Page 55 of Queen of Ever

How the hell was she here?The quiet, polite princess I’d come to know didn’t mesh with this woman in front of me.She’d had a whole rebellion tucked away in her closet and I’d had no idea.Was I really so gullible?

‘We can’t let her wander freely around the base when we have no idea where she aligns herself,’ he responded as if Marietta was being unreasonable.

‘Can we just back the fuck up here, please?’I interjected, my voice louder than it needed to be in my shock and confusion.Everyone turned to look at me, and all voices died away.‘Why is the actual Seelie princess here, roaming freely around, while I’m tied to a fucking chair?’

‘Princess Marietta has earned our trust.You have not,’ Cassian said.

‘Maybe because you kidnapped me.Honestly, High Fae, lesser fae, you’re all the fucking same,’ I spat.I was getting really bloody tired of getting kidnapped and held captive, whether it was in a manor or a palace or a dank underground room.

‘You could help us, Imogen,’ Marietta said softly, her eyes gentle.

‘Why would I do that?You’ve been lying to me from the beginning, and I’m going to assume you helped them kidnap me.Why didn’t you just talk to me?’The bitter sting of betrayal stabbed at me.I’d thought we were friends.Did she honestly think I wouldn’t have helped her if she’d asked me?

‘It was too dangerous for you to know, and you had enough on your plate.’

‘Well, tell me now,’ I said firmly.‘What the hell are you doing here, Marietta?’

‘Can we take her binds off?’Marietta asked, turning to Cassianagain.

‘No,’ he said, crossing his arms to accentuate his answer.

‘Then at least let the guards wait outside.’

Cassianthought about it for a long moment before he finally nodded.The other two lessers left the room, but he remained, moving back to lean against the wall, his eyes ever watchful, as if he thought I might burst out of my seat and attack.As if that was going to be possible.

Marietta let out a sigh and I turned my attention back to her.‘You know that I was born without magic,’ she began and I nodded.‘The only time I was treated better than human was when my brother had a use for me.’

‘Like winning me to his side,’ I said bitterly.I suspected that was why the princess had been acting as my lady’s maid.She’d been put in my path to help steer me in the direction Solas wanted me to go.But she’d never manipulated me, never tricked me.At least, I hadn’t thought she had.

‘Yes, it’s true that he put me next to you for that reason,’ Marietta said apologetically.‘But I never had any intention of letting him use you, and definitely not of letting him bully you into marriage.’

‘Oh no, because how would your rebel friends use me if I was already stitched up by your brother?’I said sarcastically.Not that I would ever have married Solas in the first place, the very idea made me shudder.

‘I’ve been helping them for a long time now, longer than you’ve been in the Fae Realm,’ she continued.‘Because I know what it’s like to be treated less than for something you have no control over.And I know that you have sympathy for them.I’ve seen it in the Summer Palace.’

‘Just because I think they’re treated unfairly doesn’t mean I’m going to help them after they kidnapped me.My head is still throbbing from that blow.’

‘Well, you are annoying when you’re screaming your lungs out,’ Cassiansaid, smirking.

Arsehole.

Marietta glared at him.‘I’m sorry for the method we used to get you here, but it was necessary.Neither court can think you’re here of your own volition.’

‘Which, I suppose, is the reason you didn’t tell me any of this.’

‘I couldn’t risk it.If I’d told you and you’d turned on us, you would have endangered us all.It also helped that your reaction to being taken was real.’

‘Well, mission accomplished.I’m real pissed off,’ I said bitterly.I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.‘So why was it so important to get me here?Surely this is only going to ensure the High Fae come after you.’

‘The amendment wasn’t signed.The minute you were taken, Tarian was out of there.He’s not going to be signing anything until he has you back,’ Marietta said.‘But it won’t be enough to stop it indefinitely.’

‘And you think my life will?What’s your plan, to hold me here forever and hope Tarian doesn’t find this place and tear it apart?’

‘We’re protected,’ Cassiansaid confidently.

I laughed.‘You’re not nearly protected enough,’ I said, taking satisfaction in that knowledge.‘He will come for me.’And he when he did, he was going to be pissed.

‘You’re right,’ Marietta said.‘Tarian will come for you, and we don’t have much time.It would be much easier to win you over if I could only show you the cause...’

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