Soul (Chaos #1)

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Brendan left me to his fae, while he went to attend to other things. I wondered if the friend he'd mentioned was Sadler, if maybe Brendan hadn't been the monster the others thought him to be. Faeries couldn't love freely for fear of seeming weak, and they could never trust another soul. Yet I still envied them.

Realtín and Grim led me to my room, the same lavender and silver place that was way too good for me. I had my own bathroom, my own double bed, and my very own guard outside my door.

"This feels like prison," I said.

"It won't be forever," Grim replied. "Two weeks until the ceremony, and then it's over."

"I can't wait." I was torn between never wanting to see the fae again and wishing I could stay with them forever. I sprawled on the bed and took my phone out of my pocket. Dead. "I need to charge this. Is there electricity here?"

"Yes," Grim said. "But perhaps our magic can give it the boost it needs?"

I stared at the phone, unwilling to test the theory on something I had spent months saving up to buy. "I think I'll just use the electricity."

Brendan made us join him for dinner that evening. Sorcha was there, along with his head guards, including a tall, bald, broad-chested faery I had seen a number of times. The rest of the seats were full of faeries I didn't know. They all seemed to want something from Brendan. The politics bored me, and Realtín entertained me by making snide remarks in my ear about everyone present.

After dinner, Brendan stood. "You must excuse me," he said in a tight voice. "I have a guest, as you can see. I'll be spending this evening showing her around the grounds."

The other fae exchanged surprised glances.

Sorcha clenched her fists. "But we still haven't talked about the-"

He took my arm firmly and pulled me from my chair. "Tomorrow. We'll get to it tomorrow." He led me out of the room, giving the others a warning look that apparently meant, stay.

"I might kill somebody at one of these dinners," he said as we walked outside."Please look the other way if I ever pick up the carving knife."

"That bad?"

"Weren't you listening? If I ever thought court intrigue was dull before, it was nothing compared to this. The life has gone out of these fae."

"I stopped paying attention when they started talking about marrying you off to anyone even remotely related to them."

He stared at me, clearly horrified. "When did anyone say that?"

"Realtín translated for me."

His laughter was contagious. "Not even servitude can knock the mischief out of that one. She's right. What they say and what they mean are two very different things. They ally themselves to me only if it benefits them. They only care about power and pain."

"I thought that was all you cared about, too."

"I'm not myself," he admitted. "Perhaps it's Drake's influence. But he will be gone when the throne is officially mine."

"What if you don't change back?"

He released a shuddering sigh. "Then I'll have to brush up on my acting skills."

"But what if you don't get the throne? What happens then?"

"If Sadler gains the throne, then my life is forfeit. We can't let thathappen."

"Is he... bad?"

His face softened. "Not bad. Just angry. I did him a wrong once. He won't ever forget it. If he forgives me, then he'll be forced to feel the pain. Anger is always better for fae. It makes us strong."