Burning Embers (book 3)

Chapter 22

I watched as Leita's expression morphed from shocked to disgust in a matter of seconds as we entered the throne room. She gazed around the room with contempt, but there was also an odd hint of satisfaction to her expression. My own eyes surveyed the room and I found it to be no more significant or extravagant than the rest of the palace. I waited for the image to shift, for the glamour to peel away, but it didn't. So what was Leita seeing?

Then I noticed where her eyes lingered. It wasn't long until every eye in the room landed on her. The Faen queen was beautiful. There was no other way to put it. Her hair cascaded down her shoulder in the white and black waves with a few strands of gold and purple thread throughout. Her skin was a pearly white, lacking even the smallest of flaws. Her almond eyes were large, and the irises a bright, but soft pink with little flecks of gold shining through. Her jaw was sharp and her cheek bones high. And she was tall. Very tall. But not quite taller than Andreas yet. She represented so many men's views of what the ideal beauty would be, and for a moment even I was in awe.

Andreas' grip on me tightened again and he tucked me protectively into his side. I tried to be annoyed by the gesture, but I couldn't. I stared up at his expression and my eyebrows furrowed. He was looking at the queen with the same expression as Leita. I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths before I returned my gaze to the Faen queen.

The throne room stayed exactly the same, but the queen transformed. Her incredible beauty became something vile and horrific. Her beautiful eyes were empty sockets filled with a glowing red and orange liquid. Her skin was charred black and covered by veins and arteries that glowed as if on fire. Her lustrous hair was all that remained the same. The image quickly corrected itself and the nightmare was replaced by the dream.

The queen's eyes were trained on the tiny Fae that brought us here. Looking at them both, it was hard to believe they were mother and daughter. "Nina, who have you brought into our ream without seeking my permission?" Her voice was hard and clipped, and had a slight demonic undertone to it. There was now sneakiness or concealment there. In noticed everyone in our group cringe, even the three who were clearly affected by the glamor.

Nina squared her shoulders and stared at her mother unflinchingly. "I'm princess of this realm and I'll rule it myself one dat. I do not need permission to bring guests. You told me to start making more decision for myself, and I have." She added a few lines in their native tongue and I looked at Andreas who simply shook his head.

The queen's gaze went over to Casian. "You, you are their leader?"

Casian tried very hard not to react to that statement. I could see his inner struggle as he tried to keep himself from laughing. "No, your majesty. We do not have a leader. We are merely a group of friends traveling together to save another."

"If you do not have a leader, select on now. I will not bother discussing anything with lesser beings. Who among you is the most powerful?"

All eyes shifted to Andreas who muttered a curse under his breath before smiling brightly at the queen. He didn't move an inch from my side as he began to address her. "That would be me, your majesty," he announced through clenched teeth. He was really taking Nina's words to heart, at least for now.

"Mother, you could simply converse with me as well and not have to bother wasting your breath –"

The Faen queen held up her hand, immediately quieting Nina. "Silence, child. I shall deal with them myself. You have done enough." She turned her attention back to Andreas. "You have passed my test. At least you do not try to deceive me. What is it you risked my hatred for, sorcerer?"

"If I may be so bold, your majesty, I do not believe we will inquire your hatred. We have no quarrels between our kinds." The queen merely raised an eyebrow at Andreas' words before he continued. "We came because we had hope you would know of a cure for dragon venom. A very dear friend, a brother, of mine has been infected." Andreas was very careful to keep the emotion that I knew was eating him alive from his voice. The Fae judged him carefully.