Faith is Fallen (Broken Fantasies Series)

Chapter 57

Cara hesitated at the doors to her mother's throne room. Daniel touched her shoulder and smiled down at her, and somehow that made the nerves fall away from her. She pushed the doors opened and led the five of them inside.

"Cara," her mother sighed, racing across the room to give her a great big hug, dragging her away from Daniel in the process.

"Mother." Cara pulled back slightly, noticing the longing glances her mother sneaked at Roderick, and she knew Roderick's memory loss had caused more pain than she could have ever realized. "And this is Daniel. And Amy."

She smiled down at the two of them, grasping their hands firmly. "There is much to be done."

"And I hope I can play my part in aiding you," Daniel said, bowing his head slightly. "I brought as many of my people as I could."

She rose her eyebrows and turned to Cara.

Cara just smiled and shrugged.

"Thank you, Daniel. I'll take any help I can get." She nodded and led them all to the table in the center of the room. "Let's get started, shall we?"

#

Daniel stood in nothing but a belted kilt Queen Caoimhe had given to him and his men. She'd simply said, "Twill make it easier to shift." He had to admit, she was right. All it would take was a quick pull of the belt and he would be naked as the day we was born. In fact, he doubted he would even need to do that. The kilt should simply fall off as he shifted. Why had he never thought to try such a brilliant bit of clothing before?

He looked up at Cara—he had to remind himself that her name was Cara and not Faith, but it became easier here where everyone called her Cara—and was again left breathless at her visage on her charger, dressed in shiny chainmail. She looked a conquering queen, and it immediately made him want to conquer her, in a matter of speaking.

"Ready?" she said, smiling down at him. She was one of the few on horseback, in her case owing to the loss of her wings.

He frowned at that as he looked around at the gathering hordes of soldiers, most of which had great, big wings on theirs back and were presently flexing them in preparation of battle. Daniel looked back to Cara and felt a wave of empathy for her, realizing some of the extent of what she'd lost. She'd turned forward, a look of determination on her face, and he pushed the bout of melancholy aside. It didn't have a place here.

Daniel had been surprised when they started gathering. Cara's mother had her armies, a fairly impressive number, he felt, and he'd brought his own small force, which paled by comparison, but nothing compared to the droves of men and women King Eachann had brought. While not as well equipped as the queen's men, they outnumbered them ten to one. They gathered in chaotic clumps, clearly volunteers without a speck of true military training, but what they lacked in training, they made up for in eagerness.

Cara shook her head as if sensing his thoughts. "I still can't believe Eachann managed to gather so many of his people. The Unseelie are infamously impossible to organize. It's why they don't have a proper army. Very few of the Unseelie actually enjoy the rigid structure of military life. Most that are even a part of the military don't hold to it very well." She shook her head again. "You have no idea how amazing a prospect this is... and how terrifying. Knowing he can do this? If he raised an army again us, I'm not sure we would win."

Daniel pressed his hand onto her leg, looking up at her with confidence. "I'm sure there is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it." He smiled. "Even bring a stubborn bastard like myself to heel."