Avenged

♔Chapter 7a

As it turned out, waiting was worse than the icy wall beside us and the threat beyond it. The queen asked endless personal and quite frankly often offensive questions. Her questions were less comfortable than the cool, hard parquet floors. She seemed intent on using this opportunity to gather as much information as possible from me. She asked about my brother, his love interests, my father’s illness, and, of course, me. Clearly, she wanted an alliance with my family, but for obvious reasons, she preferred it to be through Thorndon and Marissa.

“I feel kind of useless just stuck here,” Marissa mumbled after what felt like hours but was probably only about forty minutes or so. That surprised me. Her feelings, not the time dragging.

“Me too,” I responded, giving her a slight smile and taking her hand. If I’m going to build this fake friendship, there is nothing like facing adversity together to strengthen bonds.

Surprise flew across Marissa’s face when I first took her hand, but then her face softened into a thankful smile. She knew exactly what could happen to a royal during an attack such as this. She’d seen it firsthand. I wondered if she ever thought of what she did to help bring down my family. I imagine that would make a person quite paranoid. She knows for a fact that you can’t always trust the people closest to you. But this little incident puts us on the same side, as far as she knows.

“I know you think you could have helped, girls, but you would only have been a distraction. Our men would have been too worried about you to focus had you tried to stay and fight by their side,” the queen offered.

“Adonis said as much,” Marissa whispered in my ear with a conspiratorial wink.

Thankfully, her mother missed it. I did not want the stay-away-from-my-son’ lecture right now. Ella, the disabled country girl, was not whom she wanted for Adonis. That was clear.

Time dragged as we waited by the ice wall closest to the dining room. After a while, I recognized the figures on the other side of the wall as Adonis and Thorn, though the sound of their voices was muffled. Suddenly, the wall glowed a deep, flickering red and orange as Adonis poured his fire energy into it. He was strong. I could feel it. He always was. But I was stronger. I always was. He wouldn’t break my ice without help, and I couldn’t have him making that connection.

As we ladies pulled ourselves to standing, I closed my eyes for a second and willed my ice to melt. Soon, Adonis and Thorn were rushing through the puddle of slush toward us. Adonis’ eyes met mine, and I caught his relieved smile just before Thorn collided with me, engulfing me into a crushing hug.

“Are you hurt?” Thorn demanded.

“No, we’re all fine. I’m fine. At least, I was until you decided to crush my ribs and lungs. I can’t breathe, brother.” He loosened his grip and kissed my forehead, then glanced over toward the queen and Marissa. Adonis was looking them both over thoroughly.

“Are you both ok?” Thorn asked them.

“We are. What do you know of what happened?” the queen answered Thorndon, directing her question to both he and Adonis.

“Wolves and fairies. They knocked out the guards and attacked, but as soon as the tables started to turn, they all retreated. We don’t know what they wanted. It seemed odd,” Adonis answered.

“Just to shake you up, maybe. They didn’t seem intent on actually hurting anyone. Most of their attacks weren’t direct. It seemed more like a distraction,” Thorn commented and sent me a meaningful look I couldn’t fully interpret.

“Distraction?” the queen retorted. “Those wolves looked like they were out for our blood.”

Adonis and Thorn shared a look I did not like. Were they hiding something? From me!? Thorn never hid things from me. He would tell me whatever it was later, I reminded myself.

“Did you catch any alive?” Marissa asked. She looked a little shaken at the reminder of those wolves, but overall she’d handled herself well. Better than I had expected, actually. I’d thought the insipid, spoiled princess would crumble without her big, bad protectors.

“No. They had skilled fae fill the room and halls with fog to cover their exit,” Adonis damn near growled. “Unfortunately, they took their injured and most of their dead on their way out. We’ve little to go on. We think there were about two dozen all together, not including your wolves. It will be difficult to identify them.”

“I think they were after my bird,” the king said, striding up to us.

What? Why?

“What would they want with that ratty old thing? He’s useless now,” the queen sneered.

“As I said earlier, my dear, he is a symbol. I think it’s possible these Bright Brigade ruffians thought that capturing him would be a symbolic victory that could lead more fools to their cause. Also, we mustn’t forget that in their prime, phoenixes are incredibly powerful creatures. We don’t understand how or why that bird lost his magic, but Marissa is right, he has been looking better since the ball. If his power is returning, he could be a problem.” The king glared at Adonis as if this were his fault. “You are in charge of the investigation. You will keep me informed. Question every guard that was on duty tonight and figure out what’s going on. Use leverage. Then we should run checks on all the staff. And put guards on my bird. We need to know if there are any changes in him immediately. Even the ash, if he regenerates…” The king’s voice faded.

If I had to guess, I’d say he was mentally running through the potential list of phoenix’s powers. The first chance I had, I’d ask Fin what happened. Why didn't he fight for my parents? Why can’t he regenerate? Has he lost his powers? Why, why, why? I thought I’d get answers as well as satisfaction on this quest, but all I’ve found so far were more questions.

“Yes, Father,” Adonis dutifully replied.

I didn’t like the king’s mention of leverage. My heart clenched at the thought of family members being harmed for information the castle staff may not even know. Would Adonis really do that?