“Hardly.” King Lucian laughed. It felt great to get his vote of confidence at least. “She was the one who saw the danger first and warned us.”
“I’m still not sure about her. Something feels off.” Queen Maeve didn’t soften her blows simply because Mina was within earshot. Why should she? She was, after all, queen.
They turned to address Ferah. At least for now, the topic was dropped.
“You, Ferah, have committed an act of treason with your assassination attempt. Your punishment will be doled out quickly and without mercy. What have you to say for yourself?”
Ferah held her head high and glared angrily toward Teague. Mina was surprised by her stoic bravery in the face of death. “He will destroy us all. The prophecy has foretold our impending doom.” Her finger did not waver as it pointed to Teague.
Anger and turmoil rolled off Teague in waves.
If anyone knew the truth behind Ferah’s words it was Mina. She knew the outcome. Knew that Teague would quickly break off his betrothal and try to destroy the kingdom, which would force the Fates to split his power—his very self—in two. Part of her actually wanted that to happen, because she wanted the Jared she had known and loved to exist. The person who stood before her was not him.
“Take heed, Fates. United he will destroy you. Divided he will fail.” Her voice had taken on an otherworldly quality. She looked around the room until her eyes met Mina’s. They widened for a fraction of a second, and then she smiled. Ferah began to giggle. Her head fell to the side and she continued to laugh at a joke only she knew the punch line to. “I see that I have failed. But there is another who will not.”
“What is the meaning of this?” King Lucian growled. Captain Plaith and a guard lifted Ferah off the ground so only the tips of her shoes skimmed the tile.
“I am not your only hope. It seems there will be another who comes to finish what I have started.”
“Who? Who dares to try to murder our son? Answer me, you miserable excuse for a Fae!” he roared.
Ferah pinched her lips together in a firm line. She met his accusing glare with steel and refused to say another word.
“She won’t talk? I bet she’d talk to one of the Reapers,” Teague said, and the room collectively gasped in surprise and horror. He looked to his parents, and they nodded in approval.
“Yes, fetch the Reaper, Captain Plaith. We will have a hunt,” Lucian agreed. The guard who stood at the Fates’ side turned on his heel and strode from the room.
Mina’s stomach tightened as bile rose in her throat. She wanted to cower and hide. The king was calling the Reapers—the hunters of all things evil. And in the future, the hunters of the Grimm. Her family. For centuries to come, the Fates would send Reapers after her family line if they got close to finishing the quests.
Summoned, the Reaper stood before the Fates, dressed in a long black leather cloak. “My Fates.” He pulled two hand held scythes from beneath his cloak, bowed, and waited for his orders. This Reaper was different than the one who hunted her. He was tall and muscular, but—where her human culture portrayed the Reaper as white like death—this one was as dark as sin with yellow eyes. Mina knew that Reapers were not a race of Fae, like fairies, nixies, or giants. A Reaper was a job description. And the position could only be held by a true murderer, for they liked to toy with their victims. They were the cleanup crew for the Fates.
Maeve’s voice rang out calm and collected. “Take her to the woods. Let her feel terror on her heels as you hunt her down and kill her. It will send a message to all who dare to try and kill one of us.”
“No, no not that,” Ferah begged. The guards dragged her from the room kicking and pleading for mercy.
When the double doors thudded closed behind her, the room seemed to come alive again.
“What’s going to happen to us now?” Tawny murmured. Her heavy eye makeup had run down her face, leaving trails of black. “Are we going to have to continue with the test? Or can we choose to leave? We can’t possibly be expected to stay after what we just witnessed.” She whispered to the girl next to her, but since no one else was speaking at the moment, her voice echoed loudly.
Teague heard her fears and turned, his face red with fury. “By all means, leave if you cannot handle what just happened. There lies the door and your salvation. Do you think being a Royal is without its drawbacks? It is not all pastries, dresses, and parties. This is real. Ruling our kind is dangerous, and I will not ask someone to stand by my side if I cannot trust them to defend me with their life. As I would do the same for them.” His chest rose and fell with passion, and his eyes shone black with anger.
Tawny, embarrassed, was ready to cry. Her hands covered her mouth and she quivered with fear.