The Last Faerie Queen (18 page)

21

T
ayl
o
R

“What the hell?” I muttered as Alexia stumbled out of the curtain, disheveled and eager to reach our side. Elora, on the other hand, took her time. She stood up slowly, smoothing a single flyaway hair. I didn't know what was going on, but I wasn't about to risk drawing the attention of the Dark Lady. So I kept my mouth shut, staring at Alexia like she was a stranger and wondering if maybe she was.

Maybe the dark faeries were controlling her like a puppet, and she was going to kill us the second we were alone. Maybe she actually
was
a dark faerie, and that's why she'd sympathized with them so much.

Wait. That was insane. This place was making me insane, and I'd only just gotten here.

I closed my eyes and tried to breathe in slowly. But the place smelled like must and flowers and slowly drying blood, and I almost choked on the air. Over by the throne, Elora was talking.

She had the strangest smile on her face. “Now that we're all here, I can tell you my story,” she said to her mother. The Dark Lady looked down, a look of great pity on her face. Or maybe it was disdain. Either way, Elora didn't blink as she said, “Little over three moons ago, I heard tell of a Seelie plot to infiltrate the human lands and steal a group of humans. Word on the wind was, the Seelie Queen had grown tired of the sanctions between the courts and was hoping to procure a whole host of playthings without the Dark Court ever knowing.” Elora smiled, slowly, and I felt a surge of admiration at her ability to trick her own mother. I'd always been a terrible liar, and my mother was the hardest person to keep a secret from. It was a miracle I'd kept Elora hidden in my room for more than a day.

Now she circled around us as if we'd never met. “Still, I was cautious. What if this was only a rumor, a trick to get the Unseelie Court to break the sanctions first? I had to be certain, and so I lingered on the crossroads, where the border between the courts meets the border between Faerie and the wasteland. I did not have to wait long.”

Wait a minute.
A cold trickle of doubt made its way up my spine, and all the hairs on my arms stood on end.

“On a warm night in April, the sentries of the Bright Court set their sights on a mortal high school and made plans to steal a group of students.”

This isn't right. Faeries can't lie.

“Sick, isn't it?” Elora asked, pausing to look at us with pure and utter disgust. “Cavorting with humans is terrible enough, but children? What game was the Seelie Queen playing?” 

“Methinks the Lady hath lost her mind,” the Unseelie Queen said, and she started to chortle. Soon she was guffawing, and Elora joined in, both of them cackling like witches, like evil things. My entire body had gone rigid with fear.

Elora grinned. “Lucky for us, I swept in and befriended the mortals before the Bright Queen had the chance to have her way with them.” She turned to us, her face so mocking, it was unrecognizable. “Really, beasties, you should be thanking me.”

The Dark Lady snorted, and I caught a flash of her true nature. Beneath the mask of marble white skin and ruby lips, I saw the face of a monster. Teeth so long and sharp they jutted all the way down her chin, and up
through
her cheeks. Eye sockets that were empty of eyes, but filled with the dark abyss of space. Of eternity. Blood dripped down her chin, but it couldn't have been mortal blood because of the iron.

God, had she been eating her own kind?

I envisioned her courtiers bringing in platter after platter of little faeries, each sprawled across a bed of greens, cowering and terrified. I imagined that first bite, the crunch. Did they wriggle as they slid down her throat? Did their wings beat against her chest cavity, fervent and frantic at first, then slower, like a heartbeat, until her stomach acid ate away at their wings and they fell into silence?

She caught me staring and licked her lips. A whisper trickled into my head:
Elora's lying,
it said.
She told you she couldn't lie, but she can. You can't trust anything she's said.

I shook myself, trying to focus on Elora. But it didn't help. She was glaring at me like she wanted to see me cooked alive. “She can't lie,” I whispered to myself.

That's even worse,
the voice said
. If she cannot lie, she's telling the truth now. She stole you to give to her mother. Either way, you're …

“Fucked,” I muttered, and Elora laughed so hard. Together with her mother, who really did look a lot like her, if you looked in the right light, she laughed until she couldn't laugh anymore. And she leaned in to speak to me in a condescending voice. “Oh, human, we'll do a lot of things to you here. But that won't be one of them.”

“Perhaps we should've left them with the Seelie Queen,” her mother said, and they shared a smirk.

“Really, it's as if they can only think of one thing,” Elora agreed, dipping down to stroke Brad's hair. He looked up, his eyes glassy, and licked at her hand like a dog. She stared disdainfully at her own palm before wiping it on her crimson dress. “This one seems a bit broken,” she said with a laugh.

