Queen of Nothing

Chapter 22

I wonder who looks more terrified, me held at knife's edge by my former lover who's hand I just recently cut of, or Cardan, a crownless King trapped in a dire situation. The crown rises to their feet shock and delight on their faces. Faires love surprises, even the ones where people die. Lord Roiben and his men draw their blades. In responds Madoc's soldiers do the same. My eyes find Oak's. They are wide with fear but he steps forward about to say something when a hand covers his mouth and pulls him back. Madoc. He does not even look at me as he takes Oak and pushes him into the arms of Orianna. "Given the fact that Oak is still a child and I am his foster father-" Madoc begins as he walks to the throne. "I will take up position as regent until he comes of age." With a graceful movement he sits himself down on the throne. "With all though respect general. I believe the King is smart enough to appoint his own regent." Lord Roiben's mocking voice cuts through all the murmurs and silence falls. Madoc and Lord Roiben stare at each other for a long while. All attention is on them so no one notices as Locke guides me slowly to an side exit of the throne room. "Make a sound and you are dead." He whispers into my ear. And all I can do is obey. I catch one last look at Cardan. To my surprise his eyes are on neither man fighting a silent power battle. His eyes are on me. Little as it does to help my situation at least Cardan will know Locke took me away. As we move through the crowd I catch sight of Nicasia standing by a door. When she sees me her lips curls back into a snarl. The hate burning from her eyes could burn me alive if she had fire magic, I'm sure of it. It does nothing to calm my rising panic. If Locke and Nicasia got me alone it would be the end of me. I look around frantically for a way to escape. A friendly face, anything. But I find only Faries that are completely content to watch all this unfold. I stumble over my own feet. Locke's other arm wraps around my waist to keep my up right. I feel the stomp of his arm graze my skin. The stomp where a hand used to be. I shudder at the touch and the memory. We reach the door as Madoc speaks again. "Are you trying to undermine the King, Lord Roiben?"

"Not at all. I am just saying the King can speak for himself. We believe he is still just a child, but the wisdom I have seen from him makes most of us here look like fools. I will submit to who ever the King appoints as his regent." Nicasia opens the door and Locke pushes me through. Before the door closes behind me I can hear the is a murmur of approvement from the people. Madoc is going to have a harder time convincing people to accept him as regent now. A small relieve. I take in the empty side hall. There is nothing here I can use and no one to call out to. Nicasia's face appears in my field of vision and before I can react her hand hits my face so hard it moves to the side. "You filthy whore!" Her voice sounds more like an animals growl than that of a princess of the undersea. I huff a laugh. "Lovely to see you again too." Another smack to my face leaves my mind reeling. I can feel my skin turn red leaving her handprints on me. "You have ruined everything!" There are hands on my belt and before I know it I hear Nightfell clatter to the ground far away from me. "And she will pay for it." Locke's voice replays from behind me. He removes the knife from my throat. A mistake. I bolt. A hand grabs my hair and pulls so violently I let out a scream. My face collides with the wall so hard am sure I could hear something crack. A second later I taste blood. Pain pulses through and I release that my nose is broken. "Tell me Jude." Locke's is closer to my ear than I would like. "Did you really think you could get away with this?" I say nothing clawing at his hand holding my in place. "HUH!?" Locke pushes me harder against the wall. I grind my teeth. Locke has only one hand left to hold me in place. It gives my body more change of an escape. But more change than none at all are not the odds I would like to have. "Let's just kill her and be done with it." The annoyed undertone in Nicasia's voice tell me enough. "Worried Cardan might see you were involved in killing his wife?"

My voice sounds strange because of my broken nose. Nicasia's snarl proves me right. I smile to myself. There is a card I can play. A shock of pains rushes through me as Locke pulls my hair again. I stumble to keep up with him as we start to move through the empty hallway. "Let's get somewhere more private where no one will find us." From the corner of my eye I see Nicasia fall into step behind us. Panic starts to fill me again. Cardan might know they took me to this hallway but if they took me further away he might not find me. I struggle to resist Locke. But he forces me to walk half stooped that there is nothing much I can do. We reach a door and he pushes it open. He pulls me forward releasing my hair only to push me down some stairs. I feel the pain of every step as I try to grab onto anything to stop my fall. To no avail. I hit the stone floor at the end of the steps hard. I feel the pain in every inch of my being. It is so intense that I don't move for a moment. Until I hear the footsteps coming down the steps. I try to scramble to my feet but the pain is to much. Instead I crawl into the shadows of the room. The stone floor is cold beneath me. I make out a table in the darkness and crawl for it. Locke's laughter follows me. "Look at you Jude. You are just an insect trying to hide."

"Locke, as much as I enjoy this. We should just kill her."

"Do not ruin my fun Nicasia, you will live to regret it."

I reach the table and use it to pull myself to my feet. The footsteps now to close for comfort. I turn to look until to find Locke right next to me. His hand again grabbing my hair and slaming me into the table. For a moment I see spots dance before my eyes until Locke's face comes into focus. He is leaning down on the table next to me. His face expression is so twisted that I am not sure why I never saw him for what he really is. "Tell me Jude." His mouth twisted into an abomination of a smile. "Did I ever sleep with you when you were pretending to be Taryn?" I dig my nails into the wood of the table. He doesn't know when we switched so I refuse to give him anything. Even though the thought sickens me. It's getting harder to breath as I realise that the blood from my broken nose is glutting in my nose. I spit blood in Locke's face now breathing through my mouth. Locke wiped the blood away with his stomp. "No... I suppose not. But surely you've sleep with Cardan than?" I give him my best glare. While trying to figure out if there is a way I can reach for the dagger hanging from his waist. The look of horrified joy that spreads over his whole face makes my blood run cold. "You haven't? What a horrible wife you are. Perhaps I should be the first and last to have you. That would be ironic, since I'm your first love too."

"You wouldn't dare-!" I snarl at him. He just laughs as he pushes me entirely on the table. I vaguely hear the opening and closing of a door. Not doubt even Nicasia wouldn't want to see this. Locke's expression changes a bit when he realises his problem. He is holding me down with one hand. But he needs another to get rid of my clothes. Despite the situation I laugh. His eyes narrow on me. "Need a hand?" A voice behind Locke drawled. I recognised the voice right away. Locke did as well. Because he whirled in time to meet Vivienne's blade as it pierced into his shoulder.

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We are nearing the end of this fan-fiction very soon. I do hope you enjoyed the ride so far. When this is done I will be able to focus all my energy and creativity into the book I'm working on. And perhaps a short story to come of Cardan And Jude after the events of this fan-fiction. (or Holly's last book of this series. I'm sooooo curious on how she will end this)

The artist of this amazing piece of art:

https://www.instagram.com/kat_adara/

Song's for this chapter: