Awake (17 page)

The king lets out a few soft curses but quickly composes himself. “That's a nice theory, young one, but who told you that? It couldn't have been the queen you now call mother. She would never dare tell such a lie.”

“You are correct. My mother,” I state proudly, allowing the fondness for her to show in my voice, “did not tell me this. I am sure she suspects, but she only remembers your storming into her court and the appearance of your face before she became unconscious. Then she knows of her daughter later being stolen and of whispers and stories of my life.” My anger at him is only growing as I recount the pain my mother suffered at this fae's hands. “Finally, she found me and confirmed that I did indeed live. But as for the rest, she does not know.”

“What a nice story. Pain, torment, and suffering.” He laughs at his own joke, and the guards at the door chuckle as well.

I roll my eyes. I cannot help it.

The king, of course, does not miss my show of disrespect. His laughter stops abruptly, replaced by a sneer. “I'm growing tired of this game. You're in my court, and you will respect me by answering my question. Who told you this lie?” he shouts once again.

I smile broadly at him then turn the same smile on Damien. I give him a sly look before looking again at the king. His eyes have narrowed, and he is now shooting quick glances between Damien and me, putting it together on his own, slowly.

Before he can say it, I do. Small victories. “Damien did.”

Then chaos erupts.

Gasps and muttered curses come from behind me, revealing the obvious shock of my friends. I feel a twinge of guilt at not being able to tell them first, but there was no other choice. Catching the king off-guard by revealing Damien's betrayal will hopefully buy me enough favor to negotiate with the king. It is all I could come up with. I know the king did not want me to know that he was my father; if he did, he would have told me himself long ago. The king wanted me left in the dark, probably hoping I would always remain true to the unseelie court, fighting against my own mother's people, my people. However, I was not quite prepared for all my revelation would do, though.

I stare in disbelief as the scene begins to unfold in front of me, as if in slow motion. My mind is unable to keep up. For some reason my instincts do not kick in.

The king begins to speak in his deadliest tone of the evening. “You. You told her of her parentage. You were sworn to an oath. You took a vow, not only as a member of the unseelie court but also as my second-in-command. I will have you killed for this.”

The guards' stance shifts from boredom to alertness.

“No, Your Majesty! You can't! She tricked me. I didn't mean to tell her. She told me she already knew. This is her fault, not mine. It's the trickery of the seelie. She's trying to get in here and disrupt our court, to cause chaos. She was sent by the queen! You can't trust her or what she says! Even her own friends don't trust her! You must believe me!” Damien's voice started out weak but grew stronger and more defiant as he finished.

The king does not miss this. He jumps to his feet, causing the guards at the door to take a few steps closer to us, hands moving to the hilts of their swords, ready to defend their king. As he takes a few threatening steps toward the edge of his dais, Damien's spine straightens, and his own anger visibly builds. For every step the king takes, Damien takes a step as well—toward the king, who does not miss this either.

“You dare stand up to me! You dare defend your actions with lies!” The king stares at Damien as Damien stares right back defiantly. “Guards!” the king finally yells and begins to turn his back on Damien, assuming the problem is resolved. That is a mistake.

Damien will not go down without a fight. He reaches to pull his daggers from their sheaths on each hip. Before he can get to them, both of the guards are on him. Combined, they may be an even match for him. Damien is much stronger than either one, forcing both of them to fight him at the same time. Soon, the sound of blades clashing and metal clanging fill the room as the guards position themselves between Damien and the king.

The king whips around at the sound, but instead of anger, a look of amusement crosses his face. He sits down on his throne and leans back, getting comfortable, to view the fight. He knows this fight will be to the death, and he will enjoy watching the spectacle.

The two guards come at Damien from his right and his left, trying to force him to focus on only one of them. When the guard on his right lunges, Damien quickly stabs him in the stomach. He sinks his dagger in to the hilt, then spins to block the coming blow from the other guard. As the one guard slumps dead to the floor, the other guard's eyes widen in sudden realization and horror. He knows he cannot defeat Damien, but he also cannot concede. His only options are to be killed by Damien now or later by the king if he chooses to bow out.