“He came to me that way.” Her mother looked down with delight at the mess that was Brad. “Quite nice of the Seelie Queen, really, to break him in for me. She must know I like them that way.”

Anger surged through me, and I fought against my bonds. More laughter ensued. More hilarity. God, I was so fucking funny! Wasn't I nice to entertain them? But man, when the chips are down, you kind of go for broke because you've got nothing to lose. And Brad may have been a terrible person, but he
was
a person, and we would decide what to do with him.

Not them.

Us.

Still, all of my struggling was for nothing, and in an effort to not tire myself out, I settled down and studied the layout of the place. The many twisting hallways leading into nowhere like an Escher painting. The doors hovering near the ceiling with no way to get to them at all. How the hell were we going to get out of here?

Through it all, Elora kept talking. Telling her version of what happened. “I actually befriended the idiots in a matter of days, and was all set to bring them to my mummy.”

“But you lost them,” her mother said, peering at us with a curious frown. “You never brought them to my court until now.”

“We were … intercepted,” Elora said with a snarl. “On the night we were set to return and teach those Seelie faeries a lesson once and for all, I found myself surrounded.” 

“By whom?” her mother asked, hanging on her every word.

But before Elora could tell the ending of her story, an ending we humans knew too well, the hall was flooded with faeries. These were not the ragged servants of the Unseelie Court, oh no. These were the spoiled, pampered courtiers with their heads up their respective asses. Well, not literally, though it wouldn't have surprised me here. They stormed into the room, dressed in their fancy-pants finery with their chins tilted up, as if they couldn't stand to breathe the same air as the
lowly humans
. I could've laughed, it was so damn ridiculous. But I didn't. I was far too close to death to tempt the fates.

Because here, among the beloved courtiers of the Dark Court, I recognized three key players: the Lady Claremondes, slithering across the ground like a serpent, the jagged remains of her tongue dripping poison onto the marble floor; Olorian, the beefcake idiot who could send me crashing through the wall with a flick of his jet-black wrist; and Naeve, the leader of them all, the last faerie ever to be born before Elora came along and stole his birthright.

His black hair was writhing like snakes. His golden eyes were glinting.

“Brother, darling,” Elora cooed, bowing her head just a little to mock his lack of royal blood. “Your timing, for once in your sorry life, is impeccable.”

The Dark Prince bristled and crossed the courtyard to greet his queen, but the princess stopped him. “Not so fast,” she said, turning to scowl at her mother. “You want to know who ruined everything? Who stopped me in the graveyard, just short of bringing the mortals into your court? Whose stupidity and pride allowed the mortals to escape to the
Seelie Court
with me in tow, laying waste to my plans?”

She turned, her gown swirling around her like water, like a whirlpool of blood that would swallow us all. And she bowed, dramatic and low, to her almost-brother. “I present to you the fool of the Unseelie Court: Naeve.”

After that, it was only a matter of seconds before the servants surrounded him, covering his body like insects.

First, he was bound.

Next, he was pushed to his knees, his nose digging into the ground.

Then the Queen of the Dark Faeries rose to mete out judgment.

22

E
l
o
r
A

There are few moments in life when one feels completely vindicated. Here, watching my greatest tormentor make friends with the dirt, I wanted to laugh openly and kick him in the gut.

I wanted to make him bleed the way he'd made me bleed.

An eye for an eye, my wings for his.

“Oh,
suffer
,” I whispered as the Queen delivered the first of her blows. “Oh,
bleed
.”

Naeve tried to scream, but the Dark Lady wouldn't stand for it. He tried to defend himself, but it was too late. Already, thin threads were crawling out of his lips, sewing his mouth shut. Darkness wrapped around his wrists, binding him tight. When blood dripped from his temple, spattering his ebony cape, I envisioned my nails digging into that wound, making it bigger.

A laugh jumped from my lips.

As if noticing me for the first time, one of the servants turned my way and gave me a look. I shut my mouth after that.

Not that it mattered much. Once first blood had been drawn, Alexia looked my way and gave me a wink. In a voice that sounded much like mine, she said, “Take them to the dungeon. I'll deal with them once Naeve has learned his lesson.”

Then, as if intuiting my desires, she leaned over Naeve and kicked him in the gut.

After that, the servants led me away.

23

T
ayl
o
R

The second the cell door clanked shut, I slunk to the floor. What was the point of standing anymore? What was the point of breathing? I'd loved and lost, oh lucky me.

I wanted to scream.

In the background, from somewhere much, much farther away, I heard Keegan telling Brad to sit down, while Kylie and Alexia
reunited.
There was lots of whispering and hugging, and I wondered if they'd jump each other's bones right there, since there was no forest to slip away into. My hands slid over my face, trying to block them out.

It wasn't that I wasn't happy for them. I was very happy for them. I wanted them to have love. But I was also so jealous it made me sick, and I didn't like that about myself. Which meant that between me, Elora, and the make-out queens, I hardly liked anyone right now, and it was all so
unfair.

I'd done what I was supposed to do. I'd risked my life for all of them. Put their happiness above my own. And now …

“Taylor?” Alexia's voice startled me from the depth of my despair. A part of me worried she'd mock me for having a pity party, and I'd actually cry. How strong and powerful was I, breaking down in a cell where everyone else was holding it together? 

Then I looked into her eyes and the breath rushed out of me. “Oh my God.”

“Shhhh.” She lifted a finger to her lips, staring back at me with Alexia's mouth, Alexia's nose, Alexia's dimples.

Elora's eyes.

“How … ”

“It's glamour, silly.” She said it so casually, I almost did cry, out of relief this time. And I pulled her into my arms.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” I murmured. “Don't
ever
do that to me again.”

“I'm sorry,” she said, pulling away. Her eyes looked like Alexia's again. But I knew better; the twins and I did. We gathered in around her, including Kylie, who didn't even look that mad. She must've realized that Alexia—the
real
Alexia—was safer outside the cell, playing the part of the princess.

“Damn,” I said, shaking my head. “She really nailed you.”

Elora's lips curled, like I'd said something dirty. “She had plenty of practice.”

“You mean … you
planned
this?” It seemed impossible that Alexia's Oscar-worthy performance had been anything but impromptu. They'd had no time to plan it. Alexia and Brad had disappeared across the border, and before that we'd all been working on …

“Oh. Oh! This was her task.”

Elora nodded. “Of course, when she pitched her idea to the Seelie Queen, she claimed she would only perform for my followers at the border. Wearing the guise of glamour, she'd put on a show, and convince them I didn't care for you humans. But all along, she was planning on crossing over the border and coming to battle.”

“And you agreed to let her?”

“Only after I agreed to let
you
.” Elora smirked, looking at each of us. “You all got what you wanted, whether I wanted it or not. Of course, this worked out better than anything I could've plotted—”

“How is this
better
?” Kylie said, finally speaking after minutes of stunned silence. She kept squinting at Elora, like maybe she could see her true form underneath. But if this disguise was meant to fool faeries, I doubted there was any human in the world who could see through it.

“Thanks to her capture, Alexia was able to perform directly in front of my mother,” Elora said. “Now, the Dark Lady has no choice but to believe her story. To believe
me
. She'll never see it coming when I betray her.”

Kylie frowned, not ready to admit that any part of Alexia's capture had made things “better.” I didn't blame her, though I knew what Elora was saying. She didn't think Alexia's capture had been a positive thing; she was just making the best of an awful situation. That strength was inspiring.

Keegan was, for the moment, strangely silent. He'd returned to the task of guarding Brad. But whether he was protecting Brad from the faeries, or protecting us from Brad, I didn't know.

“So how do we get out of here?” I asked, studying the curiously unguarded door. The cell was old-timey—dirt floor and metal bars, the latter placed too closely together for even the smallest human to slip through. You'd have to be some sort of sprite to get through them. Unless …

“Are the bars made of iron?”

Elora shook her head. “Why suffer the stench of iron when any old metal will do? Humans aren't so good at slipping through bars, or bending them with magic.” A slow smile took over her face, and even though she looked like Alexia, I could see Elora beneath it. Her joy. Her mischievousness. “That power lies with faeries alone.”

“So you're going to bend the bars?” Kylie asked.

“Making an escape through the castle proper is not a good idea. We'd be caught as soon as we set foot outside the dungeon.” Elora paused, trailing her hand across the dirt of the back wall. “Taylor may not have told you, but sanctions have been in place for many years, forbidding faeries from interacting with humans. Dark faeries are not supposed to harm them, and bright faeries are not supposed to keep them as pets
.” Her gaze drifted to Brad. “But what Taylor does not know is that these dungeons were built
before
the sanctions, and thus built exclusively for humans. Faeries tend not to lock up their own kind.” Her lips twitched, and I didn't know if it was from fear or satisfaction. “We find other ways to punish those who break our rules. Often publicly.”

“Old school,” Keegan muttered from his place in the corner. Ever vigilant, he watched as Brad made pies with the mud—or may
be Brad was
making weapons: rocks surrounded by mud, to look more innoce
nt, right up until they busted your nose.

I never could tell, with Brad.

“But humans,” Elora continued, “we could lock away without ever fearing they'd escape. Even if they managed to garner a spoon … ” She looked at the freshly packed dirt of the walls. “They'd spend days tunneling through the mountain, struggling with starvation and dehydration, only to find themselves right back here again.”

