The Bastard Queen (Viciously Yours #2)

Three marble sized balls rotated in a quick rhythm above my head, the blue metal glittering in the dark. Watching them spin until they began to blur together, I was forced to blink when my eyes dried out. Sighing, I wiggled my shoulders further into the furs and twisted the metal into odd spinning shapes. Following Lilly’s instructions after the Cluiche Grudge, I had taken a warm bath and drank the soothing tea his mother had prepared for me. It was supposed to lull me to sleep but every time my eyes had closed, images of my time with Fearghas would flash across the inside of my eyelids. After the fourth failed attempt to sleep, I gave up and tried to keep myself entertained throughout the night. I did everything from flips to warping the wood of the desk which is how I ended up spinning metal over my head.

Low voices coming from the front of my tent informed me of the guards changing shifts which meant it had to be past midnight. Groaning softly, I pushed myself up into a sitting position and looked over the room. What to do...What to do… Like a weight lifting from the top of my head, it suddenly hit me as hard as Lilly had earlier. What the hell was I doing just laying around, when I had an entire war to plan?

Leaping from the bed, I slid onto the desk chair and pulled the drawer open. Taking out the necessary items, I spread them out over the surface of the desk. With a tap of the pointed stylus in the small jar of ink, I began drawing up possible war plans. Currently we had three hundred Fae, five thousand Banshees, and as roughly as many Trolls with the Clan Kings promise of bringing more soldiers into the fold. Drawing a little picture of each species on the tan paper, I drew a few other pictures of Trolls with lines leading to the Clan King.

Mmmmm.

Dipping the stylus into the ink once more, I tapped it against the edge of the small jar as I thought. Soldiers. I needed a lot more soldiers in order to match Oberon’s army soldier for soldier. I could go to Afric and ask him to rally support from the other Banshee Dens….Nodding to myself, I drew a few more stick figure-like Banshees. With one last flick of the stylus, I looked over the rough strategy plan once again. The bigger question at the moment was where I was going to get more Fae support from...it was a Fae War after all.

The most effective way to go about it would be to talk the Noblity into fighting on our side. Unseelies will be harder to convince because of their fear of Mab but the Outerland Nobles should be more willing if they didn’t completely hate me. Which meant I needed to start making an organized list of who to go to first. Scribbling Macha’s Outerland Hit List in the corner of the paper, I swiped a line underneath it and started writing names.

1). Lady and Lord Dunn: Because it’ll be entertaining. Also they have 1500 soldiers

2). Lord and Lady O’Sullivan: 2000 soldiers

3). Lord and Lady Murphy: 600 soldiers

4). Countess and Count MacDuffy: 5000 soldiers (Tricky)

5). Baron O’Ceallaigh: 3000 (Old)

6). Lady and Lord Walsh: 5000 soldiers (Manipulative)

Pausing, I looked over the six families I had listed. During my reign as their Queen, these were the six major families that had influence over the others. If I got these Fae back in my corner the rest of the Nobles would follow along without resistance. Hopefully after all this time they still held sway over the others or I was screwed. As soon as I started to make the public rounds for allies, Mab was going to come after me with everything she had. If she followed the same routine she was doing now, she was going to try and kill me before the war started.

A smart play for her because everything about who I really was, was bound to come out and make her look bad. Not to mention all the die hard religious Fae who believed in the virtues and words of the Divine would come running to my side. Which just left the Unseelie Nobility… I had a few old friends in Mab’s Court, spies that are hopefully still alive. But even if I got them working for me again I still needed soldiers...So I had to flip Fae from her court to my side. The problem was, I didn’t know who had enough soldiers to make the effort.

Lilly did though.

Yawning, I stood from the desk to stretch and ruffle my hair. Taking a moment, I looked over my drawn up plans and then rolled up the paper. The jewelry adorning my body clinked as I moved towards the entrance where the guards were already pulling the flap aside. Giving the yellow haired male a smile, I exited the tent and turned to his female counterpart.

“Bria.”

The green haired female bowed her head, “My Queen.”

“Where’s your brother’s tent?”

“He’s in that blue one over there.” She replied, pointing to a blue tent slightly smaller than my own just a couple feet away.

Snorting, I slid my eyes back to her green ones, “I should’ve known he wouldn’t be far. Thanks.” Turning on my heel, I headed towards his tent only to turn back to her, “Bring us some Choco Blasts will you Babes?”

“Sure but I’ll have to wake my mother.”

“No need.” I shook my head, “Dougal always makes sure there’s some in the pantry for me. Should be next to the preservatives.”

