The room was silent for several heartbeats then all hell broke loose. Shouting and
accusations started, some moved toward the dais, the queen, and Nathaniel. With a quick command the Knights moved to protect the Brianals.
A shrill whistle sounded several times to try and gain attention, but it was the gunshot going off that silenced the room completely. Tess glanced at Nathaniel, who was smiling. He and the queen were covered in plaster dust, but both of them were fine.
“My lady, he is correct. I’m afraid that I have no choice but to recommend that he be made your mate, effective at sunset tonight,” Councilman Trundle stated.
Tess was sure that he was trying to sound remorseful, but all he did was sound ridiculous.
“Wow! Just like that, huh? He complains and without any deliberation, you decree it as fact.
I don’t think so; I’m going fight this all the way.”
“With what, Mel? You have no guard—well, none to speak of really. What do you have,
like fifty, a hundred men? Do you think that this woman you just hit is going to come to your rescue? You just hit her before several hundred beings. If anything, she’ll probably come to my side if I ask her. If you would care to look outside you’ll see that I have three thousand men who are all ready, willing, and able to fight until their deaths for me,” Marlus said with a sneer.
“Actually, I have the men. You have nothing. Thank you, Marlus, for setting this up for me.
I’ll take over for now. I have suddenly found that I have no more use for you or your fucking whiny ways,” Albadar said as he moved out of the line of the guard.
They all watched as Albadar pulled a blade from behind his back and plunged it into
Marlus’ chest. Shock moved through the room.
Tess did not think an underlord could be killed easily, so she knew that the blade must have been cursed. She also knew that the underlord Marlus would not be returned to his lord until the blade was removed.
“Albadar, what is the meaning of this? This man had a complaint; you can’t just come into these proceedings and kill him. I was about to make a judgment,” Douglass shouted over the din.
He was nervous, his voice was shaky, and Tess knew that he did not know that Albadar was going to kill him as well.
“Shut up, you moron. When I am king, you are one of the first to go. I’m going to be the most powerful king ever named. Others will fear me; I will be honored and revered by all. And you, Queen of Magic, you will be my greatest gift to myself.”
Tess moved to be in front of the queen. She wanted to be close to the dais to protect
Nathaniel if need be and to protect the queen if this idiot got too close. The queen may yet be a true immortal, but she still could be hurt.
“What of Lord Lucas? Don’t you think he might want to get a little piece of this pie too?”
Tess asked as she nodded to the men to her left. Things were about to go bad very fast.
“He is the first name on my list. He will not even know what is going on until I have his black beating heart in my fist. Melody, take my hand and come with me willingly and I may not kill your family right away.”
When Albadar reached out his hand Tess turned to the queen. She looked at Nathaniel and he nodded at her. Tess dropped before the queen and said, “I serve you willingly, my queen.”
~Chapter 18~
Nothing happened at first. Nathaniel wanted to go to her, to Tess, but he was not sure what was happening. Just as he stepped forward, she threw back her head and moaned as if in great pain. Taking another step toward her, he felt the first pain shoot through his head and he stopped.
Before he could question what had happened, pain ripped through him and had him dropping to his knees on the floor in agony.
His head felt tight then it seemed to expand and he wrapped his hands around it to try and hold it together, for he was sure it was splitting in two. He felt blood begin to pour from his nose, his mouth; his fangs elongated and stretched in his mouth then spilled to the floor beneath him glistening brightly in the pool of his blood.
The pain started in his back just below his neck, and he tried to turn to see if anyone was stabbing him. Because of the pain that radiated from there he was sure that was what was happening. He tried to move, to dislodge whatever it was, but his belly began to burn and he leaned forward on his hands to throw up, to try and expel whatever was making him hurt. But what he saw made him forget everything for a moment.
