the-knights-who-say-book:

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to alarm you — showing up in full regalia, unannounced. But you see, I needed my Black Cloak of Shadows to stay invisible in the forest, and my Shining Sword of Starlight in case of Unseelie attacks, and my trusty Loyal Hound of Darkness to scout my route; I can’t help it that the full effect with my polished boots and unbound hair can scare a grown man witless.

Emerging from the shadows when you were all alone, though — that was just for fun.

I know they tell stories about me, even under the rebel lord’s roof. Trust me, I’ve heard every version told around every fireside. They say my eyes glow red with vengeance, don’t they — no, it’s fine, take a look. They’re black all the way through.

They say I stole my Shining Sword of Starlight from a star maiden, that it has never struck false once. That one’s not true. It was a gift.

They say these boots I wear stride a mile with each step. All I will say is I paid for them with half my memories, and they are worth every minute.

I can see your nerves through your smile, you know. Rebel lord sitting on his throne, facing our winsome queen’s greatest hunter. No, don’t move, sir, I apologize for my rudeness. Here, let me kneel. After all, you are our kind queen’s vassal, or you were before all this.

You should hear the stories they tell about you, sir, in our regal queen’s court. How you grew so proud and vain of your domain’s abundance and your daughter’s beauty and your own importance that you declared yourself your own kingdom, your own king.

How generous you are. But I need nothing. I drank from a bubbling stream in the forest, I will be sustained for days.

Now, I know you wish to get to business. Surely our shrewd queen would not have sent me here for polite conversation, you think, so let us move on, so you can learn what our cunning queen wants.

That, sir, is where you miscalculated. Our exalted queen did not send me. I brought myself.

I know, I know. How long has it been since our fearsome queen’s most fearsome hunter took a single step of her own? Many years, I confess, sir. But I heard the whispers about you in our mighty queen’s court. I heard them speak under their breath about how you hope to make your daughter queen over all faerie. How you plot to slay our ferocious queen and bury her beneath the mother tree, let her bones grow a new palace for your bloodline.

You plotting, plodding dukes and lords. Always thinking you’re the first to scheme for power. You should have thought, you should have considered, who might have been scheming long before you.

I’m afraid I already had designs on the throne. Designs that have no room for you.

Our doomed queen turned me into her killing hand, and soon my hand will kill her in turn. Sir, this is not your narrative. You don’t get a voice.

Oh, no. Don’t tremble. I am not here to kill you. You were never a threat to me.

But you wanted your daughter to sit on Faerie’s throne, and I think you are right. I think I will make her my queen.

You can keep your scrap of rebel land. I am taking all I want of yours tonight.