Castle of Illusions (Wicked Kingdoms Book 4) Read online

  Siana steps forward and holds out her arm for Raley. "Let me take the wee ones back to the nursery. I'll keep them in there until you or Dare come for them."

  I hand Raley over, knowing Siana will be able to protect them, no matter what comes through the door.

  "Anarchy, Chaos, go with them please?" I ask the question of my surprisingly silent gargoyles, napping on my shoulders. They grumble, but they go, hitching a ride on Siana's back. Gods, I need to brush up on my etiquette on centaurs. Is it polite for children to sit on their backs like a horse? I can just see my children doing that. Because if they're anything like me, they'll be hell on wheels.

  Once my babies are safely away, I look at my team, each of them looking back at me, waiting for a command on what to do next. I'd given birth only hours ago, but thanks to whatever Siana and Amren has given me or did to me, I'm only exhausted, not unable to move.

  "Well, I guess we'd better get our asses in gear, and prepare for the arrival of every dickhead this side of the veil." I sigh, letting each of them file out ahead of me.

  As they pass me, each one stops, placing their hands on my shoulder, meeting my determined gaze with a nod. They know I wouldn't just send them into battle without a plan. They also know that if I thought I'd be a hindrance, I'd sit my ass down with a cup of tea on the sidelines.

  "Are you sure you're up for a battle, mo grá?" Dare asks, pulling me into his embrace.

  I melt into him, appreciating his concern. Grateful for every thought he has of my health and wellbeing over his and everyone else's.

  "And what if I said I'd rather stay in bed with our babies and let everyone else fight my battles for me?"

  Half of me wishes I could do just that. But the other half of me, the warrior, the mother, the leath cine, knows that if I can't stand up and fight for those weaker than me, then every battle, every loss, every tear, up until this point will have been for nothing.

  And if there's one thing I hate, it's wasted time.

  "You know I would rather you stay there with them, Ever, but I don't think you'll let me wrap you in cotton and lock you in the nursery."

  I laugh, kissing his neck. "No, I won't."

  "Well then, I guess I'm stuck by your side, defending our kingdom for our children." He palms my face, bringing my mouth up to his for a kiss and I melt into him, savoring his taste.

  When he pulls back, I stare up into his autumn-colored eyes, memorizing every detail that I can.

  "Well, now that I'm all energized from that kiss, how’s about we go play whack-a-mole?"

  Chapter 4

  Dare and I quickly don armor and as many weapons we can without slowing us down before we kiss Raley and Ronan goodbye.

  "Be nice to Miss Siana." I waggle my finger at them both, earning gurgles in return. I smile down at them and then face Siana. "This is for you." I place a sheathed blade in her hand. "Don't be afraid to use it."

  She nods. "I will lay my life down for them, if need be."

  "I hope it doesn't come to that. I'm quite fond of you already, but thank you for saying it aloud for me."

  She grips me in a quick hug. "Now go beat the hell out of those bigots. We'll be here, learning all about the Goblin Kingdom." She pulls out a book and cracks the spine, and I walk out of the room, refusing to look back for fear that I'd never leave their sides. Dare grabs my hand in his and squeezes it. I tighten my fingers around his, and we both head toward the gates.

  I want my children to know that while fighting isn't always the answer, it's important to stand up for what's right and what's wrong. Even if it's not necessarily your battle, lending a hand to those that need it can change the tide of war.

  I stride through the great hall, most of those unable to fight setting up drinks, weapons, and places for any wounded to be mended. Out of the doors, down the steps, across the courtyard, and up to the ramparts.

  "How many?" I ask, before I look out at the horde of assholes in front of me.

  "We think about a thousand, maybe two," Kirin states.

  "Oh, lovely. They brought friends."

  "We've got some friends hanging out in the forest on either side of them, so we're not too concerned." Axel winks and I stare at him blankly, not sure what he means. "Siana's clan arrived. Instead of coming in to meet the babies, they decided to keep an eye out here."

