The Bastard Queen (Viciously Yours #2)

~Cillian’s P.O.V.~

Everyone inside the tent held their breath and waited for Macha to do or say something, anything. But the tall female just stood there frozen in place and blinking at my father in an increasingly concerning way. Gazing at the rest of the men in the room, I caught the oblivious grin Puck was sporting and the growing judgment on the so called Generals. The shit haired male was looking at Macha as if she was going to attack us at any moment.

Lip raising at the face he was making, I turned back to lock eyes on my father. I ordered you not to bring about her breakdown, Father.

And I didn’t. She asked me, Son. We couldn’t lie to her forever. He replied, gray eyes sliding to meet mine for a split second.

No, but you could have stalled her. We’ve barely started making progress, this could set her back completely.

Then it will have all worked out.

Brows furrowed, I snapped, No. It wouldn’t have. She’s not ready, don’t you care at all that she could lose her soul?

She won’t.

You. Don’t. Know. That.

Loud peels of laughter interrupted our mental conversation and drew all attention back to Macha. Long blue hair swayed as she bent forward slightly with a hand pressed against her chest at the force of her laughter. Slapping her hand against the desk in time with her laughs, she leaned back and released a long choppy sigh. Sparkling blue eyes flashed around the room to catch our expressions before she started laughing all over again.

“Macha?”

At the sound of my father’s voice, she started laughing harder than I would’ve thought possible. Tears streaked down her face as she finally calmed down enough to take gasping breaths of air. Placing a hand on the back of Pucks chair, she leaned over it while her shoulders shook in silent guwaffs. Concerned at her reaction, I took a hesitant step forward just as she wiped her eyes and straightened up.

She glanced at our faces once more before setting her amused gaze on my Father, “That is literally, thee most cringiest clichè bullshit I have ever heard.”

Father shook his head in disappointment, “It’s the truth, Macha. This is what everything has been about.”

“Are you seriously standing there trying to tell me that I’m a God?”

“No.” Father replied, giving her just enough time to relax before continuing, “You’re a Demi-Goddess but to our people, yes. You’d be a Goddess.”

Blinking rapidly, Macha nodded slowly while sidestepping over to me. The second our arms touched, she leaned in close to whisper, “Cillian, on a scale of Afric to me...how batshit insane is your father?”

“He’s not insane, Cell Bait. This is what we’ve been keeping from you. What I didn’t want to tell you yet, for this exact reason.” I responded, trying to fight down a laugh.

She took a step back and ran a hand through her blue locks, “And all of you believe that I’m a God- Sorry, Demi-Goddess. Why, exactly?”

“Because of who your father is.” Puck said, giving Macha a bright smile. “Oh! And the Prophecy, of course.”

As annoyance rolled through me at the way he so casually announced that, Macha’s face scrunched up in confusion. Her blue eyes shot to mine and then my fathers, “My father? My father’s a nobody, just some male who knocked up Mab and then disappeared. I’m reasonably sure that she had him killed too.”

Father sighed, “No, Fabht Siúcra. He wasn’t a nobody. He was-”

“Woah, wait. Do you know who he is? Have you known this whole time?”

The catch in her voice had me pressing my arm more firmly against hers in an effort to offer her silent support.

My father took a moment before answering her, “...Yes.”

“And you’re only telling me this now? Dougal, how many times as a child had I asked about my father? Only for you to say you didn’t know.”

“You weren’t ready to be told-”

Macha pressed her palms to her temples, fingers spread stiffly and her eyes squeezed shut, “Divines! Stop. Just stop! I can’t take this anymore, Dougal. Enough with all this cloak and dagger bullshit. Tell me everything.”

“Your father was Malachy, the Great Divine Liar. And yes, he named you after himself. You’re a lot like him, Macha. ”

“Your saying, my father…was the Divine Liar?”

My father rounded the desk to lean against the front of it, “Yes. He came to Mab claiming to be an exiled noble from the Seelie Court. From there it wasn’t long before Mab became infatuated with him and the way he spoke. His tone was always as smooth as silk and he spun his lies an half truths seamlessly. Malachy’s hair was also a rich shiny blue like yours, except that his was curly.”

A kernel of pleasure bloomed in my chest as blue eyes flew to mine at my father’s words looking for confirmation. Progress, this was the progress I had been waiting for. For her to lean on me when she was unsure of her own mind. Looking back into her eyes, I nodded, “Your father was the Divine Liar. He was already the last of the Divines when he and Mab fell in love. When Mab got pregnant, Malachy had a vision about your future.”

“One of the last things that he did was confide in me and Oberon about who he was and his vision. He knew that Mab was going to kill him and he was fine with it as long as you got to live. She didn’t know who he was or who you’d grow up to be but she made sure she killed him. Liquid iron in his dinner goblet.” My father finished off.

Macha furrowed her brows, “But why? Why kill him?”

