Page 39 of Fae Tithe (The Cursed Courts #1)

F or the following two evenings, after making sure Eleanor was deep asleep and Lance was snoring in the chair, Helena had taken to sitting in the lounge area of the inn, so deep into the night that even the staff had turned in.

Sleep evaded her, so to occupy the long nights she read the newspaper, squinting by the oil-lamp light.

She missed her spectacles, rubbing her eyes at the strain.

Helena toed off her boots and crossed her legs in the armchair.

The newspapers of Solas had far more information from across Seelieland than the thin, paper offerings she bought from the local village back on Majora.

She read about the Merchant Guild of Archipelago protesting the extra tariffs forced on them, how the forest faeries of Emerald requested better prices for their produce, and that the miners of Forge, faeries and humans alike, were on strike.

Helena’s head snapped up from her newspaper at the sound of approaching footsteps. Declan stood near, clad in his signature dark grey cloak and obsidian brooch. His blonde hair was tied back, accentuating his pointed ears. He sat in the worn armchair facing her.

“Simon had mentioned you’ve been spending nights in the lounge. I thought I’d check here before your room.” Declan grinned at her.

“Is there anything you two don’t see?” Helena asked, folding the newspaper and placing it on the small round table between them. “I’m guessing it’s time?”

“Unless you’ve changed your mind? Do you have the device?” he asked, ignoring her first rhetorical question, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees.

“I haven’t changed my mind,” Helena replied. She reached into the hidden money pocket of the Habetrot’s leggings and pulled out the Wisp coin. She set her jaw, determined. He nearly got her back. I won’t let that happen again.

“Excellent.” Declan nodded. “ He is leaving soon. They’ve been in meetings for days at the manor.

According to the staff, your High Prince caused quite a stir.

Rian’s going to Archipelago. He’s bringing the whole province to heel.

He’s incredibly pissed that the High Prince of the Sea has been coming on land there, and no one knew. ”

El said something about him going to Archipelago, too. Helena stood, slipping the Wisp coin back into her leggings for safe-keeping and shoving on her boots. “Let me get Lance.”

Declan stood and looked down at her. “We need to leave now . I had word that he would be leaving in less than an hour.”

“Just let me—”

“Think about it. If you and your Prince both go, then what happens if it all goes wrong? Who will protect your daughter?” Declan pressed.

“Why do you care?” Helena snapped.

“Because I do Faedamn care. I’m doing this to get my own back, yes. But I’m also doing it because I want to help people like me. That by doing this you will be set free. Saying that, I also don’t want to leave a teenager without her parents. I know what that’s like,” the Half-blood retorted.

“You already made it clear you don’t care about… Changelings.” Helena swallowed, tears pricking her eyes as she named what her daughter had become.

“It’s not that I don’t care. I just think the freedom of maybe thousands of faeries outweighs them.” Declan’s jaw clenched. “Besides, if your daughter is right, and they don’t travel with the Seelies that claimed them… then they will be free, too.”

Helena froze, her mind spinning, chest rising and falling as she considered it all.

I have been so focused on getting rid of the King, on removing him as a threat from El’s life.

.. I haven’t thought about the other girls, the bargained faeries, and what would happen if I don’t come back.

Lance’s magic can beat the King’s. If this doesn’t work, if I don’t come back, he’ll be able to hide her somewhere while he returns to the sea.

Lance can get his full power back, then take on the King again.

Declan waved a hand in front of her face, snapping her from her whirling thoughts.

“It’s now or never,” he said, gesturing to the exit of the inn.

“Once he leaves Solas, it’ll be a long time before we have a chance to remove him again.

If we take some of them out and not all, they will cast more wards, more spells, so it would make it near impossible to take them out again in the future.

Helena’s stuck her chin out, resolute in her decision. “Let’s get on with it, then.”

They walked at a quick march through the night, the air warm and peppering sweat on Helena’s upper lip.

Lamp posts lit the cobblestone streets in a soft glow and the sky above was littered with bright stars.

The ramshackle houses surrounding the inn were dark and quiet, the workers inside exhausted from a long day of labour.

In her periphery, Helena saw Declan’s pointed ear twitch. She bit back a grin. It reminded her of a housecat tracking a mouse.

“Go down here,” the Half-blood whispered. He gestured down a darkened alleyway.