His hands began to morph; his claws, a part of what he was, began to extend from his
fingers and then simply move beyond the tips to lie next to his fangs. The pain might have been extraordinary, but he could not feel it yet. His mind was overwhelmed and could not grasp what was happening. Next, he noticed that the skin along his wrists began to bleed. Wide strips of flesh began to redden and become raw; blood poured from these fresh wounds as he was, what felt like, being flayed alive. As whatever it was moved up his arms and over his elbows, his hot blood covered his fingers and began to run in a thick red stain down the dais he was still on and to the floor below.
He was going to die. Whatever was happening, he was dying from it and he needed to tell Tess, tell her that he loved her. Darkness started to tighten around his vision, his hearing had become muted, his voice raw from his screams. Before he was no longer able to hold onto consciousness he threw back his head and said the only thing that had been running through his mind that made sense. “Tess, I love you.”
~~~
The room rippled hard, expanding and stretching to seemingly make room for more of
something yet to come, to be revealed.
Tess dropped to her knees when the first sharp pain assaulted her. Her shoulders pulled and her scapulas moved, morphing into something hard and wide. Tess leaned forward, her head touching the floor, just as the first part of the transformation began. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Nathaniel, could see his pain and blood. She wanted to go to him, to comfort him, but could not. She needed to let her change happen so that she could protect them all.
Along her back large nodes pushed through her vest. As it began to grow something burst from the skin and the material of her leather vest formed around it, shielding her body from exposure.
Stretching out her arms wide, they seemed to duplicate and separate until long wings formed and unfurled from her, opening and expanding. Their translucent colors, bright in the room as they flashed along the walls, sparkled against the people in the room and the walls and floor. As the colors solidified and her wings became translucent yet still bright, she turned and rose from the floor. As power poured from the wings the colors deepened; reds became brighter, hues of greens and blues filled in where yellows and orange raced to color the area. Fully erect, Tess spread her wings, opening them wide and then wider still.
Her face changed as well. Her ears elongated and now had a hint of a point at the tips.
Jewels, rubies and emeralds, filled the crown that encircled her head, marking her as a Master Fae, the last of her race.
Fluttering her wings once, she rose from the floor a few feet and then dropped back again.
She smiled at Albadar.
“No! That’s not possible. You’re dead. I made sure you were all dead. I worked with that idiot, Sherman. He knew what he was supposed to do. I told him how to make you all mortal, but he didn’t kill his mate. He said she was unconscious so she was safe, but the Black Knights, you were all there, all dead.”
“You knew Sherman? You were the power source and the trainer for his magic, weren’t
you?” the queen asked, though it sounded as if she already had her answer.
“Of course I was. You don’t think that fool was smart enough to figure this out on his own, did you? Christ, even Trundle was duped for a time. How do you think we knew so much?
Sherman was feeding us information for centuries about your family. Then when the half wonder Sherman came along we had our way of getting rid of you once and for all. But he got greedy. I was happy to hear that you got rid of him for me. So thank you for that.”
Tess shook her head. He sounded so sincere that she thought that Albadar was mad. “You know that what you are doing is against the treaty with your kind, and especially against Lord Lucas?” Tess had figured out what Albadar was when she took his alliance the other day.
“And you are supposed to be dead. But I do plan to remedy that right now.” When he lunged forward he grabbed the queen with his jeweled dagger in his hand. Nathaniel screamed at that moment, screamed his love for Tess as he fell forward into his blood. It was the perfect distraction Albadar needed and he hid himself behind the queen.
Tess grinned as she moved toward him. She opened her wings as she moved and brought her sword forward; it was steady and true. “You are going to die, Albadar. It will be slow and it will be painful, unless you release my queen right now.”
“Release her? I think not, fae. She will be my queen and I her king. Then I will kill you both, starting with your mate here. I have not come alone. I have your men surrounded and now you will see the power of me.”
The room shimmered to life suddenly. Every warrior, fae or other being, materialized
around the room. Each of them held a demon in his clutches, a blade to his throat. The doors burst open and the room filled with more men, more warriors.
“My lady, your call,” Tess said without taking her blade from her position at the ready.