He makes his choice, and it is the right one: a fight to the end, which will be quick and less painful. If the king were to kill him, his death would be long and torturous. The guard tries as hard as possible to get past Damien's defenses in hopes of landing a fatal blow. He and Damien exchange a few easily blocked blows, but this can only last so long. Damien finally gains the upper hand. He blocks a swipe of the sword aimed at his stomach and pushes the other fae to his hands and knees on the ground. When he lands, his sword remains in his hand, but when the metal clangs against the floor Damien steps on the blade to keep him from lifting the sword. He lifts his head to look at Damien. When their eyes meet, Damien thrust his dagger out and slices the guard's throat

Only now, I realize more is going on around me. I had been so caught up in the fight, frozen, waiting for the outcome, I did not notice anything else. The king starts to clap mockingly, but then Gideon and Reed shout. I whirl around from the dead fae and Damien to realize Rho is running across the room, Gideon and Reed chasing after her.

My mind still seems to be in slow motion, as if I'm under a spell, which I soon realize is the case. I'd been so caught up in everything, I failed to notice the familiar tingle of Rho's magic slowly seeping into me. Now it's too late. All I can do is stand and stare in horror as Rho sprints across the marble floor from the door to the throne where the king is sitting.

He did not even bother to look threatened by the fast-approaching fae, but the look of anger and pure determination on her face tells me she is not bluffing. Everything becomes fuzzy and muffled at this point. I try to move toward her, but my body will only move at a snail's pace. I hear shouting and cursing as well as movement and scrambling, but none of this makes sense.

Rho races past the pile of weapons that had been tossed onto the floor. She reaches down and grabs one of my daggers without even breaking stride. Then she reaches the bottom of the king's dais and practically flies up the stairs.

My mind and body try to fight against the spell keeping me practically frozen but to no avail. I stare in utter disbelief as Rho pulls the dagger high above her head and throws herself on the king while arching her arm down to thrust the dagger into his chest.

This is when the throne of thorns comes to life. The branches writhe and swirl as they begin to consume the occupants of the throne. I hear screaming and realize I am the one making the noise. The king is bellowing and fighting. Rho remains silent as she pushes the king further and further into the deadly chair. The thorns begin to cut into both of them and blood seeps onto the floor beneath them.

Rho must be hurt enough that her spell lifts, allowing me to finally move. Reed and Holly are both standing at the base of the king's dais, frozen in shock and horror. I push past them and run for her as fast as I can. As soon as I reach her, I reach out and rip her away from the king's lifeless form.

He is dead. Rho has killed him, with his own ridiculous spell.

When I pull her into my arms, I look down at her bloody and broken body. She is not moving and she does not seem to be breathing. Reed is at my side immediately. He begins checking for signs of life as I hold her, tears escaping from my eyes.

“Poppy?” Reed's voice is a soft whisper, both compassionate and sad. “Poppy, we have to get her out of here. She's still breathing, but barely. We have to get out of here or we'll all be killed.”

I look up at him in confusion, not comprehending anything he is saying. Shaking my head at him, I look down at Rho's pale, blood-stained face. It's so odd for her to not have a smile on her face or for her beautiful pink hair to be bouncing around. Soon I feel a hand on my shoulder but don't look. The next thing I know, Rho is being lifted out of my arms. I reach for her to keep her with me, but I am too weak. Then strong arms wrap around me as I am being lifted as well. Reed's face is so close to mine now, but I still don't understand what is going on.

He starts talking to me. At first, everything is all jumbled together and makes no sense, but eventually I try to focus on his words and they begin to mean something. “…We have to find a way out. Does anyone have any ideas?”

“The back,” I whisper weakly.

Reed looks down at me, startled for a moment that I spoke, but he quickly gets back to the problem at hand. “What?”

“There is a back entrance. The king's escape route that leads to the stables.” My voice is still soft but grows stronger as my surroundings start to come back to me.

“Which way?” Reed asks, already walking toward the back of the throne room.