“Why?” Helena asked, apprehension creeping in as she glanced left and right.

“I hear armoured boots on the cobblestones, close by,” he replied, stepping from the lamplight.

Helena dashed after him, hiding in the shadows. She squinted at Declan in the gloom. He pressed a finger to his closed lips. Helena nodded and waited. The minutes seemed to crawl as she tried to breathe as quietly as possible.

Eventually, four Solas Guards strode by, their golden armour glinting in the lamplight as they passed through it. When the sound of footfalls dissolved into the night, she let out a long exhale, her pulse slowing as relief flooded her.

“How could you hear them from so far away?” Helena asked.

“Part of my… inheritance, from my father. Sometimes, Half-blood's have even better senses than Fae,” he added, nodding into the shadows. “It’ll take longer, but let’s take the lanes. Less likely to be spotted.”

“Won’t that be too late?” Helena asked. “You said he’d be leaving soon.”

“I did, but it’ll take even longer if we keep having to stop. And we won’t get there at all if we get caught,” Declan explained, stepping deeper into the gloom.

Helena swallowed, turning her head back to the well-lit street and squinting back down the alley. She could just about make out the Half-bloods petite silhouette through the dark. Blood roared in her ears, anxiety spiking at the thought of winding through the backstreets of a city she barely knew.

She placed a hand on her chest, taking a deep breath. For El.

Declan led them through. Helena, near-blind in the dark, stuck close to his side. Unease prickled goosebumps up her arms, sensing others around them.

“Who else is here?” she whispered.

“Faeries, Half-bloods, humans… they sleep here if they have nowhere else to go, if they can’t work, if they aren’t considered useful ,” he replied, voice low.

Helena swallowed, a pang of sympathy in her chest. El, Lance, Rose, Max, and Zac… we all have each other. These people have no one.

Declan eventually led Helena into the familiar lane where he had first met her. “I’ll be leaving you here.”

“What? You’re going?” Helena asked, her eyes meeting his and narrowing.

“I’ve five other people to help tonight,” he explained, a muscle feathering in his jaw as he stared back.

Helena exhaled heavily through her nose. “Fine. How will I know which carriage is his?”

“The King’s carriage is gold and red. It’s modelled after a dragon.

The doors of it will be shaped like wings, and it will be pulled by two huge black stallions,” the Half-blood explained.

“You wait until the Dragon Carriage leaves Tithe Manor’s ward.

The Wisp magic won’t work through it. Remember, you must be close, no more than five carriage-lengths away. ”

“How do you know that?” Helena asked.

Declan smirked. “I hear a lot, remember?”

She rolled her eyes. “You know, if you didn’t put on such a cocksure attitude, you might actually be likeable . Imagine that.”

Declan scoffed at her jab. “He will be leaving last.” He turned to leave, tossing his head over his shoulder. “The others will be waiting for your Wisp coin to ignite before they set theirs off.”

Helena waited, watching him disappear into the night. Placing a hand on her chest, she took a deep breath, trying to slow her racing heart.

You can do this. She nodded, before striking out into the night alone.

The manor was only a short distance from her now. On the remaining quick march through the streets, she stuck to the shadow of the terraced buildings, avoiding the obvious glow of the lamplight.

Then, there it was. Tithe Manor.

Studying the gaudy building, Helena put her hair back in a low bun and fiddled with the Wisp coin in her pocket. She had eyes on the manor’s gardens from her position, the floating orbs dimly illuminating the vibrant green of the grass and briars.

She watched as two other carriages departed. None belonged to the King. “Under an hour? Faedammit!” Helena snarled to herself.

Her strong legs began to cramp from standing so long.

She took to stepping from foot to foot to help ease the ache.

Helena took long, deep breaths to ease the pounding in her ears and thundering heart rate.

She did not know how much longer she could stand the tension.

She also knew she could not bear it if she let the King get away.

Helena had to try. She did not know which was more terrifying: what would happen if she did succeed in killing the King, or what would happen if she did not.

The two young men, Declan and Simon, were both right.

She stood on the precipice of changing everything, and the only reason she chose to do it was to save her daughter from the Seelie King.

In the dim light of the floating orbs illuminating the pristine gardens, Helena saw a flash of glossy black, red, and shimmering gold. It was time for her to take the leap.

“That’s it,” she hissed.