Page 22 of Queen of Ever (Curse of Fate and Fae #2)

Chapter 22

Imogen

‘W hat’s this?’ Marietta asked, directing her question to Ethan’s brother as if I hadn’t spoken at all. ‘She was supposed to be treated as a guest, Cassian!’

How the hell was she here? The quiet, polite princess I’d come to know didn’t mesh with this woman in front of me. She’d had a whole rebellion tucked away in her closet and I’d had no idea. Was I really so gullible?

‘We can’t let her wander freely around the base when we have no idea where she aligns herself,’ he responded as if Marietta was being unreasonable.

‘Can we just back the fuck up here, please?’ I interjected, my voice louder than it needed to be in my shock and confusion. Everyone turned to look at me, and all voices died away. ‘Why is the actual Seelie princess here, roaming freely around, while I’m tied to a fucking chair?’

‘Princess Marietta has earned our trust. You have not,’ Cassian said.

‘Maybe because you kidnapped me. Honestly, High Fae, lesser fae, you’re all the fucking same,’ I spat. I was getting really bloody tired of getting kidnapped and held captive, whether it was in a manor or a palace or a dank underground room.

‘You could help us, Imogen,’ Marietta said softly, her eyes gentle.

‘Why would I do that? You’ve been lying to me from the beginning, and I’m going to assume you helped them kidnap me. Why didn’t you just talk to me?’ The bitter sting of betrayal stabbed at me. I’d thought we were friends. Did she honestly think I wouldn’t have helped her if she’d asked me?

‘It was too dangerous for you to know, and you had enough on your plate.’

‘Well, tell me now,’ I said firmly. ‘What the hell are you doing here, Marietta?’

‘Can we take her binds off?’ Marietta asked, turning to Cassian again.

‘No,’ he said, crossing his arms to accentuate his answer.

‘Then at least let the guards wait outside.’

Cassian thought about it for a long moment before he finally nodded. The other two lessers left the room, but he remained, moving back to lean against the wall, his eyes ever watchful, as if he thought I might burst out of my seat and attack. As if that was going to be possible.

Marietta let out a sigh and I turned my attention back to her. ‘You know that I was born without magic,’ she began and I nodded. ‘The only time I was treated better than human was when my brother had a use for me.’

‘Like winning me to his side,’ I said bitterly. I suspected that was why the princess had been acting as my lady’s maid. She’d been put in my path to help steer me in the direction Solas wanted me to go. But she’d never manipulated me, never tricked me. At least, I hadn’t thought she had.

‘Yes, it’s true that he put me next to you for that reason,’ Marietta said apologetically. ‘But I never had any intention of letting him use you, and definitely not of letting him bully you into marriage.’

‘Oh no, because how would your rebel friends use me if I was already stitched up by your brother?’ I said sarcastically. Not that I would ever have married Solas in the first place, the very idea made me shudder.

‘I’ve been helping them for a long time now, longer than you’ve been in the Fae Realm,’ she continued. ‘Because I know what it’s like to be treated less than for something you have no control over. And I know that you have sympathy for them. I’ve seen it in the Summer Palace.’

‘Just because I think they’re treated unfairly doesn’t mean I’m going to help them after they kidnapped me. My head is still throbbing from that blow.’

‘Well, you are annoying when you’re screaming your lungs out,’ Cassian said, smirking.

Arsehole.

Marietta glared at him. ‘I’m sorry for the method we used to get you here, but it was necessary. Neither court can think you’re here of your own volition.’

‘Which, I suppose, is the reason you didn’t tell me any of this.’

‘I couldn’t risk it. If I’d told you and you’d turned on us, you would have endangered us all. It also helped that your reaction to being taken was real.’

‘Well, mission accomplished. I’m real pissed off,’ I said bitterly. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. ‘So why was it so important to get me here? Surely this is only going to ensure the High Fae come after you.’

