Page 59 of A Palace of Smoke & Mirrors
Faerie was no stranger to the caenim, but the residents did not know to whom they belonged. As far as I could tell, all of Faerie believed the caenim were a lonesome, outcast species—like the Banshees, but the Banshees were a people. Lucais treated the caenim as if they were the faerie equivalent of dogs.
The new development with his plan tocapturecaenim—the result of absolute insanity cogs turning in his deranged mind—was another matter entirely. It was hinged on secrecy to protect his dark truths…
Oh. And I suppose this is, too.
My face fell, the thought dropping from my mind like a star. It landed in the pit of my stomach, a crater burned into the crust of the earth from an alien spaceship of unfortunate realisations.
Lucais was never going to tell them the truth.
Hecouldn’t.
They would hate him—
“The carousal begins tonight!” the High King proclaimed, surging to his feet with arms thrown out to the sides proudly. The illumination of his throne went dark as soon as he was no longer upon it, but flares of light and sunbeams shot from his fingertips, igniting the room like a dawn sky.
Everyone in the throne room burst into cheers and applause—the sound musical, a chorus of neighing and growling and chirruping against a symphony of human-like voices. At that exact moment, I knew they loved him.
At least, they had loved him once. Before the Gift War. Before the death of land-dragons. Before he made choices that changed everything—decisions powerful enough to end old worlds and create new ones. And as all of it transpired before my widened eyes, it became glaringly apparent that Lucais wanted to get back to that love more than he wanted anything else in the world.
He wanted to be the man who told a group of faeries they were all likely to die soon and have them cheer and chant his name in reply.
Lu-cais! Lu-cais! Lu-cais!
I heard the ghost of that ancient crowd resounding in his mind as he watched on, hopeful for an encore—a memory I was viewing in his head, whether he intended to share it with me through the bond or not.
“One more thing before you go,” he called out, holding a finger up in the air. The crowd instantly settled and hushed. “The Court of Light malfunctioned for a split second there. I’m sure you’ve all heard about it and would like some explanation. Well”—he lazily extended an arm, directing the point of that finger at me—“you see that redhead over there?”
Collectively, the eyes in the room swung from Lucais’s face back to mine. My cheeks burned the colour of beetroot.
“It was her. And she ismine,” he declared, his voice an ancient growl. “I’ve brought you back a High Queen, if she so desires. If she does not, that’s none of your business. She is stilloff-limitsto all of you, and you will treat her with the utmost respect at all times or face the penalty of death.”
Lucais straightened his coat. “Yes, you’ve seen her before. In the Oracle. Take a good look at her in the flesh now,” he went on, “because she’s even prettier when she dresses properly and actually brushes her hair. But I’m afraid she may not like the lot of you ogling her for the rest of the night. And come to think of it…quite frankly, neither do I. So, get out, go away, off you trot—the lot of you.” He waved them all away and then grinned like a devil. “I’ll see you at the festivities.”
My hands were shaking. I was glued to my spot on the ground.Deep breaths.Even his quip about my hair and clothes didn’t make a mark because I was numb and trembling fromhead to toe. I couldn’t decide if I was more angry, scared, thunderstruck—or something else entirely.
I was nothis.I never would behis.I didn’t likehim.
We had kissed twice, and he thought he could lay claim on me like a parking spot? Not to mention the fact that I resented the threat he lay upon his own people—as if I needed his protection. As if Iwantedit.
The pendulum swung again, but the faeries were not fazed.
They offered gestures of goodwill to us before they left. Some looked towards me, others looked at Lucais, but every last one bowed, waved with a flash of their power, inclined their heads, or clapped and whooped one more time before they left the hollow throne room.
When only a few stragglers remained—faeries who, I suspected, were members of the palace staff—I spoke to the High King in my mind and tried to unstick the soles of my shoes from where they’d started to grow invisible roots into the stonework.
Why did you lie to them?
I didn’t lie. You know I can’t lie.He sat back on his throne, the light blazing around him once more. A flicker of exhaustion from our earlier activities scattered across his face once nobody else was looking at him.
You didn’t tell them the truth.
The whole truth,he countered.That’s different.
I thought you were going to tell them about the Malum. And the caenim reports—were you exaggerating the severity or were you keeping things from me in the House?
A beat of hesitation.I was nearly going to tell them about the Malum, but we’ve had a change of plans, haven’t we, little beast? And the caenim reports were not specific. I didn’t count them. I couldn’t because I was too busy worrying about you. So, technically, not a lie. If they want to panic, they are freeto panic. If they want to get blackout drunk tonight and forget everything I ever said, they can do that, too.
I snorted.What sort of a High King are you?
