The Bastard Queen (Viciously Yours #2)

“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?”

“Your girls? Cared for? Well fed? Loved? I think not. The blue fish wouldn’t allow it.” I whispered, finding it difficult to keep my eyes on his men in this position.

His nose pressed against the side of my neck, trailing it up before licking the shell of my ear, “Tell your blue fish that I can make your life in here so much better, Baby. If you dial back the crazy.”

I grinned, “One of your girls? Girls? They cower, bend, bruise, and scuttle about the halls like rats. It’s an infestation.”

Lorcan tightened his hold on my throat, cutting off my air supply, “Listen, Bitch. I’m getting real tired of you walking around here like you’re untouchable. I’ve been here long enough to see how you act, making the others scared with rumors.”

My eyes caught a flash of blue as my vision started to waver and I choked out, “Skin on skin..is a touch. A kernel of truth...is in every lie.”

“That’s it. I’ve had enough.” He snapped in my ear, releasing my throat and pulling me from my seat. “Past Queen or not, all bitches are best trained on their backs.”

The loud clanking of my chains went unnoticed as I sucked in large gulps of air with my eyes on the other side of the table. A flicker of rage coiled deep in my belly caused my hands to curl around my chains. The lack of oxygen paired with the haze that always clouded my mind these days, made action difficult. Lorcan slipped a hand underneath my prison tunic to grip my breast tightly while his men watched, hooting in laughter.

The woman across from me, however, sneered in distaste at the show with a lifted chin. Black leather clad legs crossed beneath the metal table while narrowed royal blue eyes glared at me, “What the fuck are you doing? There was a time you’d never let anyone get this far.”

“My will isn’t the same. Death calls.” I murmured.

The woman waved a dismissive brown hand, free of tattoos and curled her lip, “Death calls? How pathetic. Look at you, weak.”

The flicker of rage in my gut flared, I tipped my head with narrowing eyes, “I’m not weak. I’ve never been weak.”

Lorcan muttered something in my ear, thinking that I was talking to him and dragging me away from the table.

“Oh, you’re not?” She laughed cruelly, a blue brow arched as she spread her arms wide. “That’s not what I see, Babes. We used to rule thousands. We conquered the Outerlands without mercy. Fae used to fear us. Terror used to coil in their chests at the sight of our flag. But look at what you’ve turned us into. A nothing, a nobody.”

“That’s not true.” I hissed, digging my feet into the floor as fury rolled through me.

The woman’s eyes turned icy in rage and for a beat she was completely still. And then long blue hair flew around her head as she jumped to her feet screaming while slamming her hands into the table, “LOOK AT US! LOOK! AT! US! There used to be a time that a Fae would never dare to touch us without permission! And now some low rent pimp grab our breast like it’s his? And you stand there talking about how tired we are? That death calls? FUCK, DEATH. We are Death!”

“Yes!” I screamed.

“Then do something, you crazy bitch! Your fucking Macha O’Riordan!” She roared, slamming her fist on the table with a fire in her eyes. “Make an example out of him! Make him a fucking educational warning! Rip this motherfucker inside out! Show the other inmates why you got the largest prison sentence in history! KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILLLLLL HIMMMMM!”

I jerked my elbow up and back in a flash of movement that cracked Lorcan’s nose with a loud crunch. His hand slipped from my breast and the other pulled away from my waist to grab at his nose with curse. Inmates around the room began to shout and cheer, slamming their trays in delight at the show of violence. Twisting on my heel, I dropped to my knees and slammed my head into his crotch while ripping the makeshift knife out of his left sock.

Lorcan stumbled back with a howl of pain as his boys closed in on me but at the small sound of a lock snicking everyone froze. Every pair of eyes were glued to my body as I slowly stood up. Guards shifted uneasily, glancing at each other in question of what they think they heard, hands wrapping around their high powered tasers.

