Page 98 of The Kingdom of Ruin

FORTY-FOUR

ADDI

“Is this really necessary?” Janie asks from across the table, glaring at Leticia like she’s the outsider, not me. Leticia doesn’t pay her any mind as she leans in closer to me.

“When the clock strikes midnight, I can challenge you again. Be ready.” It’s a promise, not a warning, and my gut clenches.

She doesn’t get to have him.

I’m not saying I want him; I just…fuck.

Emotions I refuse to let out rattle inside of me as someone looms behind Leticia.

“Now, now, girls, we don’t truly want to celebrate the new moon with a duel, do we?”

Leticia stills, eyes wide when she hears the voice, and I look behind her to see who it is. The air that exudes from him screams leader, and the way both Janie and Leticia respond to him only confirms my suspicions. It has to be Cassian’s father.

A deadly grin spreads across his face as he meets my stare. “You must be Addi Reed, the girl causing quite a stir.”

Clearing my throat, I nod, standing as I remember my father’s lectures on greeting other origins. “Alpha Kenner.”

Leticia shifts from between us, and I groan, hating that there’s no longer anything standing in his way.

“What the fuck was that about?” Cassian growls, storming toward us with his hands fisted at his sides.

“Son.”

“Don’t play coy; it doesn’t suit you,” he bites, facing off with his father.

“I don’t know what you want me to say. When Dalton didn’t come back with you straight away, I came looking. I just happened to find the lovely Addi Reed in the process.”

Cassian turns to me, scanning his eyes over me to make sure I’m okay. His jaw tics, making it clear his father is full of crap, and Dalton pulling him away was all part of a plan to separate us.

Alpha Kenner follows Cassian’s line of sight, turning to me with an assessing stare. “For a fae, your ears are…lacking.”

Asshole.

“I’m aware.”

He inches closer, assessing exactly what I’m self-conscious about. “The scars are neatly done. A professional, for sure. Was it done on purpose?”

What the fuck?

I shake my head. “Not by me,” I grumble, ready for him to leave already. Deep in my soul, I know I’m being lured into his trap, and he’s in no way done with me yet.

“So you’re happy being a fae?”

What the fuck kind of question is that?

“Always.”

He reaches out, and it takes everything in me not to shrink away. The tip of his finger ghosts over the scar on my left ear as I sense Brody inching closer behind me and Cassian snarling behind his father.

“Who did this to you? It must feel like your identity is incomplete.”

His words are like poison. Just as he intends.

“I feel perfectly fine.” It’s the truth. I may be self-conscious about them, but it doesn’t make me feel any less of a fae without my signature pointed tips.

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