“Let me down.” He gives me a doubtful look, but when I narrow my eyes at him, he stops and lowers me to the ground. Taking a second to reorient myself, I glance around and then begin to walk to the back of the room. “Follow me,” I toss back, not wanting to look at the others. I do not want to see the pity or concern in their eyes, and I do not want to see Rho either. If I set eyes on her again, I am not sure I will be able to continue. Right now, she needs me more than anything. I have to be strong for her.

I quickly lead the others to the back wall of the throne room, which is the same as the others but with one small difference: a hidden passageway, similar to the one we used to gain entrance to the castle. Resting my palm on the cool marble, I slowly begin to move my hand, feeling for the right spot. When I find the mechanism, I press firmly, causing the wall to swoosh open.

“How did…” Reed begins to ask but is cut off by shouts sounding from behind us. I had forgotten about Damien. He was probably as shocked as the rest of us, but he too has come out of his daze and is taking action.

“Guards! Guards! Come quickly. Your king has been killed—seize them!”

The king is dead and Damien is still alive. No doubt he will use this as an opportunity to save himself. We are the only witnesses to the king's death order for Damien. Rho may have saved us, but she also saved Damien, something I know I will grow to regret. Yet another thing I would have to worry about later.

“Hurry up. Get in!” Everyone makes it through the passage, Reed being the last. I press the locking mechanism to seal the doors, just in time. They close as the other doors fly open as what looks like every unseelie guard in the court crashes through them.

I lean against the wall, finally taking the time now to look at the others. While I was in my dazed state, they were all thinking clearly. Everyone is armed except for Reed and I. Immediately Gideon hands me my daggers and the Night Sword, and I nod my thanks before averting my eyes from the sorrow I can perceive in his.

With the weapons firmly placed in my hands, I take a deep breath. Reed comes to my side, his arm brushing mine. I look up at him, and the pain in his eyes is almost too much for me. Before I can say anything, the sword in my hand hums to life. I know instinctively what I had not before: the Night Sword belongs to Reed. A halfling should not be as in touch with his fae side as Reed is. This is yet another incident that proves Reed is so much more than
just
a halfling.

Handing the sword to Reed, I gawk as the blade glows in the darkness of the corridor. The radiance is bright enough to reveal the look of wonder on Reed's face. My eyes widen, and my breath catches, but now is not the time to think about what is going on. The sword I handed to him was meant for him; how I had felt a connection to it as well is something we will have to explore later. Right now, I hear pounding on the wall behind me and shouts muffled by the thickness of the wall. The guards are searching for the way in. We need to get moving.

I run as fast as I can, knowing the others will follow. We sprint for probably about ten minutes, finally making our way to another door. Again I quickly find the mechanism, making the door spring open. Everyone rushes through, and Reed slams the door shut behind him. When I glance around, I see that we are in the king's stables. Momentarily safe, we all take a moment to catch our breath before anyone speaks.

I had been purposely not looking at any of them, unsure of who held Rho, because I was reluctant to see her. But when Holly speaks, I look up at her and the bottom of my stomach drops out.

Rho lay bloody and lifeless in her arms, Willow, Gideon, and Thorne all surrounding her.

For once, Holly does not have a sneer on her face or sarcasm in her tone. Her words are rushed and frantic. “We have to get to the forest quickly so Willow can try to save her.”

I pull myself from my morbid thoughts and begin to look around. “A horse,” I mutter, mostly to myself but loud enough for the others to hear.

Reed nods. Wordlessly, we disperse in opposite directions, looking for horses to use as a quicker way of escape. But there are none.

Moving all the way to the end of my row, I find every stall empty. “Where are they?” I mutter to myself in frustration, unable to believe that the king's stables would be completely empty. Walking back to the others, I can only hope Reed has found something. When I find him, he is standing at the end of the other row, completely still and staring into the stall. I do not know what he is looking at, but his stance scares me. I quickly pull my daggers out and make my way to him. Since he does not acknowledge my presence, I am forced to peer around him.

Blinking innocently back at us is a Pegasus.