The Bastard Queen (Viciously Yours #2)

“Do I really need to wear breeches?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Cillian popped his head out around the privacy screen, “What do you mean why?”

“I mean, why do I need to wear breeches? Who decided that?” I asked, waving the leather fabric around. “And why the fuck are we always wearing leather?”

“Cell Bait, what is happening right now?”

Throwing the offending clothing to the floor, I flopped back on the bed, “I’m not wearing pants. That’s what’s happening right now.”

Splashing water sounded out as Cillian climbed out from the tub and started dressing, “Macha, you cannot go into battle half naked.”

“Afric would understand.” I groaned, pulling myself from the bed and walking around the screen. “I’m doing it.”

“Your friendship with Afric is something I try very very hard not to analyze or think about, Cell Bait. ”

Flipping open the trunk, I started digging through it, “Good. Your normal little brain would fry under the strain.”

“I’m sure. And you need to wear pants.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Macha..”

“Cillian…” I mocked his warning tone, while pulling one of his tunics free from the chest. “Not to be crude, but you really tenderized all my tender bits so there is no way in hell I’m putting on a tight ass pair of breeches right now.”

“Not to be crude.” He mocked back, moving closer to dig through the chest himself. “The leather protects our legs in battle. That’s why we wear them.”

Tugging the long sleeve over my head, I laughed, “What a load of bullshit! That gnome bit right through my breeches leg. TWICE.”

“He bit you because you dropkicked his mate.”

Pulling the hem down around my thighs, I scoffed, “What I should have done was skewer the little fuckers on my sword.”

He laughed, pulling something from the chest, “They surrendered, even after you begged them not to.”

“I wanted to bite him back, damnit. What’s that?” I asked, nodding to the cloth in his hands.

“Trousers.”

Eyeing him, I pointed a finger at his face, “I swear on myself, Cillian. If you come at me with those trousers, I’ll kill us both.”

Silver brows flew up in the most surprised expression I’ve ever seen him make, “What?”

“What?”

His lips twitched into a full blown grin, “You’d kill us both? Not just me?”

“I mean, I’d still kill you first.”

“That must be your Seelie side because that was incredibly sweet.”

“I’m serious, Cillian. I’ll gut you like fucking fish. Stop coming closer!” I snapped, backing away from him and the trousers.

He shook his head, moving closer with a mischievous glimmer in his eye,“Put on the fucking pants, Macha. They’re not even leather.”

“No.”

We stilled, sizing each other up before we both moved. Turning, I leaped onto the bed and over to the other side as he lunged for me. Laughing, I grabbed a pillow and whacked it against the side of his head. Knocking the pillow away, Lilly charged over the bed and tackled me around the waist sending us both to the ground. Rolling us as we fell, Lilly took the brunt of the fall but I still grunted at the impact. Fabric was shoved into my chest but before anything could be said, we were interrupted.

“If you two are done playing grab ass, we’re ready.”

Shoving the fabric back into his face, I scrambled to my feet and walked towards the entrance, “Let’s go.”

“Pants and shoes, Macha.”

Ignoring him, I smiled at Dani and left the tent as the familiar weight of my weapons attached themselves to my body. The sounds of a frustrated Cillian followed me outside causing my smile to turn into a grin while coming face to face with my troop. My normal group along with Puck, Erick, and five soldiers of each of their warriors stood with them. Afric and his Banshees were bent over something off to the side while Caoimhe and her soldiers muttered about them. Grumpy and his little troop of chaos cackled up at an annoyed Erick and Bria.

Spotting me, Puck rushed up with anxious energy that drew everyone’s attention, “Are we going? Where are your pants?”

“Yes and don’t worry about my pants.”

“Yes. Don’t worry about her pants, Puck. We’ll leave in a minute.” Cillian said from behind me, gently pulling on my elbow to get me to face him.

I said no, Cillian.

Think about it for a moment, Cell Bait. Do you really want blood and dirt all over your bare legs if it can be avoided? Not to mention all those flips you love to do?

