A Dream of Fate & Flesh (Courts of Malice #2)

16. Her True Nature

sixteen

Her True Nature

Rainer

I come to with a jolt, gasping for air and searching for Alessia.

My eyes take a moment to adjust to the dimness. Soft candlelight flickers in from somewhere around the corner, offering me just enough light to see by.

Where am I?

My hands press into the rough, dark stone on the floor beneath me. The same depressing stone looms over me on three sides, crowding me. Iron bars lock me in on the fourth side. Around me, the walls whisper and wail.

No. Not the walls.

Other prisoners. They cry with bouts of lucid insanity as if they’ve been left down here for too long to form coherent sentences.

Frantically, I whip around, searching the stone surface for some weakness. My search turns up empty. With a frustrated grunt, I forcefully kick the iron bars. They don't budge, but a loud clang reverberates through the air, followed by a howl from somewhere beyond my cell.

Sliding to the floor, I use an arm to wipe the blood caking my mouth and chin. Only moments ago, I was in Eoin’s ballroom.

How much time has passed? The taste of Alessia lingers fresh on my tongue—sweet as human, but with an unmistakable tang of …

“Feck!” I roar, clutching my head. This is so much greater than simply losing control and hurting her.

Fear jolts through my chest and my hands tremble as I process what it means. I need to get out of here to protect her. If they discover what she is…

Monster.

They’ll call her a monster, too.

The back of my arms prickle as a warming sensation caresses my skin. Seconds later, Queen Yvanthia materializes into sight, just beyond my cell.

Until today, I had never witnessed the sheer power of her abilities—a remarkable blend of spatial and temporal magic—but she lived up to every expectation. Time came to a halt in Eoin’s castle, except for the chosen few she intended to converse with. And before I could process what was happening, she swiftly whisked me to her dungeon.

She defies the laws of space and time, surpassing what any fae should be capable of.

“I thought we might avoid this,” Queen Yvanthia says. Her lips purse together like a disappointed mother. She suppresses a cough, her shoulders shaking as she swallows it down.

My mouth stays closed, the words caught in my throat. This is a wasted trip if she expects me to beg, plead, and grovel.

“If only you had minded your affairs.” Her strong voice is at odds with her fragility.

We hold each other’s stares, a threat in our gazes.

She laughs suddenly, stepping closer and wrapping her hands around the bars. “You are a fool if you think I am unaware of your parents’ untimely demise.”

I swallow, refusing to give her any flicker of emotion.

“Yes, I know about the Terra Princess,” she says, “And, of course, all about your little human , too.”

A sense of dread creeps up my spine as her glare intensifies. I’m not afraid for myself, but I’m worried for Alessia… I have to keep her safe.

She leans closer, her smile growing wicked. “I know it all ,” she whispers with warning.

“Leave her alone,” I spit.

Rising, I charge to the bars and slam my fist into where her face was. But it’s gone by the time I approach. She flickers back into view a few paces away, but her smile is missing.

A trickle of blood drips from her nose, trailing down her face. My eyes track the crimson trail greedily, stirring pressure in my gums. She makes no move to wipe it, and I spin around, not wanting to trigger the dangerous bloodlust inside me. It won’t take much to set me off in my current emotional state.

“You made quite a spectacle before the royals this evening,” she says. “You forced my hand.”

“Leave her alone,” I repeat, deathly low. “Exile me. Execute me if you must, but don’t touch her.”

She laughs again, but it quickly turns into a coughing fit.

When she regathers her strength, she tilts her head at me. “You find your transgressions worthy of execution?”

“I’m a monster,” I grit out, my voice foreign to my ears. I bit Alessia. I lost control. “I deserve to be here.”

She tsks, leaning forward. The howls and cries around us grow louder as she speaks, and I strain to hear her. “I have seen monsters, Iorworth, and you are not one. But the abyss of self-pity breeds a truly dangerous monster.”

Her haunting eyes continue to bore into me, delivering her cryptic message.

“Then why ban the demons?” I ask, speaking aloud what I am for the first time without fear—no longer enslaved to the secret of what I am. “Why do you fear what we are?”

She cocks her head. “Your kind does not instill fear in me. I cherish my power and status, and I do not intend to let go.”

She breaks out into another raspy coughing fit, taking leave along with her riddle of a message.

Have the elders noticed the queen is ill?

I drop into the corner of my cell and lean my head back against the cool stone.

What a fool I’ve been. I’ve messed up everything. I’ve broken my promises to myself and let down Alessia. I left her alone , and she’s not safe.

I need to get out of here.

She’s too much of a fighter to let some arsehole like Eoin take her back to Dovenak, and I hope she realizes that without me there to tell her.

“Receiving a visit from the shrew queen,” a raspy voice chokes out. They laugh, and it sounds like they’re dusting the cobwebs off their vocal cords to speak. “Rainer Iorworth ,” they say, mimicking the queen’s tone. “Iorworth. Iorworth. Iorworth. Of the Umbra Bloodline. Magic of fear.”

I stand then step closer to the edge of my cell and peer through the bars. Across the dirt walkway lies another cell. The main path’s sconces offer barely enough illumination to see by. The other fae steps forward.

Their skin is pale and smooth as if they haven’t seen the sun in years. Dark, stringy hair falls in their face, hiding much of their features. Even with the unkempt appearance, there’s a certain otherness to them that I can’t quite put my finger on.

“How long have you been down here?” I ask, gripping the bars. “Where are we?”

They laugh with a rasp that leaves them doubled over, gulping air. “The other court is made of dark magic. Of shadows and spirits and death. They have fallen first. You follow in their hollow footsteps, falling the—”

A shrill screech echoes through the prison from somewhere farther down. I hiss, covering my ears.

The fae across the hall laughs, clearly unfazed by the horrible noises and smells from the surrounding cells.

“Seven courts have fallen to six. Shall six courts fall to five?” They press their forehead against the bars. “Five will fall to zero .” It leaves them in an eerie whisper.

They’ve lost their mind. I sigh, slumping back down against the far wall.

“We’re in Queen Yvanthia’s private prison,” they say coherently this time. “The cells deep below her dwellings, carved into the earth.”

Though I knew the answer, my heart still sinks.

“Ephemeral Dungeons,” I mutter. Given the name because most prisoners are here for a short, transitory time before going mad or facing execution.

Fantastic .

Gritting my teeth, I focus on the fae across the hall and reach for their mind—their fears.

Bleak emptiness greats me. Only a silence that stretches on. The weight of terror never settles in my chest, like a firm embrace.

Muted.

Of course, my magic doesn’t work down here.

“New moon,” the prisoner across the hall whispers.

“What?”

“The Elders meet every new moon.”

If that's true, I have a fortnight before facing my destiny.

Perhaps it’s for the best that I meet my end. I’ve harmed so many in my short life. Kenisius can take care of the court. Hell, maybe Eoin will do a better job than I can. He’s tenacious, the fecker.

And Alessia will move on just fine without me. She can do much better than me. The thought pains me—slices so deeply it’s a death of its own.

The voice across the hallway cuts into my thoughts, mumbling some riddle. I hear something that sticks out to me through the nonsense: “Shame lies not in the possession of darkness, but in the refusal to master it.”

Closing my eyes, I ask the Mother if I can see Alessia in my dreams one last time. It’s possible that I can tell her what I’ve learned and convince her to acknowledge her true nature.