The Bastard Queen (Viciously Yours #2)

“By the Divine Noble? Is this kid serious, right now?”

Smothering a laugh, Dani smirked, “Lay off. He was just trying to warn us.”

Rolling my eyes with a huff, I went back to watching the guards from the edge of my vision. The small group of four had entered the tavern halfway through my conversation with Dani and calmly made their way through the crowd. The men laughed lightly amongst each other as they walked up to the bar with shoulders proudly thrown back. Mab’s soldiers had always had an ungodly amount of confidence, they walked through all the nastier parts of Tir Na Nog free of fear. Believing themselves untouchable because nothing could possibly be worse than the woman they worked for. Oh, how wrong they were.

The boy whipped his head back and forth between us before anxiously whispering, “What’s happening right now?”

“Relax, they’re not here for us.” I replied, keeping an eye on the soldiers.

“What do you mean they’re not here for us? You’re the most wanted fae in the realm.”

My lips curved into a smug smile, “I know.”

“What she means, Puck, is that they come here for shits and giggles. To flex their muscles a bit, show off to the Outerland women. Whispering promises of bringing them over the wall before fucking ’em and leaving ’em.” Dani informed him, signaling a nearby waitress.

“That’s- That’s messed up.” The b- Puck stuttered.

A waitress rushed over, fluffing her short red bob, “What’ll it be?”

“I’ll take a sugared ale, Babes.” I answered, admiring her full figure with a quick smile before turning my gaze back on the men in purple. Distractedly, I heard Dani and Puck giving their orders to the cute waitress.

Even though I knew the men weren’t specifically here for me, that wasn’t going to stop me from keeping an eye on them. Beside’s one of them looked vaguely familiar, like I had seen his face somewhere once before. Pastel green hair buzzed down to a stubble showed off a baby face that hadn’t come into the sharp bone structure of an adult Fae just yet. Since he looked to be about the same age as Puck, who was around twenty in human years and seven hundred in fae, I couldn’t have known him. He wouldn’t have been born, let alone old enough for our paths to cross before I was sent to Slykhelm. Chalking it up to paranoia, I swung my eyes back to my companions as the waitress stalked off temporarily blocking the strange boy from view.

“Don’t feel bad for the women, Puck. Feel bad for the men.” Dani laughed, throwing her arm along the back of the booth behind him.

“Why?”

I grinned, showing off two rows of pointed teeth, “Because sometimes they make it back to base fine...and sometimes they’re missing their dicks.”

We laughed loudly at Puck’s nauseous expression just as the waitress came back around. Sugared ale sloshed over the rims of the mugs as she slammed them down before scurrying away to another patron. Still chuckling, I reached out and pulled the mug to my lips for a large gulp. Dani snatched up her own, eyes still twinkling with mirth as she took a deep sip. Feeling much better than I did since waking up earlier that night, I closed my eyes and soaked in the taste of the ale. I hadn’t had sugar since before prison and it tasted even better than I remembered. In large amounts, sugar was the only thing that could inebriate a fae and it made everything after Slykhelm just a pinch easier.

“Macha. What happened to your wrists?”

“Huh?” Forcing my expression to remain relaxed, I opened my eyes and raised my wrist like I didn’t know exactly what she was talking about. “Oh, that. Got a little wild with a Banshee last night.” I winked.

Dani eyed me for a moment before a slow smile took over her features, “Good to see prison didn’t change you a bit.”

If you ignored the way I woke up with a scream lodged in the back of my throat almost every night, scratches on my body from the nightmares or how I made sure I could easily exit every room I entered, then, “Not a bit, Babes. Not. A. Bit.”

Grinning, she roughly patted Pucks shoulder. “I told you, Puck. Macha’s the strongest fae I know.”

Was, I corrected her in my thoughts. I was the strongest fae you know.

Golden eyes narrowed on pink ones, “I never said to the contrary.”

“Right. So, who is he? Cause he talks like a noble.”

“Can I just say that for being in a very urgent situation, you both are very relaxed.”

“Not our first time in an urgent situation,” Dani said. “But he has a point, we should get down to business.”

Raising a hand, I swirled a finger, “Do your thing then.”

Shrugging off her cloak, Dani revealed a white tunic lined with green along the edges that highlighted her cocoa colored skin. Raising her hands to chest level with palms facing the ceiling, her eyes twinkled at her use of magic. The air around the table shifted from it’s still position to start whipping around our little group. Effectively trapping all sound inside without alerting everyone around us that we had something worth keeping a secret.

