Knight's End: A Reverse Harem Fantasy (Tangled Crowns Book 3), page 20
I shook my head. “He’s coming for all of us.”
Right now would be a damned good time to use that wish! Quinn bellowed.
Wish for what? I yelled back as our hair started to whip around our heads. In the corners of the courtyard, the wind grew so fierce that soldiers were blown backward, tossed sideways; they had to grab onto pillars and posts to stay upright. But we were in the center of the whirl. It was calmer here. Calm enough that I could see a figure floating above us.
Looking straight up, I could see the evil in Raj’s eyes as he descended on us.
He had a dark beard and black eyes. His hairline was receding, or it looked that way from below. Raj didn’t look as though he were a thousand years old. His torso, above the blue twist of smoke that obscured his legs, was muscular. I did notice the fake ring he thought was on his finger. To me, it still appeared to be a bubble.
We had that at least.
But that was nothing when the wishes started to rain down around us.
He didn’t care if he used every last wish the women in his harem had left. He’d discard them and get more. Blue accidentally sent us all Raj’s thoughts.
Disgusting. Foul, evil man. Unworthy. Bile churned in my belly and anger in my mind.
Raj watched us, pointing, directing his harem to send wish magic at those around us. His harem, a group of at least thirty women, who still spun so quickly that they were blurs of color in the wind, shot golden jets down on our soldiers, who transformed into snapping crocodiles.
Raj didn’t seem to care when one of his own soldiers got caught in the jaws of his wished creatures.
That was what made me paralyzed with fear. He didn’t care how many men he lost. He didn’t care how much this battle cost him.
He only cared that he got to punish Blue and end me.
I realized Blue had accidentally projected the sultan’s thoughts again and I swallowed hard. As I stared up, I could see the hunger, the cruelty in Raj’s gaze. How could I fight someone so obsessed with power and punishment? How could I win when I had two wishes left, and he had a million at his disposal?
“Never give up, the heart is greater than the mind, the more you love, the more you’ll find—the truth!” Donaloo’s voice streamed past me as he flew into the air, spinning and causing his own whirlwind. “Round and round we spin, what a way to go, to fight and win with a dizzy grin!” His tornado zoomed upward. The rainbow-colored twists of smoke started to scream and materialize as women. The same women that had surrounded Raj when he’d tried to destroy Marscha. His harem.
Donaloo brought them up, up, up, farther into the sky, past the orange rays and into the blue of the encroaching night. He and the harem women went so far up that they became mere pinpricks. And then I saw all of them fall. Each pinprick fell down to earth like a meteor made of shadows instead of light. I searched for Donaloo, floating up there in the sky, cackling about whatever he’d done, but I didn’t hear him. I didn’t see him. Until his body landed in the courtyard and splattered across the stones.
I might not have known it was him but for the jester-styled shoe that remained on one of his feet.
The sight made me dizzy. And ill. Then I thought that Raj was putting a hallucination spell on me. But he floated above us and his expression was also shocked. Everything had happened so quickly. His harem was there and then they weren’t. And then they were so high in the sky—
He flew to where the air was too thin, Quinn told us all. That’s what Declan says.
My shock slowly faded to a dull pain that glowed like an ember. It was hot and hurt, but it didn’t consume me. Not yet.
Because as I stared up at Raj, I realized that Donaloo had given me a shot. Donaloo had done something selfless—surprising the sultan, who had built a life based on greed and fear. And that had given me an opening.
What had Donaloo said? The heart is greater than the mind … My memories clicked through my other conversations with him. “A buzzing mind is but dung and flies, the heart is where humanity lies.” He said a simple wish would work. Blue’s song started to play for some reason. The Maid’s Foolish Wish. “I had a ring for her finger, a flower for her hair, but simple happiness hadn’t a prayer.” And it clicked.
Raj turned his face back down to us, a sneer forming on his lips.
Quinn! I need that wish! I mentally screamed.
Yes, Dove. Do it!
