Page 24 of Brutal Fae King (Dark Faevea King #1)

Ebelor’s lady-in-waiting pulls at the corset of the dress My Queen is wearing. For once, she looks like a queen. She’s regal and graceful, with a baroque scarlet dress adorned with gold accents. It ties up at the neck, with long sleeves and a corseted bodice on top of large, layered skirts. Her hair is braided and wound up into a bun on her head, with pearls dotted into her brown hair. Gold and ruby earrings hang from her ears, and a similarly impressive necklace nestles at her throat. Her crown isn’t here yet—they haven’t found it in the collection of family heirlooms—I suppose, deep in my heart, I never expected to have a queen. What woman would want the “Cruel King” after all?

Fate has its ways. It’s funny, funny ways…

Ebelor looks at me, and I am blown away by how the blood-red dress brings out her green eyes. She looks glorious.

“I don’t know about this, Vicmar,” she murmurs.

“You look beautiful,” I answer. “And a queen needs to look like a queen. It befits you, Ebelor. You deserve it.”

The lady-in-waiting finishes tying the corset and steps back with a polite bow.

“Thank you, Michharn,” she says.

Michharn! That was her name!

It seems to be a constant thorn in Ebelor’s side that I’ve never taken the time to memorize any of the staff’s names. I’m trying to rectify that—but it’s taking some time.

Once Michharn has stepped back, Ebelor picks up her skirts and waddles toward me.

“I can barely move in this!” she protests.

I chuckle.

“A good king should make sure that his queen doesn’t have to move!” I say jokingly. “Merely lounge on a throne, being fed grapes!”

She gives me a small smile.

“But that’s not the Faevea we’re in right now, though, is it?” Ebelor answers.

“I suppose that’s fair,” I reply, getting up from the chair. “However, we’re just having a meeting with the war counselors this evening. In that situation, I think you ought to look like a queen. Garner their respect.”

Ebelor gives a light sigh.

“Fine,” she says.

There is a knocking on the door.

“Enter,” I boom.

A guard walks in.

He is… Garga-something… Damn, I knew it when I asked him to fetch the crown!

“Oh, Gargamint,” Ebelor says when she notices him again.

Gargamint! Of course!

“Gargamint,” I say, “have you found the crown?”

“We have, Sire,” he says.

He presents us with the crown. It’s just as I remember it: many multicolored gems in its spike-like setting. My stomach gives a little squeeze when I see it; the last time I saw this crown, it was atop the head of my mother, her eyes closed and her face smeared with blood.

I shudder and close my eyes before I can remember too much.

“Thank you, Gargamint!” Ebelor says. “Oh, it’s beautiful!”

“Allow me, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you, Michharn.”

I open my eyes, and the first thing I see is Ebelor. The crown sits so perfectly on her head, like it was meant to sit there. It’s breathtaking. It doesn’t blend into the rest of the outfit, but that is a blessing—it highlights her stunning face even more.

“Ebelor…” I can barely breathe. “I…”

She smiles lightly and averts her gaze.

“I feel a bit ridiculous.”

“You don’t look it. Not at all!” I meet her in three long strides and rest my hands on either side of her waist. “You look like the queen you are.”

A light blush colors her cheeks a rose pink. I lean forward and kiss her very gently on those cheeks—as if I were kissing a delicate rose. She giggles in flattery.

Then, I lean back.

“Are you ready?” I ask.

She sucks in a breath, then looks at me with that flinty look in her eyes.

“Let’s go.”

***

We walk into the war room, and I can tell by the feel in the air that the state of things is a lot calmer than it used to be. There’s a grim, stomach-churning alarm, but not the bristling feeling of barely contained panic like it was when I was last here.

The atmosphere gives a confusing shift when we walk in. First, it lightens still when I walk in, perfectly recovered. But then they shuffle uncomfortably and look between each other when Ebelor walks in behind me. She doesn’t have the graceful stride of a queen in her dress yet—still a little uncomfortable in it—but her presence is commanding regardless, and they know that they are in the presence of a queen. They haven’t been in the presence of a matriarch for a while.

As we approach the table, I stand at the top of it. They stare at me like a deer in front of a hunter, and when a heavy silence reigns for a moment, I realize I’d usually started shouting at them by now.

“What’s the situation with the army outside the castle?” I call—but I can’t even force the same kind of rage that used to fill my voice before.

They relax, and one of them replies:

“In terms of the army, not one of them succeeded in breaching the castle’s walls, mostly thanks to the electrical barrier that has been set up around it,” he says. “The enemy’s still occupying the castle town, but they still haven’t made many moves toward the townsfolk, so that on its own isn’t the most pressing issue; we suggest we don’t divide our limited forces to save the townsfolk when they don’t appear to be in danger. The more important problem is that the electrical barrier seems to be fading away. We need to replenish it before we do anything else.”

I nod and then look over at Ebelor.

“What do you think?” I ask her. “Can you replenish it?”

There’s a rumbling and a gasp among the war counselors. They look between each other in awe.

That’s right… they probably don’t know it’s her, considering she did it in the heat of the moment on the battlefield. They likely thought that it was the spell I gave the mages on the battlements.

