Fortuna Sworn

You trade in edicts and secrets; mine is nightmares and terror. Nothing I see will give me a second’s pause, faerie.”

Belatedly, I noticed the crown, resting haphazardly and abandoned on the floor. Feeling like an old woman, I slowly bent to pick it up. That was when I noticed the stares.

Every faerie in the room waited for me to say something. As I put the crown back into place, I didn’t let myself look toward the throne, where Collith had remained throughout the whole ordeal. His voice drifted through my memory. History has already proven that ruling with fear leads to discord and treason. When I took the throne, I sought to rule with law and objectivity instead.

Fear was all I knew.

“Let this be a lesson to all of you,” I said, meeting as many gazes as I could. Damon kept crying. “If you fuck with me and mine, I will return the favor tenfold.”

“Fortuna.” The way Collith said my name caught at me. I finished tying the laces but gave him my full attention. He faltered, and as the seconds stretched and thinned, the entire scene felt like déjà vu. Collith’s first warning echoed back to me. Honesty isn’t in my nature.

I watched him wage an inner war, unable to detect what exactly was happening behind those amber eyes—he kept the doors to his mind firmly closed. At last he asked, his voice strained, “Have I been clear enough?”

“Clear enough about what?”

He raked his hair back with long, pale fingers. He looked more agitated than I’d ever seen him. “The consequences of entering into these trials,” he clarified. “Even if you win, you don’t win.”

I tilted my head, thinking about this. Though it was strange to have a conversation with Laurie there, acting like he wasn’t, a curtain of desperation hung around Collith that I couldn’t ignore. I got up and went to the door; I thought that would be answer enough. But Collith stayed where he was. We stood a foot away from each other now and I had to arch my neck back to look at him. Somehow I’d forgotten how much taller he was than me. “Do you have any siblings, Your Majesty?” I asked abruptly.

His face gave nothing away. “No.”

“Okay. Do you have anyone?”

“I have you,” Collith said simply. It was just as blunt, just as direct as the answer he’d given at Bea’s when I asked what he wanted. You.