I started to shove a mental apology Quinn’s way for what I was about to do, but Raj opened his mouth—no doubt, to make a wish that would get granted by one of his own cohorts. Panic took over. Adrenaline. I had to finish this wish before he finished his. My fingers trembled as I held Blue’s hand. I whispered, “I wish Raj was happy. Truly, blissfully happy every day for the rest of his existence—” Inspiration struck, and I tacked on, “As blissful as if he were having an orgasm.”
Raj’s jaw dropped. His eyes rolled back in his head and a strange, nearly pained expression came over him. He moaned.
Everyone in the courtyard froze and looked up at the sultan.
The moan dragged on and his hand reached down into the blue smoke so he could touch himself.
“Uh. I don’t know if I’m relieved or traumatized,” Declan muttered. “I’m pretty sure that’s Raj’s ‘O’ face.”
The sultan’s eyes snapped open and he stared down at us for a second. Then he muttered something as his hips swiveled in the air. From the ground, I heard a djinn soldier yell, “Granted.” Then Raj disappeared in a navy puff of smoke.
Around us, soldiers climbed to their feet, the whirlwind gone, the sultan gone.
To my surprise, Cheryn’s soldiers tossed down their swords. All but the two or three who were next to alligators.
“I surrender,” one said. “Any queen who can defeat a man with orgasms is worth dying for.”
A chuckle went through the courtyard. And the chuckle grew to full on tears-streaming-down-their faces laughter as Cheryn’s men all put their arms in the air and my soldiers took them into custody.
I was familiar with the giddy after-effects of surviving against the odds. But this time, the silliness didn’t overtake me. Because my eyes drifted back to Donaloo. Regret filled me instead of silliness. I wished I’d been nicer to the old coot. He deserved better. He deserved to know how much I admired his magic. And his principles. Even if I couldn’t stand his rhymes. But why did he go and do such a foolish thing? He was so powerful! He could have taken on that harem. Maybe even Raj. I stared at his crumpled form, full of wistful regret.
“He didn’t have to die himself,” I shook my head.
Behind me, a squeaky little voice said, “If he hadn’t, the sultan would have only seen another soldier killing people. He wouldn’t have seen a sacrifice made from love.” The giant vine snaked through the courtyard. Her petals gazed down on Donaloo for a moment, before she lowered her lips and swallowed him up.
I gave a shriek. “What are you doing?”
Dini turned her petals toward me. “I’m a flower sprite. Plants eat dead things all the time. How do you think I survived down in that hole? People are just fertilizer.”
A hand on my arm kept me from arguing against the undignified ending she just gave one of the most powerful and amazing men to ever live.
Connor—ever the diplomat—held me back. He pulled me into a hug as tears filled my eyes. “Come inside, Bloss Boss. We still have more to do.”
That phrase cracked me open. My fear and insecurity dripped out of the hard, little shell I’d tried to build around them. Isla was dead. Raj was gone—for now. But we still had a huge monster beneath the sea to fight. I still had a frozen castle. Provinces that were occupied or half-destroyed. Avia was still gone. There was still so much. So much. And Donaloo wouldn’t be here for it. I wouldn’t have that annoying, idiotic wizard skipping around and telling me nonsense that actually made sense. I wouldn’t have the comfort of knowing that my people would be protected, that someone far more powerful than me watched over them.
I hadn’t even gotten to say goodbye.
My tears spilled over. My vision blurred and I had to swipe at my eyes numerous times.
Connor rushed me inside. Queens weren’t supposed to cry in public. They weren’t supposed to show emotion.
I’m the world’s worst queen, I thought.
But I couldn’t stop the tears that fell as we went through the decimated Great Hall, past soldiers limping and moaning in pain. I didn’t try to, because pretending that I wasn't hurting almost made my pain lessen. So much of my mother’s focus was on maintaining a façade that I felt sure that the pain itself started to fade. I wondered if that pretense of strength was the beginning of the end of emotions for monarchs. If they were always so focused on pretending not to feel, eventually, did their feelings just fade away?
I refused to be that monarch. I refused to pretend that idiot Donaloo meant nothing to me. I restrained myself from sobbing, but tears rained down my cheeks.
