Bad Fae | romantasy | Bad Fae #1

Chapter Thirty-Five

When I finally walked back in to face the delegates with my success, nothing had changed save a new level of wariness.

"You have control," was Feyrith's answer as the delegations all waited for his pronouncement before giving their own.

I inclined my head. "I am sure there is always room for betterment, but I feel confident that I have enough mastery not to just explode unexpectedly. That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

"You are confident?" Thessalia asked haughtily.

I sighed and tried to keep it together. Defiance worked on Dain, and it worked when my immediate life wasn't on the line. It wouldn't work now. "Yes–"

"If Dain is unable to break her control, there is nothing that can," Ninleyn said softly.

Thessalia wasn't the only one who looked between Dain and I with keen interest, like there was a secret they were all missing, but she was close to working out.

"She has control, Uncle," Dain said, stepping forward. "She isn't going to unleash anything unsuspectingly on the Túatha. You have what you wanted. Surely, it is time for us to return home?"

Feyrith looked him over and I wasn't surprised. Even I'd heard the slight note of tense plea in Dain's voice. As the room scruitinised him, the shadows encroached around the edges, like he was losing control.

"Yana Halfborn with remain in Henmar," was the High King's decree.

Dain looked about to surge forward and rain that destruction on them all that he'd been promising. I stepped in front of him.

"Fine. I passed your first test," I huffed at Feyrith with a shrug. "What's the next one?"

Thessalia's eyebrow rose as she looked me over. "Time will tell if you have indeed gained enough control."

Feyrith's lips curled in amusement. There was little niggle in my head that whispered to me that this was his plan. He wanted them scared of me. He wanted them to treat me with disdain and suspicion. To keep me on the outs and make me paranoid all the time.

Just like Thivrah.

I shook my head. "Oh, so I literally have to pass the test of time? Lovely. Well, if you think of another test in the meantime to prove my loyalty to the Túatha, please let me know."

"Oh, I will," she promised.

Nothing would ever be good enough for these creatures. I had done everything they wanted; I had mastered the dark, I had mastered the shadows, and I had become as fae as it was possible to become in the time I'd had. And yet it wasn't enough. I was still being punished, only this time not for being too human but being too fae.

Mastering my magic was only giving them more reason to fear me. Being better at wielding it, getting stronger, was only making them think that I was gaining the abilities to do exactly what they feared.

There was no winning.

Just like Thivrah had lost – like they had set her up to lose – so would I lose unless I did something about it. But what could I do?

The only thing I could.

It was Dain's plan, but finding the crown seemed like the only thing I could do now short of just sitting in my gilded cage and accepting my lot in life. I'd considered fighting my way out, but how much unnecessary carnage would that create? And where would I go? I had no home left to me anymore. Only prisons. And my gaolers these days would be far more proficient at recapturing me and punishing me for my disobedience.

So I had to read the book, but it was resisting.

"That can't be right," I muttered, rubbing my weary eyes.