Chapter 6
Rohan ignored the stinging of the branches against her cheeks as she readjusted herself better onto the Fae horse she had stolen from her father's stables. She looped her fingers better into its mane of snow white hair. In the Mundane World, it had shifted into a motorcycle, which had nearly given her a heart attack, now she was not sure which version she preferred. Now was the not the time to be worrying about such things as Shape Shifting horses. If she did, like her mother must have done once upon a time, she would have been praying to the Angels to protect her and Shiloh. She could not be certain of Shiloh's fate, yet alone her own.
What would the Unseelie King do to her once he realized that she had vanished from his lands?
Would he disown her like he had her elder brother, Kieran? Would he give her up as a gift to the Wild Hunt too? She barely had time to register the shiver of fear that slipped down her spine before she was thrown off her horse and was entangled in a net that was imbedded into the ground by arrows.
Rohan spat grass and dirt out of her mouth and struggled to get her hands free in order to get to her long knives that hung around her waist. She had almost reached the hilt of one of her long knives when the nudge of a soft boot brushed against her bare feet. The Half-Blood Princess of the Unseelie Court looked up into fern green eyes of one of her older brothers, Günther, he still had his longbow in his hand, another arrow gently notched into the string, his long and calloused fingers itching to pull it back. Günther crouched down to her level, but did not release her from entrapment of his net, the shifting of movement causing the arrows within his quiver to rattle.
"Father is not pleased with you in the least, little sister." he said, brushing a strand of his sand-colored hair back behind his pointed ear, a smirk on his lips. Behind him stood one of their other siblings, Roosevelt. His face was blank like stone, his eyes were the color of starlight and his hair was the same raven black as Rohan's.
Mostly all of the Unseelie King's children were half-siblings, any of them rarely had the same mother, but they still treated each other as brother and sister, never as if any of them were anything less. It was Günther, who taught her how to fletch arrows and how to shoot straight, never to miss the target. And it was Roosevelt, who had taught her how to ride bareback on a Fae horse, now he was standing in front of her shaken horse, calming it down.
Rohan had finally been able to grip one of her daggers and flicked the capsule to release the poison into the blade, if she had to she would defend herself against her own brothers. Her hands were shaking and her breathing was hitched as if she could not get enough air, it shocked Rohan when she realized that she was actually frightened, for once in her young life, she was afraid of the Fae King, she so lovingly called Father.
She watched warily as Günther removed his net and then hauled her to her feet and then onto her horse. Her dress was in shambles, torn in different places, one spot in particular nearly revealing her Shadowhunter Mark. Rohan quickly pulled down the dress to cover it the best she could, and re-sheathed her blades at her hips, she was shocked that her brothers did not remove them from her. Perhaps the Unseelie King did not know that it was she who had warned Shiloh of his attempt on the young Half-Blood's life? She could only hope that he did not, and that the only thing that he was realized was that she had once again gotten her right ear pierced closer to the point by another Downworlder that worked in the Mundane world. This would make it her sixth piercing, finally both of her ears matched with the silver that hung from them.
Once they reached the stables, Roosevelt helped her to dismount and he took care of the young Fae mare, while Günther made sure that Rohan made it back to her bedchamber. She turned to face her elder brother, she found it difficult to form words, was she supposed to thank him for sparing her life out in the Wilds of their lands? Or was she supposed to be angry with him and Roosevelt for escorting her back as if she was still a child?
"I will let Father know you have returned safely. Do not leave your room." he said and shut the door, with a thudding heart she heard the door lock from the outside. They were not going to allow her to leave, how was she supposed to know if Shiloh made it to her adoptive family in Los Angeles?
Rohan led out a shaky breath and lay back on her queen-size bed on top of the covers, there were still leafs in her hair and twigs, she had dirt staining her knees and fingers. The Half-Blood Princess smiled softly when she felt Dandelion crawl over to her from her spot on one of the lavender infused pillows and begin to preen her raven black hair, to rid it of the forest that had decided to entangle itself within the locks. It was only when the female rat came up to her face and began to lick the wounds that were on her face, that salty tears stung her flame-colored eyes. She hastily wiped them away before her familiar could decide to deal with them on her own, she cuddled the rat close to her breasts, where Dandelion decided to lie down, using one of her breasts as a pillow, she began to boggle and brux happily. Rohan sat up more on her pillows and heard something crinkle underneath the fabric of the pillow case. She turned over, leaving a slightly annoyed Dandelion to make herself comfy once more against the inside of the crook of her arm as she pulled the mysterious object from where it had been hidden.
The note was written in her mother's script, it had rat chew marks on the top, and maybe a couple of trail marks of urine from Dandelion, but it was still decipherable. At least she now knew why her beloved familiar could not be found this morning before Rohan had left for the Mundane world. Her rat had become a messenger between her and her mother, but it was rare for the Shadowhunter turned Iron Sister to contact her daughter at all. Rohan read the letter over at least three times before she pulled open the drawer in her nightstand and stuffed the letter inside among the others that had shown up over the years, there were only two others and they were smudged and tear-stained confessions about how much Esther Bloodkey missed her eldest daughter and how guilty she felt for abandoning Shiloh. But this letter was different, her mother was begging her to come and see her, saying that she had crafted weapons with her own two hands, not just for Rohan, but also for Shiloh. How could Rohan say no to her own mother, especially if there was her very own Shadowhunter weapon involved? Had her mother received the blueprints she had sent for a broad axe for Rohan's very own and twin French style sabres that were for Shiloh?
