Her Cinder Throne (Completed)

Chapter 4

Cole looked around her, half expecting members of the local players company to jump out and reveal that all of this was some part of a new play they were going to be putting on in the next week. But all she saw was the waving blue grass and the glass-like lake surface.

She turned back to the fae. "This is a joke, right?" she asked, not sure whether to laugh or to run as far away from him as she could.

The fae shook his head. "Why would I joke about something like that?"

"Do you have a death wish? Even speaking ill about the royal family can get you in serious trouble," Cole said, her voice naturally lowering. After many years of hearing it from every adult they knew, all the children of Soma knew better than to speak anything but praise when talking about their liege and his family. It was second nature to grow quiet when someone tested that. But the fae seemed completely indifferent to the ingrained caution.

"Thankfully Thijs has no access to Avallen at the moment, and any plans about murdering his seed will be unheard by him."

Cole shifted her weight, but saw the sense in what the fae said. Avallen was not a pub in Soma. It would not be easy for a loyal citizen to overhear a conversation and report it for a reward here. Whatever was going to be said in this field, only the kappas in the lake would be witness to it.

"How am I supposed to kill the prince? He's always heavily guarded. I'd be killed before I even got close to him, and if I somehow did manage to kill him I'd be cut down within seconds of doing it," she said. "I want to pay Thijs back for what he's done to my mother, but I have no desire to die in that manner."

"It wouldn't be anything as brutish as you're imagining," the fae said. "You only have to wait for my orders and then follow them, and you'll be able to access the prince without his bodyguards. Your life isn't guaranteed after the deed is done, but you will have a chance to escape if you are skilled enough to take it."

Cole bit the inside of her cheek, her mind whirling. She didn't want to kill anyone, but she also couldn't get the image of her mother out of her mind. The prince had a hand in those bruises and bones, and all those years Cole had spent lonely and battling to survive in her stepmother's house. He had a hand in her father gambling himself to the point of death out of his grief for her mother's loss. The prince had ruined her life, and she couldn't help but feel like she would be justified in returning the favor to him.

"I'll do it," she said, even though the words leaving her mouth felt like daggers aimed at her own heart. This was dangerous, beyond even working in the Sparkstone mines. She was risking everything. But she really had nothing to lose. She only had something to gain. Her mother, free from the dungeon, and the royal family cut off before it could spread into more generations.

The faerie grinned, flashing his teeth. "I believe that this will be beneficial to both of us," he said. His eyes scanned down to his hand and trained on a ring on her forefinger. A large jewel was set along the band, and was filled with glowing green liquid, almost empty. The fae glanced back up. "I am out of time now. You'll have to go back." He walked toward her, his clothes swishing against the grass softly. His hand slid down her arm and then around her wrist, warming her skin. "I'll come for you again in a few days."

"What do I do in the meantime?" she asked.

"You'll see very soon," he said, and that infuriating and unsettling smirk was back on his face. Before she could say anything more to him, the same blurring feel swam over her and the world around her spun into smudged colors. Then she was back in the stuffy room with her animals looking shocked at their sudden appearance and cowering in the corners. She'd have a time of it trying to calm them down after this.