Taking it under consideration, I pulled the trousers from his hands. They were a soft cotton material and loose fitting. I do love flipping myself around...And not flashing Mab’s army would be ideal… “This is why you are my sanity, Lilly.” I grinned, stuffing my legs into the flowy pants. “But I will not wear shoes.”

“Compromise, Cell Bait. That’s all I’m asking for.”

Laughing, I pulled his oversized tunic I wore over my pants comfortably, “Then that’s what I’ll try my best to give you.”

“How disgustingly domestic, can we go kill shit now?” An irritating little voice barked.

Flicking my eyes down, I stared down at Grumpy until he got awkward and flipped me off. Smirking, I looked everyone over and stepped forward, “This mission is purely optional. Only Puck knows where we’re going and who we’re saving. It’s a big risk, I know that but I trust the Seelie Prince. Plus we have a deal that makes it impossible for him to lie to me. So anyone who doesn’t want to come? Leave now.”

Nobody left but Afric did raise his hand.

“Yes, Afric.”

“Are shoes also optional on this mission? Because if so, we’d like to go barefoot as well.”

“You can go bare ass into this mission for all I care, Afric.”

“No.” Cillian snapped, along with a few others. “Everyone is wearing clothes.”

Yellow tinged eyes flickered between us before he pouted and turned to his brethren as they started taking off their shoes. While they did that, I padded over the few steps to Puck in a casual stroll that went unnoticed by everyone except of course Cillian. Puck looked up at me as I gave him a smile and pushed a golden curl from his forehead sweetly, “If you somehow managed to get around my deal and this is a trap? I will pluck those golden orbs from your head and put them on my mantle like decor, understood?”

He grinned, “Thanks, Macha! I really needed that reminder of your natural predilection for violence. Now, I know we’ll get him back!”

Fingers hooked, I was about to cat scratch the fuck out of his happy little face when I was pulled back into a hard chest.

Lilly’s five o’clock shadow scraped my temple as he murmured, “You can’t kill your Divine Confidant before you actually name him your Divine Confidant.”

“Divine Confidant?”

Shooting Lilly a dirty look, I answered Puck, “It’s King Consort renamed. It’ll settle your people to my rule if I have you somewhat by my side. It’s basically a fancy title for an esteemed friend.”

“Like a best friend?” He asked, eyes growing uncomfortably round.

“No.”

“It sounds like a best friend.”

“It’s not.” I replied quickly, my eye starting to twitch.

“Are you sure?”

“Painfully sure.”

Puck tipped his head, sending his curls falling to the left, “But I’ll be at your side?”

“Somewhat by my side.”

“Two best friends! Oh, I can see it now! They’ll write stories about the Unbreakable Divine and her best friend slash Divine Confidant, Puck!”

Sharpened teeth bared, I sneered, “The only time my name will be written with yours is if it’s-”

“Marked by tragedy! Of course, like every great tale! We’ll make Shakespeare rise from the dead in joy!”

“Don’t we have a Divines damned informant to save?” I snapped, pinching the bridge of my nose in irritation.

“Yes! Yes! That’s right! Let’s go! Let’s go! Everyone grab hands!”

…………….

Tough grass scratched against the soft soles of my feet the second we touched down in the dark clearing. Opening my eyes with a blink, I dropped my hold on Puck’s arm and took a quick look around. Inky darkness collected between the gently swaying branches of the trees creating a thick web of shadows. Red orange flames flickered in the distance looking more like weak candle light than anything else. While the absence of sound tickled my nerves and raised the hair on my neck in a way I didn’t like.

“Where are we, Puck?” I whispered, weary to break the silence.

Lilly answered lowly instead, “This is my old compound.”

Do you think he’s playing us?

I don’t know. I can’t think of who the informant could realistically be.

Pulling my swords free of their sheath, I slid my eyes over to Puck as the others slowly fanned out, “Who is he, Puck? We need to know who he is so we don’t accidentally kill him.”

