Page 58 of Brutal Fae King
“Wait,” I gasp. “What about you?”
“I shall be on the front lines,” Vicmar answers. “I am the most powerful magic user currently here. My own powers are imperative to the success of our defense. Either I successfully defend this castle alongside my guards, or I fall with it.” He glares at me. “Either way, your safety is crucial for the survival of the entire kingdom. Mine isn’t. It doesn’t make sense for us to do this any other way. I may die here, and if Dralis has his way, I will. But the castle can fall, I can die, we canalldie—as long as you make it out of here alive and not with Dralis, Faevea will carry on.”
“You expect me to just accept that?” I demand. “I thought you were just training me to become a warrior! I havelightning powers—are you telling me they’d be of no use whatsoeverin this situation?! If we have so few options, then let me help!”
“No,” Vicmar answers. “If you are on the front lines, Dralis will find a way to pick you off. We can’t have you vulnerable, even if your lightning powers could theoretically be of use. Besides, you are hardly a master of them, and I think you’d need to be much more skilled before I’d feel comfortable with you fighting.”
“But I can’t just sit here and do nothing!” I insist. “Not whilst everyone else fights on my behalf! My explosions of power are probably what drew him over to begin with! I can’t let everyone die for me whilst I hunker down and donothing!”
“Youaredoing something,” Vicmar says. “You’re surviving. That’s what I need from you—whatFaeveaneeds from you.”
“It’s what I need from you, too, but you’re on the front lines!” I’m suddenly begging.
He just gives me the saddest smile.
“I do not have the time to argue with you, Ebelor. I’m sorry,” he says.
He looks over my shoulder and nods. I’m seized at either side by both arms. I swivel my head around, but the two war counselors who have grabbed me are not meeting my eye. Sparks start darting around me, in time with the rage coursing through my veins.
“Vicmar, you can’t do this!”
“Take her away,” he says, looking back down to the blueprint. “Make sure she is in the safe room as quickly as possible. You have my permission to go to the armory and gather everything you need to defend her with your lives; her survival is imperative, even when I’m dead and gone.”
“Yes, Sire,” the war counselors on either side of me chant.
“Vicmar!”I howl.
They begin dragging me backward. I kick and scream, my heels scraping along the floor. My guards keep flinching as my electricity keeps hitting them, but they dutifully keep dragging. I realize that I’m crying when my screaming starts stuttering:
“VIC-VICMAR, IF YOU DIE, I SWEAR TO THE GODS I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!”
He just gives me the saddest smile over his shoulder.
“As long as you live,” he replies quietly.
Then the doors to the war room slam shut in my face, and I can’t see him anymore.
Chapter 19 - Ebelor
I keep screaming and crying until my voice cracks, but there are so many people running around that I’m barely heard over the chaos.
Except by the war counselors, that is.
“Please quiet down, Your Highness!”
I pause in my screaming. Once I’ve caught my breath, I snap back:
“Your Highness? So youknowI am your rightful queen! Why are you doing this to me?!”
“We were ordered to—”
“I know!” I snarl. “ButIhave a greater claim to the throne than him! I’m ordering you to stop!”
They pause a little and look at one another. The one I wasn’t speaking to shrugs and answers:
“With all due respect, orders aside, if you die, Your Highness, Faevea dies with you,” he says. “And I don’t want to die.”
“Oh, what a shame,” a new voice suddenly interjects.
