And get to him before the guards…
The heels of their tall boots clack like hooves as they traverse the space toward Andre. Cows sitting in their path scramble toward the side walls. Is it me, or is it strange that the top halves of their Fae bodies don’t move as they walk? Maybe they’re trained to march like that.
As long as they walk out of here, I’ll keep my curiosity to myself. I have jam to take off the flame. It’s probably ruined by now…cleaning the black tar off the pan bottoms will take the rest of the day.
Andre fights the soldiers. They dodge his clumsy punches with grace and ease. Two Fae grab his legs instead of trying to catch his arms and topple him onto his back. His squeals turn into high-pitched screams. This stops the Fae in their tracks. Andre’s limbs thump onto the wood floor, scattering bits of hay.
Interesting. The soldiers cover their ears and bend at the waist as if in pain.
“A quieter one!” shouts the emissary. “We must have a quieter one, or the palace will implode into rubble.”
The guards step away from Andre, who yanks the door hard enough to send Gabe to the ground. Both hubulls lie in a heap on the threshold with their limbs tangled. Arms and hooves fly as they bolt upright and sprint across the field toward the kitchens. If I had a way to send them a message, I’d ask them to check on my jam.
Smearing a hand down my face in frustration, I enviously watch their retreat. How long will this go on? When I look toward the cows in charge, I lock eyes with Clarence. The corners of his mouth curl into an evil smile that lifts his snout. I can’t even get satisfaction from the snot crusting his nostrils that I’m sure all the cows have noticed. Something about his expression balls my guts into a knot.
“Take Franklin,” Clarence suggests. “He can’t make a sound.”
Did he say my name? I must be mistaken, but everyone has turned to look at me. Clarence points from his position behind Petunia. What have I ever done to that bastard? Despite my hatred for how he treats other cows, I’ve never had the guts to stand up to him. We’ve never fought over a cow or chores. In fact, I can’t remember my last interaction with him, as I’malways at work and he avoids places where work is taking place. It can’t be…but it is.
I jump to my hooves and stumble away from the Fae. My back hits the wall. There’s nowhere to run or hide, now that I’m in their sights. I lock eyes with Clarence, and he bares his blunt teeth at me. He’s counting on either intimidating me into going, my moral code motivating me to save the other hubulls, or my resistance being silent…because I’m always silent. The one weapon we have against the Fae, and I was born without it.
When a soldier grabs my arm, I easily shake him off. He lands in a cloud of dust. Watching his descent lowered my horns between me and my opponents. Shouts surround me as they anticipate my stampede like a Minotaur. Some stupid soldier grabs the sensitive base of my horn—seriously, who does that? It’s as intimate and sensitive as grabbing a hubull’s cock. My fist flies out on reflex and knocks the Fae out cold. His body twitches next to the other Fae I pushed to his butt. An elbow to the gut of the third, a headbutt smashing the forehead of the fourth, and I have all four soldiers on the floor.
“Get control of him,” sneers the emissary. I don’t know if he’s talking to his men, my herd, or himself. Unless I risk taking my eyes off the soldiers, I’ll never know.
“Please, Franklin,” Petunia says, advancing toward me. I can hardly see her through the steam puffing from my nose. “As much as you sacrifice for the herd, you are a slave already. Don’t think we miss who does most of the chores around here. You are destined for this—to save the herd—in the ultimate act of loyalty.”
Does she expect me to believe that bullshit?
Where did he come from? I jump two feet in the air when a hand touches my shoulder. The emissary is inches from me, holding a large needle. I attempt to bat it away, but I only succeed in jabbing myself in the wrist. Lava pours through myveins, numbing my hand as it climbs into my system. My arm dangles lifelessly, unresponsive to my command. Whatever he injected me with, it darkens my veins to black. They stick out as if trying to crawl away from the poison seeping through my body.
The inky blackness crosses my chest. My heart pounds with fear when I wish it would stop. If my heart didn’t race like this, the chemical wouldn’t spread so fast. Soldiers grab my arms, but I can’t fight back. Fear has rooted me to the spot as I watch the chemicals’ progress. Squeaks escape my muzzle as the waves of pain from my belly steal the breath from my lungs. The ripples of my abs are grey with webs of black netting. I have a second of admiring the girth of my femoral arteries as they darken before my legs give out.
“Now, that’s better,” the emissary says as he enters my field of vision. “I’d tell you to say goodbye to your herd, but maybe not. I suspect if you could speak, you’d say more colorful words thangoodbye.”
“This pays our debt,” Maribelle says from afar.
“Until next year,” he sneers. “Someone will portal through before nightfall to enchant your fence, but let’s not allow your herd to fall behind again. Shall we? Next time, King Marigold won’t be as merciful as to take one hubull of your choosing.
CHAPTER THREE
LILYFAIR
“Please, Rosemary, give this container to Father. You know how he is when my health cream runs out. The empty container must go from your hand to his,” I say to my former governess, now my most-trusted ladies’ maid. Rosemary is an elderly Fae, but she agreed to stay with me until I married. Whether it was because of the loss of my mother or her attachment to me doesn’t matter; I’m just happy to have a female by my side for all my more private milestones. Rosemary has been with me through everything…except what I’ve got planned for today.
“Has he ever told you how to make your health cream? Perhaps I could make it and save him the trouble,” she says as she unscrews the lid and sniffs the interior. “What is that smell with the lavender oil? It’s a strong musk, whatever it is.”
“The only thing he says is that I mustn’t miss a day in applying it,” I reply with a giggle. I pull my ears and push up my nose to play with my reflection in my vanity mirror. The older I get, the more time I spend sitting in front of the blasted mirror. “Maybe I was born with the face of a demon, so ugly I frightenedmy mother from the kingdom. Do you think I have scales, or my nose balloons into a snout?”
“Wicked girl,” Rosemary says with a gasp. “We will have none of that. The royal family is to be the fairest in the land, and without a queen, you must represent both positions. Taking care of your beauty is your job.”
“Yep, look pretty and lift my skirts to make babies,” I say to scandalize her further. Her jaw drops as she clutches the neckline of her dress. “I’m okay at the first task, but I need a husband to start the second. I haven’t gotten very far in trying on my own.”
“Beastly little thing,” she whispers, slapping my gloved hand. “I’d watch my tongue if I were you. I don’t know what would be worse: finding a husband who rejects you for your unladylike antics, or finding a husband who will love corrupting your depraved little mind further. I know your temperament is your mother’s genetics, but you must try harder to be pleasant at all times.”
“You know half of what comes out of my mouth is to shock you?—”
“I mean it, Lilyfair,” she says, giving me a grandmotherly look. “Your father won’t be around forever. He and I want nothing more than to see you settled with his successor before we die. Surely, you want to put our minds at ease.”
