Taken

Chapter 22 (Part 3)

Rowan Fómhar

Not only had she followed me back to my room at the inn, but it seemed she had also managed to follow me into the cold stone walls of the castle.

I wanted to say I was surprised to see her lying unconscious and injured on the floor of the castle's throne room, but I couldn't. Considering our last two encounters and the fact that she was human, it was only a matter of time before she was caught. Or killed.

It was yet to be decided if she was fortunate to still be breathing. It all depended on what Ezekiel had planned for her.

It was never a good thing when the Winter King had his sights set on you. Death became a dream that was out of reach when that man was involved.

I dragged my eyes away from her, hiding my reaction that had me pausing as I came to a stop beside the thrones. With my shoulders back, and head held high, I clasped my hands behind my back as I took my position beside the Queen's throne that remained vacant as she approached her newest prisoners.

Letting the human slip away had been an act of harmless rebellion that delayed the inevitable. She had run out of the luck that had gotten her this far.

My eyes left her to return to the fae at her side. Curiosity had me canting my head. Luck wasn't all that helped her successfully evade the Winter Guard.

I helped the human because she would only add to the games the Queen was playing, ones I was dragged into far too often already, but why was he aiding her? Humans were known to have bleeding hearts that often had them helping others for nothing, but fae were raised differently. Fae only aided strangers, which I was sure the two were for the most part, when they had something to gain in exchange. What did he gain by helping her?

As the King took his seat, one of the main doors to the throne room opened across the hall. General Amrod stepped inside, shutting the heavy door behind him, and made his way toward us with silent steps.

"I thought there was only one?" The Queen questioned the leader of the group, Garel if I recalled correctly. Her brows were pulled together, her eyes bouncing between the two unconscious figures. It wasn't difficult to deduce which of them was the human, but the fae's blood-slicked hair and swollen face hid the most telling details, his pointed ears and sharp features. The human's features were soft and rounded, just like her ears. Given the shape and how small they were compared to a common fae's, she probably hadn't heard the fae near until it was too late.

"There is, Your Majesty," Garel answered. "The female is human, the male fae. He tried to draw us away to give her a chance to escape."

Once again, I found myself questioning why.

Garel and the other men in dark clothing had armor made of thick leather surrounding their forearms and torso. The hard material bore the marks of the strikes they had taken. This wasn't the first time the Queen had employed them. Bounty hunters; contract hires who didn't shy away from bending the rules of law to get their employers what they wanted. They could only be found in the Underground, a network of hidden connections that linked criminal enterprises, unsavory fae, and the services they offered to those who sought them.

The Queen sought them often.

But why would she hire them to find the human when the Elite Divisions of the Guard had already been informed about her?

One of the other men shifted on his feet as the Queen stepped forward, leaning in to take a closer look at the human as though she was a rare bird on exhibit. Only, a human in the Realm of Faerie was far more rare than any bird could be these days.