Beautiful nightmares, p.17
Beautiful Nightmares, page 17
Another reader, I thought ruefully, reaching out with a blood-crusted finger to touch an embossed cover. The title was in a language I didn’t recognize.
“What happens now?” I asked, raising my gaze. “Is there a way to get some human blood for Gil?”
Laurie pulled his phone out and glanced at it. Whatever he saw made him frown, and his thumbs moved swiftly over the screen. His expression was distracted as he said, “I’ve already put in a request for a delivery. What happens now is, we wait. The Royal Guard always has every exit manned or blocked. One of my… associates is working to remedy that. She’ll notify us when it’s safe to move. The window will be narrow. Hopefully just long enough to get you and the vampire back into fighting shape and see you off. I will remain here, of course, so that it doesn’t appear that I’ve left the palace right when Belanor’s secret prisoner escaped. Now, you mentioned that my brother wants you alive. Why?”
I had a thousand questions to ask before I could answer Laurie’s. “What about Finn? Can’t you just use your abilities to get us out of here? Hide us from sight?”
“If that were an option, we’d already be in the streets of Munich. Belanor can sense my power. Perhaps it has something to do with our sharing a womb.” Lines of fatigue marked the skin beneath his crystalline eyes. “Are you hungry? I don’t make a habit of keeping food here, but I believe there’s a jar of olives behind the bar. Also, your werewolf should be safe by—”
The doors burst open. Laurie and I both spun. The air thickened with our power, tensed and ready like a sword. Gil must’ve been rocking in a corner somewhere, because he didn’t appear even after the bond lit up with my fear.
A purple-haired faerie stormed into the room. I could see pointed ears holding up what looked like a masquerade mask, and there was a distinctly feminine shape beneath the neck-to-shin armor. I noted that it wasn’t the armor of a Guardian, but rather something more suited to modern warfare. In typical fae flair, there were black wings adorning her broad shoulders.
The female slammed the door with her booted foot, breathing hard. I could tell from her bared teeth that her ragged breaths were from fury, not depletion. She reached up with one hand to yank her mask off, tossing it to the side. With her other hand, she held her stomach, and a steady stream of blood trickled between her fingers. When I saw that, I steeled myself to hear the thunder of Gil’s approach.
He still didn’t come out.
“There are at least seventeen ways that could have gone better. Literally. Like, I’m counting them right now,” the faerie snapped, glaring at the one beside me. Her glare was particularly ferocious because she wore thick eyeliner. She had the typical fae beauty. Her skin was creamy, her nose dotted with freckles that were more refined than Oliver’s, somehow.
“We were working with limited resources, Lensa. I don’t know who I can trust right now,” Laurie said testily. His eyes dipped to the wound at her gut. “That looks deep. If you need a healer, Maria is on her way.”
The remark made me blink, because it was a reminder of my own injury. Laurie’s fear still lingered in my veins, and the energy it provided had made me completely forget about why I’d needed to feed on him in the first place. I glanced down and noted the front of my shirt—or what remained of it—was now drenched in red. The marks from the lion’s claws ached, but it was nothing to the blazing agony I’d felt in that foul-smelling darkness.
“What I need are answers. Who is this and why did I just risk my life for her and a fucking werewolf?” The newcomer stared at me, and within seconds, her eyes hardened with recognition.“Fuck. You’re her, aren’t you? Are you kidding me, Laurelis? This is some real Helen of Troy shit. I can’t believe I fell for your lies again. ‘It’s an old friend,’ you told me. Now we’ve both broken the Law just so you can stick it to Sylvyre one more time.”
There was unveiled disgust in the faerie’s voice. How did she know who I was? Was this yet another person that could see my true face?
Laurie looked as though he wanted to sigh. “No Law was broken,” he said wearily. “Even if Lady Sworn hadn’t publicly denounced him, their mating bond has been dissolved. Not to mention that Collith Sylvyre doesn’t have the backing of the Unseelie Court anymore. This is why I don’t tell you anything—you start yelling, and I haven’t had any drinks today to dull my senses. Don’t you care at all that our dear brother was torturing her?”