Fae magick was complex in a way that other supernaturals wouldn’t assume. While regular Fae wielded one ability, royals tended to wield up to two or three but every ability was only as strong as a Fae’s will. When it came to power it was based on the Fae’s will, a regular Fae could create devastating earthquakes while a royal could barely levitate a stone. Being Seelie or Unseelie also determined which kind of magick you’d be able to bend to your will. Seelie couldn’t bend air, water or metal to their will to save their lives, just like we, the Unseelie, couldn’t bend fire, earth, or animals to ours. Well, I thought as I willed the wooden table to warp beneath my finger tips, at least we shouldn’t be able to.

“Isn’t this kind of redundant? I mean, you already spoke openly about helping Macha escape from prison.”

Removing my fingers, the wood immediately reverted back to its original shape. Giving Puck an indulgent smile, I answered for Dani, “We didn’t say which prison and I’m almost a hundred percent certain that we’re not the only ones that’ve ever said that in here.”

Having my complete attention, he seemed to freeze up like a Sprite in a flower ring. Golden tan skin dusted red from his fleshy cheekbones down to his neck before he straightened his shoulders and said, “Of course. I was just joking.”

“Of course.” I purred.

Dani lowered her hands to the table, “You want to start or should I?”

“You, and for the love of the Divine start with him.”

“Okay. Okay.” Fingering a curl, she huffed out a quick sigh, “After I freed you, I met back up with Calvin in another earth state and established a travel pattern. But when we arrived home, her soldiers were already waiting for me. Said you escaped from Slykhelm and wanted to ask me a few questions. Cal tried to intervene but got knocked out for his troubles-”

I snorted in amusement, cutting her off.

“What?” Dani snapped.

“Did I say something?” I snapped back.

“Bitch,” She stressed with narrowed eyes. “Anyways, they were taking me to one of Mab’s army bases when Puck showed up out of nowhere and rescued me. I thanked him with gold and went to leave except he wouldn’t accept it. He said the only form of thanks he’d take was if I took him to meet you. I didn’t want to get stuck with a life debt to some kid, so I brought him along. Although, we’re late because he needed to travel home for a few days to attend some family thing.”

“So, basically you brought some random Seelie boy to come meet me and you don’t know why?” I asked calmly.

Taking a sip of ale, she shrugged, “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Your concern for my safety is overwhelming, Babes. Truly.” Turning to face the boy who could very well be an assassin sent by Mab or worse, a representative from Oberon. I raised a brow, “Well, you’ve met me. What do you want?”

Puck perked up, “I want to help you dethrone Mab.”

“Why?” I questioned, willing one of my rings to melt and reshape itself into a thin knife beneath the table.

“Because I know the story is wrong.”

Story? “What story?”

“Uh, Puck that can wait until-”

“My generation, the one born after the battle, was told that the Queen of the Banished grew resentful of Queen Mab. That Mab had allowed you to generously rule over the people of the Outerlands but it wasn’t enough for you. We were told that you hated Mab for her power and beauty, so mad with envy you set off down a path of treason. Your greed and selfishness knew no bounds as you thrusted your people into a battle against the Queen who gave you everything. In the end, you lost and in an act of supreme mercy Mab spared your life. You were then sent to live out the rest of your life in a cell. To repent for your treason against the generous Queen of the Unseelie.” Golden eyes seemed to soften at whatever he saw in my expression, “Macha, she rewrote history and painted you the villain. The older fae know the truth but are too fearful to speak out against her and the younger ones don’t know any better. Mab acts like a saint to the public and hides her cruelty behind closed doors these days. She’s even allowing some of the banished back into her Kingdom. ”

Anger like a raging tide swept through me at the version of the battle she had spun but I wasn’t surprised. So while I was angry, I also felt relief like a cooling balm slither down my spine. It was almost too much to hope for but maybe my people were waiting for me to come back to them. They were old enough and some had been there to know that that story wasn’t true. Except, just as quickly as that thought sprung up another one squashed it like a Gnome. Why wouldn’t they believe the story that Mab spread throughout Tir Na Nog? I hadn’t bothered to tell them the real reason we needed to make a stand against her, why she needed to be stopped. How ironic was it that by sheltering my people from the harshness of the world, they were now at the mercy of Mab and her vicious lies. Heading happily back into her kingdom like Pixies to the slaughter.

“Well, nobody ever accused the cunt of being stupid.” I laughed bitterly, white knuckling the thin knife and taking another large sip of sugared ale. The taste of pure sugar coupled with the tang of alcohol managed to dull the sharp edge of self-pity wedged under my heart.