“Mab grew increasingly paranoid that he was going to use her pregnancy to snag the throne out from under her. So, she killed him before anyone could find out but I managed to convince her to keep you. I told her it’s what Malachy would’ve wanted. She loved him deeply.”

Heaving out a huge breath, Macha walked over to Puck and shoved him out of the chair before taking the seat herself.

“Hey!”

“Stuff it, Power Puff. I’m in the middle of a life crisis if you haven’t noticed.” She snapped.

Striding over to my father, I waited beside him and carefully watched Macha’s expression. The features of her rich brown face flickered through anger, sadness and confusion. She was handling the news of her father pretty well but she still didn’t know about her own destiny. That was going to be a real test to her mental state and unlike my father I was praying to the Divines that she didn’t transform. I knew, I just knew deep down that she wasn’t going to be able to handle the transition. And it was becoming more and more obvious to me that if she did burn away her soul, I couldn’t be the one to put her down. A month ago, I could’ve but now after last night...all I wanted to do was save her from herself.

“Okay, let me get this straight. The Great Divine Liar, Malachy, who I’m named after apparently, was my father. Mab killed him because she thought that he was going to steal her throne. Before he died he named me and then confided in you and Oberon about his vision.” She said, pressing a silver tattooed hand to her forehead.

“It’s a lot to take in, Cell Bait. Take your time.”

Sighing, she slumped back against the chair, “Puck, I’m guessing this vision he heard from my father is the real reason Oberon hunted me as a child?”

“I wouldn’t say hunted but he did search for you because of the Prophecy that the vision held. The Prophecy that does makes you a god in the Fae’s eyes.”

“What Prophecy?”

Father stood up and rounded the side of his desk to open the drawer at the very bottom. A low whistling sound echoed throughout the tent as he pushed a small amount of air into the lock. With a snick it, he reached inside to pull out a rolled up scroll. Rounding the desk once more, he sat back against it and held the scroll out for Macha to take.

Jumping up from her seat, she snatched the scroll and moved over to the tent entrance. Holding it in the light coming through the cracks of the flap door, blue hair curtained her face as she looked it over, “What is this made out of? Skin?”

“Gnome skin to be exact.”

She snorted, “Even three thousand years ago, people hated gnomes.” Her eyes glanced down before shooting over to me, “Have you read this?”

“No, but my father told me what it says.”

“Get over here, then. I’m not going to read ink off of a Gnome’s skin alone like some jackass.” She said, nodding me over.

In a few steps, I was viewing the scroll over her shoulder an inch away from touching her bare skin. The greenish ink used on the pale skin was faded but still legible enough in the center of the ragged edges. Macha’s finger ran below the lines of the Prophecy as she read aloud, “Born of my spirit line with a will as strong as mine, Taking the power She’ll go from royal to Divine, With Her on the throne the all kingdom will rise, Even Her enemies will bow to Her power or meet their demise, A false Queen will test her ascension but all of FaeKind will recognize the true Queen in time, The truth of Tir Na Nog lays at the bottom of my spirit line.”

After a pause, Macha turned to look at my father, “This is the Divine Prophecy.”

“You’ve heard of it?” He asked.

“When I was conquering the Outerlands, I heard bits and pieces of it from elders. Some Fae woman that would unite the Faekinds under one banner, The Fae Queen. They thought I was the one spoken about in the scroll too.” Her head bowed to look back down at the scroll as she spoke, her voice drifting off.

When she looked up, she took a step away from me and met each of our eyes with a hesitant smile, “You guys can’t really believe this shit. Sure it says Her but my father could have had other daughters. This could be about one of them.”

“You father didn’t have any other children. He said that he and the other Divines all made a promise not to have them. That their unlimited power would end with them.”

“But he lied to them, Dougal. He’s the Divine Liar for shits sake! He could’ve lied about having other children. Hell, this so-called Prophecy is probably just one big ole lie to get his rocks off in the stars.” Macha spat in exasperation.

“No, Macha. It’s all true. You’re the one he saw in his vision, the one that the Prophecy foretold and Malachy’s only child.”

But her head was already shaking, “No, no, no. You’ve got this all wrong. I’m barely sane enough to play Queen and now you’re telling me that I’m a god. A God.”

“How else would you explain your ability with both Unseelie and Seelie elements? Even mixed children don’t have those abilities, in fact they normally have no ability.” I reasoned, using what was hopefully a logical tone.

“I-uh-I-I don’t know! Just lay it all out, what exactly are you all of you trying to tell me right now?”

Moving in front of her, I cut off her view of the others. I needed to be the one to tell her, it was the only way that she would believe us. Looking into her eyes, an odd feeling lodged itself into my throat at the reflection of silver mixed into her blue ones. With the silver littering her body it was hard not to imagine the same color mixed into her hair...No.

Blinking the thought away, I focused on everything she needed to know. “Macha, you’re not fighting against Mab to just bring her down. And you’re not fighting to be Queen of the Outerlands again.”