“Not at the expense of starting a war,” Lensa snarled. This time, Laurie let out the faintest of sighs.
Now that I was finally able to get a word in edgewise, my first instinct was to respond with something sarcastic and biting… but I was already surrounded by enemies. For once, I swallowed the barbed words. “You’re his sister,” was all I said.
She scowled, and even if Laurie hadn’t given it away, I could see him in her features. They had the same high cheekbones and dramatic brows. “Don’t remind me. I didn’t get any say in the matter,” she countered.
I finally registered the rest of what she’d said. “Wait, you freed Finn? Where is he?”
Laurie made a sound of impatience, drawing our attention to him. But his gaze was fixed downward. “You’re bleeding on my rug, Lensa. And considering you’re here, I take it you were unable to procure us access to an exit?”
“That would be a negative,” she said through her teeth. “Oncith was on duty; there must’ve been a last-minute shift change. He caught us and cut the wolf down. The guards arrived before I could intervene, and my choice was to stay and get arrested, or run. I imagine the wolf is with the other prisoners by now. He was still alive, last I saw him.”
This last part she directed at me, probably sensing the urgent question rising to my lips. Laurie’s brow lowered, and for the first time since he’d come into my cell, he finally looked perturbed. “The tides are turning much quicker than I expected.”
“Any word on Belanor himself?” I asked Lensa, hating the taste of his name in my mouth.
Now it was her turn to frown. She hasn’t heard, I thought. The Royal Guard was keeping it quiet that I’d broken Belanor’s skull like a rotten pumpkin. If Lensa loved her brothers, and something told me she did, the purple-haired warrior probably wouldn’t react well to hearing of his potential murder. Suddenly I had one more reason to get out of this place.
Before Lensa could ask what I meant, Laurie faced us, and his mask was firmly back in place. “It’s time for plan B, I suppose.”
“What’s plan B?” I asked, my hands clenched into anxious fists.
“Later. For now, Lensa, you should change into a pretty gown and start roaming the halls. Be seen by as many courtiers as possible. You’ll need an alibi when Morelli is forced to investigate who helped the prisoner with her escape.”
“You just want to save your ridiculous rug,” his sister snapped. “Morelli is your Right Hand; he’d sooner cut his own off before he betrayed you. And what about your alibi? It’s already widely known that you have a… soft spot for the Unseelie Queen. If it becomes public knowledge that she was downstairs, and someone broke her out, fingers will start pointing in your direction. Were you careful about covering your tracks?”
“Let me worry about that.” Laurie looked at me, still frowning thoughtfully. “Did Belanor say anything about why he took you? The only information my spies were able to garner was that he’d declared you a prisoner of ‘utmost importance.’ None of the Guardians knew who you were or what your crime was.”
I opened my mouth at the same moment there was a knock at the door. The siblings both went still, and for an instant, a tense silence filled the suite. The blood in my veins sounded louder, more forceful, and I struggled to control my breathing.
“That’s my cue,” Lensa muttered. Laurie’s expression was resigned. I glanced between the two of them, aware that I was missing something. They weren’t acting like it was Belanor or the Royal Guard at the door, and I couldn’t sense any fear.
Without another word, Lensa strode toward the other end of the room. I frowned in confusion—there were no doors on that side, nothing but a fireplace and paneled walls—but then she pulled on one of those wooden panels. It cracked open soundlessly, and Lensa slipped through the narrow space, vanishing into the darkness beyond. There must’ve been a handle on the other side, because the panel moved back into place, looking for all the world like part of the wall again.
Once she was gone, I turned back to Laurie. He was already looking at me, and something about his expression made it seem as though he were on the verge of speaking. When he stayed silent, I raised my eyebrows expectantly. Laurie’s lips thinned. He shook his head, more to himself than me, I thought. “I’d hoped to avoid this,” he said.
Before I could ask him who stood in the hallway, or why Lensa had fled, the faerie prince crossed the room.
