Page 37 of A Court of Hearts and Hunger
This will not be the last time I fuck her.I swear it inwardly as we clean ourselves and prepare for the day.
When we’re ready to leave the room, I pin her to the door with my body and look into her brown eyes. “I want to leave you here and go alone.”
“No, Finias. We discussed this—you need me.”
“What kind of selfish wretch am I, to take you with me into this terrible place?”
“You’re not taking me. I’m going. End of discussion.”
She twists in my arms, facing the door, but I grip her fingers as they find the handle. “I could make you stay here. Opal would keep you safe.”
“Is that what you want?” she says quietly. “To take my freedom, deny me my choice? That would damage us, Fin, more deeply than anything that could happen in the Unseelie kingdom. I’m not sure I could forgive you.”
My desperation to keep her safe wars with my respect for her dignity, her autonomy. I skim my lips along her delicate ear and murmur, “Fuck, Clara.”
She’s motionless, tense. Waiting for me to decide, again, whether or not I should fight her on this. Whether I should betray her like Opal nearly betrayed me—before Clara talked her out of it.
My fingers curl around Clara’s and I ease back, lifting her knuckles to my lips. “Queen of my heart,” I whisper.
She rewards my submission with a tiny smile and a, “Good boy, Finias,” that instantly makes me hard for her again.
But we have no more time for games—more’s the pity. She’s opening the door, which Opal did not lock, and we emerge into the rest of the house.
Opal is already awake, and she has prepared breakfast for us. I don’t confront her about last night, and she doesn’t speak of it, either. Clearly she has decided to take us across the border—or rather,underthe border—and that is enough.
After breakfast she leads us outside, into her dewy garden of mushrooms. Clara wanders wide-eyed, drinking in the color and textures. I have to take her wrist and gently pull her along behind Opal.
At the end of a winding path, we come to an enormous blue mushroom with azure crystals jutting from its spongy surface, sparkling in the morning light. Opal strokes the side of the mushroom, and with a shudder it separates, revealing a dark space within.
“The entrance to the tunnel,” she says. “Undetectable by anyone except me. Oh, and last night I took the liberty of sending a message on your behalf, Sugarplum.”
“To whom?”
“To the Hatter.”
Shock blazes through my body. “Shit. I thought she was dead.”
“She wished she was, for a time. But she recovered. And she has the Queen’s favor, it seems. She can help you get into Mallaithe, ease your way into the Dread Court.”
The heaviness on my heart lifts a little. The Hatter is the one person of my old group whom I would still trust. She tried to stop what they did to me… and she paid the price.
I can feel Clara’s gaze on me, but she doesn’t ask the question I know is burning in her mind.
“Yes, she’s an old lover of mine,” I tell her. “More importantly, she is a friend. Someone we can trust.” My wings stir at my back, betraying the fresh hope brightening my heart. “Clara, I think we can do this.”
“First you have to get through the forest that lies between the border wall and the city of Mallaithe,” Opal reminds me. “Are you prepared?”
I look down at the suit of black leather I conjured for myself. It features tall boots, a thick chestplate of bone, and black antlers jutting from my shoulders. Clara is similarly clad, with extra coverage over her breasts, sternum, and back. I hope the reinforced outfits will deter the Heartless from stealing our vital organs.
At her waist, Clara wears a pair of daggers and the bag that contains her whip. She and I both carry pouches of spells and necessities. I streamlined our stash this morning, leaving behind some of the less useful spells, the ones I can replicate easily with materials from the Unseelie lands. I have darts, more spells, and a few rare items in my magical pocket, and two long knives tucked into my boots. Beyond that, I have my natural weapons—my claws and teeth.
I’ve never been tested against the Heartless or their Queen—and I have my weaknesses. But I am a different person than I was when I crossed this border the last time.
Above all else, I have Clara.
“I am prepared,” I tell Opal, but I look at my girl instead.
Clara smiles, her brown eyes bright. “Let’s go.”
