Faerykin Read Online Free PDF Page B

him?”
    Valerian
huffed impatiently. He waved his hand and produced something from
thin air. It was a small hand mirror. An enchanted one. When I took
it I saw Jaime in it. My heart plummeted. He was stripped naked,
chained from limb to limb on the ceiling. Valerian was keeping him
in the dungeon. I didn’t know whose. Maybe Valerian’s. Or ours. I
had never been into the Midnight Palace’s dungeon, where they kept
miscreants and law offenders. My eyes watered. Jamie looked
unconscious at the moment. He was going to be miserable when he
woke up. He didn’t deserve this cruel treatment.
    “ Release him from that.” My voice choked. “Give him a decent
cell, clothes, food and water.”
    A
triumphant smile blossomed on Valerian’s lips. “Not until you prove
that you will abide by my wishes. You can start by being a joyful
bride on our wedding tomorrow.”
    I glared.
My chest constricted with fear, tears and hatred. “Why don’t you
just kill me? You’ve got everything. Nobody is going to oppose you
if you take over the Court of Midnight.”
    “ Aine, Aine.” Valerian sighed theatrically. “You know nothing
about politics. You have been gone from our realm for too long. I
could take over Midnight Court by force. But why should I shed
unnecessary blood when there’s an easier way? War is costly and
untidy.”
    I
narrowed my eyes. What had happened since I was gone?
    “ Do you understand your situation, Princess Aine? Do you want
to see your kinfolk’s blood on your hands?”
    I looked
away. “N-no.”
    “ Then be a good girl and don’t cause me headaches. You hold the
fate of many. Think wisely.”
    Valerian
vanished, leaving glittering faery magic floating in the space
where he had been.
    I slumped
on the bed, clutching the mirror in my lap. Jaime. My Jaime. It was
my fault he had to suffer like this. I should have hit the road
after he offered me to stay in his house. Why did I have to lust
over him? And why did I have to disillusion myself that Jaime and I
could be together? Valerian would never let Jaime go. He had me
with Jaime.
    I
couldn’t look at it anymore. I threw the mirror away. It sailed
across the room and broke into a hundred pieces.
    Like my
heart.
    * *
*
    Valerian’s hunters came in and took me to my old room. All my
servants, personal guards and governess bowed in obeisance as I
entered. Many things had changed since I had left Midnight Palace.
I saw Valerian’s men everywhere. It seemed the Regent of Five, who
ruled on my behalf, no longer had power over the Court of Midnight.
Valerian’s plan to reign over the realm had come to fruition. All
he needed to do was wed and bed me to seal the deal.
    I sat on
a chair and gestured to allow everybody to stand. Valerian’s
hunters exited and closed the door. I had a feeling they were
guarding the outside of my room, preventing me from roaming the
palace unattended. I was a prisoner in my own domain.
    My
governess rose and poured me some wine. I declined. Not in the mood
for anything with alcohol in it.
    “ Your Highness,” Sarene, my governess, began. “You’ve grown up
much. You’re even fairer than your mother.”
    “ Thank you. How is she, by the way?”
    “ Lady Brigid is in perfect health.”
    “ Glad to hear that.” My mother was one from a dozen of my
father’s consorts. Her days were spent in the Palace of Dusk along
with others, reminiscing over the memory of my father. Former royal
consorts were not allowed to remarry. In the old days, when a fae
king passed, they were ordered to accompany him to his grave.
Ritual suicide no longer existed anymore, but my mother still
didn’t have a say or influence in the royal court. I knew she
didn’t approve of the betrothal between me and Prince Valerian, but
when the Regent of Five pressured her, she had no choice but to
give me up.
    “ I didn’t see Lord MacCuill with you,” Sarene continued. “Has
he been treating you right?”
    “ Graeme’s dead.”
    A wave of
shock rolled