Page 16 of The Maleficent Faerie
But my heartbeat stutters, then begins pounding, pounding—thundering my shock through my chest.
My brain revolts, refusing to comprehend what I’m seeing.
The girl chained to the post of my tent is not the one I captured.
This girl has the same lovely features, the same pink lips, the same peach-colored skin—but her hair is a smoky blue, her ears are pointed at the tips, and a pair of gauzy, purple-veined butterfly wings wave softly at her back, on either side of the post to which she is chained.
This girl is Fae, not human. Blue hair and butterfly wings—
“The fuck,” I say in a strangled voice.
She smiles, and I’m reminded of her grinning at me in the forest, my blood gleaming between her teeth.
I should have known it then. I should have seen that the woman with the bladed smile and the ferocity of a fighter wasn’t the mild-mannered daughter of the Caennith Royals.
This isn’t Princess Dawn. It’s her bodyguard, the woman who has stood between me and the Princess for years. The dark-haired maid who crawled away from the wreck of the carriage—that must have been the real Princess, under a glamour.
“Fuck,” I spit.
“Take your time,” the girl says wryly. “Sort it all out. When you’re ready, we can talk business.”
“Business?”
“Yes. I’m the daughter of—”
“You are Aura, daughter of the Three Faeries. You serve as bodyguard to Princess Dawn,” I growl. “I may not have met you, but I do know you.”
“Of course. I’m the one you’ve always dreamed of meeting.” Her lips curve in a sly smirk.
“Fuck you.” I rise from the bed in a towering rage, my wings lifting and spreading. I stalk toward her—and then a breeze travels across parts of me where no breeze should be.
What in the Void? I’m naked. I don’t remember taking off my pants. Eonnula’s tits, what did I do last night? I vaguely recall speaking to my prisoner—what did Isayto her?
Snatching a blanket off the bed, I hold it in front of myself. Then I say a quick prayer in my mind, asking Eonnula’s forgiveness for swearing by her tits.
Before I can question Aura any further, the tent flap opens, and Fitzell enters, along with Andras.
“You should get an early start, my Lord,” Fitzell says. “I apologize for not checking on you sooner, but the enemy’s attacks have grown—” She breaks off abruptly, staring at our captive’s altered appearance.
Andras’s jaw drops.
I watch realization, anger, and despair travel the features of my second-in-command, until she reins in her expression, her face hardening. “We were fooled, then,” she says stonily.
“So it would seem.”
“I sent Nejire to check on you during the night, and he didn’t report any such thing. He said you were asleep and the captive was secure.”
“Her glamour must still have been intact at that point. Don’t blame yourself, Fitzell—this was my mistake, my idiocy. I acted rashly, hastily—I didn’t take the time to confirm her identity, or to sort out the confusion I sensed in her aura. Fuck me into the damn Void—” I punctuate each word with a blow to one of my tent posts. The post quakes at the impact, and the ebony fabric shivers overhead.
Andras is still gaping at the prisoner, but he manages to form a question. “If this isn’t the right girl, then why are they attacking us like we’ve taken their princess?”
“Because this woman is the daughter of the Three Faeries,” I tell him. “They are regents, not royalty—they operate under the rulership of the human King and Queen. Still, they are highly respected in Caennith, and they are great personal friends of the Royals. Which is no doubt why they arranged for their Fae daughter to grow up alongside the Princess and serve as her bodyguard.”
“So we could ransom her back to them.” Fitzell presses a hand to her forehead. “But we don’t have the Princess. And that means—” She gnaws her lip. “Shit.”
“The very worst shit.” Darkness presses on my heart, a crushing weight with which I’m all too familiar.
Failure. Again. Because that is what I do—I fail. I fuck things up with my impatience and my rash decisions. This realm would be better off without me. I make things worse for everyone.
