Page 36 of What Lurks Between the Fates

“I have no idea,” Mab admitted, taking a step forward.

Her feet brought her to stand before me, the perfect poise of a queen as she studied my face. Her clawed fingers touched my skin, rubbing over the top of my wrist where the iron had scalded me. “You should find your collar far more comfortable.We lined the inside with cloth so it would not burn you, as I believe you’ll be wearing it for some time.”

“Take it off,” I snarled, leaning forward to murmur the words so softly that I doubted anyone but Mab heard them. The wind seemed to carry them away, a threat from one female to another, a promise to repay all the wrongs done in blood.

“Welcome to the Court of Shadows, Estrella Barlowe,” the Queen of Air and Darkness said, dropping her hand away from my wrist.

She spun on her heel, making her way to the massive stone doors at the end of the throne room. She paused just at the exit, turning to look at me over her shoulder. No one existed but the two of us, not Caldris or Malachi. We both knew they had become nothing but pawns in the games we would play with one another.

“We’re going to have fun together, you and I.”

The train of her dress trailed behind her as she stepped through the doors, and then she was gone.

13

Estrella

Malachi shoved open the door to my room, motioning for me to walk inside. The iron at my throat made my body sink heavily, even without the scalding burn touching my flesh directly. Compared to the moments where that creature had danced just beneath the surface of my skin, her magic coursing through my veins, the inevitable feeling of being completely powerless was a nightmare in itself. I wanted nothing more than to revel in that power again, to feel my body flood with the cold hollowness as it surged toward the surface.

Staring down at her felt like looking into a pit, a well of something unknown lurking inside of me. If I ventured deeper into that pit, I might never emerge again.

A woman stepped into the room, raising her hands to fill the bath with water for me. She deposited a bundle of clothing on the bed once more, standing in front of it with her hands clasped before her as Malachi tugged the door shut. Her clothing was finer than the servants who had tended to my bath previously, deep blue in color and adorned with delicate embroidery. The bodice of her corset glimmered with tiny stones set into the threading, and a cloak was clasped around her shoulders with a shimmering golden broach.

Her brown skin had warm undertones, her features kind as she smiled at me slightly. Her long hair was pulled away from her face, twisted into a complex braid that hung over her right shoulder to drape over her chest. She’d twistedribbons and gems into the braid, making it shimmer as it caught the candlelight and speaking to a wealth I hadn’t seen in the others so far.

“My name is Nila,” she said, stepping toward me. She clasped her hands in front of her, pausing as I settled my gaze upon her hesitantly. The last servant hadn’t lingered after doing her task, moving on quickly to the next guest she undoubtedly had to see to. “I am to be your lady-in-waiting at Queen Mab’s request.”

“I’ve no need for a lady of my own,” I said, trying to keep my expression polite. “I’m fully capable of seeing to my own needs.”

It wasn’t her fault she’d been ordered to tend to me, but I couldn’t shake the reminder of how Lord Byron treated his servants—how Lady Jacqueline behaved as if they were so far beneath her, they might as well have been the dogs. I had no desire to become like that.

“Be that as it may, our queen has sent me to assist you. Might I offer some advice?” Nila asked, tilting her head to the side as she raised her hands to the broach at the front of her cloak. She unclasped it, pulling the heavy fabric around her shoulders and draping it over one arm so that she could fold it neatly over the back of a chair.

“I’ve a feeling you will no matter how I answer that question,” I said, stepping toward the table.

Fresh food had been laid upon it while I’d been tortured in the throne room, and now that the pain of such things had faded, I couldn’t fight the grumbling in my stomach. Mab was right, I was not a human, and as such, Faerie rules probably didn’t apply to me.

I needed to eat if I was going to maintain any sort of strength for what Mab would put me through. She’d proven today just what she was capable of, the pain she was willing to make me feel if I defied her. A shudder rippled down my back as if it remembered the feeling of my skin being torn from my body, and cold air kissed the skin through the tear in my dress.

In the end, I didn’t know that it would matter. Nothrek would never be safe for me now, not with the way my ears tipped at the top and the magic marked upon my skin. I raised a single hand to touch the subtle point on my ears, wincing at the reminder of just how much I’d changed.

“Your life here will become much easier when you learn to just give her what it is she wants. Once she gets bored with you, you will no longer suffer under the pains of her attention,” Nila said. She raised a single hand to her shoulder, brushing her hand down a long, thin scar that marred her bicep. It looked as if someone had carved her open with iron, taking a piece of flesh from her skin.

“You say that as if you’re speaking from experience,” I said, turning my attention to her.

I grabbed a piece of the flatbread off the table and tore a chunk from it. It was dense, coated in spices. Its delicious scent reached my nose, and it took all I had not to shove the entire thing into my mouth. Instead, I took a small bite and chewed delicately as Nila and I sized each other up. The buttery flavor of the flatbread coated my tongue in warm comfort, drawing a small groan from me as she watched.

“I grew up in the Summer Court. My father was an adviser to King Rheaghan and his closest confidante. I was barely two hundred when we came here with the King on a diplomatic mission to visit his sister. I became a curiosity to Mabwhen she claimed there was something inappropriate brewing between her brother and me. My father and Rheaghan both insisted that was not the case, and everyone knows the King is a rake and will not settle down until the day he finds his mate; but Mab decided to keep me here, regardless. Life became much simpler when I told her all about my feelings for Rheaghan and our stolen moments in the gardens when my father was away,” Nila said, shaking her head as if she’d been foolish to allow such things.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. Not when I knew the enigmatic power the Gods held, and how impossible it was to resist that.

“Why would you share those moments with him?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

Something about the situation didn’t feel accurate, as if I was missing the pieces of the story. If it was true, my opinion of Rheaghan would be even worse than it already was just for the fact that he was Mab’s brother and had allowed her to become what she was today.

“Our moments in the gardens were innocent. Rheaghan liked to allow me the time to talk about the cactus flowers I enjoyed tending to. There was never anything inappropriate about them; he merely kept an eye on me when my father was unable. But Mab likes to see the worst in people. Give her just enough that she can make her assumptions, and she will gladly do so and leave you in peace, Princess,” Nila said, stepping up to me.

She touched the ribbons tying my dress on my arms, unknotting the one at my elbow. Her fingers brushed over my Fae mark almost reverently, lingering upon the white lines specifically.

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