“Macha, there’s still a lot of fae out there who know the truth.” Dani gently tried to reassure me.

I pinned her to the booth with a hard stare, “Really and what’s that? A very vague sentence of ‘She’s an evil tyrant that needs to be killed’ before taking the troops out to battle? I wonder which one they’ll believe more because I know who I’d believe.” And wasn’t it sad, that it wasn’t me.

Puck was quick to add, “A good amount of your people are still around, they’re just scattered throughout the Outerlands. I’m sure if you got them all together and told them what you kept from them they’d be willing to fight with you against Mab.”

“Because it was so easy getting them to follow me the first time. Why not do it again? Only this time, I have to admit all the things that I actively kept from them. Yay me.” I snapped with a healthy dose of sarcasm before downing the rest of my sugared ale.

“Then start with us.”

I raised a brow, “I don’t trust you, Babes. Sure, you want Mab out of power but so do a lot of people. Thanks for the history lesson though, you can go.”

Puck’s mouth hung open like he was shocked that I was dismissing him so quickly, “No-no. You can’t do that. You need me.”

Muscles tensing, I had the thin blue knife hovering a few inches away from his heart before he finished his sentence. “I can do whatever I want. I don’t need you.”

“Let’s all just take a deep breath-

“I know fae from all over. I have connections inside both the Unseelie and Seelie Courts. I’d be able to give you insider information.”

The blue knife pressed against his tunic, “And why, would I believe a Seelie?”

“You stabbed Commander Cillian and declared war but the Unseelie aren’t mobilizing. He hasn’t told Mab.” Puck rushed out leaning as far away from the knife as he could get.

“You what!” Dani shouted.

I willed the knife back to me and eyed him, “How do you know that?” Why didn’t he tell?

“Because,” He said, shoulders slumping in relief. “I have someone uniquely positioned in his and Mab’s inner circle that trusts me.”

Twirling the knife end over end above my palm, I thought about what Puck was offering. Insider knowledge on Mab and Oberons moves throughout the upcoming war. Not that I was expecting trouble from Oberon or even for him to involve himself in the war but...it never hurt to be cautious. The offer was a tempting one but none of it explained how he knew someone that high up in the Unseelie Court or how he got them to trust him.

“How do you have their trust?”

“I’m the youngest son of...a noble Seelie family. I’ve been going between the courts since I was born and have known him for just as long. He’s a good friend, more like a brother really.”

Skeptical, I asked, “Does this friend know you plan to give me the information he passes to you?”

Puck nodded, “Yes, it was his idea.”

“And why does he want to help me?”

“For the same reason, I do. From what our parents told us, Mab is a cruel tyrant and you’re the only one strong enough to rip her off the throne.”

I cracked a smile at that. While I failed last time because of the mindset I went into battle with. I was physically strong enough to take her down but she’d take me with her. As long as that cunt died though, nothing else really mattered. Perhaps everything in Tir Na Nog would be better off if we killed each other. Woah, where did that come from?

“Alright.”

Puck and Dani shared a look before parroting back, “Aright?”

My grin grew until pointed teeth flashed at them, “Alright, you can stay and help me defeat Mab with your insider information. But only if we make a deal.”

“A deal?” He asked hesitantly.

“ I don’t have time to hold your hand until I can trust you, so yea. In exchange for your truthful information, I will allow you to stay. However if you break this deal in anyway, your life is mine. Deal?”

Dani’s pink eyes grew wide, “Macha, he’s still a kid isn’t that deal a little...steep?”

“Nope.” I immediately responded, popping the P. “I think it’s incredibly fair. I could end up with another iron stake in my chest for trusting his information, why shouldn’t he face the same risk? He wants to actively pick a side during a war? Let him. From here on out, his decisions won’t get any easier.”

“Deal.”

Snapping my gaze from Dani to Puck, I soaked in the rush of power flowing through my veins at his acceptance. Golden eyes glowed with the binding magick tying us into the deal, my blue ones likely shining just as bright.

Laughing, I announced, “Oh, I love it when they accept.”

—-

Hhhhhhmmmm, what do you guys think? Is Macha really the villian Mab’s painted her out to be? How long do you think Macha will last until her ‘I haven’t changed’ mask cracks? Who was that solider that Macha thought she knew? And more importantly can Puck be trusted even after the deal?

Don’t forget to comment if you enjoyed the chapter! But if not, silent readers I appreciate you too! I myself am a silent reader, lmao.

Smooches, Verbage💋