“Understood, Your Highness,” Conri nodded.
Cat gave a little yip and licked my cheek. I hugged her, stood, and announced, “Alright, everyone, armor up, then climb aboard Flight Raza.”
Chapter Forty-Six
How fast can a dragon fly? Fast, very fast. Fast enough to make you hide your face from the sting of the wind. But not fast enough to save Seelie.
We landed at intervals to make use of the inter-kingdom raths, which would jump us over distances that would have taken far longer to fly. This got us ahead of my father. We actually passed over his army in Twilight, he was only a mile away from the rath to Seelie, but we didn't wait for him. We used the rath, and came out in Seelie, very close to the Seelie Castle. Raza and Kader lifted us back into the sky, and within minutes, we were circling down into the courtyard of Castle Seelie. Halfway up the road to the Seelie Castle, my Star's Guard and Cat waited with the twilight troops my father had sent to Raza. They cheered when they spotted us, and started rushing up the road.
The cheering was a strange soundtrack to the horror we landed amidst. It had been a slaughter. The seelie were caught unaware and unprepared for an elven attack employing iron arrows. Bodies were strewn over the courtyard we landed in, though not as many as there could have been. I suspected that my grandmother had done the smart thing for once, and surrendered when it became apparent that it was impossible for her to win. There was no sign of her among the corpses.
There were elves within the courtyard, but they were standing in orderly files, at attention, as if their duty had been done. They didn't even challenge us when we landed. In fact, Dagur was standing with them, and he stepped forward to welcome us.
Tiernan and I slipped off Raza's back as Killian leapt off of Kader's. I prepared to hand Raza and Kader the clothing we'd brought along for them. But Raza was too angry to get dressed. He shifted to sidhe form, then stomped over to Dagur nude, wings whooshing out behind him, and claws closing into fists. Dagur held up his hands in a gesture of surrender and tried to speak to Raza calmly, but it became difficult for him. Since Raza slammed his fist into Dagur's face.
“You fucking traitor!” Raza bellowed. “I should kill you where you stand. You told me personally that you supported my rule, then you defect and side with my enemy?”
“Here,” I handed Kader his clothes. “I need to go handle this.”
“The bastard deserves anything my cousin wishes to give him,” Kader said as he took the clothes.
“Not helping,” I growled, then hurried over to Raza.
“Your Majesty,” Dagur got up from where Raza had knocked him, pushing his jaw back into place. His words were slurred, and his face was already swelling. “Danu's orders overrule my loyalty to you.”
“Raza,” I laid a hand on his trembling arm. He was on the verge of shifting back to dragon. “Here, honey, put these on.”
Raza took the clothes from me, looking from my face to the garments, then back again. He blinked, nodded, then started getting dressed. I used his distraction to speak with Dagur.
“What have you done here, Lord Dagur?”
“Princess,” Dagur bowed. “It's a pleasure to see-”
“Cut the niceties, you can barely talk,” I huffed. “So keep it succinct. Tell me why you attacked Seelie.”
“Come inside and find out for yourself,” a voice called from the castle's main steps.
I turned and saw a winged man standing among the ruins of the main castle doors. He would have been beautiful if he hadn't been wearing such an evil expression. His hatred for me turned his beauty bitter, lengthening the lines of his face, and souring his eyes. The topaz feathers in his wings shivered with fury, and the bird talons he had instead of hands were extended as if he were about to attack.
“Ryvel?” Tiernan stepped forward. “What are you doing here?”
“You betrayed your own kingdom?” I knew why Ryvel was there. It suddenly became very clear to me. “You hate me that much, that you would bring war to Seelie just to side with my enemy?”
“You think everything is about you,” Ryvel sneered.
“Tell me I'm wrong,” I strode toward him, my hand sliding to the pommel of my iron sword.
Raza, Tiernan, Killian, and Kader all closed in behind me. Ryvel glanced at them, then glared at me.
“Why attack Seelie?” Raza growled. “Moire has no claim to this throne.”
“I'll let her explain it to you,” Ryvel smirked. “She's settling her affairs now, but I think she'll make time for her family.”
“What in all of Fairy does that mean?” Keir strode into the courtyard with our full army.
He must have twilighted off the rath's path, out onto the castle road with his half of our army, saving them several miles through the Seelie Forest, and bringing them out onto the road just as the rest of our troops were running up it. Talk about synchronicity. The Twilight army filed into the seelie courtyard as best they could. There wasn't a lot of space to be had. Especially with all the elves... and the dead seelie soldiers. My Star's Guard rushed over to me with Cat, but the rest of the twilight soldiers stayed beside my father.
King Keir glanced at the bodies, then returned his stare to Ryvel, “You stand there, among the bodies of your kin, and you are still able to lift your face with pride. You disgust me.”
