Free The Honoured Guest by Aurelia Destiny

her voice like the purest of chimes. And yet it hurt the human’s ears like shards of glass, leaving an echo inside her head. Chelsea did not understand the words as she screamed and clamped her hands over her ears, but everyone there listened and bowed towards the throne, and then their gaze went back to her.
    Her hands drew back from her ears where she'd tried to block the sound of the queen’s voice and saw with shock that there was blood. “Oh my god,” she gasped. Fear like poison began to crawl through her veins.
    Suddenly everything began to change, and the air about the creatures and the clearing began to warp. The gold and silver faded, and the whites and pure brilliant colours leaked from clothing like ink draining out, changing into tones of black, onyx, grey and darkness. The beauty stripped from the Fae, and other creatures, to reveal hideous visages with hooked noses, sharp deadly teeth and gnarled hands. Their eyes were terrifying and hungry, glowing eerily in the moonlight.
    Their silky silver hair turned to tones of obsidian and darker dull greys, the mercurial eyes to a frightening vermillion with small fixed black pupils, the white robes dulled, and the coloured cloth that had been the hues of a rainbow now turned dark, as if all the light had been pulled from it.
    She was frozen in place, as the very trees lost their leaves and the branches became twisted and dark, the grass and flowers dying to reveal hard cold dirt covered in crawling things. The fruits, nuts and blooms on the tables perished and withered in their bowls, red wine took on the appearance of blood.
    No, it was blood.
    She had been fed blood in her goblet, made to taste like wine!
    Chelsea finally broke out of her frozen state with a gasp of terror, heart thundering in her chest, as she shoved her chair back with a thud to the ground and backed off. But they were all around her and she cried out as hideous, deformed, nightmarish faces closed in, hands reaching for her.
    The very trees themselves appeared to stretch down with their branches to grab at her.
    A scream of pure terror broke from the red-haired girl’s mouth, echoing around the clearing. It seemed to give them pause and then they broke into words, chanting in that musical language that had so enchanted her before, that now only leant to her dread. She tried to speak, but her throat had become dry, her vision wavered, as the stress and fear threatened to overwhelm her. “Please,” she finally whispered, gaze pleading as it went to Finvara. “Let me go home ! I don't want to be here anymore.”
    Prince Finvara moved gracefully towards her, his golden eyes becoming cold as ice. “You cannot leave, Maiden, this is all in your honour.” He stopped before her and raised a hand, his nails becoming long, black and sharp. He touched her throat and she felt the agony of ice searing her flesh and then sharp talons bite in. “You can never leave.”
    Chelsea looked desperately around for escape, for someone who had kind eyes and might help her, but she found none. Her eyes fell upon the table and widened with complete horror, when she saw what was on the platters that she’d been eating from; bloody chunks of meat. Rivulets of crimson ran down the sides of the gold and onto the table. Her hand flew to her mouth as she retched.
    Finvara noticed where she’d been looking, and the Fae prince laughed in cruel amusement. “Did she taste delicious, Maiden?” he taunted.
    When she realised what he meant, she did throw up, vomit slid down over her robes and the prince refused to release her neck. She sobbed hard, her eyes so full of tears that she could barely see a thing. Her throat burned from the bile, her heart thundering so hard in her chest that it felt like it was going to burst out of it.
    That girl that they’d brought in through the portal…
    Oh God .
    “It is also a custom of the feast for our Guest to eat the flesh of our enemy. One of royal blood,” he remarked, showing