Beyond the Mountain (Fae's Captive #4) - Lily Archer Page 0,11
the evil mountain lair. The zombie behind me isn’t even winded.
“Daughter.” Shathinor’s voice carries on a cool wind, and I shiver.
The guard gives me a light push. I turn to glare at him, but his gelatinous white eyes have me turning right back around.
With heavy steps, I walk toward the sound of Shathinor’s voice. More guards appear, some dead, some alive, all of them stern. Soldiers line the stone walls that open onto a wide veranda jutting out into the cloudy night. There is nothing below but the valley of campfires that spreads as far as I can see. One misstep up here would spell doom.
“Come, daughter.” Shathinor stands near the very tip of the stone peninsula extending from the side of the mountain. His black wings are folded neatly behind him, the tips peeking over his shoulders.
Cenet stands beside him, his gaze no less lethal than it was before. But they aren’t arguing anymore, at least.
A wind whips past, and I stop as my gown flows out beside me and over the edge. That first step is a doozy.
“Come.” Shathinor beckons with what passes for a smile on his face.
My heart thumps out of tune, and I want nothing more than to flee back down the stairs. But one look at Cenet tells me he’d catch me and hurt me. And worse than that, he’d enjoy it. He has my obsidian blade at his side.
I force my feet to carry me all the way and stop next to the rotting king.
He takes my arm and pulls me to the very lip of the stone. I clench my eyes shut.
“Look down.” His voice slithers into my ear.
It takes effort, but I open my eyes and squint at the camps far below.
“All this is ours. Every bit of it.” He wraps his arm around my shoulders, and for a moment, I ponder throwing myself off the cliff. “I had already begun my work to rebuild my army, but the moment I felt you here in Arin, I knew it was time. More and more join my cause, and now we can take the reins of this great slumbering beast and turn its jaws toward first the summer realm and then to the true prize, my former home. Our home.”
I have to give it to him. He’s trying to win me over with this “our” business. But what he wants to sell me is an evil empire with him as its king. No, thank you. “Look, you don’t know me. I’m just a human—well, I guess a fae?—See? I don’t even know what I am. I’m not evil. I don’t want to take over the world. War sounds horrible.” I cringe away from him a bit more with each word. “I just want to be me.” And I want to be with Leander. I dare not speak that aloud, not when Shathinor has made clear that Leander is on his “Murder ASAP” list.
“You want to be you?” He pulls me closer, the scent of rot wafting to my nose. “That’s what I’m offering. I can give you that. You can finally be yourself. Your true self.”
“But I already am. I’m happy like this. Like a human, more or less.”
“You’re a high fae,” Cenet practically spits. “Not a human.”
Shathinor’s white face crinkles a bit. “Don’t mind your brother. He’s just a tad jealous now that you’ve come to claim what’s yours. He thought he’d be the one to rule with me. But he’s a lesser fae, his mother a spoil of war. I enjoyed her but didn’t intend for her to bear a child.” He gives him a deathly glare. “But here we are.”
I swallow hard as Cenet’s eyes slit even more narrowly. “One big, happy family.”
“Besides, he doesn’t have your gifts.” Shathinor takes my hand and holds it out. “Death lives in these fingertips and in your heart. You can take life with a whisper, with nothing more than the scantest touch.”
“If that were true, Cenet would be toast by now.” I pull my hand away. “I’m not who you think I am. I mean, maybe I’m your daughter. It’s not like I can do a DNA test and find out. But that doesn’t mean I’m, you know …”
“Bad?” he offers, then smiles, his fangs even longer than I remember. “Bad is relative, my dear heart. Think about it. How were you treated in the summer realm? Did you fare well there?”
Imprisoned in a filthy dungeon, threatened, enslaved, smacked around, and almost