Feeling disgusted with herself, she washed her hands and face clean of dirt with the basin and pitcher of water that resided on her dresser until she was satisfied that she no longer felt like a her skin was covered in grim. She also washed out her hair and combed it through with a few drops of lavender water. The Half-Blood Princess of the Unseelie Court discarded her ruined dress and began to go through the ones that remained in her closet freshly washed and dried by one of the many servants her father had dictated to take care of his daughter's needs. Rohan pulled out a Queen pink dress that was decorated with pearls along the collar and the bottom fringe, it cascaded down to brush the start of her ankles, she then went for slate grey leggings and pearl-blue boots. She twisted her raven black hair up into a Milkmaid braid that was decorated with pearls interweaving with the strands. Rohan re-belted her blades around her waist and tried to wait patiently and calmly as she had been taught too since she was a child, but her patience had worn thin to nothing as she had ridden back from the Mundane World and back into the Unseelie Lands, her brothers capturing her like a common criminal did not help at all.
Fuming with restlessness, she unsheathed her blades and flicked the lighter-like switches to allow the poison to travel down into the thin lining that had crafted along the blade to keep the liquid from ruining the silver. She then pressed the blades into the wood of her bedchamber door, she pushed until the long knives began to cut through the wood like fire burning paper, she could not help smirking when she heard the guards cursing that had been stationed at her door to keep her from leaving. Once the hole was big enough, she grabbed one of her winter white cloaks and clasped it around her shoulders with a crescent moon pin, she then picked up Dandelion and let the rat nestle herself in the hood of the cloak. She then walked through the hole she made and continued down the hallway, even as her father's soldiers stormed after her, too shocked at first with what their Unseelie King's daughter had just done to stop her right away and also because they feared what the King would do if they were too rough with his offspring.
One of them finally caught up to her and grabbed her elbow, turning her so she was forced to face him. "My Lady, you have not been given permission to leave."
Rohan's face creased with anger and annoyance then. "I must speak with Father. Surely, you would not deny me that?"
"Never, Princess Rohan. However, your father is not in the greatest of moods, perhaps waiting would be best?" The guard that had not grabbed her suggested.
"I do not have the time to wait." Rohan replied and turned back to hurry down the hall. She stopped in front of the heavy blackened wood doors that led to the Unseelie King's throne room. The pressure from her father's magic sent shivers down to her very core, but she heaved the doors opened anyways and she stepped inside.
The throne room felt claustrophobic, shadows incased the room in so much darkness it was freezing cold, her breath came out in a fog of white and she quickly wrapped her cloak tighter around herself, as Dandelion buried herself in the crook of Rohan's neck for warmth.
"Father?" Rohan's voice came out shaky, and she hoped she was loud enough for the Unseelie King to hear.
Suddenly the shadows disappeared as if they were being sucked in a vacuum. The torches in the room blazed with new life, snow-white fires with black cores. The Unseelie King sat rigid on his throne of white birch branches like a statue, his mask on, slightly askew, showing just a smidgen of imperfection. As if he had put it on as soon as he heard his daughter call out for him.
"What is it you need of me, Rohan?" He asked, descending from the white birch throne with unearthly grace, almost as if he was walking on air.
"I wish to go see Mother…" Rohan whispered, as her father's cold hand gripped her chin and forced her to look up at him, her hood falling back exposing her freshly pierced ear.
His face turned into a wicked smirk that caused her brain to scream inwardly, 'RUN!'
"Did you know that your mother had another child?" the question came out in a hiss that made the Half-Blood Princess turn to ice.
Had he seen the truth written so clearly on her face?
"Father...I…"
"Did you know that your whore of a mother gave birth to another Fae's child?" he demanded, his voice cold and filled with betrayal. He sneered when she shakily nodded her head in answer. "Did you help the little mongrel escape from my grasp?"
When she hesitated to answer him, the Unseelie King took her frightened stunned silence as a yes, he released the grip that he had on her face, but before she could comprehend what he was going to next, or even brace herself for it, he backhanded her across the face so hard that she heard a sickening crack and she stumbled onto her backside.
Her eyes quickly filling with tears from the pain, Rohan was unable to stop her beloved rat. Dandelion leapt at the King of the Unseelie Fae, biting into the hand that had struck her chosen caretaker and drew blood. He roared in rage like an angry bear sick with rabies. The Unseelie Princess grabbed her animal familiar from where she had fallen to the cold earthy floor and bolted out of the room, leaving her father to continue his animalistic screaming, not because of the rat bite but because he probably now considered his own daughter a traitor. "COME BACK HERE!" as she made her way out of her father's domain to the Mundane World with Dandelion now tucked safely within her hood once again.
Rohan stumbled into the park and sat down on a bench, she dug a couple of sunflower seeds out of the pocket of her cloak and gave them to Dandelion. Her hands were still shaking and her breath was coming out in weakened gasps, her heart thudding against her chest so loud, she could hear it in her ears.
She leaned back and closed her eyes, willing herself to calm down. Rohan knew where she had to go next, she had to go see her mother, Esther Bloodkey, she had to go the Adamant Citadel.