“Stop! I’ve seen enough.” Lord Lucas stepped to the dais and raised his hand. Albadar froze instantly. “You’ve been a bad boy, Albadar. What am I to do with you, do you think?” Tess could see the panic in Albadar’s eyes.
“Sire, have you only just arrived? Good, your timing, as usual, could not have been better. I was playing with Marlus until you arrived. You can see that things did not go as I had planned. I had to protect myself from this madwoman. Why, she even professes to be a warrior fae, if you can believe that. She believes herself to be better than you. I wanted to bring the two of them, both her and Marlus, before you so that you could be the one to punish then, but things went wrong and I had to save the queen from them and he had to be killed.”
His sentences began to run together in his haste to explain. Lord Lucas merely waited, his arms crossed over his chest. “Is that the story you’re sticking with? It’s a very poor one if you ask me. Lady Tess, I thank you for your warning and your help. Queen Melody, what say you concerning this? I will abide by your wishes.” He bowed before her, a simple bending at the waist, but an act of trust, for Shamus had his blade pointed at the lord’s back even as Lucas moved to the dais.
“I would be able to think better if this moron did not have me clutched so tightly to his vile stench,” Mel said, her voice heavy with sarcasm and scorn.
Suddenly she was released. Albadar, however, was still frozen in place. With a nod from Tess her men moved forward and wrapped him in chains that had been warded with magic, both black and white. He would not be able to escape at all now.
“Thank you, Lord Lucas. I was not aware that you were in attendance. Maybe next time you are within my walls someone could inform me, Tess. As far as Albadar, you are aware that he has broken our treaty, but…”
“My lady, you cannot believe anything this man has said to…” Councilman Trundle
squeaked.
“Silence! As I was saying, our treaty has been broken by him. But I can see that he has had help. Perhaps…I’m thinking that both men have worked together and that they both would be better served to follow you, Lord Lucas, to do with as you see fit. I trust you know of something these two can do to keep them out of trouble for awhile, don’t you?”
“Yes, my lady, I like the way you think. Both men, you say? I believe I have the perfect job for them. I believe that one shall be a service, the other serviceable. I believe they will be perfect as the outlet for sexual pleasure or displeasure for my men.”
Tess still had not moved, her sword never wavering or shaking. She had noticed that the councilman had sighed heavily and Tess could not figure out why no one could see his
involvement in this when, suddenly, he disappeared. Tess looked at Lucas and he winked at her before turning to Albadar.
“You almost fooled me, Albadar. Almost would have too without the intervention of Lady Knight here. Unless, of course, you have thought up another version of what really happened here? Perhaps you need time to come up with yet another one. I can arrange that if Master Tessa will allow me to take you with me. Tessa?” Lord Lucas smiled at her and she shuddered.
Whatever his plans for Albadar were, they would be long and painful.
“No! I mean, no, I should stay here. I need to be judged here. Queen Melody should have that boon,” Albadar said before Tess could speak.
Lucas merely looked at Albadar then he bowed before the queen. When he straightened he handed her a bunch of blood red roses. “My lady. I would first like to tell you how much I appreciate you allowing me to watch the proceedings of this…let’s call it an event, shall we?
Your emissary came to me to let me know what this man has done to you and yours. I was not aware of how much his involvement was in your loss both now and before. You have my deepest apologies.”
“Lord Lucas, the treaty is broken, perhaps you and I could come up with a better one, more, how shall I say, helpful to us both.”
“I believe I would like that. Yes, I would like that very much. Why don’t we adjourn to your chamber where we can be more comfortable with our…talk.”
Tess started forward and was stopped by Shamus. He pointed his blade at the demon lord’s throat and pressed forward just enough to break his skin. Blood welled at the tiny wound. “I think not. Back away or I will remove you from this realm. Permanently.”
The demon looked at Shamus and, with a quick bow, he stood and threw back his head and laughed. “So, you make your move, Lord Shamus?”
“Never mind. It’s time for you to go.”
“As you wish. For now at least.” And Lord Lucas snapped his fingers.