He opened one of the doors and stepped aside.
Another female walked into the room.
I knew instantly that she was different from most of the fae I’d met—her tread was slightly heavier, as if she were accustomed to wearing boots or armor. Her beauty was typical of her kind, though. She had a curtain of ash-brown hair and her skin was fair. Her eyes were vibrantly green. She wore a dramatic gown of maroon velvet, which rustled like a whispering crowd as she stopped in the center of the room and faced me.
“Well, don’t be rude, dear,” the faerie chided, raising her raven brows at Laurie. She held her hand out in my direction, her fingers dangling elegantly. I was supposed to kiss it, I realized, still darting glances at Laurie.
He didn’t sigh, but his expression bore the signs of one. His voice was flat as he said, “Fortuna, allow me to introduce you to my mother, Queen Mab of the Seelie Court.”
CHAPTER NINE
“Queen Regent,” the tall female corrected Laurie, hardly sparing him a glance. Her focus had gone downward, fixing on the torn mess of my midsection. Mab’s tone was mild as she remarked, “Your guest is injured, Laurelis.”
“Yes, Mother, I’m quite aware, thank you. Maria should be here soon.”
“Fortuna,” the Queen Regent murmured thoughtfully, studying me. “Would you happen to be Fortuna Sworn? The Nightmare that’s been making such a fuss recently?”
If she weren’t a faerie, and if she weren’t Belanor’s mother, I might’ve liked her blatant disregard for etiquette.
“Correct,” I said, meeting her vibrant gaze. Laurie’s scent may have made me think of springtime, but peering into Mab’s eyes transported me there, and it felt as if I were surrounded by trees sporting huge, freshly-sprouted leaves. Following a stray but insistent instinct, I decided to match the queen’s bluntness and added, “I thought Laurie’s mother was dead.”
Viessa had been the one to tell me, in fact, during the conversation when I first learned who Laurie was. His mother’s nickname for him, while she was still alive, she’d said.
Later, I assumed it was true when I heard Laurie speaking of his mother in the past tense.
The Queen Regent didn’t seem to take offense to my comment. “By blood, I am the children’s aunt. Many years ago, their biological mother, my sister, was killed by her lover. Oberon.”
She said his name as if it had happened yesterday. Her face didn’t change, but her voice held such quiet hatred that my skin prickled with awareness. This is a person to be afraid of, instinct whispered.
Unaware of the tension coiling inside me, Queen Mab turned toward Laurie and gave him a close-lipped smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I came to raise the children and hold the throne for Laurelis until he deemed himself ready. Which I have now returned to do for Prince Belanor,” she finished.
“I had no idea,” was all I could think to say. It was the truth. Laurie had never spoken of this, any of it. We had far more in common than I could’ve imagined—both of us with a parent taken violently, both of us raised by females who weren’t our mothers. Not from birth, at least. Whatever his quarrel with her, Laurie did refer to Mab as his mother, which was more than I could say for me and Maureen.
As the awkward silence continued, Queen Mab tilted her head and studied me anew. At that moment, I finally saw Laurie. He must’ve taken after his father in most ways, but he had the curve of his aunt’s neck, her inquisitive movements. “How extraordinary. And here I thought your kind had been extinguished from the world,” Mab remarked.
“There are still a few of us around, if you know where to look,” I said. My mind flashed back to that moment, Gil leaning against the wall, his bleached hair gleaming in the fluorescent lights. Those had been his words. Back when he was still a Nightmare, and we hadn’t crept through the bowels of Hell to escape Belanor Dondarte’s reach. It already felt like that had been hours ago.
As Queen Mab stared down at me, I thought about what I’d read of her from the books in Collith’s library. She had a twin, Titania—twins ran in the family, it seemed—who was apparently Laurie’s biological mother. Before Mab was a queen, she’d been a warrior. In those ancient days, she’d gone by the name Maeve, and I wasn’t sure why she’d changed it. She was not known for cruelty or darkness, but she was not afraid to take lives or spill blood.
The books also called her Queen Wolf.
