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“You have enough to deal with. With Madison going through the same thing and Gaelin cracking, I have to learn how to take care of myself.”
“I will always have room for you. You aren’t in this alone.”
“But I am, Levos! I’m the only one that can fix me.”
He looked at me with pain in his eyes. He touched my face softly. It took every ounce of restraint not to flinch away. “You won’t have to worry about the king tonight,” he said heavily.
“That’s not what he said yesterday.”
“Gaelin has made sure of it.”
I looked at him, trying to figure out what they had done. “What do you mean?”
“Gaelin had an elixir made. I slipped it into the king’s wine when I went to congratulate them. It will knock him out in a few hours. He won’t be able to hurt you. At least for one night.”
I dropped my head, feeling pain in my heart for Gaelin. “How was he today?”
“Worried about you mostly. He will do what he has to do in order to accomplish the long game, but he’s changing, and not for the best.”
“I know,” I said heavily. “Can you tell him thank you for me? I doubt I’ll be able to get near him tonight.”
Levos nodded. He turned away from me reluctantly, exiting the servant’s hall. I made my way back out the throne room, feeling lighter, knowing I wasn’t going to have to share the psychopath’s bed tonight, but Gaelin was now going to have to face a similar situation.
After dinner, I went to Gaelin’s room. It felt weird being there without him. I bathed again and got ready for bed. I laid my head on the pillow, looking out at the stars, my safe place. If I could only find a way out of this. Or find a way to kill the king. That would expedite Gaelin’s path to the throne. Oh, how I would revel in watching the bastard die. The more gruesome, the better.
I would be happy to watch the fairies filet him into an angel. Or maybe one of the beasts from the rift rip him apart. I wanted his torture to be painful. I wanted his death to be public and violent. I wanted him to watch as everything was taken from him: his power, his family, his life. I wanted him to suffer, all while knowing I was the one responsible for his downfall.
Chapter 22
Flashes of darkness rolled through my head that night. Blood, pain, and death crept in every vision. Finally, the pain stopped as my eyes focused on a creature I had seen before…Otar. This time, he wasn’t sitting on the throne in the light court, watching the royals swing from the chandeliers. He was dead, lying on a wooden table in a dark basement. His body had been cut open; his organs removed.
His black, leathery skin was now gray. His yellow eyes were shut, and his lips lazily hung open, revealing his mouthful of sharp teeth. I saw myself approach him. I felt the fear and uncertainty as I hovered over his lifeless body. I placed the candle down on the table next to him, then picked up a hollow point needle and black ink.
I flipped my left wrist over and began to carve a sigil into my flesh. A circle with an inverted triangle in the middle, with a black dot at the bottom point. A line arched from the bottom left side of the circle, up and through the triangle before ending at the bottom right side of the frame. The wound healed, but the black mark remained on my flesh. I took a knife and slit my palm, placing the dripping stream of blood over Otar’s lips. The blood pooled in his mouth until finally spilling down the sides of his cheeks.
I took the candle, stepped back from the table, and lit Otar’s body on fire. I watched the flames devour his corpse. My mind flashed to another scene. Otar was now alive, bound by iron shackles. He was talking to me, telling me everything I wanted to know. He did everything I commanded of him, as if I controlled him. Then I saw a dagger made of white apophyllite crystal. Otar feared the dagger.
My mind spun around and around before I finally opened my eyes to the empty room. I sat straight up, panting and sweating from the vision. I got out of bed and staggered to the balcony, welcoming the cool air. Why was I having this vision? Why was I seeing this? Otar was dead. Gaelin had killed him. I slid down the pillar, trying to wrap my head around what I had just seen.
The next morning, Gaelin was nowhere to be found. I waited for him to come back to the room, but it had been two hours after breakfast, and he was still absent. I took off, filling my time with meaningless chores as I thought about my vision. During lunch, I ran into Madison and Levos on a terrace enjoying the peace and quiet. I tried to duck away without being noticed, but Madison caught me before I could escape and beckoned me over to them.
“Did you two have fun at the wedding?” I asked, trying to be polite.
“Not so much at the wedding, but afterward I did,” said Madison. She glanced over at Levos who bashfully smiled, dropping his eyes from hers.
“Did you sleep well?” Levos asked me.
“Better than most nights. Thank you for that,” I said, taking his hand in mine.
“You should have stuck around. The king fell asleep at the table. The guards had to carry him back to his bed. The queen was so humiliated. It was priceless,” added Madison.
“The talk about his mental state is starting to catch traction. The court thinks he is losing his mind,” said Levos.
“He is, believe me. He mumbles to himself, and he can’t seem to control his temper. Has he always been like this?” I asked.
“No, not at all. For the most part, the alfar are even tempered. They’re able to control themselves and their emotions. You saw the way he was when the dark court was here. Ambassador Lyklor was pushing each one of his buttons, but he didn’t flinch. Now, everything sets him off,” said Levos.
“In the past, even the humans he’s taken never have mentioned him being aggressive. Cold maybe, but not physically abusive,” said Madison.