Grinning, I shook my hair from my face and tossed the long mess of chains and cuffs at Lorcan’s feet. “Hello, Babes. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.” I purred, sliding a step closer to the pink haired brute. “My name is Macha and I’m here for treason against the mighty Unseelie Queen Mab.” The sound of pounding steps echoed through the concrete room as the guards raced down the stairs followed by the blaring sound of an alarm. “Want to know a secret?” I whispered. “All bitches are best trained covered in the blood of their enemies.”

The makeshift knife I stole from him, tore across his throat in a jagged line before he could speak. Dark red blood spurted from the gash in time with his rapid pulse and jetted through his fingers to spray my chest. Droplets of blood splattered across my face as I stood there watching with a grin until he fit the floor. Laughing, I watch prisoners begin to run and fight while guards pushed past them in their race towards me. The iron in the wall kept me from my abilities but that was okay. I had a knife.

Scrambling over the table, I tackled one of Lorcan’s men to the ground while repeatedly stabbing him in the side of the neck. Releasing him as we hit the ground, I rolled to the left and rammed the blade into the back of another man’s ankle. Getting on my knees at the same time he fell to his, I locked eyes with a guard as my arm wrapped around the man’s head and slit his throat. Laughing at the frozen guard, I stood up, kicked the body to the side and looked around. Guards in purple circled around me as red lights flashed in time with the blaring alarm and a full fledged prison riot roared around us.

Launching myself onto the nearest table, I stuffed the handle of the blade into my mouth and started running. The soles of my feet slammed into the metal like the beat of a drum before I reached the edge and jumped. Twisting midair so my back was to the wall, I kicked off a table someone had flipped and gave myself another foot of height. My hands caught the bars of the second floor railing with a harsh jolt that pulled a grunt from me. Yells and shouts rang out as I tightened my core and pulled my legs up.

Blue hair curtained around my face while my feet scraped the ceiling in my handstand before I dropped them to the floor with a smack. Yanking the knife from my teeth, I slammed it into the chest of the closet Fae and drove my fist into the face of another. Making my way down the hall, I killed everyone between me and the ‘guards only’ door at the very end of the hall. I was a few doors away when a pair arms shot out from behind me and wrapped around my throat. Choking, I brought the knife down and rammed it into the side of their thigh before ripping it to the front.

A scream rang out behind me but their grip didn’t loosen making me snarl in anger. Three guards raced down the hall to us, I wasn’t going to make it to the door. Releasing a scream of rage, I kicked out against the wall driving me and my attacker backwards. We collided with something hard and I jammed my elbow back again and again into their side until they finally let go. Spinning, I thrusted the blade into their gut repeatedly but in my haze of anger I had forgotten about the other guards.

Jolts of electricity connect to different points on my back and sent vibrating pain lacing through my veins. Muscles spamming and locking into place, I lost my grip on the knife and listened to it clatter the ground. Following it to the floor, I stared at the ceiling with gritted teeth as my body jerked without permission. When it finally stopped, multiple hands grabbed me in their harsh grip and flipped me over.

“That was my sister, you fucking monster!” A guard screamed down at me.

Body still spamming from the high voltages of electricity, I forced my head to jerk and I spit in his face, “Fuck. You.”

“You got five minutes, Collins.”

Strong hands gripped my ankles and dragged my prone form into a darkened cell, “That’s all I need.”

A second later, a booted foot slammed into my side in a rib cracking hit. Rolling to my side from the impact, I tried to shield my softer parts from the punishing blows. Kick after heavy kick was delivered to my back before a hand slipped into my hair and pulled my face up. Pain exploded in my jaw followed quickly by another hit to my left eye. Agony pulsed through my body but I could do nothing in my state, my nerves fried from the electricity. Something glinted in the light and I followed it closely as it got near my face, the tip ripped through the fragile skin of my cheek.

“No one will see your face anyways.” The guard rasped, his voice thick in grief. “It’s the least I can do for my sister.”

So he cut and sliced the flesh of my face but it was when it drifted to my scalp that I broke my vow of not pleading during torture, “No.”

