The Goblin's Throne

Chapter Twenty Seven: Blood on my Tongue

I could still taste her. The salt of the sweat that had slicked her throat lingered on my lips. The metallic tang of her blood where it still pooled in my mouth, coating my tongue and coloring my teeth. I swallowed it like mother's milk. So sweet it was. The blood of my enemy.

The satisfaction of her demise soothed away the ache in my muscles and bones from where the guards had seared me with their magic. The screams of my fellow slaves rang still in my ears. They'd called the guards to me, watched as their magic slammed into me. All of them afraid, not of the fae that had enslaved them, but of me, the beast in their midst. A wolf among sheep. I twisted in agony as a fire burned its way down my spine and boiled the marrow in my bones. I flashed them the same eager, bloody-toothed smile I'd given Liber. The pleasure I felt at my revenge was greater than any amount of pain they could inflict.

Liber pressed his hands to Mary's still chest, pouring magic into her that flowed away with the blood seeping from her cold body, from her empty eye sockets, her ripped open throat. He watched me twist and squirm with wide eyes, eyes that finally saw exactly what I was. I was no healer. I was the thing that maimed and destroyed and devoured. He stared at my frightful self, at the ugliness thinly veiled by grief and pain, until he himself was pulled away by palace guards.

Now I was before the faeries' little king, his power-hungry brother and his overbearing mother awaiting judgment for having murdered one of their pets. Liber had been arrested as well, but they let him stand while I was forced down on my knees and my face pressed against the floor. One of them kept a foot on the back of my neck while he and another one pointed swords at my back. They treated me like a deadly viper. Keep the fanged mouth at bay. Even a dead snake can bite.

"She tried to eat someone?" Demetrius asked the guards. His eyes were large and full of horror.

"The crazy witch tore the girl's throat out with her teeth and jabbed out her eyes." The guard said, pressing down harder onto my neck. 

"Get off of her. That's not necessary." Lysander growled in protest. 

Titania lifted a hand to silence him. "If she's turned cannibal, I think it's entirely necessary." She gave the guards a nod. "Go on."

The guard holding Liber pushed him gently forward. "Lord Liber saw the whole thing."

"Is this true, Liber?" Titania asked. She stood tall and beautiful beside her sons, draped in a flowing gown that was nearly the same warm brown color of her skin with flecks of gold woven in the fabric. A circlet of gold enameled leaves ringed her brow. The hands folded at her belly squeezed together as she looked down on me taking in my blood-smeared face, the gray slaves' dress now colored crimson. 

Liber glanced towards me. He took a deeper breath and squared his shoulders. "It...is, Your Highness, however, as...vicious as the attack was, I don't believe it was without cause. The other slave insulted her and her family. I heard the entire thing."

"Her reasoning doesn't matter. What matters is that she has proven once again that she is a danger, not just to us but to everyone around her. Even a fellow slave, one of her own kind, is not safe." Titania puffed out her chest with a victorious sneer on her face. "I was hopeful that some time in servitude would teach her humility and soften her sharp edges, but instead it seems it has only sharpened them. I think it is time we place her in a permanent cell so she can do no more harm."

Demetrius looked at me. His brows furrowed and his throat bobbed. "It seems like a waste. From what I've heard, she's been doing well since she began helping Liber care for Neasa."

What did Mary say, Matilda?" Lysander asked.

"What does it matter what she said? This monster tore her throat out!" Titania snarled. She laid her hands on Demetrius' shoulders and leaned down, speaking closer to his ear. "Do you really want someone like her to be anywhere near your niece? I suggest she be taken to the pavilion again then we'll put her in a cell until she learns her lesson."