“You won’t. As soon as I see him, I’ll call out but I can’t Macha. Please. I really need you to trust me like you say you do.”

I held his eyes for a long moment before nodding, “Cillian, you know this place. You take point.”

His large form brushed past me and crouched down beside the Dwarves, whispering with them. A minute later, the six of them scurried off into the darkness in the direction of the camp. Sliding an axe free of his sheath, he stood and turned to us, “The Dwarfs will create a distraction at the back of the compound while we attack from the front. We’ll attack as discreetly as possible while Puck, Macha and I go get the informant. There are more than a hundred soldiers here so no one attract any unnecessary attention.”

I rolled my eyes when he looked straight at me, When have I ever attracted unnecessary attention?

Lilly ignored my genuine question to focus on Puck, “Do you know if he’s been placed in an interrogation room or is still free to walk about? I’d rather not waste our time looking for him.”

“His message sounded urgent so I would bet Mab already placed him in an interrogation room.” Puck stated.

Nodding, Lilly responded, “Okay, everyone understands the mission objective? Stealth is our friend tonight. Let’s go.”

Following his large shadow, I carefully picked my way over the expanse of wild forest between us and the compound. We halted at Lilly’s abrupt hand motion and waited as he disappeared into the darkness only to come back with a grim expression. Pressing forward, it became increasingly clear what had caused his features to take on that expression. Wooden spikes lined the perimeter of the compound, dried blood crusting from the top of the spike down.

Fae, backs arched with their knuckles grazing the ground, hung lifelessly from them. Dull eyes, wide and unseeing stared up at the starry sky with slacked jaws telling their stories of agony. The letters T and S were drawn in blood on their foreheads, marking them as Traitors and Spies. Though the sad truth was that many of them were wrongly killed in the name of Mab’s paranoia. Torch light created haunting shadows across their sharp features that danced as we passed them.

Shorting my swords into a wrist guard and a thick blade, I yanked Puck’s tunic so he was positioned between me and Cillian. Lilly slowly led us from the shadows into the short field of tents as the others branched off. Voices could be heard from somewhere behind the compound and several soldiers jogged behind the building to see what was happening. With one hand on Puck’s back, I constantly scanned our surroundings the closer we got to the entrance. Nerves and my own hereditary paranoia scurried up my spine making me tense.

Lilly raced forward keeping low to the ground and pressed himself into the shadows of the concrete wall. Silver eyes glinted in the dark before he motioned us forward from our position against the side of a dark purple tent. Double checking that the coast was clear, I shoved Puck forward only to yank him back against me by the collar. Reaching over him, I grabbed the shoulder of the female that had just exited the tent we were going to run past. My blade was shoved deep through the flesh of her throat before she could do more than widen her eyes.

Pushing Puck closer to her with my chest, I yanked my blade free from her neck with a spray of blood and shoved her body back into the tent. Looking around, I grabbed Puck’s wrist and dragged him over to the shadows beside Cillian. He spared the Seelie Prince a long look before slipping into the brightly lit compound. Another push to Pucks back, had him jumping into action and quickly following after Lilly.

Blinking against the light, my bare feet were silent as we raced through the halls at a breakneck speed. Bodies had begun to pile up in the halls by the time we reached the area reserved for the interrogation rooms. Panting, Cillian peeked around the hallway for a brief second and turned to us with a curse. Lifting his hands, he held up six fingers and then wrote the letter G in the air. Six guards. The informant was definitely here.

Scoffing, I pushed off the wall, reformed my swords and rounded the corner humming a tune before anyone could stop me. The light glinted off my swirling swords as I grinned at the guards lining the walls. I totally misread that hand signal. Lilly meant fifteen, not six guards. Giggling softly, I winked at the shocked guards, “Can anyone direct me to the nearest bathroom? I seemed to have lost my way.”

