Page 6 of The Blood Queen

The High Blade’s fingers brush through my hair again. I clamp my jaw, hands in fists, rage building, growing. It’s got nowhere to go now though, not in a room with dozens of soldiers and Red Caps, and the High Blade herself gazing at me like I’m a new tapestry she’s gonna hang on her wall.

“Go now, Samson,” Elizabeth prods. “You must be tired from your journey. Rest, and tomorrow, you will be by our side.”

I should have fought back from the start. I should never have gone along with Cecil, let him think for one second that I’m in on this with him. I should have given in to my Red Cap rage and burned the world down if it meant keeping Alyth safe.

Because she’s getting dragged away from me, and I have no idea how to get her free.

2 Alyth

I try to think through the fog and the pain and the sheer, utter terror that claws at my throat like a beast, feral and hungry and ready to eat me whole.

Is this how Samson feels when the Red Cap madness takes him? I wonder. I think I understand him a bit more now.

I think I understand rage more too.

And how it has its uses.

I force myself to focus. I know this castle we’re in. Lochmaben, near the border. I’ve been here more than once. The longest I visited was right after Mary, Queen of Scots, married Lord Darnley. Mary’s half brother had rightly known that their marriage and alliance was disastrous and had attempted a rebellion to dissuade his sibling from the union. It was a ridiculous chase about Scotland, and it didn’t do a damn bit of good. Darnley became king consort anyway, and when Mary wouldn’t elevate him to her status, he brought in the Red Caps, and now it’s all falling apart, all of it, this kingdom and the fae realm, and—

And it’s all my fault.

Grief and guilt poke holes at all my useful rage, leaving me with nothing but unfiltered pain.

I should have seen the plots of my enemy sooner. I should have known what to do.

I should have stopped all this from happening.

For centuries, the wall has kept the Red Caps out, but under my watch, the bloody High Blade, the worst of the lot, crossed through and invaded.

I’m shoved into a dank stone cell below the castle, the floor cut from the cold earth, iron bars clanging against a stone lip as they close behind me. With the door locked, at least the binding spell is released from my body. I shake my arms and stomp around, getting the feeling back in my numb fingers and toes.

I can hear the voices of guards. At least one of them is a Red Cap—I spot that damned amulet that allowed them to cross the border hanging from his belt—but they are all fae. Their auras swirl with bright colors. They’re so gleeful.

Are they all Red Caps? I don’t think so, but I can’t tell for sure. I don’t spot more of the amulets, and Lord Darnley is proof enough that weaker fae and Leth are all too happy to side with cruelty if it will gain them power.

Power they think they already have, now that the Red Caps crossed the border I guarded.

My jaw clenches so hard that my teeth hurt.

It’s not over yet.

Think, think, think.

Motive. The High Blade could not care less about Scotland, although the bloodshed and violence she sows here will strengthen her magic. Regardless, she’s just like all the other pure-blooded fae I know—she doesn’t care about the mortal world. No, her real goal is the fae realm. The only reason she wanted to cross into Scotland was to gain access to the portals that would take her to the fae realm.

But a lot has changed since the High Blade was here last. Many of the old portals are closed. Dead.

If I can lead her on a wild-goose chase, taking her to closed and abandoned portals, I might stall long enough for my father and the other princes of the fae realm to rally forces and actually take down the Red Caps once and for all. At least I got a message through to my father before I was captured.

I’m glad we’re here, in the southern lowlands. Practically all the portals in this area are closed off, destroyed long ago. The farther north we go, the harder it will be to pull the High Blade away from access points that still operate, but…

I can buy the fae time at least.

I’ve failed in every other way, but I can do that much.

I hope.

It’s the only chance we have.