  The corners of my mouth tilt up. "Well, isn't this just convenient." I glance around, looking for Teag. This isn't his fight. I'd brought it to his door when I'd apparently starred in a prophecy, but it's still his kingdom, and I'd like to ask permission before I start lobbing balls of fire from his walls.

  "Anyone seen Teag?"

  “Right behind you.” He chuckles.

  I spin around. “I was hoping you’d grant me permission to lob a few fireballs their way?”

  He purses his lips. “I was hoping we could speak with them first, see if we can’t make a last-ditch effort to educate and eradicate them.”

  I pout. “Well, fine. If you need to be civilized, I guess you can go for it.” I cross my arms over my chest. “I’ll try to be silent while they speak.”

  “Appreciated.” Teag shakes his head, used to my antics and tactics by now.

  Asking questions after kneeing someone in their sensitive bits is much more effective in my experience but I’ve been told it’s frowned upon.

  “Who here is your leader?” Teag’s deep baritone rings out over the field and the entire army shifts, letting one man from the middle walk to the front.

  I roll my eyes and glance over my shoulder at Kirin. “How cliché. Like really? He had to walk forward? Didn’t one of the human gods do that? Parted a sea or something?”

  Kirin shrugs. “I have no idea. The humans have too many rules in their religions. I stopped paying attention after that one rule of not murdering anyone. How the hell can I do my job otherwise?”

  “Right? I’m with you there.”

  Teag cuts us both a glance and I square my shoulders. “Sorry, what did I miss? I was bored.”

  “They’re requesting to speak with you.”

  I rub my hands together. “Oh, request granted.”

  “Try not to start a war if you can avoid it, Ever.” Teag steps back, placing his hand over mine on the hilt of my sword.

  “But they’re so much fun,” I joke. And then sobering up, I meet the King of Goblins’ somber gaze. “I know what’s at stake. And I won’t put your people in jeopardy if I don’t have to.”

  “Thank you.” Teag dips his chin and helps me step up to where he was previously standing.

  “Of course.” I wink down at him. “Now remember that it’s all part of the plan okay?” I face the idiots below me, and wave, smiling at them like I’m the village idiot.”

  “Hey there! What can I do ya for?” I paste a goofy smile on my lips and wait for one of them to say something offensive.

  “Are you the slut who birthed the heirs?”

  I blink down at him. “Well that’s just rude. You kiss your mother with that mouth?”

  “Are you her?” he asks again, and I imagine stepping on each of his fingers, breaking them one by one.

  “Yeah, I’m the Queen Slut whose children you want but are never going to get your grubby hands on. Is there a reason you’re darkening our doorstep, maggots?”

  Someone coughs behind me, and I hear Teag mumbling something under his breath, Kirin and Axel both giggling like schoolgirls.

  “We’ve come for the children.” The man below me swirls his beard between two fingers, and it stays twisted.

  Ew. Take a bath, buddy. I try to keep my revulsion out of my tone, but I’m pretty sure I only partially did it.

  “Yeah, well, I hate to break it to you, but they’re not going anywhere with you.”

  “We would like to avoid bloodshed in front of the children if possible.”

  I press both hands to my mouth, feigning shock. “We agree on something. Good gods.” I cock my hand on my hip. “Answer’s still no.”
>
  “You are going to force my hand then?” the greasy man below me asks.

  “I think you meant, you’re going to force mine. Honestly, you didn’t just birth the twins.” I point at my chest. “I did. If anyone decides their futures, it’s their mother.” I wave my hand in a shoo-shoo movement. “Now, be gone, cretins, before I splatter your guts all over my front lawn.”

  Sleezy, as I’m now calling him, turns purple in the face before he turns on his heel and strides back into the middle of his mini-army.

  I turn my back to them, not giving a fuck if it’s an insult, and smile at the band of people behind me. “I think that went well, don’t you?”

  Eryn’s mouth opens and closes, and Teag fights to scowl at me but fails as his lips twitch. Dare just shakes his head and chuckles, and Kirin and Axel rub their hands together in glee.

  “Bring it on. I want to squash some of these pricks for what they did to Doyle,” Axel says.

  “And I want to tear some heads off for daring to try and touch a hair on Ronan and Raley,” Kirin adds, cracking his knuckles.