When both of them nodded and headed off to the cooking tent, I shouted a thanks and kept going. Not seeing a need to sneak in, I pushed the flap aside and walked into Lilly’s tent. A lantern was lit at the edge of his desk cluttered with papers and books but otherwise the room looked unlived in. The sitting area to my right was completely bare and the divider for his tub had nothing hanging off it. In the bed to the far right, black furs covered a large lump but his feet were left exposed.

How could anyone sleep like that? I thought, curling my lip.

Padding barefoot over the white carpet, I grabbed the lantern and brought it closer to the end of the desk by the bed. I was turning to the bed to wake Lilly up when I thought of something. During the argument with my father, I bent fire to my will faster than I ever had before. So what if the way to work the element was by simple hand gestures and intent. Picturing a brighter flame in my head, I snapped my fingers and chuckled as the flames’ light intensified. Damn, I’m good.

“What are you doing in my tent, Cell Bait?”

At the sound of his rough ‘half asleep’ voice, a tingle crept through my body. Pushing it away, I turned around to face him and swallowed around a dry throat. Holy...Divines. Leaned back against the headboard of the bed with the furs around his waist was a shirtless Lilly. His silver eyes gleamed underneath his hooded lids by the low light and tore at my self control. I mean…we’re both adults, I thought, glancing at his muscular chest. We were the type of people who could detach feelings from sex and I was intrigued by his submission comment….It’s not like it would be totally inappropriate. And since when did I care about being inappropriate...Well, I didn’t care until he opened his big fat mouth. Sometime while I was standing there convincing myself to just give in and do him, Lilly’s eyes had gone hard as he looked me over.

“Oh, I see.” He said, tone cold and bordering on snappish as he stood. “Which one was it?”

Confused, I couldn’t even enjoy the fact that he was only wearing a pair of cotton shorts similar to mine. “What?”

“You know what, Macha? It doesn’t matter, just give me their name and I’ll take care of it.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, watching as he picked up one of his axes.

Stepping into my personal space, silver eyes glared down at me, “Was it the Nymph or the General?”

“Sy or Erick?” I questioned, refusing to back down. “Lilly, what the fuck are you talking about?”

“Just tell me, Macha.” He snapped.

Growing irritated, I snapped back, “I would, if I knew what the hell you were talking about.”

“Which one of them did you fuck before coming into my tent to ask me to take care of it?”

Jaw dropping, I squinted my eyes in disbelief before shoving him back a few steps, “Fuck you. I didn’t sleep with anyone.”

He just gave me a look before gesturing to my slightly skewed shorts and tunic.

“It’s called sleepwear, Dickhead. And not that I have to explain shit to you but I couldn’t sleep like usual. I came here to share my war plans with you.” I spat, raising the crinkled paper in my fisted hand.

The grip on his axe loosened, “I-”

“And another thing, It isn’t any of your business who I do or don’t sleep with. Not to mention that trying to slut shame your Queen is not a good career move. If I was a king would you be acting the same way?”

“I wasn’t trying to shame you, I’d never do that. I apologize, I didn’t mean to snap at you.” He sighed, dropping his axe back against the bed. “I just assumed because it’s late and you look disheveled...You have a lot on your shoulders right now, Macha. The last thing you need is to be distracted by someone unworthy.”

Still a little tight around the shoulders, I ripped into him again, “I know. I barely have a stable relationship with myself, you think I’m going to bring someone else into my shit? I’m a few centuries short of three thousand years old, Cillian. Do you really think I’m going to fall for some Nympths sex kitten act? Or sleep with one of my own Generals? You should know me better than that. You should think better of me than that.”

“You’re right. I don’t know why I lashed out at you like that. I’m sorry, My Queen.”

Watching the top of his head bow, I blew out a long breath and pushed away my irritation. “Well, you know what they say about assuming. It makes an ass out of you and me. Don’t do that shit again.”

“I won’t.” He responded, earnestly. “Again, I really am sorry.”

Nodding, I believed him. We talked a lot of shit to each other but this was the first time he’d ever said something like that. I was willing to let it go because I knew he wasn’t used to his emotions and being out of sight of Mab was bringing them up to the surface for the first time in a long time. I saw them peaking out here and there during our conversations, he just needed to get a better handle on deeper ones.

Putting this little...whatever this was in the past, I took two steps to the side and jumped on the bed. Using my legs, I kicked the furs off the mattress until only the pillows remained. Scooting up with a pillow in one hand and my war plans in the other, I wedged the pillow between my back and the headboard. Getting comfortable, I crossed my legs underneath me and spread the plan out across the flat mattress. Positioning it so that Lilly could see when he sat down, I glanced up to find him standing where I left him.

