City of Fae (25 page)

The general peered down at me. Blood splatters stained his face and hair. My blood, I assumed. I should have been feeling something, shouldn’t I? Why wasn’t I fighting?
Get up,
I screamed silently inside my head.
He’ll kill me. I won’t leave these tunnels. I want to live. It wasn’t enough time … I want more time!

The general swept a lock of hair off my face with trembling fingers. I expected hatred, like the glares I’d received from Warren. But the look on his proud face was quite the opposite. Gray eyes regarded me with cool respect. He winced, lips twitching into a grimace. I’d hurt him. And I was glad for that. But he’d killed me, hadn’t he? That was the look on his face. Resolute confirmation. He’d won. The blow to my gut, the blood pooling around me. I was dying.

The door burst open and two glistening arachnid forelimbs reached toward me. The general released me and scrambled back. Countless slashes in his leathers gaped, blood dribbling. He pressed a hand to his side. Scarlet blood streamed between his fingers. I’d hurt him all right, maybe even enough to kill him.

The queen’s black crane-like limbs hooked around me. I should have felt something, anything. Why wasn’t my body working? How could I just lie there and let her touch me?
Shock. I’m in shock.
Knowing it did nothing to combat it though. Besides, it didn’t matter. The queen cradled me in her limbs. I smelled her familiar oily scent and closed my eyes.

At least I wasn’t alone.

“We are made as one, you and I, sweet thing. I will not allow you to perish. Not yet. You will not be wasted. I do not fail. Ever.”

Her hooked limbs twitched and flicked, plucking at the ripples of green draíocht vapor encircling her. She unraveled me, tore the lose threads away, and tied purpose back into my borrowed limbs. Through my mind she wove her touch, smoothing out imperfections, healing reanimated flesh, stitching body and mind back together. Precious memories, those I’d tried to cling onto, buried beneath the flow of draíocht. I was healed and yet broken inside. She created me anew, with a single purpose. There was only one thing in this world she feared, only one creature who could stop her now.

One last time.

One more chance.

“Prove your worth.”

Music assaulted me, battered from all sides, below and above. I stood motionless, faced into it, as though staring into a storm of sound. Adrenalin, pure joy, and raw draíocht surged through my veins. It was wonderful, alive, and so was I. The beat pounded, the guitar, the piano, the bass … and his voice. I’d heard Sovereign playing to the crowd on TV, but this … this was worlds away. His voice rode the waves of music, lifting the rhythm, plunging it deep, swirling it into a frenzy, and the crowd of twenty thousand surged and screamed and rode the wave too. Lights rained down on the stage, as though the stars themselves had fallen from the sky. Goose bumps spritzed my light-dappled skin. Breaths came short and fast, my heart raced. There was magic here, human or fae, maybe both.

At the front of the crowd, pressed against the barriers, I soaked the wonder of the concert into my pores, tasted the thousands on my lips, and awaited the queen. I’d failed her before. I would not fail again.

Crossed daggers burned against at my lower back. My fingers itched to curl around the weapons. Soon.
Touched
would take a break, and the support act would have its moment. That was my time. Sovereign liked to venture into the crowd, sign autographs, touch those that asked … I’d be there. Waiting. He had served his purpose. The Keepers were dead. The hound was volatile. Time to end the beast by the twin points of my daggers. It was her wish.

Time meant little while I stood and watched. Hours bled into minutes. I listened to the beat of the music and the beat of my heart; her heart. She created me. Her draíocht flowed through me. And the beat of her poisoned heart throbbed in my ears. I had no heart of my own. I wasn’t human; not even close. My flesh was hers to command, my mind hers to mold. I lived only for her.

My moment arrived. Screaming fans wept and surged around me. They cried Sovereign’s name as he descended stage-side steps and waved flyers, shirts, bare flesh. They didn’t know him like I did, didn’t see the hound behind his quick smile, or the killer looking back at them through dazzling fae eyes. All they saw was a being they wanted to touch, to love, because their weak human minds had no choice. He strode down the steps, flashed a deadly smile, raised his arms, and the crowd erupted. All but me. Inside my coat—his coat—I clutched the daggers. People jostled, sweeping me up in their lust. My smile too was a hungry thing. Soon.
Come closer. Die for your queen and live for eternity in infamy. That is what you want …

The band members followed behind, enticing in their own right, but lackluster compared to Sovereign’s brilliance.