  “I’d say I’m sorry, Teag, but you knew that they were going to be unreasonable.” I point at the catapults, sitting there with balls of dry sticks, just waiting to be lit and tossed. “Now can we throw fire at them? Pretty please? This is the most fun I’ve had in a while since up until a few hours ago, I’ve been waddling for months. And I just wanna jump into the action.”

  Teag sighs. “You might as well. If we can get them to scatter, we can avoid this until some other allies show up.” He looks to my father, Tore. “I think it’s time we called in some of our allies and Ever’s too.”

  “Where’s Kiara?” I ask.

  “Inside with Brigid, patrolling the tunnels, I believe,” Dagan answers.

  “Well, ask her if she can bring her mom in, and we can chat with her. But only after I’ve tossed this blazing ball of sticks at them. ’Kay?”

  I grab a torch and practically skip over to the catapult in glee, touching the torch to the wood and watching it ignite.

  “Hey Kirin, wanna do the honors?” I ask, smiling at him over my shoulder.

  His face lights up like a child on Yule morning, and he leans over the side of the ramparts, letting out a mighty roar.

  “Bombs away, motherfuckers!”

  I cackle in amusement and slice through the rope holding the catapult taught, watching as what looks like a sun falling from the sky rockets through the air. I peek over the wall, watching as they all scramble around, trampling each other, slamming into each other in confusion and chaos.

  I wish I could find an ounce of caring in me that lives are about to be ended, but each and every one of those soldiers made a choice to support their cause of trying to eliminate most of the Fae race, and that’s just plain ignorant.

  As we watch, they head for the trees, greeted by the centaurs, all wearing menacing smiles. I sigh, happy that, for now, the threat has dissipated.

  “Hey Teag, what did you tell them to do with the stragglers?” I ask, curiously.

  “Told them to round them up, tie them up, and then toss them in the dungeons. Maybe we’ll get lucky and one of them will talk.”

  I lean back against the wall and hum in satisfaction. “Yeah, that would be lovely. Good thinking.”

  Now all we need is for some terrified sap to say too much and give us some insight into the inside workings of the Order, and it will be like Yule morning and my birthday all at once.

  After slamming the door of the last cell closed, I wipe off my hands, checking for any lingering blood from the fist fight I’d gotten in with a particularly mouthy Order member.

  “I wish you’d have let me clock him just one more time,” I complain to Dare.

  He shakes his head. “I didn’t think the children would understand why your knuckles were bruised, love.”

  I look down at my scarred hands and for the first time, I’m worried about what violence they’ve committed. Would the twins feel that? Would they understand that most of what I’ve done was done to protect others, themselves included? Or would they think that their mother is a monster.

  “Dare, what if they think I’m a horrible mother? Like they don’t like me?” I voice the fear aloud, unsure about my past or where my future will be if I’m no longer defending those that need it.

  “I don’t think they will dislike you. I just think that they will look up to both of us. And for the time being, we can pretend that we both don’t enjoy cracking skulls together.” He laughs and smacks at my ass, dropping a kiss to my lips. “I’m sure they’re going to take after us anyway, but for now, we can keep them sweet an’ innocent, aye?”

  I pinch his side. “Yeah, I like that idea.” At least for now, my children will know nothing of me other than love and kindness. And if I’m being honest, I don’t want them to see the darker side of me just yet. I want to only see love and faith in their eyes, rather than a question of safety.

  “Shall we go see our beautiful children?” Dare asks, wrapping his arm around me as we walk up the stairs to the main hall, ignoring the pleading and cursing from the prisoners.

  “Yes, lets.”

  Unfortunately, our plans are stopped in their tracks as we come face to face with Queen Nicnivin standing in the middle of the hall with her daughter Kiara and Kiara’s guard, Brigid. Dark and fearsome as always, Nicnivin is dressed in a floor-length black silk dress, the fabric moving as though controlled by its own breeze. The crown on her head today is made of dark garnets and inky black ravens’ feathers matching the accents of her dress. Never let it be said Queen Nicnivin doesn’t have serious style.

