Exhaling, I almost collapsed to the bedsheets.
“The man had dark hair. I told you that already.”
My breath caught.
“Arenn…” I warned, turning to see his obviously dark hair glinting in the candlelight. “Remove whatever trick you have placed upon your appearance.”
He swallowed. “Naria, you need to listen to me. Let’s talk outside. You mustn’t misunderstand—”
“Arenn!” My shout was loud enough to make the entireroom flinch. “Unglamour yourself right now,” I snarled. I didn’t care if Cora realised he was fae. If he’d cursed her son, he’d deserve whatever iron cell the Queen would soon throw him in. “Show us all the way you looked when you poisoned that poor little boy.”
The faery’s jaw tightened before he stood a little taller. “It was a curse, actually. Not poison,” he mumbled.
Furious, I almost charged off the bed. But then a shimmer rippled over his skin, and while he looked no different to me, Raphael let out a horrified screech and jabbed his arm towards the prince.
“That’s him! That’s the man who made me sick!” he wailed, attempting to dive behind his mother.
“Guards!” Cora cried.
“How could you?” I tried to shout, but all that came out was a choked whisper.
The door swung open, but instead of a dozen guards, Lukas barreled in followed closely by a wheezing Ivy. Panting, she shot the Queen an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry, Your Majesty, but he was desperate to see Naria—” Her mouth clamped shut as she studied the scene. “What’s going on?”
“Where are the guards?” Cora yelled, clutching her sobbing son. “Guards!”
Lukas marched towards me. “They’re all either rioting in the ballroom or hunting for my fiancée.” Reaching for my hand, his desperate eyes met mine. “Come with me, please. We have to get you out of this palace.”
“That can be arranged,” Arenn’s low voice cut between us. Before I could scream, he was behind me, yanking my arm and dragging me off the bed.
“Let me go!” I writhed against him.
Lukas leapt across the bed. “Take your hands off her!”
“That faery poisoned my son!” Cora sobbed, pointing at Arenn. “Guards!” she screamed again, as if she could even be heard through the shouts, flying hands, and chaos that now filled the bedchamber.
Chaos that ended with four commanding words hissed into my ear, “Close your eyes, human.”
CHAPTER 33
My backside slammed against the damp ground as I was thrown from Arenn’s grasp. Air rushed from my chest. Wheezing and sputtering, I pushed myself up.How could he?I coughed into the ground.A little boy…Seething, I pried my tired eyes open to see blades of grass peeking through my fingers and sunlight warming my skin.
“Where did you take me?” I rasped.
The sound of nearby retching made me flinch. When I whirled around, I nearly fell backwards into the grass.
A vibrant flower meadow stretched out before us, bursting with colours, as if someone had spilled a basket of fruit across the ground. Tropical plants in every shadebloomed across the landscape. Tall crimson shoots with little flowers the colour of strawberries. Smaller yellow blossoms with petals like sun-kissed mangos. Surrounding the swaying plants were huge, curved palm trees while colourful butterflies flitted between their leaves. Even the air was sweet like syrup, and had I not been so distracted by what else – orwho else– laid upon the vibrant grass, I may have stopped to drink it in for a while.
Because sprawled out across the grass, only a few feet away, were Ivy and Lukas, both dry-heaving into the ground.
“What in our good realm was that?” Ivy groaned, falling onto her side.
Pushing to my feet, I rushed towards them. “Are you alright?”
Lukas coughed and swayed as I helped him to lay down.
“Just rest now,” I breathed, reaching to help Ivy, too. “This feeling will pass if you give it a moment.”
“They never should’ve grabbed you!” Heavy footsteps charged through the flowers behind me. “We’d be home by now if they hadn’t touched you,” Arenn snarled.