I was about to slice and dice my way down the hall as the guards closest to me reached for their weapons but then Cillian’s words ran through my head. Stealth is our friend tonight. So with a sigh, I whipped both of my swords down the hallway. As they spun end over end, little pieces broke off and impaled the guards in vital areas before slicing upwards. With a yawn, I leaned back and waved them into the hall when the last body dropped.

Lilly took one look at the hall and threw me an unimpressed look while kicking a spleen out of his way, “Disembowelment, really? You couldn’t think of anything messier?”

“Well, I could have blown them up from the inside out but you said we need to be stealthy. This is stealthy, even if it’s incredibly boring.”

Puck’s golden eyes snapped from the gut splattered floor and walls to me in a rapid succession, “This is boring to you?”

I shrugged, walking down the hall and ontop of multiple organs, “Being a God’s made killing almost devastatingly easy. But feeling their organs squish between my toes is kind of cheering me up.”

A gagging sound came from behind me making me grin as I stopped next to the door they had been guarding. Twisting on a heart, I positioned myself to the side of it and motioned to the thick iron with a flourish, “This is the door you seek, young adventurers. But I must warn you that whatever you see can not be unseen.”

Lilly shook his head at my overdramatic haunting tone and brushed past me to open the door with a smile tugging on his lips.

“If only someone told me that before I walked into your tent an hour ago.”

Surprised at the dry tone, my eyes snapped to Puck, “What was that?”

“What was what?” He beamed, trying to walk past me to enter the room after Lilly.

Grabbing his shoulder, I slammed him up against the doorframe with narrowed eyes, “You little shit! You have been fucking with me this whole time!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Macha. Are you feeling okay?” He asked, big golden eyes gleaming in concern.

I jerked forward making his head smack back on the doorframe as I pressed our noses together, “If I wasn’t so impressed right down, I’d rip your little head off. You marvelously manipulative, Sun Ray.”

“Macha.”

Turning my head, I laughed, “Lilly, you’ll never believe-”

I cut myself off when I caught sight of who else was in the room. Pale hands bound in iron cuffs that were locked to the center of the table led to stained tunic sleeves belonging to a royal pain in my ass. Dead lavender eyes rolled over us while still managing to hold an air of importance with a large scrape spanning the left side of his face. When they landed on Puck, his shoulders lost some of the tension gathered in them and I was officially annoyed.

“No. No, fucking way is this prick our informant.”

“Thank Divines, you’re okay Daithí! I was worried we were too late.” Puck said, rushing over to fret over his wounded face.

Lilly’s grip on his axe tightened, “All your cryptic and threatening bullshit, was actual bullshit?”

“What can I say, Commander. My sister isn’t the only one who enjoys her entertainment.” Daithí shrugged, his eyes coming to life for the first time.

Macha, this a completely different version of Daithí. The Prince I knew doesn’t act like this.

Noted.

“Half-sister.” I stressed, walking into the room.

“I distinctly remember you calling me brother the last time we spoke, Sister. What’s changed?”

I scoffed,“Listen, you pretentious cunt. I was being sarcastic then, I don’t have family.”

A light purple brow arched, “Not true. Your father is dead. Tidhg’s dead, may that asshole forever roll in his grave. Divine knows that Mab should have been born sterile but she’s alive because you somehow still haven’t managed to kill her. So, I’m the only one that really matters and I’m alive. Therefore, you have family.”

“Well, excuse the fuck out of me. If you think you can do so much better,” I said, taking a step back and pointing to the door. “Please, feel free to kill the bitch. Oh, wait! You’re in iron handcuffs, how embarrassing for you.”

“I tried but the poison failed and her guards managed to catch me by sheer luck.” He replied, shifting to face me when Puck blocked his view.

“You tried to poison her?” I snickered in disbelief.

“Poison is the gentleman’s choice.” Daithí lifted his chin so Puck could get a closer look, “The last time we spoke you came across a lot more...rational.”

“Yeah, well.” I shrugged. “It’s not everyday you get called out of bed past midnight to come rescue your little half-brother who you thought hated you as much as your mother.”

