The Raven Queen by Che Golden

Author:Che Golden [Golden, Che]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quercus Publishing
Published: 2014-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

‘My favourite has returned to me,’ said the Morrighan, bending down to cradle Fachtna’s pointed face in her hands. ‘You were always so pretty, but war has made you beautiful.’

‘My queen,’ said Fachtna, looking up at the Morrighan. Maddy was horrified to see tears, actual tears, rolling down the faerie’s mottled face. Maddy didn’t even realize Fachtna could cry. ‘I have missed you.’

‘And yet you did not love me enough to stay,’ said the Morrighan. ‘You left when the rest of my court stayed to watch over me. You deserted your post and abased yourself by serving one who had only risen high by my hand.’

Maddy looked around the dusty, rotten room, with its carpet of bones. Yeah, because you’d be mad to leave all this, she thought.

Fachtna grovelled with her face to the ground again. ‘Forgive me, my queen,’ she rasped. ‘I was weak. I craved the sunlight and the wind on my skin. I craved the excitement and the glory of battle and I longed for the taste of blood on my lips.’ She looked up at the Morrighan, who cocked her veiled head toward her. ‘But Tír na nÓg is in turmoil once more and I have returned to you, to fight again by your side.’

‘Ah, but you do it for your own selfish reasons,’ said the Morrighan. Fachtna looked up at her, her eyes widening in confusion. ‘I have been asleep, child, not dead. I still know what happens in my realm and I can still see into the heart of my former captain. Robe.’

Fachtna sprang up and picked up a black velvet robe that had been lying at the foot of the bed. She held it out to the Morrighan, who slipped it over her naked body, her wings stretching out so they could slip through wide slits slashed through the back of the garment. It had a small, high collar and wide sleeves, and fell away from the Morrighan’s shoulders in a straight line to her ankles. It was covered in silver embroidery depicting dragons much like the carved ones that guarded the door to this place. Little clouds of dust puffed into the air as she moved but the Raven Queen continued to glow in the moonlight.

Fachtna was still standing behind her, smoothing the fabric over her neck and back when the Morrighan said, ‘You come to me now, Fachtna, because you have grown greedy with your new queen. You no longer think of how you can serve, but rather what you can gain. And as your new mistress dooms herself with her madness, your hungry eyes are cast upon her crown. You have forgotten your place.’ Behind her Fachtna froze, her face a mask of despair. ‘You are a good servant, Fachtna, but you would be a terrible monarch. Be content with what you have and look no further. I have already raised an outsider to a throne, and look at the harm she has done. I will let no other assume a Tuatha’s place in this world.

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