“Tomorrow,” she announced, startling me, “I will host a ball. No, a fundraiser, and my enthusiasm for the cause will explain the rapid timing. I cannot openly act against my son—with his coronation on the horizon, and the sheer number of supporters he’s gained, such a thing would surely cleave this Court in two—so the rest I leave to you.”
“Might be for the best to make it a masked event,” Laurie put in.
Queen Mab considered this only for a second before she nodded. She started to turn away.
“Why would you help me? What do you want?” I asked, knowing it was foolish even as the words left my mouth. Faeries were fickle and violent; Mab could get annoyed and change her mind in a blink.
She appraised me again, her face expressionless. Looking back at her, I suddenly got the sense that I was speaking to something very, very ancient. Goosebumps rose across my skin. “I love my children, Lady Sworn, even when one of them is born with darkness in his heart,” the queen said. “If I cannot bring myself to end him, I will do whatever I can to slow his descent.”
By the time she finished speaking, it was obvious to me that Mab knew. She knew how evil Belanor was, and she wasn’t going to do anything about it. She was saving my life, for whatever reason, but I’d bet most of her son’s victims weren’t so lucky. It was impossible that a faerie as intelligent as Mab was unaware of the Games. How many people had died because she looked the other way while Belanor explored his darkness?
Before I could form a response, Mab’s smile changed. It was subtle, but the tilt to her lips said that she’d seen my disgust. “Well met, Lady Sworn,” she murmured, turning away again.
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t trust myself.
Laurie left my side to walk his mother to the door. They’d only taken two steps when the queen moved. Quick as a rattlesnake strike, her pale hand reached for Laurie’s arm.
“This is how we keep it neutral,” she said quietly, her grip on him fierce. Her fingernails, painted black, gleamed in the lamplight. “This is how our family survives.”
“It’s always about neutrality for you,” Laurie muttered back. “Imagine the fun we could wreak upon the world if you allowed yourself to feel something.”
They were speaking in code, I thought as I stood there, a silent audience to this strange play. Their tones said they’d had this conversation countless times before, and both knew it would always end the same way. Mab lifted her hand and briefly cupped Laurie’s cheek, murmuring, “Sleep well, my child.”
He just nodded and stepped back. Mab turned as though she were unaffected by his coldness. The guards standing outside must’ve heard her footsteps, because the doors opened before she reached them. They stood on either side of her as she passed, and two more guards in the hall shifted to put their bodies ahead and behind Mab.
They left the doors open as they walked away. Watching them march in a cluster down the hall, I had a moment of déjà vu, and I knew I never wanted to be a queen again.
Laurie moved to close the doors. “I can see why you preferred Naevys,” I said flatly.
He lifted one shoulder in a dismissive shrug, straightening. In the next moment he strode past me, fussing with his waistcoat like a bride on her wedding day. “From the very first day Mab arrived at the palace, Belanor was her favorite,” Laurie said without turning.
I hurried to follow, glancing around us for any sign of Gil. Where was his blood delivery?
“Maybe because she pitied him,” Laurie continued as he crossed the foyer. His suite was shaped like a star, with every point holding a closed door or an open doorway. “He could never keep up, you see. Not just with the games we played, but in everything. He struggled with our lessons and the conversations happening around him. It even took him longer to reach adolescence. I was nearing maturity just as he experienced his first growth spurt. Looking back now, I do wish we’d been a bit kinder to him. But that’s why he brought something out in the Wolf Queen the rest of us never seemed to be able to—maternal love. She even got him a damn dog that sheds everywhere.”
While he spoke, we ended up in an enormous marble bathroom. I expected the lights to be harsh, but they shone gently from modern sconces along the walls. The rest was every bit the sort of bathroom I would assume Laurie to have. The vanity held two wide sinks and the biggest mirror I’d ever seen. On the other side, a rain shower head was set in a space formed by one wall made entirely of ivy and another of thick glass. There was also a freestanding tub at the other end of the room, set upon a dais like a throne. A single light shone down on it.