“Reign, we love you!” “Sovereign, sign this … When’s the next album out? Reign!”

He trailed his fingers across their outstretched hands, defying the Trinity Law in full view of the live camera feeds, because he could, and his fans simultaneously sighed and squealed. He could have any of them; a second touch, a third, and they’d follow him anywhere. It was how he hunted. How they all hunted, feeding on us like the leeches they were.

Wait … Us? But I wasn’t human. I was … unhuman. Something in between. Not alive. Not dead. Not real. I shook my head, ridding myself of the peculiar thoughts, and with a snarl I sent them to the back of my mind.

Sovereign’s sly smile and quick glances reeled his fans in. Here, he was predator. He scanned the countless anonymous faces, searching for his next victim perhaps. How could they not see the predator in him? His gaze slid over me. The noise of the crowd faded away, and the touch of surging bodies no longer mattered. His gaze seared mine. His smile froze on his lips. And he knew I was there to kill him. I’d expected him to run, but he lunged forward, plowing into me and the barrier like he had the fae at the café. I should have known Sovereign didn’t run from anything but himself. We tumbled in a tangle of barrier and those who’d had the misfortune of standing beside me. Momentarily pinned beneath the barrier and Reign, I struggled to lever the daggers out.

“You don’t want to do this,” he hissed against my cheek.

“She’s got a knife!” Screams erupted, and Reign was yanked away, swallowed by the crowd. I wasn’t here to hurt the people. They were hers. Food. She needed them alive.

Event security poured into the gaps left by the fleeing crowd. I didn’t see the electroshock gun until the security guard punched it into my side. A targeted explosion of electricity snapped through me. My jaw locked. Muscles seized. And a blinding, thought-sundering pain tore through my head. The guards piled in, six on one. Camera flashes blitzed my vision. My fingers burned as my daggers were wrenched free. It didn’t matter. I didn’t need them. These people were weak. They didn’t know what they were dealing with. Someone heaved the barrier off and rough hands wrenched me to my feet.

“Get her out of here,” a voice barked.

I searched the crowd of shocked and intrigued faces for Sovereign, only to find him turned away, hanging back with the band members. The guards hustled me away from the crowd and my sight line back to Sovereign flooded with fans. I didn’t want to hurt the guards, but I would. I couldn’t fail her. Not again. The guards were big, but slow. I mapped in my mind exactly how I’d take them down.

“It’s okay.” Sovereign jogged up from behind, breaking away from those still eager to touch him and ignoring their attentive cries. “Let her go.”

The grips on my arms and shoulders tightened. One of my guards replied, “You know ’er?”

Reign gave them a single nod and trained his electric gaze on me. “She won’t hurt anyone. It was a stunt.”

“A stunt.” I repeated. A fabulous idea. Although I couldn’t quite figure out why Sovereign would want me free when I was clearly going to try and kill him at the first opportunity.

The grip on my arms vanished, dropping me back onto my feet. I staggered and shrugged my coat into position. “I don’t suppose I could have my daggers back?” My captors glowered. They would never know how close they’d come to feeling the kiss of my blades against their flesh.

Sovereign held out a hand. “The blades.” The guards didn’t look pleased by his request either. “They’re fae property. If you take them, you’ll spend the rest of the night filling out paperwork.” He flashed them a stellar smile. “Hand them over and nobody has to know.”

Once the daggers were tucked against the small of his back, Sovereign escorted me back-stage. Tension simmered between us. Moments building, words unsaid.
Tap-tap … “Alina. Go, wait for me, my sweet thing. Fulfill your purpose. Prove your worth. Soon … I come. So soon.”

Sovereign opened a dressing room door. I gave the inside of the small room a cursory glance, finding it empty. “Ladies first. I insist.”

“Since when were you a gentleman?”

“Since turning my back on you means inviting a dagger in it. Get inside, Alina.” The sound of my name spoken as a threat scattered shivers across my flesh. He breathed the word, gave it a life all of its own, made it intimate. A memory, bright and sharp, sliced through the dark inhabiting my mind; his soft lips on mine, teasing, tasting, so gentle, as though I’d break if pushed too far. Intoxicating memories bloomed; the sweet intoxicating poison that was Reign.

