Curse of the Cruel and Lovely : Allied Kingdoms Academy 3 Page 20

  “Here we go!” Froststorm said with glee.

  “No attacking,” Zyacus warned. “We will shield you.”

  She growled quietly. I pursed my lips to keep from laughing.

  A black stone castle rose above the other structures at the city’s center. It sat on a hill surrounded by shiny ebony walls. The setting sun gave way to the torchlight below. Soldiers gathered on the tops of the walls. Even catapults were being readied. I threw out my shield to surround us like a bubble. When the first arrow struck it bounced off. Soon a volley of hundreds soared toward us with small explosions of magic colliding into my shield. I felt the vibration of it but I didn’t falter.

  “I am impressed,” Froststorm said as she dropped into a dive. “I will land in the courtyard.”

  The attacks continued and when we hit the ground with the sound of thunder soldiers ran down from the walls or lined up at the top. I stood up on Froststorm’s back. Zyacus rose beside me. I took in a deep breath focusing on the shield but even more on the words I needed to speak.

  I touched my throat and whispered the spell to increase the volume of my voice. “I am Princess Visteal of the human realm. You will not be able to penetrate my shield. But if you don’t stop attacking, I will allow my dragon to unleash terror on your city.”

  The arrows halted as did the magic blasts. At least they were smart.

  “I am here to see your Prince. And I am here to bring war to Winter. Faeries and half Fae, and humans have been treated unfairly for far too long. Many of you have been treated like you are unworthy. But we all have worth. King Valefrost has treated the other courts in a shameful manner. Even the Night Court who is supposed to be his ally. The time has come to change the balance. Where all Fae and faeries are treated equally.”

  Murmurs among the people started. They looked at each other whispering and wondering. Could it be true? I heard. Could it be her?

  “Astaroth Nightfrost!” I roared. “Get out here and face me.”

  The murmurs in the crowd grew and Zyacus lightly grabbed my arm. “Uh, I think you could have chosen your words a little more carefully with that last one. Great speech though.”

  I smiled, trying to calm my nerves. Speeches in front of crowds had never been in my nature. I hadn’t meant to antagonize Astaroth but it came out that way.

  A cloud of black smoke swirled on the ground not far from us. “Stay here,” I said to Zyacus and spelled to the ground.

  When Astaroth stepped through his smoke everyone hushed. The cawing of crows broke through the quiet but that was it. He slow clapped as he swaggered toward me with his imps in tow. “Bravo, Princess.” His eyes lifted to the dragon. “I must say even I am impressed. A dragon.”

  I waved a hand over my throat to lower my voice. “I don’t want to fight with you. I just want my friends. This is the second time you have taken people I care about to manipulate me and this will be the last.”

  His eyes traveled down and then up my form. “You think you’re in a position to make demands of me?”

  “I do.” I set my jaw firmly. “Give them back and we can fight alongside each other against your father.”

  “I will give you your three friends if you give me your one husband so I can cut off his head.”

  “I would die before I let that happen,” I hissed. I took a few steps closer to him so our conversation could be more private. “Astaroth, please. I know you hate your father because he murdered the woman you loved.”

  His face hardened and his dark eyes narrowed.

  I silently prayed he would see my side. “I know that’s why you want revenge. For her. I believe you have it in you to see that Zyacus is the same to me. I love him. He is my everything and if you hurt him I will never help you. I would take my own life and you would never see your father fall.”

  His eyes traveled around to the crowd of soldiers surrounding us then dropped back on me. “I can hear them whispering. Already they are starting to believe you are the one.” He looked up to Zyacus with a half smirk. “The boy tamed a dragon, and you, I guess he is more formidable than I thought.”

  I wanted to roll my eyes but settled for a scowl.

  “I will give you your friends. But if you ever bring up my love again, I will kill yours.”

  “Fair enough.”

  One of his imps latched onto my ankle and started picking at my boot clasp. Ugh what was it with these creatures and my boots?

  He called over a soldier. “Bring me the blood drinker, the human boy, and the cat.” Turning to me he said, “Call down your husband.”