“What are you doing? Sit.”

Silver eyes glanced at the space beside me, “Are you sure you want me to?”

“We had a fight, Lilly. We fight all the time. We literally fought five hours ago.” I replied, with a roll of my eyes. “Just sit, we have bigger things to worry about. Besides, you already apologized.”

He stood staring at me for a moment more before he came and sat on the bed across from me. Criss crossing his legs to match my position, his brows furrowed as he looked over my impressive war plan, “Cell Bait, what is this?”

“What do you mean?” I responded, snatching up the paper to look at it and then shoving it in his face. “It’s my war plan.”

Taking the paper back, he looked at it closely, “This is your war plan? Macha, it’s a list of Outerland Nobility and bad drawings.”

“The drawings aren’t that bad.” I pouted, pulling the paper back to me. “And the Nobility listed are the ones we need on our side. We get these six major families, we get them all.”

Silver brow lifting, he yanked the paper back to him just as his sister walked into the tent with the love of my life in her hands.

“Woah, am I interrupting something?” Bria questioned, turning her head the other way.

I was confused for a split second until I realized that Cillian was still in nothing but his underwear. Sadly, our earlier conversation made him ugly at the moment so I felt none of the things I had earlier. When he became attractive in my eyes again, I’d maybe, possibly, reconsider.

Lilly twisted at the waist to look at his sister, “No, you’re not. What’d you bring?”

“She brought my Choco Blasts. I was going to share but after what happened earlierrrr…”

Catching my pointed look, he held out a hand for the treats, “I’ll take them.”

Handing the plate to her brother, she tucked a piece of green hair behind her ear before meeting my eyes hesitantly, “You’re okay being alone with him, My Queen?”

“I’m fine, Bria. I’m sorry you had to see me like that a few nights ago.” I responded with my eyes glued onto the plate Lilly was handing me.

“Alright. Just making sure.”

Glancing up, I gave her a smile, “Thanks, Babes.”

Nodding, she left the tent without another word.

“Okay, back to your war plan. Combined these families have about seventeen thousand soldiers, this’ll help us. But what are the little comments you put by each of them?”

Swiping a chocolate treat off the plate, I asked, “Which comment?”

Silver eyes flicked to the paper and then to me, “The ‘tricky’ by the Count and Countess.”

“Oh, them.”

His head tilted, “Them?”

“They’re mated but like a third option, you know?” I said, taking a bite of the chocolate. Mmm so freaking good!

“So, why is their preference tricky for us?”

Chuckling at the judgement in his tone, I waved the Choco Blast side to side in his face, “Because they’ve tried to get me into bed multiple times. Even scared off a few of my partners. If they think I’m in a relationship or that sex with me is completely off the table, they won’t help us.”

Spotting the coldness starting to creep back into his eyes, I cut him off before he could even speak, “Before you say something that’ll piss me off, no. I’m not going to sleep with them. Call me old fashioned but why get mated if you’re just going to share your mate?”

“I agree.”

“I’m also a Queen. I don’t need to play their games and I won’t. They’ll play mine.”

He eyed my grin before his own lip twitched, “What about this ‘manipulative’ by the Walsh’s?”

Swallowing another bite, I nodded, “They like to act like the perfect Seelie couple but they’re far from it. They’ll want a boost from Lady and Lord to Counts.”

“And the Baron?”

“He’s just old.” I shrugged.

Giving me a small smile, he asked, “Is this information still good?”

“Here’s to hoping.” I winked, raising my treat and doing a little toast tilt.

He shook his head with a yawn and looked down at the paper, “We’ll start on your list immediately.”

“Good, I want to get it done before you leave. And I need you to make a list of Unseelie nobility for me to visit too.”

As expected, he balked, “I’ll make it when I come back.”

“Lilly, we don’t know when you’ll come back and you know that you can’t be there when I meet with them.” I tried to reason.

“You can’t meet with them alone. I won’t let you.”

“And blow your almost thousand year cover before you can get your hands on Mab’s war plans?” I laughed. “Not a chance.”

Rolling off the bed, I strode over to his desk and opened it to take out his stylus and ink. Turning, I held both of them out to him with a grin, “Start writing, Lilly. It’s time for us to actively take part in this war.”

——

Y’all I am so ready for some blood and guts, lmao. I’ve been pestering myself for more fight scenes and Imma grant my own wish soon. Shits finally heating up. How do you guys feel about Cillian this far in the book? I’m kinda on the fence about him myself.

As always, feel free to comment or like at will!

Smooches, Verbage💋