He didn’t reply, just dug the blade under the skin of my hairline.

“No.” I repeated strongly but he didn’t listen and desperation tore through me when fiery pain raced over my scalp. Not again. I couldn’t go through that again! I started to struggle but it wasn’t enough and the blade reached the back of my neck, “No. Stop.” Tears rolled from my eyes not from the pain but at the sight of the long strip of blue hair still attached to the bloody skin of my scalp that fell beside me. I fought harder to no result as the blade touched the front of my head once more and pain, physical and internal crashed through me, “Stop,-”

My eyes snapped open on a gasp that broke the silence inside the darkened tent and saved me from the rest of the nightmare. Heart racing, I jerked upright and immediately reached to feel my hair. My fingers threaded and fisted the long blue strands as I took deep ragged breaths to calm myself. Two months. Two fucking months with out a nightmare. I had even started to think that I had burned away that piece of my soul but I guess that was too much to ask. Sucking in air like my life depended on it, my shoulders hunched under the strain of the memories weighing down my head.

A shift of the mattress and light touch to my bare back had me jumping but thankfully not attacking this time. Silver eyes glinted back at me in the darkness and I quickly swung my gaze back to the area in front of me. He saw. It wasn’t a question or a guess. The heavy look in his eyes, the unasked questions flickering across his face told me everything. Because of our temporary mind link, Cillian had bared witness to my nightmare. Pulled into my head with a front row seat to one of my most hated memories of Slykhelm.

Scalped. The motherfucker had beat and scalped me for killing his sister. The guard had no idea how damaging his actions really were. My sense of identity was torn from me once again in a way that had felt more final than anything else. The pain was nothing compared to the agony of psychological turmoil his actions had thrown me into for a century afterwards. Like everything I seemed to do, that had been a large step forward into sanity and several jumps back into insanity.

Rubbing my fingers over my scalp, I tried to give myself piece of mind by feeling the connection between them and my skin. But Lilly’s gaze on the side of my body was heavy and thickening the air. Clearing my throat, I pressed my hands to the front of my face and realized I had questions of my own.

“Did you watch from the outside or were you in my body? Everything or parts?” I asked, my voice sounding strained and thin to my own ears. The questions probably didn’t make sense but I didn’t have it in me to ask again or look at him.

“It was like I was you. I felt and saw everything you did.”

His deep voice that was normally soothing to my ears grated on my nerves at the admission and I rose from the bed. I could feel his gaze on me as I grabbed his tunic from the day before and slid it on along with a pair of bed shorts. My hands played and gripped my hair at every opportunity as I thought over my spontaneous decision and blurted it out.

“You can ask me two questions.”

His shadow shifted on the bed, “I thought you said you didn’t-”

“I know what I said. But I asked you two questions so it’s only fair, you ask me two.” I rushed out, giving him my back as I shoved my feet into my boots. “Hurry before I change my mind.”

“That man, Lorcan, what he was talking about. Did that ever happen to you?”

I filled in what he couldn’t say, “Was I raped or pimped out? No, I was one of the few spared that fate in a co-ed prison. If I had, we wouldn’t be what we are now. You’d be in the ground.”

“Macha, I’m-”

“You have another question.”

“Your mental state in that nightmare. Was that the worst it got?”

I risked a glance at the bed before moving towards the tent flap, grabbing my swords on the way, “No.”

“Where are you going?”

“Out.” I tossed over my shoulder. And then continued when I heard the bed creak, “Alone, Cillian. I’ll be back. I just need air.”

Flipping back the entrance, I nodded at the guards stationed around the edges of my tent. The chill in the air cooled my warm skin and helped my lungs expand until I felt like I could finally breathe. Sweeping my eyes over the tented city laid out before me, I started my stroll down the narrow paths that curled between the temporary homes. Smoke from dying fires twisted in the moonlight as they rose to greet the stars.

