drawing attention to him.I’ll look after him.’

‘And what will you do with him?I don’t want to just send him back into service so he can be tormented again.’

‘I need you to trust me.’

I huffed out a breath.‘Fine.I trust you,’ I said reluctantly.Not because I didn’t trust her, I knew she would do what she could to keep the boy from further harm, I just felt guilty leaving him.

Marietta smiled at me.‘You do have a kind heart,’ she said, as if that made her somehow proud.I wasn’t sure anyone else would see it that way.

‘Well, I’m about to go fail at magic.Again.Wish me luck,’ I said, shooting the boy a wink, which made him smile a little wider this time and left me feeling a lick of triumph.At least something good had come of the day, I supposed, before I left him in Marietta’s care and headed for my lesson, my feet feeling heavy as I walked.

But I wasn’t done with this subject.I was going to confront Solas about the collars tomorrow when he took me out of the palace.It was too cruel to leave alone, and I wouldn’t be able to stop every courtier from using them.The only way to stop it would be to convince Solas to take the collars off.

And I had no idea how I was going to do that, but I was going to damn well try.

Chapter 7

Tarian

WhenIreturnedtoDreadhold, I was disappointed—if not surprised—to find my mother had decided she’d left me to my own devices for long enough.I’d heard little from her since she’d stolen Imogen’s name from me, which was unusual.Maybe she’d decided she’d caused me enough misery to last for a good while at least and so she thought to let me wallow in it.Whatever the reason, the grace period was over now.

The Unseelie Palace was teeming with courtiers and servants and lesser fae and guards.Usually, I’d stay far away from here on a hearing day.With the prophecy dogging my steps, there was nothing to be gained from mingling with the powerful fae of the High Council.No one was interested in a political alliance with so risky a bet as the prince doomed to bring down the Unseelie throne.But I had beensummoned.

I stalked up the steps to the palace with curled shoulders and a glower that sent anyone who happened to be in my path scurrying in another direction.Arun was close on my heels, looking drawn and tense.He’d never been fond of having to watch me be humiliated or tortured.It went against his ethos as someone who was supposed to protect me, but he was just as helpless as I was to defy the Unseelie Queen.I was less conflicted than he was, though, because punishment had long been just another fact of life, something to endure instead of something to avoid.I’d been young when I figured out my mother’s affection was always conditional, and that my nature aligned with displeasing her better than anything else.There had been a time when I’d wanted her approval more than anything, which was why I was in this mess with my fiorainm in the first place.She’d been more cunning than I’d been able to understand as a child, careful to contrast her cruelty with moments of such gentleness and care to keep me always creeping back, willing to do just about anything to be granted another glimpse of her affection.Even giving her the terrible power of my true name.

In any case, the idea of being reprimanded in front of the High Council held no novelty for me.Nor did the anticipation of being tortured before them, which was the likely outcome of this hearing.The location of the hearing was new, though.I allowed myself a smile of grim satisfaction as Arun and I stepped into the hall the queen was now holding court from.It was a fine hall, with its gleaming slate floor and soaring black granite pillars run through with seams of purple quartz.The queen sat on a throne of carved mahogany with enormous, clawed feet and wings fanning out behind her, glittering with a spray of rubies almost the exact same shade as the elaborate gown she wore.But as grand a picture she made, it wasn’t a throne of obsidian, and this wasn’t the real throne room, which had been the seat of power in the Unseelie Kingdom since its formation.There had been no repairing the throne room I’d destroyed when my mother had stolen Imogen’s fiorainm from me.Not because the damage had been too extensive, but because the throne room had sealed itself shut and no attempts to get inside, magic or otherwise, had been successful.It wasn’t a win I’d actually set out to take, but knowing how much Queen Moriana would be seething to be faced with something out of her control within her own palace, I was going to take it as one.I fucking needed a win.

‘You don’t have to stay,’ I said to Arun as he stood beside me, scanning the crowd of courtiers.‘You could wait outside.’

‘I’m not waiting outside.’

‘I’m not going to get into the kind of trouble you can do anything about in here.’

‘I’m not waiting outside,’ he repeated firmly, to which I just shook my head.I’d told him before it would only please Moriana to know there was someone in the crowd who suffered from watching me suffer, but he seemed to think that knowledge was of more value to me than it was to her.In any case, he shadowed me as I made my way to where Briyala was standing towards the back of the crowd, hands clasped before her, silver head bowed demurely as she waited.

‘Going for contrition?’I asked dryly.

‘Of course.I don’t have a death wish,’ she replied mildly.Then she looked me over, a frown pulling at her mouth.‘You look terrible.’

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