My knights took me to the rainbow salon, one that I’d always loved growing up. It had hundreds of crystal figurines in it and normally was a source of dancing rainbows.
Not this evening. This evening, the room looked like I felt. Everything inside it was shattered.
I took several deep breaths as Ryan used a blanket to swipe away some glass so we might have a path to the chairs and settees near the fireplace.
I yanked the other arm off my armor and asked Connor to help me out of the awful contraption. I’d tolerated the metal on my skin as long as I could.
Connor gently undressed me and took off his own shirt to toss it over me.
I started to shiver as the chill of night took over the castle.
That’s when I looked around at my knights. Ryan had limped over to the fireplace and was struggling not to bend his injured leg as he lit a fire. Blue stalked over to help him. Declan was still talking with the nobles—probably shouting, since they’d ask questions he’d consider stupid. Connor was still rubbing my back.
My blood ran cold.
The nightmare. I’d forgotten the nightmare.
I pulled away from Connor. “Where’s Quinn?”
Chapter Twenty
"What the sarding hell happened?" I latched onto Blue’s arm and gripped it hard. I was demanding and begging for answers at the same moment. “We just left him in the courtyard? Where is he?”
I felt like pulling my hair out. I ran to the window and shoved aside the drape. My eyes flashed around different parts of the courtyard, searching for him. Was he an animal now? Did he have painful boils? I’d been so focused on Donaloo’s sacrifice. I was an awful wife. Not just an awful queen. Being an awful wife was worse. My heart shredded into tiny, inconsolable pieces.
What are you talking about? Blue thought. There was a bitter edge to his words. It doesn't even look like he's paying a damn price. I can hear him just fine.
“What do you mean you can hear him?" I asked aloud, whipping around.
He’s being a complete fop-doodle. Telling me I must have been wishing wrong all my life. Blue rolled his eyes and pointed. I mean, look at him waggling his tongue.
I glanced about wildly, pulse pounding. “He's not here!"
Declan walked over and I rushed toward him, nearly colliding with him as I grabbed his arms. The most serious of my knights, he’d give me a straight answer. "Dec, where's Quinn?"
"Right there," he arched his brow and cocked his head as he looked at me. His expression grew serious as he stared down at me. “I thought Donaloo might have said some final spell midair to protect him.” He ran a hand through his blond hair and glanced next to me. Then his eyes traveled back to mine. "Shite. I think his nightmare is that you won't see him anymore.”
All my knights’ eyes drifted to an empty space on the rug near me. I made my way over to it and tentatively reached out my hand. "Quinn?"
But my hand swiped through empty air. No matter how frantically I swung it, I didn’t feel a thing. Panic set in.
"Bloss! Stop hitting him!”
It felt like a throwing star was lodged inside my throat as I responded, "I can't feel him."
Horror swept over me at the realization. I couldn't see, feel, or hear Quinn. It took everything I had not to collapse on the ruined glass figurines that lay shattered on the floor. Because this wasn't just his nightmare, it was mine.
How could I cope without my jester? How could I manage without the gentle man who called me his dove?
Connor saw the look on my face, and Declan must've tasted my desolation. The two of them came to either side of me and gently escorted me to the settee.
Tears trickled down my face.
“It’s only temporary,” Declan said gently. “Just remember that.”
“Temporary?” I swallowed hard. “I’ve read about nightmares that last three years!” My face fell into my palms. How could I live without Quinn for that long?
My knights balanced and offset me, they helped make up for what I lacked. They made me stronger. I needed Quinn.
I choked on a sob. Connor’s arms wrapped around me. He held me and rocked me as I said, “It’s not fair.”
But magic wasn’t fair. I knew that. The price you paid for using magic as a part human overpowered any other kind of magic. And you couldn’t choose your price.
I squeezed Connor hard, some of my anger at the stupid sarding world leaking out into my hug. And then I pushed him away and stood, just as a frog hopped into the salon and let out a croak.
