The Bastard Queen (Viciously Yours #2)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Horse Killer

"Yea. Here we go. What's going on?" Cillian snapped.

I glanced over my shoulder to look at Dani and Dougal before turning back to him, "What's it look like?"

"It looks like everyone's been ignoring my orders for the past week and a half." He replied, pinning each of us with a sharp look as he stepped further into the tent.

"I meannnn...come on, did you really expect us to listen?"

Cillian gave me an expressionless look before flicking his eyes down, "Why is there a Dwarf here and why were you two fighting?"

"This is Grumpy and he's going to give us the metal we need for our weapons."

"What's he getting in return?"

Looking down, I snagged the back of Grumpy's bright colored tunic, "Why do you keep trying to run? You already agreed to fulfil the deal."

His beady eyes were wide as he twisted in my grasp to whisper loudly, "Do you know who that is?"

"No. Who is it?" I whispered back at the same volume.

Tugging himself out of my grasp, he stepped to stand half behind my left leg and held onto my thigh, "That's Mab's Commander! My cousin heard from his friend, who heard from his brother-in-law, that he told a village in Tiveal that you were a unstable murdering psycho who couldn't be trusted." The second he finished his sentence the end of a battle axe slammed into his forehead and knocked him out cold.

Brow raised, I pulled my head up to look at Cillian, "Is that true? You're the one ruining my good name?"

"At what point in time was any mention of your name good?"

"I know but a murdering psycho? That's pretty harsh, I think my feelings are hurt."

With gleaming silver eyes, he responded, "Thanks for reminding me. We need to talk. Everyone out."

My gut reaction was to deny that we had anything we needed to discuss but then I remembered the epiphany I had when I visited Kai. Keeping eye contact with him, I announced, "Everyone out. Dougal take Grumpy home, Dani will show you where he lives."

Cillian's left brow lifted ever so slightly while everyone else in the room paused. When I made no move to repeat myself or look at them, Dani and Dougal slowly started towards the exit. Stopping beside us, Dougal bent down to grab the Dwarf around the waist before standing tall.

Gray eyes flickered between me and his son for a few seconds, "I'm not sure what's going on...but don't kill each other."

"If I haven't by now, I think it's safe to say I won't." I muttered on yawn while sliding my sword back in its sheath.

Turning around, I left them standing by the tent entrance as I shrugged off the double sword sheath strapped to my back. Pulling my arms free of the leather, I straightened out the straps and hung it on the side of the privacy screen. Reaching my arm back, I picked up the plate of Choco Blasts I left on the bed and plopped down at my desk.

As Cillian and Dougal shared a look, I thought over how I was going to say what I needed to say. Admitting that I had been hypocritical was not something I enjoyed doing. Shit, in the past I never would've even considered admitting that I was wrong. But here I was, becoming a better person. Ughh.

Grimacing, I swiped another Choco Blast off the plate and aggressively bit into the rich chocolate. I didn't have to forgive him for sending me to Slykhelm but I did have to accept the fact that he wasn't at fault for everything after that. The person responsible for that was the same person responsible for everything else that went wrong in my life. Mab. And that wasn't an exaggeration. She was literally the reason for everything bad that had happened to me since the minute I was born.