He attacked in a burst of speed. Slamming into me like a battering ram, he thrust me face-first against a wall while the cloying dark in my head battled with bright memories, with the past, with the fragile hopes I’d buried deep. He leaned against me, trapping my body against the cool steel of his. Ghostly memories twitched, but fled before I could latch onto them.

“This isn’t you,” he hissed, breath warm against my cheek. “She got to you.” When I didn’t answer, he gripped my shoulders and spun me around, planting his hands against the wall on either side of my head, fencing me in. Those butterfly eyes widened, becoming all I could see, all I could form thoughts around. So beautiful. But they were a warning. Get too close and there’s a monster inside.

“I am remade,” I replied, words simple, tone flat.

Sadness softened his face. “You went to her, didn’t you? Alone? Of course you did. For someone afraid of spiders, you sure have a funny way of showing it.”

His sadness wouldn’t save him. Cocking my head I filtered through my own mind, searching for the memories. Afraid of spiders? That wasn’t me. That was … that was the mistake. The other me. The one who failed.

Sovereign sighed. “She’s really done a number on you, hasn’t she?” He muttered a curse. “I’m not ready. You can’t be here. It’s not over yet.”

“She’s coming.”

He leaned back and trawled his gaze up my body, a muddle of confusion, anger and fear muddying his expression. I’d seen that look before, after stepping off a train I’d never taken to find him sprawled on the platform. He looked at me like I was a stranger.

“Is there any part of Alina left in there at all?” he asked quietly.

A frown tightened my face. I couldn’t allow these memories a foothold. They were the error in my making. I was new. My past was debris. Pain, regret, love … these things meant nothing.

Sovereign pushed off and backed away, careful to face me, keeping the daggers out of reach. “A construct, is that all you are now?” Disappointment sharpened his words with an edge of disgust.

“Of course.” The corners of my lips curled into something resembling a smile and my fingers twitched. I needed to distract him, anger him, if I had any hope of retrieving my blades. I searched for memories I could use against him. “It’s a little late to throw stones in glass houses. You’re the one who killed Warren.”

Sparks flared in his eyes. His expression twisted, lips rising in a snarl, eyes burning. There was the beast, just below the surface. The confidence he wore as armor melted away. His shoulders dropped, and for a moment he looked through me, unseeing. I sprang off my back foot and lunged, veering at the last moment to twist and snatch a blade free. He turned, quick as a coiled spring, and had the remaining dagger out in the same movement. The queen’s dark touch spilled her intent into my mind. I hunched, readying my stance, and grinned.

Sovereign straightened to his full fae height, shoulders back, dagger bare, and gave the fingers of his free hand a flick, beckoning me forward. “You want a piece of me, American Girl? I’ve fed, satisfied, practically brimmed … My
victim
thanked me when it was done. You won’t find me easy.”

Rage, white-hot, scorched my cool thoughts. “Bastard.”

“Jealous?”

Yes.
What? Wait … No, these weren’t my thoughts. “Where’s your victim now?”

“Discarded.” He jerked an eyebrow. “Tossed aside. The same as Faerie did to us.”

Damn him. An image flowed through my mind, unwanted but undeniable; him, entwined with another, touching, teasing with that wicked tone of voice, words enticing. A sneer touched my lips.

Humor glinted in his eyes, just for a fraction of a second before it vanished, making me wonder if I’d seen it at all. “Maybe there’s a little of Alina left in there? A part that feels?”

He was trying to trick me. Deliberately baiting me in an attempt to retrieve the part of me who cared. Two could play that game. “She holds the reins of your nightmare … What do you dream of, Sovereign? Of our queen?”

The humor in his eyes snuffed out. “You don’t know me.”

“So you keep saying.” I struck. He blocked the flash of my dagger with the edge of his. Metal sang as we came together, blades grating. He pushed, driving me back, but where he snarled through gritted teeth, I could have laughed. He would die. He had more to lose, more distractions. I had nothing. My purpose, my reason for breathing, was now. This moment belonged to me.

My back hit a dresser, toppling its contents all over the floor. I brought my knee up, but he dodged it and cracked his elbow across my cheekbone. Pain flushed across my face. I gasped. I’d seen him fight the FA. I knew what he was capable of. “How much of you is the dog?” I grunted, driving strength into my arms to shove him off.