Free Burned by Jennifer Blackstream Page B

around them. Enormous black tree trunks lined the walls like colossal pillars leading up to a raised dais. Eerie silver light came from no discernable source, illuminating a black throne. Like polished ebony, it gleamed in the ethereal light, mocking him with its emptiness.
     
    The monarch was nowhere to be seen.
     
    Aldric frowned. He had not come to the Unseelie Court without taking certain precautions. His mind traveled back to the yard at the inn where the pisky he’d managed to trap waited for his return from within his iron-barred cage, half buried in the earth. The little imp had said nothing of a living sithen, nor had he mentioned any royal penchant for sneaking up on invited guests. Had the little fey deliberately withheld information to leave them vulnerable to Unseelie torment? Had any of the information he’d offered been true?
     
    Aldric gritted his teeth as anger burned up his spine. Impossible. He’d seen the burns on the fey’s flesh where the iron cage had touched his skin before he stuffed the silk handkerchief inside the prison. There was no way he would risk being left in there any longer than necessity dictated. Aldric had been clear that if anything happened to him, no one would be coming to free him from his deathly prison and the little pest couldn’t stay wrapped in the silk forever.
     
    He glanced around again, the weight of the iron bar braided into his long red hair a comforting weight against his back. At least he knew iron was truly an effective weapon against the fey—the pisky’s burns had proved that. As long as Dubheasa didn’t try to run her fingers through his hair, he would have a last recourse should matters go badly. He took a deep breath and tried to force the worst case scenario from his mind. Perhaps the queen just enjoyed making a dramatic entrance.
     
    Turning his mind to the comfort of tactical analysis, he studied the room again. Between the columns of tree trunks, thick red curtains hung over what must be small alcoves carved into the earthen walls. The queen could easily have tucked herself away in one of those. He narrowed his eyes. That would hardly be much of an entrance though. He tilted his head in thought. With all of them facing different directions, it would be impossible to sneak up on them. Unless . . .
     
    Aldric jerked his attention up, his shoulders tensing in anticipation. The tree trunks that lined the walls continued to grow up and up until their branches slithered across the ceiling in a thick canopy of rustling leaves. The strange light that permeated the room didn’t pierce the heavy boughs hanging overhead. Aldric’s eyes twitched as he strained to see into the darkness.
     
    Even with his vampire sight, he could not see anything above him. It wasn’t just the absence of light. The shadows in the branches seemed to eat the mysterious glow around the cavern, consuming it until it became a black hole of nothingness. Pins and needles pressed against his flesh as though hundreds of tiny eyes watched him from that impenetrable gloom. Waiting.
     
    “Ah, Lord Aldric, you have arrived!”
     
    Shocked by the jubilant voice shattering the silence, Aldric ripped his attention from the ceiling just in time to see Dubheasa, Queen of the Unseelie, emerge from one of the red-curtained alcoves. The first thing that caught his eyes was the white column of her neck, bared by the way her long dark hair had been pulled up in a high ponytail on top of her head. Over the centuries, Aldric had noted that most women who knew what he was chose to leave their hair down, covering their throats with their tresses—often in addition to a high collar. Aldric wasn’t sure if the queen was trying to demonstrate a lack of fear or deliberately taunting him. He suspected both.
     
    As the sidhe royal moved forward, her black and grey ball gown swirled about her in a dance of fabric. Aldric had to try not to stare too hard at the material or it wavered and moved, playing