‘The amendment wasn’t signed. The minute you were taken, Tarian was out of there. He’s not going to be signing anything until he has you back,’ Marietta said. ‘But it won’t be enough to stop it indefinitely.’

‘And you think my life will? What’s your plan, to hold me here forever and hope Tarian doesn’t find this place and tear it apart?’

‘We’re protected,’ Cassian said confidently.

I laughed. ‘You’re not nearly protected enough,’ I said, taking satisfaction in that knowledge. ‘He will come for me.’ And he when he did, he was going to be pissed.

‘You’re right,’ Marietta said. ‘Tarian will come for you, and we don’t have much time. It would be much easier to win you over if I could only show you the cause...’

‘You don’t have to talk like I’m not here, I know what you’re getting at,’ Cassian said irritably. ‘But it’s too dangerous.’

‘What is it you’re afraid she’s going to do?’ Marietta asked. ‘If she runs, she won’t get far. She’s not the only one with magic here, and there are guards everywhere. Now stop being dramatic and cut her loose. Besides, the queen wants to see her.’

‘That’s an even worse idea than having her wandering around,’ he complained, but he moved towards me with a dagger in his hand anyway.

It was a relief when my hands and feet were freed. Blood flowed into them again and I rubbed the soreness out of my wrists as much as I could. ‘So, what happens if you can’t convince me to join your cause?’ I asked despite my better judgement as my emotions got the best of me.

‘Then you’ll go right back in that chair and stay here until you’ve served your purpose,’ Cassian said, a hint of menace in his voice.

‘Yes, convincing,’ I said sardonically. ‘You’re really not doing a great job of playing the good guy.’

Marietta smiled, a reaction that seemed out of place. ‘Stop riling him up, Imogen,’ she said, but there was an easiness in her tone that hadn’t been there before. ‘And you,’ she added, turning to Cassian, ‘stop letting her.’

‘I don’t like this,’ Cassian said as I got to my feet.

‘Noted,’ Marietta said. ‘Come on, Imogen. Let me show you what we’re fighting for.’

There was something about that hopeful look in her eyes that wore down the last of my resistance—that and the fact that I was in no hurry to get back in that chair. ‘Fine. But I’m not promising anything.’

‘You don’t need to, sweetheart. You’ll be useful to us whether you want to be or not,’ Cassian said. Marietta threw him a glare before leading me to the door. It led to a low corridor with the same compacted dirt floor and bedrock walls. Seams of moss grew in the cracks, illuminated by the light of a row of lanterns, set out evenly as if they had been measured exactly.

‘How far down are we?’ I asked.

‘A fair way,’ Marietta said. ‘It’s how we’ve managed to stay hidden for so long.’

The corridor finally widened out into the floor of a huge opening, a chasm of sorts, with pathways that wound up and around it that looked giant tree roots. Lanterns and faelight lit it up almost like Christmas lights. Somehow plants were growing in the space despite the lack of sunlight—vines wrapping around bannisters, dotted with brightly coloured flowers, little gardens where lessers were gathered, talking or tending to plants, and I was surprised to see just how many young fae there seemed to be here. It was like a whole underground kingdom.

‘Is this the court?’ I asked.

‘If you want to use High Fae terms, then yes, I suppose it is,’ Marietta said. ‘Not everyone is permitted down here, to keep it safe, but we do have a lot of refugees living here. More of them come in every day.’

‘Refugees? From where?’

‘Most of them flee from abusive masters, some come from lesser fae towns that get raided for servants and workers.’

‘They raid towns?’ I asked, shock raising my voice. I knew they were treated badly as servants, at least for the most part, but I hadn’t realised exactly how they became servants in the first place. I hadn’t realised it was more akin to slavery.

‘Oh yes, lesser trading is a huge industry,’ Marietta said.

‘And servant is the nicest outcome for those sold,’ Cassian said, anger simmering in his voice.