My chest rose and fell with deep even breaths that helped to settle my soul. Melding the two swords into one, I lifted my free hand to my hair and pulled all of it over my right shoulder. The soft royal blue tresses captured my gaze as my feet led me in an unknown but calming direction. Grass crunched beneath my boots as I turned down a path of white tents and I slowed to a stop before the largest one. The one that currently housed the Unseelie Prince Daithí, otherwise apparently known as my little brother.

I hadn’t given him much thought the first time we met. There wasn’t anything I cared to learn or think about that concerned him. At first glance, the pale purple headed boy was cold and expressionless just like Mab. His eyes had been devoid of life and the amusement of youth, which to me made it obvious why he was rumored to be Mab’s favorite. But the young man I met last night was different in almost every way. Daithí had come alive in our presence and even helped us sneak back out of the compound.

It could be an act. He said himself that he excelled in blackmail and political manipulation. But. The similarities he shared with Cillian are what gave me pause. Cillian had worn the same uncaring and cold persona in Mab’s Court to survive. And it was only now, month’s later and free of Mab that his personality was beginning to flourish. Could Daithí be going through the same thing? Or was this more boyish side of him the act? Was it wrong that a very small part of me wanted to get to know him? Was it naive of me to crave a family bond after everything being an O’Riordan had cost me?

Or was this the end game of it all? Daithi would play the dutiful little brother until I let my guard down and then he’d strike? Was that how I’d finally leave this realm? Betrayed by yet another person who was meant to care for me? Pulling my gaze from the white fabric rippling gently in the breeze, I twirled my sword with a slow roll of my wrist. My feet followed the direction of my eyes and I was once again walking without a clear destination in mind.

“Wow, you really weren’t going to come in and say hi? Rude.”

Snapping my eyes to the right, they connected with Daithí’s slim form standing in the shadows, “You’re not allowed out of your tent.”

“I’ve been confined to that tent for the past day and a half, Sister. And you haven’t come to visit me once.”

Turning so we were face to face, I raised a brow, “Why would I?”

“Why are you up?” He asked instead, walking out of the shadows.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

“Me either.”

We looked at each other for a moment before I nodded my head forward and he fell into step beside me. The iron cuffs around his wrists caused my instincts to tingle in awareness of their numbing sensation. Even the smallest amount of iron had always been enough to spike on my radar, though I wasn’t sure if that was a Fae thing or a Divine thing.

“You’re giving her the upper hand, you know.”

I glanced over at him as we turned a corner, “Am I?”

“You’re attacking her bases and supply routes while defending your lands but you’re on the defense.” He said, lavender eyes sharpening in intelligence. “Mab likes that. She thrives on it. You need to attack fast and hard. Make her come to you.”

“We have.”

He shook his head, “No, I’m talking about something big. You need to make a statement.”

“We just stole you right out from under her. I say that’s a statement in itself.” I countered, nodding to a passing Seelie Banshee who looked at us quizzically.

Daithí laughed, “You’ve annoyed her, Sister. She probably thinks you already killed me and doesn’t care.”

“You want me to draw her out. Piss her off further.” I side-eyed him.

“Shouldn’t be too hard. You’ve done it your entire life.”

I released a dry laugh, “Yes. One of my many accomplishments.”

“Meet her troops head on in the Unseelie territories around the Kingdom.”

“No.”

Daithí stopped abruptly, “The longer we prolong the war, the more time she has to create a new set of war plans.”

“I’m aware.” I stated, continuing to walk forward.

“Then why aren’t you trying to end this before more lives are lost?”

I paused, bringing my right foot back beside my left and looked over my shoulder, “Those territories are where I lost to her the first time. You never fight a war on the grounds of a failed one. It’s bad luck.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Something that would make the old me proud.” I mused, meeting his pale eyes with a smile. “I’m going to lay siege to Mab’s Castle.”

——

I always get a little heart ache when I’m reminded of what Macha went through. She’s so strong and badass that even I forget she’s been through hell.

As always, feel free to comment or like!

Smooches, Verbage💋