Page 10 of Beyond the Mountain (Fae's Captive 4)

“You plan to kill him?” We loop up and around the camp.

“Isn’t that obvious?” I won’t let him live, not when he might try to challenge me for the throne one day.

He looks away, then roars with laughter, his wings shaking. “The Ancestors were kind to send you to me, my dear heart. You do me proud.”

“You won’t interfere?”

“No.” He points to a peak up ahead. “Let’s set down there.”

I want to keep flying to stretch out my sore wings even more, but I acquiesce. For now. Snow crunches under my black boots as I land a little unsteadily, and I turn to lean against the dark rock at my back.

A twisted, stunted tree grows from a narrow crack, its thin branches trying so hard to reach the sun. But it will die, just like the soldiers milling about in the valley below. Everything will die and be reborn, this world mine to shape as I please.

Shathinor lands and turns his gaze to the valley.

“When can we march?” I’m itching to start the war, to bring death to the summer lands.

“You are so like me.” He tries to tuck my hair behind my ear.

I duck away.

He looks almost … crestfallen, and his tone turns wistful. “I missed your entire life.”

“You didn’t miss much.” The memories of my ‘human’ life disgust me.

“But I did.” He sighs heavily. “If only I’d known you existed, I’d have …”

“You’d have what?” I wave his words away. “Saved me from my stepfather’s beatings? Brought me to Arin? Had me live with you and your undead in that slovenly cave for centuries? Is that it?”

Irritation flickers across his face, but he tamps it down and continues, “If I had known when you were still a child, still here in Arin, think of how all that could have been different.” He peers at me, his black eyes probing. “Maybe if you’d been allowed to grow and thrive, you could have fought by my side in the last war. You could have saved me from the pretender. We could have ruled together, and I wouldn’t be in this state.” He glances at his silver chest plate and to the ruin hidden beneath it. “You and I could already have the world in our grasp. But your whore of a mother took all that away from me, banished you to earth, and sent herself to the Ancestors to make sure that secret was never revealed.”

I smirk. “What she didn’t know is that Cecile is an utter moron and sent me to Arin anyway.” I laugh, the sound harsh like crushing rock. “Good job, Sis.”

“Perhaps it had to happen this way.” He goes to reach for me again but lets his hand drop. “You are more powerful now than even the prophecy suggested. I can feel you, the darkness inside you seemingly bottomless.”

“Jealous?” I summon a ball of black death into my palm.

“Proud.” He swipes the ball away and tosses it at the stunted tree.

It withers and dies, its remains cascading down the unforgiving rock and into the oblivion below.

I run my fingers along my shoulder as I peer into my mirror. Leander’s bite is healed, but the fang marks will never go away. Claimed. Just like he promised me. But Leander claimed a foolish girl, one who believed in unicorns and fairytales. I press my thighs together as I contemplate our next mating, how much more it will be for both of us. He will be surprised, I’m sure, to find me in this vastly improved state. No matter. The bond is still there. I am still his. Soon I will show him how much better our mating will be now that I’m fully fae and imbued with my father’s dark power. He will love me like no other, and I will reward him for his devotion.

I sigh and lean forward, the dresser’s shoddy wood nicked and marred, though my father has laid out precious jewels along the top for me. Did he expect me to fawn over them? I swipe them aside but stop when my hand touches the soulstone.

The simple pendant has no power over me now. I run my fingers down its face, the smooth opal warm under my touch. Sometimes I think I hear it whispering to me in Delantis’s voice. The obsidian blade does the same. But whatever she wants to tell me, I don’t care to hear. I have everything I need. My army is prepared to march, and I’m ready to lead. Cenet plots behind my back, telling my father I’m not battle-tested, that I’m not ready. I close my hand into a fist. When the time comes and his head is on a pike, we’ll see who was ready.

Cecile walks in, my laundered clothes in her arms. She doesn’t look at me, and for the first time since I’ve known her, her confidence is drained away. Shoulders slumped, eyes down—she’s beaten.

“I like you like this.” I spin away from my dresser to face her.

She hangs my clothes without a word.

I smile. “How’s your little human?”

Her motion stops for only a moment before she continues.

“I thought perhaps I’d killed her.” I call the darkness into my palm and play with it, tickling the tendrils of death with my fingertips. “But I hear she lives.”

When she doesn’t respond, I send a wisp of black to curl around her throat. “I’m speaking to you, Sister.”