  “What for?”

  “So I can exploit him of course.”

  28

  Visteal

  Astaroth kicked off the imp climbing on me. It squeaked and scurried behind him. “He is of the blood of the Night Court, princess. And he is your husband. Everyone knows the girl from the prophecy will be wed to a faerie. Let’s show them.”

  I looked over my shoulder up at him. It made me nervous to do so since I was so fiercely protective of him, but I waved for him.

  In an instant he stood at my side wearing his usual cocky half grin. “We meet again, Nightfrost.”

  Astaroth curled his upper lip slightly. “I’d say it’s a pleasure, dog but I can’t lie so, it isn’t.”

  “You do realize that there are many wolf shifters in the Night Court. Calling them dogs will not win them over,” I said, folding my arms.

  Astaroth waved it off. “He doesn’t care, does he? Targus never does. It’s all trivial. I insult you two, you insult me, and round and round we go. I know you call me the Winter Prick behind my back.”

  “I’d say it to your face too,” I said.

  Tapping his boot, he slid a hand over his hair. “Let’s give the people a show, shall we?”

  “What does that mean?” Zyacus asked, stiffening beside me. His magic soared in reaction to what he must have taken as a threat. I could feel it through our marriage bond.

  Astaroth spread his arms and walked looking up at the soldiers on the wall and the people gathered on the ground. “My people of the Night. I know we understand humans can lie but the girl speaks the truth. The princess from the prophecy has been found by me. And she is married to one of us. A powerful man who has tamed a dragon and is a magic-born wolf shifter.” He whipped around. “Show them.”

  Zyacus lightly cleared his throat and leaned toward me. “I guess it’s a good thing I brought extra clothes.” His wolf form tore through his attire as he transformed.

  The crowd’s chatter grew louder. This was more proof.

  He appeared at my side and held up my hand with the wolf ring. “Her and I have made a deal. We will march on Winter together, and I will take what is mine. We will put an end to my father’s corrupt rule and bring the balance our realm is in desperate need of. Who is with us?!”

  A deafening thunder of yells and applause vibrated through me. I hadn’t expected such a reaction. They were more ready for this than I could have imagined. We turned in a circle, the soldiers raised their weapons high roaring their approval. Others dressed in what I would guess as citizen attire slowly crept forward. Astaroth dropped my arm. “Now, go to the other courts and get them to join us just as we did here today.”

  “Will Summer and Night not be enough?”

  “With you, me, and your dragon-riding husband on the same side, it’s likely but we would suffer massive casualties. Winter Court is larger than all the others because it was my father who found the portal to your world. He took the women and Winter grew. He didn’t share it with the others until it became an issue where the ritual needed to be performed, when your people started fighting back, and so the treaty was made. Winter Court’s army is three times the size of any other. That doesn’t even include the beasts in the forest who will fight with him. The trolls, the shadow creatures, I hear you encountered both.”

  I gulped. “I did. I’ll go to the other courts.”

  With hands bound at the wrists, Aric an
d Taz were brought from the parted crowd. Gideon was carried in a cage of black vines. I pulled my dagger and sliced through their bonds. With a wave of Astaroth’s hand Gideon’s cage disappeared. He dropped and bolted to my side.

  “You didn’t make another stupid deal to free us did you?” Aric asked, rubbing his wrists.

  “Not this time.”

  Taz didn’t stick around to chat; he vanished and reappeared on the back of the dragon.

  Zyacus nudged his nose into my shoulder blade. I turned around and he said, “Let’s not wait for Nightfrost to change his mind.”

  I nodded and faced Astaroth. “I promised to meet Bastian in Summer Court in two days. We need to leave.”

  “You and I could have been great together you know,” he said.

  I shook my head. “No, Astaroth, we wouldn’t have. We would have killed each other.” The only reason he wanted me was because I was as powerful as him, more powerful according to the dragon. He didn’t like me or even care for me. I was a challenge. I was someone he could torture and would withstand. Astaroth wanted to toy with my life. It was all a game to him and nothing more.

