"Londinium is burning!"
"The bloodlines have been discovered!"
"Hung them along the banks of the river!"
"Justice!"
They would cry in their variety of harsh and soft voices. Londinium was what London had been called during the Roman period, and Elise realized that most of the fae were ancient as the stones.
That London was burning filled her with gut-churning terror. Elise had seen what the prince's screwed up magic had done to the people on the train. She hoped and prayed that Chrissy was safe, that she had somehow gotten out of whatever fighting was going on there.
Elise wanted to know what they meant by 'justice' but was too scared of asking when their blood was up and cheering for the death of humans.
Did they really think humans wouldn't retaliate? What could their swords and battle woad do against tanks and machine guns? The fae would be slaughtered, the castle bombed by a drone and her along with it.
But the fae had magic, something humans had long stopped knowing how to use or believe in. And the fae had the prince. Every fae was loyal to him, no matter their station. Thankfully, Elise never saw any sign of him. She had gathered from overheard conversations that he was moving with the army.
Elise also heard whispers of his brother in the north of Scotland, who had turned it into another ice age for all of the winter fae to live in. There was a third brother, but he was the Voldemort of the lot. Everyone was too scared to talk about him; even a passing mention got hushed like he lived in the air and would be able to know if anyone was talking shit about him.
For all Elise's sneaking about and listening in on conversations, she didn't learn the one thing she really wanted to know. Why did they want to kill the humans in the first place?
Now she was waiting for the prince to return or for the humans to attack. Every night, she congratulated herself for surviving another day.
Elise was scrubbing her hands and face as horses thundered into the castle grounds, their powerful hooves making the earth shake. She crept out of the outhouses and into a nook in the obsidian wall of the castle to make sure none of the horses trampled her.
The army is back. That can't be good.
Hot, golden light started to burn in Elise's chest, her mouth flooding with honey and spring, and she knew the prince was close by. Elise's treacherous brain remembered him pinning her down underneath him, the hot feeling going straight to her core. Disgusted at the thought, she spat on the grass, trying to get rid of the taste of him, pissed off that whatever magic he did to her still hadn't worn off.
One day it will, and I'll get that knife into his heart.
A man's cries cut through the night, and Elise moved from the nook, slipping like a shadow along the castle walls' jagged stone roots.
A human was on his knees, a ring of fae warriors around him. Standing before him like a golden god was the prince in full armor. Elise hadn't seen him since he dumped her with Hedera, and now he was in front of her. A twisted part of her was relieved to see him in one piece.
It's only his magic fucking with you, Elise. Get it together.
"Please, please don't hurt me," the man begged.
"Did the female fae that you were caught trying to rape plead for her life, human?" the prince asked, his voice cold. "She was collecting water by a stream, not hurting anyone. Innocent. What gave you the right to attack her?"
"S-she bewitched me and—" the man on the ground screamed as his hand hit the dirt in front of him. Elise didn't see the prince move, but his sword was suddenly out and dripping blood. She gagged, her hands clutching the edge of the wall so she didn't collapse.
"I know the female, and she isn't strong enough to bewitch anyone, you lying filth. You ambushed her, and you put your disgusting human hands on her," the prince continued, and the other hand came off the man's body.
He was writhing and wailing on the ground, covered in his own blood. The prince's expression didn't change, devoid of all compassion, and his sword took off the man's legs with one swipe. Elise vomited at her feet, unable to hold in her horror.
The man's cries were silenced as the prince took off his screaming head.
"Deliver that to the nearest humans with a warning that if anyone touches a fae, they will meet the same fate," he said to the warriors. He sheathed his sword, and then his head twisted towards Elise's hiding place. She ducked, terrified he had seen her.
How did he even know I was there? Elise looked down at her bleeding palms from where she had clutched at the wall. Can he smell it?
After a few terrifying minutes, Elise risked peeking around the wall again. The prince and the warriors were gone, leaving only a wide pool of blood steaming on the ground.
She ran back to the kitchen door, stumbling in the dark and landing hard on her side. Her knees barked in pain, but she scrambled back to her feet without stopping.
The kitchens were full of activity when Elise came back in, shaking and pale and stomach hurting. One of the chefs with ram horns hissed at her when she accidentally bumped into him.
"I'm sorry," Elise said quickly.
"Get out, slave!" he shouted. She did as she was told, hoping to find a quiet place in the rest of the castle to hide until everyone had gone to bed for the night. Elise hugged her arms around herself, fighting the urge to throw up again for the man's fate, even though she didn't know why. He had been a rapist. It wasn't like he was some innocent, but she couldn't seem to stop the pity clawing at her.
"Well, well, I thought I smelled something," a harsh voice said behind her.
Shit. Elise turned slowly to see a fae warrior standing behind her. He had a horn of mead in one hand and was looking at her with a vicious light in his eyes. Two other laughing warriors joined the first.
"What prey have you sniffed out, Aiden?" one of them said. Elise took a step back, getting ready to run, but suddenly, Aiden was standing behind her.
"Where are you running, human?"
Don't say anything. Don't provoke them. If they are bored, they'll go away.
"Maybe it's mute," one of the warriors said, reaching out a finger to poke at her. Elise knocked his hand away, her fear turning to anger.
"Oh, look out, Owain, she doesn't like that," Aiden said. He held out his hand to her, a small, glazed cake in it. "Maybe you'd like this instead?"
Elise's stomach cramped again, and when she looked at the cake, its perfection blurred, and she saw a rotting piece of moldy bread. The fae warriors laughed and Aiden moved towards her.
"Come on, it's delicious," he said, in a gently mocking voice. Elise clenched her fists, re-opening the cuts on her palms. The pain kept her mind focused as the glamour hit her again.
No! Get out! Elise shook her head, trying to step away and bumping into a warrior cutting her off. He grabbed her hands, holding them behind her back. Elise squirmed, trying to shake him off.
"Let me go!" she shouted, and they all laughed.
"She can talk after all," Aiden said and held out the rotting bread. "Time to eat up, slave."
Elise pulled her head away, but the fae holding her yanked her arms up. Aiden shoved the bread against her mouth, its disgusting moldy taste hitting her tongue as he forced it past her lips. Elise spat it out, flecks of soggy bread hitting Aiden in the face. He wiped it off his cheek before backhanding her hard.