Chapter 193: The Disabled Faerie Prince

Jude POV

Whatever the guards might have said, the screeching of something mechanical interrupted them. Both Delphinium and Harthorn stiffened. "It's HIM," they chorused.

Moments later, a male fairy with hair the color of a lake on a moderately sunny day rolled into the cell. Rolled. His wings looked weak, and his legs rested stiffly on the leg rests of his bronze wheelchair. Orc-made, if Jude was any judge. 

"Talking about me as if I'm not here?" he asked, with biting humor. "Mother would be MOST appalled. If she could tear herself away from her crystals for a moment."

Sparkler beamed. "My favorite brother!" She buzzed around him. "Niall is going to help us! Danniall, this is Jude and Ravyn of the Silverpaw Pack."

"Ah yes, the ones that broke my mother's heart," Niall observed, pushing his dark glasses up on his slender nose. Pale and sickly looking for a faerie, he smelled defensive.

Jude's heart went out to him. "I ... I didn't know all her children's names."

"You wouldn't have known mine in any case," Niall observed. "Silverpaw Pack ... aren't you all deathly afraid of silver? That's like us being named the Iron Faeries."

"Oh, Nee, whatever are we going to do with you?" Sparkler sounded affectionate. "Jude, Ravyn, don't mind him. It's his way."

Hades thought in Jude's and Ravyn's mind, "I am so, so sorry. The Dark Goddess orchestrated this and I went along with it. I had no idea Ylavi had a disabled son she hid away, but the foul fiend must have."

"We are all broken sometimes," Ravyn responded.

Hades laughed, a rippling, dark laugh. "Don't spew such witch aphorisms at him unless you want hm to run you over with that wheelchair. He's heard all the pat things that people say. In you case, I know it's sincere, but he's had a bellyful of such sympathy."

Jude huffed. "Like 'It was the Moon Goddess' plan' or 'At least you have children and a pack to focus on?'"

He'd heard all those comforting phrases after Emer died. Members of the pack would transmit them through the mind-link. He had to put on mental earmuffs to block them out, or he'd have ended up fighting everyone and probably biting someone full of holes. They'd have declared him mad. 

However, the Crestas, including Garnet and Cyran, never mouthed those platitudes--nor did Tulaska or Eirika. Dane and his brothers couldn't stomach the awkward sympathy. 

Niall rolled across the stone floor with a loud rattling sound that demanded Jude's attention. Ravyn stepped out of his path. "Are you mind-linking together? That's rude. Are you talking about me?"

"No, we're talking about the stupid things people say to grieving people," Ravyn responded. 

Flummoxed and disarmed, Niall muttered, "Or the ones they whisper to your parents behind your back, like 'What a burden' or 'What did you do to bring such a curse on you?'"

Jude's heart squeezed. "I won't ask how it happened."

"I was born this way," Niall replied. "Hundreds of years and several operations and treatments from the best healers, and I'm still this way. I can 'fly,' or at least glide, and I can propel myself down the corridors of the castle so fast it'll make your head spin. And I can rule the faerie kingdom. I can. My brothers and sisters are more than capable--but I was Father's heir, and suddenly I'm not."

Jude shook his head. "Our intelligence is sadly lacking--"

"Isn't one of your family, Alpha Jiro, the ultimate spymaster along with his mate?" Niall grinned because he knew he scored a point. "Isn't your kinsman Patch the 'Duke of Evenhide,' running all over Lugdunum on spy missions with your daughter's best friend? What about the disgraced ex-Alpha Cyran and his mate--they're in intelligence, no?"

Jude had to close his mouth before it caught flies from the privy. 

Niall Crystalsprite might be either their greatest adversary or their fiercest enemy.

* * * * *

Ravyn POV

If she'd known that Niall existed, she would have put herself forward as Jude's mate, rather than stepping in the devil's snare and pulling Jude into it. 

Bitter, angry, and wounded, Niall was not dangerous, but he was a complication. 

"I'm sorry we broke your mother's heart," she said gently.

"I did that a long time ago--there wasn't much left for you." Niall rotated his chair away so that he stared off into the distance.

Harthorn placed a hand on his shoulder and he scarcely noticed it was there. "My prince, Her Majesty doesn't mean to be hurtful--"

"She's the queen, she's supposed to know better," Niall muttered.

Delphinium scowled. "Self-pity doesn't become you. And with her consumed by the Dark Goddess, you are the next in line. The king thought you could lead."

Ravyn's breath caught in her throat, and in the silence that followed Delphinium's words, she heard prisoners' moaning from the adjacent cells and moisture dripping from the damp, dank cell walls. 

Delphinium believed them about the Dark Goddess?

Harthorn agreed. "These shifters are telling the truth--the queen is possessed."

Niall's chair whirled around and he faced Ravyn, pulling his glasses lower on his nose. He had exquisite topaz eyes. "The Dark Goddess? Are you joking? My mother invited the Dark Goddess in?"

"She likely doesn't know," Jude said in a calm, even tone.

"EVERYONE knows you don't traffick in dark magic," Niall huffed, spinning his chair from side to side in a mesmerizing dance. "You learn that as a tiny infant. Basic common sense. All faerie children learn the same things: Don't fly into a bramble bush. Don't tease anything bigger than you. And do not, under any circumstances, have anything to do with demons and dark magic!"

Ravyn walked over and reached out a hand, then brushed his wing. It vibrated and shook like a half-wilted leaf in the wind. A shudder went through Niall. 

"Is that alright?" Ravyn asked.

"I think so," Niall mumbled.

"Good. Because I know that touching a faerie's wings is reserved for those close to you," Ravyn said with delicacy. "But Jude was almost your stepfather."

"Mother blew that," he muttered. 

Jude approached him and stroked the other wing. "I would have been proud to be your stepfather. I guess you could almost call us family at this point." 

Niall choked back a sob, but collected himself. "Well, I would have driven you mad."

"Oh, I have a fondness for oddballs." Jude smiled wryly. "And I think they make the best kings. Sparkler, Harthorn, Delphinium, how much support does Niall have among the faerie people and at court?"

"He's far more popular than the queen at the moment," Harthorn replied, with a look on her face that made Ravyn sit up and take notice. She sensed that Harthorn had feelings for this particular royal oddball.

Ravyn thought to Jude and Hades, "What do you say we engineer a palace coup?"

The answering joyful howls made her smile. At least now they had a true plan. She only hoped that their family and packs were on the way to help them foil the Dark Goddess and install Niall on the throne.