“Ya'll are fucked up, you know that?” Keegan said.

Elora shrugged. “All of this took place before I was born.”

“And yet, you say
we
,” I muttered. Elora's eyes flickered to mine, and I shrugged too, mimicking her.

“I suppose old habits aren't murdered easily.” She turned back to the wall. “You see, what mortals do not know is, the tunnels behind these walls are
magicked
to bring captives back to this place. But if one knows how to pull the spell away … ” She held her hand against a patch of dirt until it reddened, as if warmed. There was a soft rumbling behind the wall, like an avalanche of small rocks. Elora smiled and yanked her hand away. “You will find escaping is quite an easy thing to do.”

Keegan crept up to the wall, touching the place Elora had warmed. His hand went
through
the dirt as if there was nothing there. “But why?” he asked. “Why create passages leaving the cells if you didn't want humans to use them? Just to keep them spinning in circles?”

Elora shook her head. “Back in the old days, the dark faeries found much delight in terrifying mortals. So rather than entering the cell through the barred door, faeries would wait until the mortals had almost fallen asleep, and then they would crawl out of the walls. The mortals were often so exhausted at this point, they didn't know if they were awake or dreaming. It was like living in a never-ending nightmare. Some of them were actually scared to dea—”

“
Enough
,” I said, and everyone turned to me. I felt my face redden, but I couldn't stand to hear another word. Elora seemed all too casual talking about the torture of humans. “Can we focus on the plan?”

She looked at me, her eyes pleading silently. I knew she wished we had a quiet moment alone. But I'd wanted that since the day we met, and we so rarely get what we want. More than anything, I wanted to get out of this place.

“I'm sorry,” I said, when Elora didn't speak. “Your mother …
did something
to my head. I'll feel a lot better about this whole messed-up place if I know how we're going to get out of it.”

Elora nodded, stepping away from the wall. “When our sixth member returns, we'll make a final switch, and the five of you will travel down the mountain. I'll send some of my allies to meet you at the first fork in the path, and from there, they will take you where you wish to go.”

“Meaning?” Keegan asked.

“Meaning the Seelie Court, if you wish to return. Or the human world—”

“We could go home?” Kylie looked at her, wide-eyed, like she'd spoken of magic and eternal life.

But she hadn't. She'd spoken of the opposite of that.

“Now that I've returned to court,” Elora explained, “my enemies have no reason to follow you home. They only would've done that to get me back.”

“And what if
this
is our home?” I asked. “I mean, what if we're not going back?”

Elora trapped me in her gaze. “Then my people will lead you into battle. But you must act as a guard, as you've promised—”

I nodded, but I didn't say
yes
.

“So that's it, then?” Keegan asked. “Won't your mother be pissed that we're busting out of the clink? Won't she send her underlings after us?”

“Tonight, they'll be too busy celebrating the return of their princess,” Elora said. “Probably, too, there will be a spectacle made of Naeve.” We both smiled at that. Maybe the darkness inside of her was the same darkness I recognized in myself. Maybe all the darkness in the world was born of experiencing things no living being should experience, and adjusting accordingly. We made ourselves darker to survive. As long as we never used it to destroy someone innocent, it wasn't such a terrible thing.

My gut didn't respond well to that thought. It clenched as if in warning.
Who decides who's innocent?

I didn't have time to ponder it. Someone was coming down the steps. Elora waved us closer, whispering, “Don't call me by my name. Don't behave as if I understand Faerie. And,” she said, fingers grasping mine for what could be the last time, “when the guards leave again, do not wait for a sign to escape through the tunnels. That is your sign. Run.”

We nodded and, sitting in a circle like ragdolls, held each other's hands. We swayed a little bit. We could've started a round of “Kumbaya.” Everything we did, we did to make ourselves look more pathetic. And it must've worked, because when Alexia came striding in, wearing Elora's form like she'd been born into nobility, she gave us the saddest look of pity. She was striding fast, keeping the guards several feet behind her, and when she reached the bars, she beckoned to us with a hand.

“Everything is in order, I trust,” Elora murmured.

But Alexia shook her head. I realized, then, that the look of pity wasn't forced. The Queen of Deception wasn't putting on an act.

“We have a problem,” she whispered. “Naeve's begged an audience with the Dark Lady. He spelled out his words with his own blood on the castle floor. He swears he can prove your disloyalty if she just gives him the chance.”

“How?” Elora asked, but Alexia didn't answer. The guards were gathering in, and besides, her eyes said everything her lips couldn't say. Fluttering across the group like a nervous butterfly, they settled on me.