I feel a strange sense of second-hand pride for her accomplishment, but when I look back, she’s looking down, biting her lip.

“I—s-sure I can,” she says.

“I don’t like that stutter,” I mutter carefully. “What are you thinking?”

“I just…” Ebelor says. “I worry. I was fully wrapped up in the heat of the moment when I did that. I worry I won’t be able to do it again.”

I put a hand on her lower back. She smiles lightly.

“Right,” I say to her. “Well, I have every faith in you, but whilst you build your confidence up—” I look back to the war counselors, leaning down over the table again. “—we’ll explore our other options. What else do we have to work with? How many did we lose?”

Another war counselor answers me:

“Stunningly little, thank the gods. A few casualties from the enemy archers—perhaps a handful, with another dozen injured to various severities—but a combination of the shield and the electrical barrier has worked wonderfully to keep casualties low,” she answers. “That means we still have approximately the same number of guards as we did before the start of battle last night, Sire.”

I nod.

“Good,” I grunt. “And what about the enemy? Have we learned anything more about the army?”

“We learned that they mostly consist of humans,” a counselor answers. “There don’t seem to be any dark fae, Naga, or sirens at all amongst their ranks.”

I hear a little murmuring amongst them—close to me, a war counselor sneers to another: “Just little humans? That’ll make things easier! ”

“What does that mean?” I ask sharply.

A ringing silence falls in at my tone. They gawk like brain-dead idiots at me. After a moment, I bark again:

“Well?! Speak up!”

“I—uh… I-I just meant that with it being only humans, we need not worry about aerial attacks or Naga venom, Sire,” he stutters.

I sneer at him.

“ Right,” I snarl sarcastically back at him. “I am sure that is what you intended to say when you hissed that, but just in case, let me make one thing perfectly clear.” I stand taller and fold my arms as I boom to them all. “Humans are not to be spoken down to, belittled, or even underestimated. In case you haven’t noticed, my wife is a human. Your queen. She is also the one who raised the electrical barrier single-handedly and saved all our sorry skins.”

They glance over to Ebelor as I’m talking and then straight back to me.

“Humans are not to be spoken to or about like that anymore,” I growl. “That will no longer be tolerated, plainly put. Have some respect for your queen.”

They all nod, and some “Yes, Sire” murmurings echo. Some look to Ebelor and bow their heads at her.

After that, I sigh.

“So, if it’s a human army, then it’s true we are less likely to have to worry about aerial attacks or venom,” I say. “But Ebelor shows that the human capacity for magic is a possible threat to keep in mind. Make sure you factor that into any future plans.”

“Yes, Sire,” they chant.

“There is another piece of crucial information we’ve found out from the battle as well,” I continue. “Dralis can teleport inside the castle despite all our wards and protections.”

More shocked mutterings. They look at each other in horror.

“Sire,” one dares to speak eventually. “How did he do that?! ”

“We aren’t sure,” I reply. “But we have undeniable proof that he can. It at least seems to take enough out of him that he isn’t able to teleport any members of his army with him, but teleporting himself is enough. I want our magical defenses investigated thoroughly to see if there are any holes in our defenses that he’s taking advantage of.”

“Yes, Sire,” one says. “We shall put our best mages on it at once, Sire.”

“Next, I want to recall some soldiers from Murbyn Bridge,” I say. “We have to put the safety of the castle first. Don’t bring them directly here—bring them to the outskirts of the city, and I will practice teleporting them myself.”

There’s another grumble amongst the crowd. There’s a touch on my shoulder, and I turn to see Ebelor.

“Can you do that?” she asks worriedly. “Dralis got his power from his trickster god—can you recreate a spell that big even if you don’t have a god on your side?”

“I don’t know,” I reply honestly. “But if I can do that, your electrical barrier won’t be so crucial to our protection.”

“I can replenish it,” Ebelor says to me, more firmly this time.

“I have full faith in you,” I assure her. “This will support you, though.”

She nods at me sternly. Looking at her, I’m reminded of something very important.

“One last thing,” I say. “We need to start evacuating the human villages and getting the humans somewhere safe and warm.”

There’s a pause from everyone. Even Ebelor.

“It’s been made aware to me what a dire state the human villages are in,” I announce to them all. “My mother banished the humans there a long time ago through fear of their loyalty to the tyrant that came before her, and the humans have worn that yoke ever since. The humans who live in those villages now were likely not even born when that piece of history happened, and yet they’re suffering endless winter and pestilence.” I stab a finger into the table with a thunk.

“That’s from where Dralis is sourcing his army, I’m sure—from the desperate in the human villages.”

I can’t help but glance at Ebelor before I sigh. She’s looking at me silently, but those large green eyes have so much gratefulness in them.

“And who can blame them?” I mutter. “When they are forced to live as they do? No wonder they glom onto a leader who promises them a better life?”

I clear my throat and straighten up.

“By protecting the humans, we will deprive Dralis of his army recruits,” I announce. “Start with Thawallow and move out from there. Move humans to the safer of our settlements outside of Eyston. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sire!”

The meeting devolves into numbers and details, and as I discuss them with the war counselors, I can feel Ebelor looking at me lovingly.