“I don’t hate you. I don’t even know you but I know of you.” He replied. “And that was enough for me after Mab had Tidhg slaughter my mate-to-be in front of me. You weren’t raised with us, with Mab. So you’re different, better.”

I leaned forward with narrowed eyes, slamming my hands into the table and giving me a tickling sense of familiarity, “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“Are you kidding me? Cillian’s a good actor but you two were fucking gallivanting around town with his identity exposed for awhile. You think people didn’t talk? That word didn’t spread about a silver haired giant seen with Macha the Unseelie Traitor? Who do you think killed that little story? Spoiler alert, me. Literally.” He said, eyes moving from one of us to the other in amusement. “I don’t know if you two have bravery and confidence up the ass or if you’re really just that arrogant. And don’t even get me started on Baris.”

I groaned, “Are you kidding me? Don’t get me started. You don’t even know half the shit that boy-”

“Eh-hem.” Puck delicately interrupted. “Not that it isn’t heartwarming to see you two getting along or a little unnerving that I never noticed how alike you two are. But we are in the middle of a rescue so if you could hurry this up?”

“I agree with the Seelie.” Lilly spoke up from his spot by the door. “Someone’s going to find those bodies sooner rather than later.”

Daithí shook his hands, rattling the chain,“They took the key.”

“I can pick it,” I started causing Puck to grin and then finished, “but I won’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because, Cloud Filler. I don’t trust this little snake farther than I could throw a Troll and trust me, that’s not far.”

Daithí’s lips quirked at Puck’s on-the-spot nickname before he mocked, “You don’t trust me, Big Sister? I’m hurt.”

“I’m sure you are, Little Fucker.” I replied, eyeing the pale boy. “You might be helping us now but what about after the war? When you inevitably backstab us all to try and claim the throne?”

“You’re more like Mab than I thought.” He laughed. “You don’t have to believe me but I don’t want the throne.”

I snorted and headed to the door, “Right. Let’s go.”

“Macha!”

“Power and prestige, even fearful respect but not the throne.” Daithí called out. “If there is anyone in this realm, I’d bow to willingly? It’d be no less than a Divine.”

Turning, I gave him a calculating look, “What’s in for you?”

“I get everything I want without the responsibility. After all, who’d deny the Divine’s little brother and only living relation? Soon to be Prince of the Realm?”

“Prince of the Realm?” I repeated, incredulously but walked over to him anyway.

He nodded regally, “Of course. You have no children or a mate. I’m well versed in all things pertaining to political blackmail and manipulation, who else would take over if you died unexpectedly?”

Shaking my head, I wigged a thin blue needle into the cuffs lock, “Planning on poisoning me as well?”

Pale lavender eyes shined in amusement, “Haven’t decided yet, Sister. I wanted to kill Tidgh since I could walk, maybe you’ll be different. I’d be nice to have a sibling for once.”

I hummed, freeing his wrist from the iron cuff to unhook it from the table before snapping it closed around his skin once more, “The cuffs will stay on until I say so, Little Fucker.” Flicking my eyes up to his, I gave him a few words of wisdom, “And I’d advise against trying to kill me, not only will it piss me off but I have a nasty habit of coming back.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Let’s get the fuck out of here, I think this is the same room they had me in when I was here.”

Daithi stood, grinning, “Look at that, we’re already bonding on shared experiences.”

“Yeah,” I snorted. “Pain and torture are real building blocks of a family bond.”

“We’re O’Riordans, Sister. Pain and torture are our bread and butter.”

Rolling my eyes, I grabbed him by the tunic and dragged him to the door, “Let’s go.”

——

Alright fess up, who saw this coming?

Also, when you guys are writing whether it’s an essay, poem or your own books, do you ever feel like it’s shit? And then you go back and your like wow okay that’s actually good? Cause that happens to me a lot, lmao. Or I think it makes absolutely no sense only to go back and be like this totally makes sense?

As always, feel free to comment if you enjoyed something in the chapter!

Smooches, Verbage💋