“We’re not sisters.” She turns to me, the fire back in her silver eyes. “We will never be sisters.”

“Blood is blood.” I pull the darkness back inside myself, as if sucking it through a straw.

“You’ll never take the summer realm.” She hugs herself. “Queen Aurentia will—”

“Fall just like all the rest.” I rise and walk to her, reveling in the dark circles beneath her eyes and her lackluster hair. A week in the caves has robbed her of all the beauty she used to wield on earth. “I never realized it when you were in the human world, but here, surrounded by your own kind, you’re nothing special.”

“And you are?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” I let my wings expand, the dark feathers iridescent in the low light. “I think I’m a bit more remarkable than you ever gave me credit for.”

“You think any of this changes who you are?” She smirks. “You’re still the same nerdy loner with daddy issues you always were. Now you have wings and a bad attitude. Congratulations. You’ve finally peaked.”

I grip her throat and squeeze. “I took your shit for too long. You were nasty then, and you’re nasty now.”

“At least I’m consistent.” She grits her teeth.

“No, you’re just a bitch.” I throw her backwards, and she slides across the floor on her ass. “A stupid one at that.”

She climbs to her feet, her eyes flashing. “If you’re finished insulting me, I have some more laundry to do.”

“Not so fast, Sis.” I advance on her, though she doesn’t hold my gaze for long. It’s as if she can’t bear to look into my eyes. Good. “I have a little job for you.”

10

Leander

Stone scatters under my feet as I climb to the nearest ledge, the valley floor falling away beneath me. Thorn wheels into the coming night, his shape transforming from eagle to owl.

“Ravella won’t forgive you for this.” Gray grabs the handhold I just vacated and hauls himself up next to me.

“Someone has to stay with the horses. We need them for our escape, and if they aren’t there, we’re as good as dead. Taylor can’t make it through the Barren Lands on foot. She’s too fragile.”

“Still, she’ll be mad for years.”

“I’ll deal with it.” I launch myself up the unforgiving stone and grab another hold, my fingers aching.

“Shathinor.” Gray spits a few choice curses in the ancient fae language. “How did he survive? I saw you ram your blade through his heart. Saw you twist it. He was dead. No doubt in my mind.”

“Necromancers have tricks. So many fun tricks.” Selene skitters across the rock above us, her legs spiderlike as she makes easy work of the cliffs and sharp cracks in the rock.

“That’s creepy.” Gray stares up at her.

“Selene can hear you,” she singsongs.

I pull myself up until there’s a break in the cliff face, a ledge just wide enough to sit on. I help Gray up, and he collapses next to me, his la

rge frame taking up half the ledge as he starts rummaging in his pack.

Valen’s hand appears, and we both pull him up. He throws himself down and lies there staring up at the sky, breathing hard. “Climbing is not my thing.”

“Where’d you send Brannon?” Gray hands me a piece of dried meat and what’s left of our bread.

“He thinks he can do some more infiltrating in the camp, report back on planned troop movements, maybe give us a chance to break up the ranks before they get too far into the realms.”

Gray grunts.

“Give him a chance.” Valen reaches for the water. “You and Thorn are always so cynical.”

“You’re young.” Gray hands him the canteen. “Too trusting.”

“He’s always been loyal.”

“He shot Thorn in the wing two days ago. Remember that?”

“That was an accident.” Valen shrugs. “Besides, I fixed Thorn right up.”

I lean back against the cold rock as Gray and Valen have the old argument yet again. My thoughts stray to Taylor. Always her. I pray to the Ancestors that she knows I’m coming for her. That whatever horrors she’s seen or endured, I will do everything in my power to make it right, to heal her wounds, to give her whatever she needs, and that I will enact vengeance on those who took her. I can see her, the way her mouth turns up at the corners, the sweet little sounds she makes when she sleeps, the way she fits so perfectly against me, the way she looked when I claimed her. I press my hand to my chest, feeling her loss like a tear in my heart. The bond is silent, but it’s still there. Not severed, not gone, just achingly empty.

“Kingly fae,” Selene calls. “Come up, up, up. I see a way. One even Valen can tread with ease.”

“Thanks.” Valen wrinkles his nose and struggles to his feet, then hands the canteen to Gray. “I’ll go first so you can catch me if I fall.”

Gray snorts. “You have a lot of faith in me.”

“I was talking to Leander.” Valen hoists himself onto the rock face and aims for where Selene clings to the stone, her body upside down and her black eyes glinting.

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