I bit my tongue to stop the words of sympathy that would inevitably give them what they wanted. And I definitely was not going to ask any follow-up questions on what some of the worst outcomes were. I’d seen some of the depravity the High Fae participated in, and I was sure I’d only been in the shallow end of that pool.

I shook those thoughts away, reminding myself that they had kidnapped me to use me for their cause. Even if that cause did feel worthy, I wasn’t going to tip my hand too soon. How many times had I been fooled by the fae? I needed to tread carefully. But I couldn’t deny that there was a problem in this realm. I couldn’t ignore that the lesser fae were treated poorly and that it was barbaric to enslave them anymore than I could ignore how wrong it was to steal human children away from their parents and replace them with changelings.

‘How many are down here?’ I asked as I watched two winged fae children chase each other past me, the pair of them squealing and giggling despite the fact that they were stuck underground in hiding. No sunlight, no fresh air or cool breeze, no grass beneath their feet. I supposed they were too young to understand.

‘Not enough,’ Cassian said, and for the first time I detected something other than anger and disdain in his voice. There was something sad there instead, making him seem more human. Although, human was probably not the right word.

‘But we can’t take many more, either,’ Marietta said. ‘We don’t have the space or the resources. Rations are already on the tight side, and more raids would only increase the risk of us being found.’

But they couldn’t exactly turn people away, either, which meant they were in a precarious situation. It was only a matter of time before they were caught or their people starved. There was something so sad in that, especially knowing as I did how well the High Fae lived, and the sort of barbary they practiced for their entertainment.

‘So, you want a war, too,’ I said, knowing it was the next logical option. Could it be considered logical if they knew they were fighting a losing battle?

‘What other choice do we have?’ Cassian asked, exasperation leaking into his voice. ‘We can’t move every lesser underground, and even if we could, how could you expect us to live like that?’ That anger was returning, and I couldn’t really blame him. In his mind, their choices were to live underground like rats or live as slaves to the High Fae and their whims.

‘But surely there’s another way, a better way. One that won’t result in so much death. How could you even win a war against both courts?’ I thought back to what Tarian had said about the way rebellions were dismantled, like victory was a foregone conclusion. I wasn’t sure what that way was or if one even existed, but the hopelessness of their situation stung at my heart.

‘With someone sympathetic on the throne of both courts,’ Marietta said.

‘And who do you suppose that will be?’ Cassian asked. ‘Even if we could get you on the Seelie throne, Tarian is another story.’

‘He’s not as bad as you think he is,’ I said, automatically coming to his defence even as I felt a trickle of shame at how detached he’d been when he’d spoken of attacking the rebels. There was so much he just accepted that he shouldn’t. Maybe I was beginning to understand why that was, because sometimes detached was the only way to be when you felt like you had no power to change anything. A bit like I’d been when I was younger and caught up in psychiatric wards being treated like I was crazy. I’d had to learn to say what the doctors wanted to hear, to squash down my feelings and bend my reality until I was left alone. But there was another, softer side to him. I’d seen it. He’d at least been willing to listen to me about the changelings when I’d broached the subject with him, I was sure he’d listen to reason about the lesser fae, too. He’d never demonstrated the kind of disgust or prejudice towards lesser fae that I’d seen in Solas. Sure, he treated them with curt impatience, but that was how he treated everyone. Surely, he could be prevailed upon to implement some change in the Unseelie Kingdom if he was on the throne.

He would. If I asked it of him.

‘Even if that was true, getting Moriana’s arse off that seat would take nothing short of a miracle,’ Cassian said. ‘It’s a lot of moving parts, no matter which way you look at it, and a lot of problems to solve. War is the simplest way.’

‘And the most deadly,’ Marietta said. ‘We hardly have the army to go up against both courts.’

‘For now,’ Cassian said.

‘Having our strategy meeting early, I see,’ a new voice said. We all spun around to see who had spoken.