We all turned. The frog waved an arm at Ryan. Then its beady eyes looked down the hall and back at us.
Shite. That wasn’t a frog. It was one of Ryan’s soldiers. And my question about whether they kept their human consciousness was answered.
Poor man.
I swallowed hard. Quinn was invisible. He wasn’t lost. Not completely. And he wasn’t alone inside his own head like the last nightmare. He wasn’t a worm that could get stepped on at any moment. It could always be worse. My knights could see and hear him. I took a deep breath. I needed to keep my head on.
You’re being selfish, Bloss, I told myself. You’re being selfish when your soldiers have it much worse. Your people need a selfless queen.
I eyed the frog on the floor as I wiped my cheeks one last time.
Queens can’t have meltdowns, I recited one of my mother’s old lines from when I’d thrown tantrums.
I could feel. But I couldn’t get swept away. We still had a castle and the aftermath of a battle to deal with. I swiped at my face once more and took a deep breath.
This was the new reality. Whether I liked it or not, we had to live with it until the wish magic was satisfied.
Sarding wish magic.
Ryan came over and kissed my cheek, “Little Dearling, why don’t you take a minute? I need to go check on my men. And gather up those that have been transformed.” He limped over to the doorway and told the little frog, “Follow me.” And then he tromped out the door, a croaking frog hopping along behind him.
Connor stroked my hair. "I need to go back and heal whomever I can."
I nodded and pressed on my temples, fighting a headache that came on in the aftermath of my tears. "I need to get dressed. Then I’ll be down to do whatever I can. Is Quinn still near me?"
Blue’s thoughts were a little smug as he answered, Yes. And he’s pissed he has a nightmare and that I was right.
Don’t be an ass, I told Blue.
Aloud I said, “Can he hear me?”
Declan nodded. "He says he can see and hear you. It's his nightmare that you can't do the same."
Let me try to send you his thoughts, Blue said.
But as Blue scrunched his face, nothing came through to my mind.
Sorry, my newest knight apologized.
I tried to hide my disappointment. It wasn’t his fault that magic had such a high price.
Declan said, “If Donaloo’s beads couldn’t counter his magical nightmare earlier, I suppose it makes sense you can’t do so now.”
I chewed my lip and then asked, "If he can see me and hear me, can he feel me, too?"
My knights looked at some point in midair and I struggled to see something, some wavering cloud, some bit of movement, anything. But I saw nothing. I didn't know if Quinn tried to touch me. I couldn't tell. I couldn't feel a thing. It was awful and frustrating. I felt like my hands were tied and my body was bound. It was just as bad as any torture chamber.
"Yes," Declan finally answered. "He kissed you. You didn't feel anything?"
My hand flew to my lips. But they didn't feel any different. I hadn’t felt warmth or cold or tingles or pressure. I pressed my lips together in a thin line and shook my head.
Declan said, "I guess we'll have to hope this wish was small enough that the nightmare doesn't last very long."
My eyes closed and my stomach sank. I’d made a wish and asked for it to last every day of an immortal’s life. That was no small wish. We all knew it.
I had no idea when I would get to see my Quinn again. My sweet half-elf.
I doubted it would be soon.
My eyes closed and I stared down at the ground. "I'm sorry." I apologized to my spy master.
Everyone grew somber. Reality sank in like the bottle-ache that made men ill after a night in their cups. An hour ago, I’d been drunk on wish magic—thinking myself so clever. Now …
I walked back to the window and stared down at the courtyard. My eyes traveled around the devastation; the space was littered with bodies. I was surrounded by all the reasons I had never wanted to be a queen. War. Death. Watching those that I loved suffer injury, suffer nightmare situations like this … and gods only knew what came next.
It was my own personal hell.
As that thought popped into my head, the doors to the ballrooms down the hall burst open. Noise spilled out.
Declan, Blue and I hurried to the door. Courtiers streamed down the hall, negligée dangling from their faces and their arms. They plucked it off as they stared around them in shock.
“What the sard is going on?” one asked.
“Looks like we’ve been attacked!” screeched another.
