Page 13 of Boss Level

“No, of course not.”

“Was Norma the one who signed me up for the Elven Games?” I ask, and Steve nods. Well, I guess it wasn’t him after all.

“She was hell-bent on revenge against your mother. She was also trying to get rid of any chance that someone might challenge her reign.” Steve shakes his head. “She’s been trying to kill you your entire life. There were a few times she believed the attempt was successful.”

“Thankfully not,” Kili growls.

“Fen is up there confronting her,” I say, my anxiety grows the longer we’re down here and not by his side.

“I know. That's how I knew you’d be down here. I came to warn you that she’s got something planned. I don’t know what, but she wouldn’t give up without a fight. I saw her speaking with a necromancer. She–”

“She’s dead.” It’s my turn to growl. “Whatever her big plan was, we ruined it last night when we killed the Necromancer.”

“She’ll have a back-up.” Steve shakes his head, and I frown.

“That changes nothing. We need to find Fen. Now.” I push past Steve and approach Sweet Girl. Time to go find my mate.

Chapter 8

Fenrick

Walking away from Moon to face my mother feels wrong, and every inch of my soul is screaming at me to return to her side, but for this plan to work, we all had to split up.

She’ll be by my side once more soon enough. I just need to get through this next part. Silas is wrapped around my wrist, sending shivers down my spine every few steps. His shifting scales on my skin are a foreign sensation. It’s weird, being touched, and not immediately killing that person.

My mother is a sick woman.

“Meeting Moon was the first time in my life that I felt hope. I knew nothing of her, but I knew in my soul I would not harm her. That I would do anything for her. She said to me that she would burn the realm down to protect me. Then Tristan said we would all keep each other safe,” Warrior says in his overly scratchy voice. Something he got from years of torture.

“Yes, Warrior, we keep each other safe.” I nod in agreement, as I navigate the halls of the castle I grew up in. He’s an unusual combo of innocence and a weapon's grade level of killing skill. It was easy to accept him into the fold. Not that we’d ever ice out one of Moon’s mates.

“I will keep you safe from your mother, Fenrick. I know how it feels to have poisoned words in your mind. To have the person you thought was your family turn against you. One who will use you and hurt you.” Warrior is walking behind me, but his words have me slowing to a stop in the middle of the hall.

“Fen’s got the three of us tolook after him until our mate catches up. Don’t worry, big guy. We’ve got each other's backs.” Tristan claps a hand on my back, before gently nudging me forward.

“Thank you, Warrior,” I murmur, keeping my head down.

After being alone for so long, it’s unusual. This feeling of support. The knowledge that I have a mate that would do anything for me, but so would her other men. Not just because of our love for her, and the pain our loss would cause her, but because we’re family now too.

I pause outside the two opulent doors that close off the throne room. The curling gold filigree that makes up the Fae Kingdom’s emblem of a tree on their surface seems tarnished in the light of the hall. I take a deep, steadying breath. There are never very many guards walking these halls, but the fact that we’ve passed none is concerning. I was expecting to see at least two or three. They must be by the Queen’s side.

I know she’s in the throne room. She’s always there. Sitting on the King’s throne. Fucking lives up and causing misery.

“Before we go in, I think I should enter alone. You two remain out here and wait to come in. She’s more likely to talk if she thinks she’s only speaking to me,” I tell Tristan and Warrior.

“If that’s what you want. She can probably already sense Silas, though. Might as well take him with you.” Tristan shrugs.

“I will. I just want to buy some time. Act as if I’m just a heartbroken son, shocked by her betrayal. I’ll leave it up to you to decide when to enter. I’ll leave the doors open, just stay hidden.” With one last deep breath, I shove the doors open and step inside the demon’s lair.

“I was wondering how long it would be before you sought me out,” my mother says in a bored tone as she yawns from where she reclines on the throne. She’s dressed in all gold, as she always is, and her long golden hair is draped over her in a way that should be bewitching.

Objectively, my mother is a beautiful woman. Her abhorrent actions bring a tainted quality to her visage. I wish I knew what twisted her up inside so badly that she turned into the monster before me.

“Was it simply jealousy?” I ask, looking away from her, focusing on the opulent hall walls instead.

“What?” she demands, sitting up slowly. There are at least twenty guards here, when she usually would not have had more than six in here with her at a time.

“Why go after a man mated to another woman? Why fight for a crown that was meant for another? Why go through all this just to be Queen? The most hated Fae Queen in the history of this realm?” I ask her, finally glancing back at her.

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