Blood and Reign (Cassandra Myles Witch Series) (17 page)

“Please have a seat. Queen Cassandra
, I promised my wife that you would sit beside her, if that’s okay.” His long boney finger pointed to the cushion next to the queen.

“Of course.” I sat beside his wif
e, happy not to be on display anymore.

“I am Queen Maire. I’
m so pleased to have you here.”

“I’m the one who should be thanking you
, Queen Maire. This is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. It beats the castle dining room by leaps and bounds.”

Her second eyelids clicked quickly together and her mouth pulled into
a giant smile. It was the first chance I had to take her in. The goblin queen was naked except for a small crown very similar to my own. I promised myself I wouldn’t look, but I couldn’t help myself. I tried to be as discreet as possible when I looked down below. In my brief glance, I could only tell that the queen was hairless and very similar to a human woman, except much bigger.

My eyes refused to go down for a better look and I didn’t blame them. That which has been seen cannot be unseen. Ugh! I shouldn’t judge
, I know. She might think my pink petal parts were disgusting.

“You are too kind
, Your Majesty. We have tried our best to make our humble realm as beautiful as possible. Now I have quizzed Prince Na’min on what humans like to eat. I wanted you to enjoy the night and some find goblin food a little too extreme.”

I really didn’t want to know what that meant, but I was very touched she had taken the time to find out what I might like to eat. Na’min might not have been the best source for culinary queries
, though. He ate sugared cereals almost exclusively when he stayed with Quintus. His bottom of the cereal box toy collection was quite respectable.

“We
brought in many things that I hope you will like. You’ll notice a long metal stick in front of you.” It looked like a fancy version of a marshmallow roasting stick. “When the food is brought around, it will be cut into bite-sized pieces and placed on the table in front of you. Then simply use the stick to roast your meat over the fire.”

This was too cool for school. Why ha
d no one thought of this before? A marriage of campfire cooking and the party atmosphere of fondue. “I can’t wait.”

Conversation flowed easily. The king and queen were the perfect hosts and they had us all laughing. Na’min had tears rolling down his cheeks at one point.
It was nice to see him so relaxed and happy.

The horn that signaled our arrival earlier blared again. The room went silent except for the faintest murmurs. Six goblins, three from each side of the room entered, wearing beautiful
headdresses. Each one wore a leather belt with a large cleaver, and a two-pronged fork attached to each. They danced around the tables to a fast drumbeat. The large trays they carried with them were loaded with giant chunks of meat and they spun them from hand to hand. It was an incredible display of coordination and grace.

All six stopped at a table, ours being one of them, the very second the drum beat ended. I knew I was grinning like an idiot, but this was so much fun. A slower beat started. The goblins took the cleavers and forks and, as the beat got faster, they started chopping in unison. They kept pace with the beat until their hands were merely a blur. When it was over, each one of us had a pile of bite-sized meat in front of us. Well, goblin bite-sized, I assumed.

Still
, the show wasn’t over. More goblin servers entered the room. They carried foaming mugs of what looked like beer. When they began to dance and twirl, I waited for the contents to be everywhere, but barely a drop spilled. The servers placed a mug in front of each of us and then danced out of the room to get the next round.

All eyes turned to our table and I looked around to see what the others were doing. Queen Maire noticed my distress and explained everything. The other tables could not eat until everyone from the head table had partaken first.

Queen Maire showed me how to skewer the meat and the best way to cook it. “You are a natural, Your Majesty,” she said as I started to cook my first piece of meat.

“The beverage you are drinking is called
corim
, It’s made from the algae that grows on the rocks in some of the caves. It can be quite strong, so you might want to sip it.”

“
It’s delicious, Your Majesty.” It was very good. It tasted a little like a cross between gin and ale, which sounds disgusting, but was quite tasty.

We c
ooked, ate, and talked. The night was fun. Cian flirted shamelessly with Queen Maire. King Trehern beamed at his wife the whole time. He didn’t mind the flirting; he just enjoyed her having a good time. I answered many questions about my world. Na’min helped me explain some of the advances we had made. It’s hard to cover 2000 years of progress in one conversation, but I did my best and the royal couple were glued to my every word. My second glass of corim came and I was already feeling a little tipsy. I wondered if I could get a batch to take home with me.

The tables were cle
ared and three goblins walked onto a stage on the left side of the room. A hush fell over the room and they began to sing. The goblin speaking voice is deep and rough, but their singing voices couldn’t be farther from that. Their harmonies were angelic and blended smoothly. I couldn’t understand the words, but the melody oozed of unrequited love and sorrow. I found myself crying. The night was perfect and the goblins couldn’t have been better hosts.

The next song was just as slow
, but a little more upbeat. Cian asked me to dance. Before I could answer, he had me up on the small dance floor. I can’t dance, not in any kind of a formal way, but I didn’t have to worry. He held me up and glided me around the floor like I had been his partner all my life. We flew around with such speed, I was grateful he held me for a few minutes after the music ended. I blushed under his intense stare. Despite his elegance on the dance floor I had a feeling Cian had a few too many mugs of corim.

He leaned down and whispered in my ear
, “You’re a very dangerous woman, Your Majesty.”

“Why is that
, Cian?”

“People are drawn to you. They can’t help themselves. It
’s your humanness. Your compassion, your beauty, and your strength. They either love you or envy you. You are changing things when no one thought that was possible. I love the work we have been doing on the council. It’s a long, overdue breath of fresh air, but some fae don’t like change. Some hate it and are envious that you have the power to bring it about.”