A petite woman stood at the end of one of the winding pathways down the crevasse, draped in a green dress with long flowing sleeves and a hem that didn’t quite reach the ground, revealing a peek of bare feet covered in soft brown fur. Her ears were pointed like a High Fae and were adorned with bronze cuffs and earrings. Her cheekbones were high, her tanned skin flecked with white. Her eyes were big and round, making her look young, and they were the most brilliant green I had ever seen, with dark rings around the edges. Perching on her chestnut hair was a crown that looked to be made of bone, strands twisting around each other like the roots of a tree, and a giant emerald sat in the centre of it. Small antlers protruded through her hair around the crown, holding it in place. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who she must be.

‘Your Majesty, we were just on our way to see you,’ Cassian said, bowing his head low in respect.

‘It seems you got a little side tracked,’ she said mildly. She seemed perfectly calm and patient, with a curl of a smile to her lips. She walked towards me, and I realised how short she was, coming only to my shoulders. ‘My name is Sylara, and here they call me queen, though I doubt your friends in the Seelie and Unseelie courts would agree with that title. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, Imogen.’

‘You have?’ I asked, my confusion showing in my voice. ‘I was under the impression that I was a prisoner.’

Her eyes flicked down to the marks on my wrists, then back to my face. ‘You’ll have to excuse Cassian, his heart is in the right place but he can be… overly cautious.’

‘I hardly think it was excessive,’ Cassian said defensively. ‘She’s mated to the Unseelie prince and engaged to the Seelie King.’

‘I am not engaged to him,’ I snapped.

‘He knows that,’ the queen said, quirking an eyebrow at him. ‘Come,’ she said, linking her arm with mine as if we were equals. ‘We have much to discuss, but first I think we should get you settled in and cleaned up so you’re more comfortable.’

‘We hardly have time for—’ Cassian began, but he was cut off with a wave of the queen’s hand as she led me up the curling pathway she’d been standing on moments ago.

‘After our guest has had a chance to eat, we will discuss the future,’ she said pointedly, leaving no room for argument.

We walked in silence for some moments as she led us through an opening in the wall and down another winding passage of the underground hideaway. I had so many questions, but I wasn’t sure where to start or if I even should start. Why had this queen wanted to meet me? What was she hoping I could do for her and her cause? How long would it take for Tarian to find me?

Finally, we stopped outside a door that was lit with purple lanterns. It was a strange, ornate wooden thing that looked out of place in the compacted dirt wall. Cassian opened it, quickly jumping in before the queen could do it herself. The room was small, though bigger than the one I’d been held in before and furnished strangely. It was bizarre to see beautiful antique furniture in a room carved out of the ground. But I was glad to see there was a bathroom.

‘Marietta has already found you something to wear. I’ll send someone in with food,’ the queen said. ‘A bath has been poured in the adjoining room, so you should use it. I know this has been a lot to take in, but try to relax a little. Take some time to think about what you’ve seen here today.’

‘We can’t just leave her here unguarded,’ Cassian protested.

Queen Sylara considered him for a moment, her head slightly tilted, before she nodded. ‘Very well. Stand guard outside her door if you must,’ she said. ‘You personally and no one else.’

Cassian let out a frustrated sigh. ‘As you wish, Your Majesty,’ he said before turning on his heels and heading out the door. I had no doubt he would stay there.

‘We’ll leave you to get settled. If you need anything at all, feel free to ask Cassian. He’ll be sure to arrange it for you,’ the queen said, loud enough for Cassian to hear. A smile tugged at her lips as he muttered irritably to himself.

She and Marietta left the room, leaving me completely alone except for my silent and disgruntled guard outside the closed door. I blew out a breath, hand raising to rub some of the tension from my shoulder. There was no way I was going to get out of here. For starters, I had no idea where to go to find the exit. And there was no way my guard was going to let me wander around unsupervised. There was nothing to do but exactly as I’d been told—soak in the bath, clean up, and think about what the fuck was going on here.

Tarian, where are you? I wondered as I headed into the little bathroom.