“Wait a minute, I don’t want her throne. I never wanted to be Queen of the Unseelie.”

“And you won’t be. The throne you’re going to claim is the throne of Tir Na Nog. With everyone, from Seelie to Unseelie, from Trolls to gnomes, Pixies to Nymphs, underneath one flag. Your flag.”

She scoffed, eyes wide, “Your fucking insane, that has and never will happen. The Seelie will never follow the rule of a Unseelie and the rest hate me. In fact, they all hate me!”

“If the Seelie hated you, they would’ve revolted against Oberon for giving you command of his troops. They know about the Divine Prophecy and they believe in you. The rest will follow once we spread the news. And technically, you’re not Unseelie. You’re neutral. Like the Divines.”

“Shut your whore mouth. I’m Unseelie.” She rushed out, stabbing an aggressive finger against my chest.

“Half.”

Her lip raised to show sharpened teeth, “Full. The Divine Liar would’ve been Unseelie.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Cell Bait.” I smirked, lightly. “But you’re half.”

She shoved the scroll at me, “None of this proves that the woman he talks about in the Prophecy is me.”

Shoving the scroll back at her, I took pleasure in proving her wrong, “Is the Prophecy the only writing on the scroll? Malachy said he wrote a message in his blood that only his heir would be able to see and read.”

“I feel like I’m in a shitty preteen drama.” She snarled, pulling the scroll open harshly. As her eyes scanned the scroll, a smirk starting to stretch her lips, “See, I told you guys. You got the wrong bitch-” The color drained from her face as she flipped the scroll over and stared down at the bottom left corner. “Oh, fuck a gnome.”

“See something?” I questioned, innocently.

Eyes as hard as ice shot to me, “No.”

“Macha…”

Dismissing me, her eyes raced over the corner of the skin scroll with an increasingly furrowed brow. “Hold on.”

“What is it?” The General spoke.

My head snapped to him in mild surprise, I had forgotten the male was still in the tent. Brown eyes met mine for a split second before looking back at Macha. When she spoke, I pulled my narrowed eyes off the male to look at her as well.

“I’m not a Divine yet. I have to go through some type of transformation?....That could burn away my soul if I feel unworthy or don’t accept it... Son of a bitch. How long have you guys known about this transformation?”

“Me and Oberon have known about this your whole life.” My father answered.

Macha’s chest heaved as she took a step back, “Then you know how screwed I am. I either transform or lose my soul and I can’t transform.”

“Yes you can, Cell Bait. This is what we’re going to work on. Getting you into a healthy mental state so that you can survive the transformation.”

“No, you don’t understand. I can’t transform. I am the last person who should have the power of a god. The power went to my head as a Queen, can you imagine the damage I could do as a God? No, I can’t. I’ll beat Mab without turning into a Divine.”

“You may not have a choice,” I reminded her. “Anything could trigger your transformation.”

“Then I’ll let it burn my soul and I’ll die.” She replied simply, eyes shooting around the room.

“You wouldn’t die, Macha. You’d become soulless and without magic, but you wouldn’t die.”

She paled once again, “You’re not serious.”

“I am.”

“Then you’ll have to kill me. Because if that happens, I’ll give into all of my darker urges. And if you think I don’t have restraint now? You’re in for a rude awakening.”

I shook my head, “I won’t kill you.”

“Cillian, I could destroy the very realm you want me to save. You’ll have to. Dougal won’t do it and even without magick I’m still deadly. You’re the only one who can.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No. That’s why I’m helping you. So, I won’t have to.”

Squeezing the scroll in her hand, she flashed her sharpened teeth in my face, “I shouldn’t have access to that much power, Cillian. I know it and so do you. I won’t transform. And if you don’t kill me the second my soul burns away then you’ll be responsible for the death of thousands.”

Without giving me a chance to respond to that, she blinked out of existence with the scroll in hand.

“I knew it. She isn’t strong enough to be the Queen our realm needs. How are we supposed to follow someone who still doesn’t believe in herself?”

For the first time, Puck lost his ever present smile, “How dare you question your Queens ability, General. Tir Na Nog is her birthright. She might not be ready now but she will be. She was born for this and I won’t let some lowborn Fae drag her name through the mud. You are in no position by blood or rank to doubt her.”

“Enough. She just found out who her father was, what her destiny is and what she’s supposed to become. Macha needs time to sort all of this out in her head. She might not believe in herself but I do. And anyone who doubts her, General. Has no place in this army.” After giving him a hard look, I left the tent to search out the impossibly frustrating woman who refused to trust herself.

—

This chapter was surprisingly hard to write. With something major happening to Macha but writing in Cillian’s P.O.V. Hopefully, it’s okay. But finally, y’all know the WHOLE truth. Well y’all are still missing some minor details here and there, hehehe.

As always, feel free to share your thoughts on the chapter!

Smooches, Verbage💋