Page 56 of Queen of Ever

‘You don’t have to talk like I’m not here, I know what you’re getting at,’ Cassian said irritably.‘But it’s too dangerous.’

‘What is it you’re afraid she’s going to do?’Marietta asked.‘If she runs, she won’t get far.She’s not the only one with magic here, and there are guards everywhere.Now stop being dramatic and cut her loose.Besides, the queen wants to see her.’

‘That’s an even worse idea than having her wandering around,’ he complained, but he moved towards me with a dagger in his hand anyway.

It was a relief when my hands and feet were freed.Blood flowed into them again and I rubbed the soreness out of my wrists as much as I could.‘So, what happens if you can’t convince me to join your cause?’I asked despite my better judgement as my emotions got the best of me.

‘Then you’ll go right back in that chair and stay here until you’ve served your purpose,’ Cassian said, a hint of menace in his voice.

‘Yes, convincing,’ I said sardonically.‘You’re really not doing a great job of playing the good guy.’

Marietta smiled, a reaction that seemed out of place.‘Stop riling him up, Imogen,’ she said, but there was an easiness in her tone that hadn’t been there before.‘And you,’ she added, turning to Cassian, ‘stop letting her.’

‘I don’t like this,’ Cassiansaid as I got to my feet.

‘Noted,’ Marietta said.‘Come on, Imogen.Let me show you what we’re fighting for.’

There was something about that hopeful look in her eyes that wore down the last of my resistance—that and the fact that I was in no hurry to get back in that chair.‘Fine.But I’m not promising anything.’

‘You don’t need to, sweetheart.You’ll be useful to us whether you want to be or not,’ Cassiansaid.Marietta threw him a glare before leading me to the door.It led to a low corridor with the same compacted dirt floor and bedrock walls.Seams of moss grew in the cracks, illuminated by the light of a row of lanterns, set out evenly as if they had been measured exactly.

‘How far down are we?’I asked.

‘A fair way,’ Marietta said.‘It’s how we’ve managed to stay hidden for so long.’

The corridor finally widened out into the floor of a huge opening, a chasm of sorts, with pathways that wound up and around it that looked giant tree roots.Lanterns and faelight lit it up almost like Christmas lights.Somehow plants were growing in the space despite the lack of sunlight—vines wrapping around bannisters, dotted with brightly coloured flowers, little gardens where lessers were gathered, talking or tending to plants, and I was surprised to see just how many young fae there seemed to be here.It was like a whole underground kingdom.

‘Is this the court?’I asked.

‘If you want to use High Fae terms, then yes, I suppose it is,’ Marietta said.‘Not everyone is permitted down here, to keep it safe, but we do have a lot of refugees living here.More of them come in every day.’

‘Refugees?From where?’

‘Most of them flee from abusive masters, some come from lesser fae towns that get raided for servants and workers.’

‘They raid towns?’I asked, shock raising my voice.I knew they were treated badly as servants, at least for the most part, but I hadn’t realised exactly how they became servants in the first place.I hadn’t realised it was more akin to slavery.

‘Oh yes, lesser trading is a huge industry,’ Marietta said.

‘And servant is the nicest outcome for those sold,’ Cassian said, anger simmering in his voice.

I bit my tongue to stop the words of sympathy that would inevitably give them what they wanted.And I definitely was not going to ask any follow-up questions on what some of the worst outcomes were.I’d seen some of the depravity the High Fae participated in, and I was sure I’d only been in the shallow end of that pool.

I shook those thoughts away, reminding myself that they had kidnapped me to use me for their cause.Even if that cause did feel worthy, I wasn’t going to tip my hand too soon.How many times had I been fooled by the fae?I needed to tread carefully.But I couldn’t deny that there was a problem in this realm.I couldn’t ignore that the lesser fae were treated poorly and that it was barbaric to enslave them anymore than I could ignore how wrong it was to steal human children away from their parents and replace them with changelings.

‘How many are down here?’I asked as I watched two winged fae children chase each other past me, the pair of them squealing and giggling despite the fact that they were stuck underground in hiding.No sunlight, no fresh air or cool breeze, no grass beneath their feet.I supposed they were too young to understand.

‘Not enough,’ Cassian said, and for the first time I detected something other than anger and disdain in his voice.There was something sad there instead, making him seem more human.Although, human was probably not the right word.

‘But we can’t take many more, either,’ Marietta said.‘We don’t have the space or the resources.Rations are already on the tight side, and more raids would only increase the risk of us being found.’

But they couldn’t exactly turn people away, either, which meant they were in a precarious situation.It was only a matter of time before they were caught or their people starved.There was something so sad in that, especially knowing as I did how well the High Fae lived, and the sort of barbary they practiced for their entertainment.

‘So, you want a war, too,’ I said, knowing it was the next logical option.Could it be considered logical if they knew they were fighting a losing battle?

‘What other choice do we have?’Cassianasked, exasperation leaking into his voice.‘We can’t move every lesser underground, and even if we could, how could you expect us to live like that?’That anger was returning, and I couldn’t really blame him.In his mind, their choices were to live underground like rats or live as slaves to the High Fae and their whims.

‘But surely there’s another way, a better way.One that won’t result in so much death.How could you even win a war against both courts?’I thought back to what Tarian had said about the way rebellions weredismantled,like victory was a foregone conclusion.I wasn’t sure what that way was or if one even existed, but the hopelessness of their situation stung at my heart.

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