  With a smirk he turned to walk away. “See you on the battlefield, Visteal.”

  On the back of the dragon my little crew lifted into the sky. We each sat between spiked horns along its spine, almost like she was made for riders. Zyacus and Pixie sat in the front, Gideon, and I next, Taz, then Aric. I turned my upper body to check on the boys. We hadn’t had a chance to talk before we got out of Night Court.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  The dark bruises around Taz’s eyes pained me. His cheek also had a small cut and his lip had been split. Dried blood smeared across his cheek, trailing from his nose. “Let me heal you.” He pulled back when I reached for him.

  With a small smile, he shook his head. “Nothing to worry about. You don’t need to drain your magic.”

  “Taz, it doesn’t work like that for me anymore. I can heal you easily. If you want to be stupid about it then I command as your princess to allow me to help you.”

  “Alright, heal me.”

  Leaning forward I touched his face and my hands warmed with healing magic. “I’m so sorry this happened. Were you kept in a prison cell? A room? What?”

  His golden eyes wandered to the clouds around us as his wounds went away. Why was he avoiding answering me? I turned my attention to Aric. “Tell me what happened.” I wasn’t asking anymore.

  Tapping his fingers on the dragon’s scales, he said, “Nightfrost blew the door off to the room. Whatever spell Aenea had set, he saw right through. He screamed, threw things, beat this shit out of Taz and me, demanded to know where you and Zyacus had gone, then when we didn’t tell him, he dragged us both out. There was literally nothing we could do against him. I’ve never encountered anything like him.” He took a deep breath. “Once we got to the Night Court he threw us into a dark cell. I healed naturally on my own but Taz was beaten pretty bad as you saw. He’d put kirune cuffs on us so I couldn’t heal him and we couldn’t get out… vampires came every so often and cut Taz’s wrists to pour themselves cups of his blood. I wanted to stop them, I tried...”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Aric,” Taz said, glancing back at him. “You did what you could. I know you aren’t like them. I’m fine now.”

  I grabbed his arm and turned his wrists over. The cuts were angry red, crusted and were certainly painful. I touched them and healed those too.

  When his flesh was healthy, he met my eyes. “It didn’t matter what they did to me. I would never have told them where you were.” He gulped. “Thank you for coming to get us. I don’t know if I would have lived much longer with how much blood they wanted from me. I guess there aren’t many humans in the Night Court.”

  Tears stung my eyes and my throat burned. “I think at the end of this I may kill Astaroth too.” I patted Gideon’s soft fluffy head. “Did he hurt you?”

  “Fortunately I was spared and thrown into a cage.”

  “Hey Vis,” Aric said. I turned around and he continued, “I hope your night was much better than ours.” A sly smile followed.

  I tried not to blush but my cheeks warmed. “It certainly was.”

  Both Taz and Aric chuckled. Boys.

  As if just hearing the conversation Zyacus flipped around to face us all. “Don’t be harassing my girl about our wedding night.”

  “I wasn’t harassing,” Aric argued. “Just razzing her a bit. She gets embarrassed easily.”

  “Shut up,” I groaned. “I’m not embarrassed.”

  “You’re not?” he teased. “So how was it? Is Zyacus a good lover? I doubt it since he has a tiny—” he wiggled his pinky and started laughing.

  “I will come back there and beat your ass, Aric,” Zyacus said but laughed too.

  “Stop, it’s definitely not tiny,” I sneered at Aric. Taz had a hand over his mouth trying not to burst out laughing. I turned my back to them. “And this is not a discussion I’m going to have with you idiots.”

  Grabbing my arm, Zyacus leaned forward and pulled me into a kiss. “You’re the best.”

  After flying through most of the night Froststorm decided she needed a rest. We landed beside a river near the border of Night and Summer courts. I only knew it was because Froststorm said so. I no longer needed my heavy coat, considering the temperature had risen enough to where I was sweating but it would make a nice pillow.