  I eye Kiara and Brigid, checking their moods now that Nicnivin is here. I know that Kiara and her mother have a strained relationship at best, and judging by her narrowed, light grey-blue eyes, framed with the darkest of blues, and the hand resting on her cocked hip, it hasn’t been pleasant waiting for us.

  Brigid’s petite frame is taut. Each of her defined muscles strains as she stands with her hands behind her back, shoulders back, her purple-and-black eyes trained forward.

  “I think something is going on, Dare,” I whisper out of the corner of my mouth.

  “I think you’re right, love. Let’s find out if we can make this a happier situation.”

  I plaster a smile on my face and hold out both hands, approaching Nicnivin. “Queen Nicnivin, so lovely to see you. Thank you so much for coming to speak with us!”

  “Ah, Ever, you’re looking lovely as always.” She gives me a glance over. “You don’t look as though you just went through hours of birthing twins.” She tilts her head. “In fact, you look better than before you had them.”

  I shrug, not willing to let her know we’ve got a magical centaur nanny and a druid working their mojo on me. While she’s an ally and she’s always been sort of on my side, I’m under no delusions that my children would fetch a pretty penny, and any advantage we can keep hidden and as a surprise is a step up in my book.

  “I guess motherhood just suits me.”

  “It would appear so.” She raises a brow and turns to Kiara. “Kiara was just telling me that you have multiple prisoners in the dungeons. I’m assuming you called me here to use my skills of persuasion on them?”

  I rock back on my heels. I actually hadn’t considered that because well, I didn’t think she’d do it, and also, she’s the Queen of the Unseelie. She has people to get their hands dirty for her. “Oh, well, actually, we were just calling in our allies to discuss options about going on the offensive with the Order.” I hike my thumb over my shoulder. “I’m not sure if you heard, but they were outside the gates a little bit ago—”

  “Until she launched a giant ball of fire at them,” Kirin says, coming up behind us.

  “Long story short, I think the time for recon is over. And I’m not willing to sit on my hands and wait for them to come after my children.”

  Nicnivin clasps her hands in front of her. “Well, then, I think it wo
uld be best if I have a chat with a few of them, shall I?” She looks to Brigid and Kiara. “Did you notice if any of them were Unseelie?”

  Brigid answers before Kiara can finish opening her mouth to respond. “No, Majesty, I didn’t have a chance to look at them thoroughly. I will happily go do so if you wish, my queen.”

  I raise a brow as the bossy and very outspoken Brigid we’ve come to know acts so subservient. “Kirin can take you down there. They’re quite rowdy at the moment, so I’m not sure what you’ll get when you go down there.”

  “Yes, why don’t you take the first look, Brigid.” Nicnivin smiles at me. “I would like to meet the newest members of your family and offer my blessing, if you’d so allow it.”

  I glance at Dare out of the corner of my eye, out of my element here. Technically she’s my ally, but I’m in the Goblin Kingdom, and I might be the heir to the Light Elven Kingdom, and so they are, too. It’s really all a jumbled mess of political mine fields, and I’m just clumsy enough to walk straight into a land mine and blow us all up.

  Dare steps forward, his hand resting on my lower back. “We would be honored if you would bless them, Queen Nicnivin.” He holds out his other arm, steering her toward the nursery. “If you would be so kind, we aren’t allowing any weapons in with the children, as a precaution, you understand.” He nods conspiratorially, like it’s a silly rule, and she chuckles.

  “I assumed as much. I’ve come unarmed for that reason.”

  Kiara snorts but Nicnivin ignores here. I duck out from under Dare’s arm and slow my pace to match Kiara’s.

  “You okay?” I ask the question in a hushed tone, well aware that Nicnivin has sonar-like hearing.

  “Oh, sure. I’m fine, just a bit surprised by her appearance.” One corner of her mouth pulls up into a half smile. “I’ve been hanging around you all too much. I can’t seem to school my reactions as well as I used to.”

  I nudge her shoulder with mine. “Well, at least you’re learning something from us that’s useful. Although the whole “finding a mate thing” isn’t proving easy.”