“Who are these
fae who don’t like change?” My voice was breathy. He was scaring me. Logic told me there wasn’t much he could do in front of all these goblins, but it did feel like I was being threatened.

“I hope your changes bring
us into an age of prosperity. I wish I could tell you who. I’ve said too much already. It must be the corim.”

“You can’t just say those things and not explain yourself
.” I tried to pull back from him, but he held me tight.

“I’
m saddened that you have chosen the dead one as your paramour. I would have liked a chance to win your hand.” He let me go, bowed, and kissed my hand. “We should go back to the table before people start to talk.”

I wanted to make him stay and explain himself.
Cian just went from a charming and harmless, to someone that might be a great danger to my health, or maybe he was trying to warn me against someone else. Why did the fae always have to speak in riddles? He took my hand and I had to rush to keep up with him.

“Your
Majesty has just made me fall madly in love. You are a wonderful dance partner, thank you.”

“My pleasure
, Cian.”

The
Troll King was the next person to ask me to dance and I noticed Cian had the queen in his arms, but his eyes never left me. They didn’t hold malevolence; he looked haunted. The rest of the night had no more weird occurrences. When it ended, I was sad to leave, but my encounter with Cian still left me unsettled.

“Maire, I want you to promise me you’ll come fo
r tea at some point. I know I’ll see you at the royal ball, but I’d like us to have some one-on-one time. You can give me some tips on this queen thing. You obviously have the love of your subjects. I need to know all your secrets.”

“Of course
, Your Majesty. I’d be honored.”

I hugged her
good-bye. The night was so much better than I could have imagined and I knew she had worked hard to give us the perfect evening. Trehern escorted us back to where we had entered his dining hall. “Your Majesty, you have made my wife’s night, maybe her whole year and that earns you the loyalty of the goblins. We are here for you if you need us.”

“Thank
you, King Trehern. You wife is wonderful; you are a lucky man.”

“That I
am.” He took my hand and did that tongue-lashing thing. It was slightly less disgusting than the last time and I took that as progress.

We left as we came
, following the same two goblins through the maze of tunnels. I was exhausted by the time we had made it back to the door and climbing all those stairs was not something I was looking forward too.

Both of my escorts were quiet during our climb, which was fine by me because I didn’t have the breath to talk back anyway.
When we reached the top of the stairs, I was trying to get my breathing under control so my escorts, who looked as fresh as a daisy, didn’t know how horribly out of shape I was.

“I will leave you here
, Your Majesty. I had a wonderful evening. Thank you for your invitation.”

“Thank
you for coming, Cian.”

He started to go and then turned back. “Please remember what I said earlier. Never underestimate envy as a motivation.”

“You said that earlier. What did you mean?”

He took his hands and raised them in the air, then turned and walked away. I would let him go for now, but Cian was going to answer every question I had in the
morning and I would take Kael and Lucius to make sure he knew he had no choice.

Na’min and I continued walking. “Why did he say that
, Cassandra?”

I told him what he had said when we were dancing. “I don’t know if he was warning me, threatening me
, or just being odd.”

“Cian is a man who looks out for himself. If it was a warning
, then it was for his benefit too.”

“He always seemed so friendly and laid back. It scared me.”

“I don’t trust him and I hope you don’t either. Cian was always more a trickster than anyone who would do you harm, but people change.”

“I’ll keep my eye o
n him for sure. I think I might even pay him a visit so he can stop being so vague and tell me what he means.”

“You really are doing a good job
, Cassandra. The council is working together. I never thought it possible to unite the fae, but I really do think you’re going to do it. I will be forever in your debt if you do.”

“Thank
you, Na’min. I never thought I’d miss this place, but I will. I have done and seen things I could never have imagined even in my wildest dreams. I will also miss you, my dear friend.”

“You never know when
I might pop in for a visit. I’ve been craving your breakfast cereals.”

“You’
re welcome in my home anytime. I’m just not giving you my credit card.”

“That’
s okay; I still have Quintus’.” Na’min fought to keep a straight face and then he grinned from ear to ear. A strange sight. He knew he had made a joke and was quite proud of himself.

Exhausted and just wanting my bed I thought about continuing on when we reached Na’min’s suite and seeing Ruby in the morning, but I was curious as to how Oona was tonight. The door opened into a dark room and my stomach fell to the floor. I gripped his arm. Ruby should have been up, waiting for us. Even if she had fallen asleep, she would have left a light on for us.

Na’min whispered words in hi
s own language and the room lit with a faint glow. Lying in a puddle of blood was Ruby. She looked like a broken doll carelessly discarded by a thoughtless child. Her throat had an ugly gash and it was still pumping blood. I screamed and dropped to her side. She was so pale and still, I feared the worst.

“Get Eli, Na’min, please.” I searched for a pulse and found one. It was weak, but thank god, it was there.

“Where is Queen Oona
? Who would do this?”

“Na’min
, the healer. Ruby is still alive.”

“Go
, Na’min, I’ll look for Oona.” Lucius' tone left no room for argument. Na’min left immediately.

“Lucius
, she’s lost so much blood.” Tears were streaming down my face. I couldn’t lose Ruby. I just couldn’t. He laid a hand on my shoulder.

“She’s tough
, babe. We’ll do everything we can to save her. I’ll be right back; I’m going to search the rest of the suite.”