The Bastard Queen (Viciously Yours #2)

Chapter Sixty-Four: Moonlight Walks

"If she's so dangerous, then why do they let her eat with us?"

"Look at her, she's covered in iron chains and they barely give her enough to avoid starvation. What's she going to do?"

I flipped the burnt piece of toast over on my tray with my fingertips, listening as I hummed.

"I heard she killed four prisoners last century with a chair."

"Bullshit!"

"I swear! And Tara in D block told me that her face is all fucked up from the torure, the spell hiding her face is so she doesn't scare everyone."

How very original, I thought with an internal snort. What do you think, Little Blue Fish?......Yes, I agree.

"I heard that too." A third voice broke in. "I also heard that she's been here longer than anyone."

"Obviously, Dumbass. Look at her fucking sentence, it goes from her neck to her ankles!"

"I wonder what she did."

"Me too."

"Idiots! Did you two live in a cave? Don't you know who that is? That's Macha, Queen of the Banished and the one who tried to take Mab's throne!"

"No way!"

"I don't believe it. I mean, look at her! Her hair's a knotted mess, she smells like shit and she's always rocking in her seat humming that fucking tune she always does. Like Jenny said, no way she was a Queen. She's obviously crazy, maybe she snapped and killed a bunch of kids or something. Same thing happened to my great aunt Maeve."

Abruptly pausing my rocking and humming, I raised a hand to pinch the grey fabric covering my shoulder and lifted it to my nose. The two women and the man who sat further down the long metal table, startled at my sudden movement and scrambled from their seats. Dried blood, the burning smell of iron, and sweat. Not the most appealing smell but I was lucky that Fearghas hated the smell of piss and shit. Otherwise, I'd never be allowed to wash. Wash, wash, wash. Did a harsh hose down over my open wounds really count as a wash, though? My little blue fish didn't think so.

I tapped my cracked and bleeding nails, on the table with a laugh that drew cautious stares. One, two, three, three pairs of eyes that piece together my face. But what do they see? What do they see? Loud peels of my laughter ripped through the low murmur of the mess hall causing the Fae around me to shift uneasily. Nothing but a blurred mess unless they focused. Focus, focus, focus! My eyes jumped from one Fae to the other but none looked at me when I got like this. I scared them. Made them nervous.

"What did I tell your crazy ass the last time you did this shit?"

But I didn't make all of them nervous. I was a challenge to some, most, all. The males, the men, the ones with dicks. I laughed again at my inner thoughts as a pair of large hands slammed against the table, caging me in and causing my tray to jump.

"I'm talking to you, Lunatic. You're ruining my fucking meal." Lorcan spat in my ear, his chest bumping into my shoulders.

I ignored him, my eyes following his men circling the table, "Shifting, twisting, turning. Like fish."

A rough hand spread over my throat, yanking my head back on his shoulder, "How long do you think you can keep this up? Talking and laughing to yourself? Making everyone steer clear of you, so you can't be one of my girls?"