Page 16 of Beneath a Shattered Sky
Ciara’s face turns ashen, and I think she’s trying to decide whether her father is serious.
“How did you think it would work?” Eero continues. “If you come out of your next fever with a merrow babe, you’d never raise it. They live underwater, you foolish chit. Not only would you disgrace our line, you’d have created an heir who couldn’t even sit on the throne!”
“Better an under fae queen than you?—”
He hits her again, sending her spinning. My hand flies to cover my mouth, forcing back a gasp. The attack is so sudden and forceful that she collapses, head hitting the tiled floor with acrackthat echoes down the hall. She lies sprawled andunmoving for a second before Eero realises he’s knocked her out cold.
“Guards!” Eero yells. “Escort my daughter to her chambers and do not let her leave until she’s learned her place. And if you see that merrow skulking around the library, kill him on sight.”
Caed waits until Eero strides away and Ciara has been dragged off to release me, and I almost collapse.
“We need to save her,” I whisper.
“No.” His expression hardens. “We don’t have time, and it’s not in the plan.”
“But she?—”
“Her or Bree, little queen. Pick.”
I glare at him. “That’s not fair?—”
“Life isn’t fair. We can’t get both of them out of here. She’s out cold, and we have no idea what condition the púca is in. So pick. Him or her.”
My stomach churns, and I cast a guilty glance after Ciara. Caed’s right. Her rooms are on the opposite side of the wing to Máel’s, and going there first would only increase our chances of being spotted.
“Bree.”
It’s not even a choice, really. My mates will always come before anyone else, especially a princess who betrayed us—willingly or not.
“Good. Let’s go.” Caed steps forward, capturing my arm and pulling me along until I shrug out of his grip and lead the way. I say a silent apology to Ciara as we pass the hallway to her room and take the stairs on the left that lead to Máel’s instead.
A pair of soldiers are stationed on either side of Máel’s door, muttering between themselves. Their golden armour gleams in the lamplight, throwing reflected light across the walls.
“He’s stopped screaming,” one comments, and I stiffen. “Do you think she’s done?”
“Either that, or she’s waiting for him to wake up so she can start on him again,” the other answers with a shudder. “Better him than me.”
My blood runs cold, and I step out into the hallway, dropping my glamour.
“Rose. Shit!” Caed snarls as Maeve takes my hand and the two of us step towards the guards. Cold rage lengthens my steps, closing the distance between us.
They catch sight of me quickly, reaching for their swords, but Maeve is with me, her hand in mine as she reaches out and grabs the first guard’s wrist mid-swing.
The bones crunch under her grip, and she uses the painful hold to drive him down to his knees. A pale ghostly sword spears his companion through the gut before he can use my distraction against me.
My free hand rips away the first guard’s helmet, and it clatters to the ground, revealing a wide-eyed male with a soft tan and wide blue eyes.
“Please, Goddess,” he says.
How many times did he listen to Bree beg the same way and did nothing? Snarling, I reach forward and rip out his throat.
“So much for quiet and without casualties,” Caed quips, striding past me and bending to unbuckle the fae’s sword belt. “Didn’t think you had it in you, little queen. Here. Killing people is easier with one of these.”
He wraps the leather belt around my waist, over my tattered dress, and arranges the metal so it’s easy for me to draw with my dominant hand. I know this is what I naively wanted when we were in Pavellen, but I still wince at the macabre trophy.
Running my hand over the silver pommel, I let out a long breath.
“That wasn’t Danu,” I realise.