  Sitting around a fire, Taz roasted a small pig he’d hunted down. He grinned turning the spit, quite proud of himself. We stayed up for a while, making wishes on shooting stars and laughing about everything we’d been through since we’d gotten here. I think we made fun of it to keep from falling into a dark mindset that would be difficult to get out of.

  With Zyacus’s head in my lap, I ran my fingers across his scalp. He drew colorful shapes in the air for me to guess what they were. I wanted to be alone with him but it would have to wait.

  When we arrived in Summer Court the next evening, Helios, the Summer King and about a hundred guards were already expecting us. They didn’t attack when Froststorm landed inside the castle grounds. The guards kept thousands of the common folk and many of the noble Fae citizens at a distant wide perimeter around us. Many had seen us fly in and word had traveled fast. Froststorm let out a rumbling roar to give everyone a warning that she would not be messed with.

  When my boots hit the ground, the boys and I walked in a line to meet Helios, the king, Gwindola, and the weasel Firo Hazelvale.

  “My my,” Helios said while his gaze slid across our faces. “I must say when I received your letter I was surprised. Further still when Astaroth Nightfrost himself confirmed it. Somehow you went from taking shots to calling them.”

  “And that is how it shall stay,” I said resting a hand on my sword handle. “If you have any further threats to try to use against me, I will kill you and it will be both easy and pleasurable.” I looked pointedly at Gwindola. “Understood?”

  She bowed to me and I relished in it. “Yes, Princess.”

  The King cleared his throat. His gaze kept drifting to our dragon. “There will be no threats. We are allies now. Already the brunt of our forces have moved just outside the Winter border.”

  “Good.” I glanced around. “Where are Bastian and Aenea?”

  They all looked between each other. The King spoke, “We have not heard from Bastian.”

  “He was supposed to join our side and meet us here.”

  “Well he is not here,” Helios said. “Perhaps he has changed his mind and chooses the side of Valefrost since you failed to carry out the original plan.” He looked briefly at Zyacus.

  “No,” I shook my head, concern growing in my gut. “Something must have happened.” I hoped they weren’t caught and executed as traitors or something terrible like that. “How much time do we have before the battles start?”

  “Winter’s armies are within miles of ours. They could attack at any time. King Valefrost sent hi
s official declaration of war this morning. He knows his son has betrayed him.”

  Rubbing his chin Firo turned to his father, “How do we know Astaroth won’t turn the Night Court against Summer on the battlefield?”

  “We were there,” Zyacus said, “when Astaroth declared war against Winter. I’d say by the cheers the people were more than happy.”

  Helios’s face grew solemn, “If he does, we will be annihilated... You said you would go to the other courts?”

  “We will. We will gather as many fighters as we can,” I answered.

  “Firo will accompany you,” Helios said nodding toward him. “Spring first?” he asked his half brother.

  “They are our closest ally,” he said.

  I took a deep breath. “To Spring it is.”

  29

  Zyacus

  The air was filled with a floral aroma. Everything green or blossoming with color. Giant bumblebees buzzed and birds sang lovely songs amongst the heavy trees. Spring Court was exactly as I imagined, only more spectacular. There were miles and miles of green fields littered with wildflowers. The many cliffs and waterfalls we flew over brought an ethereal beauty. Everything here was brighter, the pleasant smells stronger, and more curious than hostile.

  We flew in on Froststorm and landed in a field outside the capital city. Visteal thought it would help for everyone to see us walk on our way. So we could speak with the people instead of just the rulers.

  Froststorm flew above, casting a shadow over us. Fae and faeries of all kinds crept out of their homes and started to follow in a line behind us. Firo stood to Visteal’s left and I, on her right. Aric, Gideon, and Taz took up our rear.

  “Hello,” I said to what looked to be a Fae child with pink hair. She ran behind a tall woman with hair the same shade.

  A creature with tall black horns and a man’s upper body but hairy beast-like legs fell into step beside me. “What are humans, Night court and Summer Fae doing here?” His voice was deeper than any man’s I’d ever heard.