Page 85 of The Fae King's Labyrinth

“Never.” Tana paled and covered her mouth. The sweet expression on her face transformed to anger. “Did you cast a truth spell?”

“Not me.”

A cool breeze brushed my whiskers as an elf and a fae stepped from our shadows. “I did, Mother,” Oran announced. He nodded to Azulin. “Proceed.”

“Even if—” Azulin never finished the statement.

“She is gathering a spell!” someone yelled from an open window above.

Ghost growled. A flash of light and heat brought everyone’s attention back to the southern end of the courtyard as a targeted blast of fire cut across the courtyard and hit the former queen, sending her reeling backward into the column she’d previously hidden behind.

“Monster!” Tana shrieked as her spell exploded in her face. Fire crawled across her gown and caught her hair. She screamed.

In a matter of moments, she was engulfed. Then before anyone could move, she was consumed.

Chaos erupted around us as doors were thrown open all around the courtyard and fae and elves crowded through them.

Azulin was immediately surrounded by jostling fae. Oran disappeared into the crowd, fighting his way toward where his mother had been.

The elf holding me moved from shadow to shadow with nauseating speed to keep close to Azulin, but even then, he wasn’t able to move fast enough. An Unseelie fae reached Azulin first.

Time seemed to slow. Holding a knife poised to strike, an assassin was about to stab my husband. I yowled a warning. My escort leaped to Azulin’s shadow, calmly placing me on my husband’s shoulder. I launched at the assailant’s face, claws and teeth bared.

The assailant shrieked and ducked so I landed claws first on his head. I managed to draw blood and extract tufts of hair before Azulin grabbed me.

Herman the sithcat popped into existence on top of the assailant’s head, exactly where I had been moments before. Twice my size and infinitely stronger, Herman clamped his massive paws around the fae’s head. The fae screamed. Herman yowled, an unearthly sound that made my fur stand on end. The fae wailed, grabbing at the massive cat’s paws, but Herman merely hissed and swatted at the fae’s waving hands. I caught a glint of extended claws before my husband wrestled me into his arms.

Azulin turned aside, shielding me as he tried to soothe my ruffled fur, but I didn’t want the assailant out of my sight. Climbing up Azulin’s tunic, I reached his shoulder just in time to witness Herman transport the screaming assailant with a giant popping sound. One moment the pair were standing there, and the next, only the assailant popped into existence twenty feet in the air. The fae fell to the ground with a thud. Our elf bodyguard approached the motionless body with caution, eventually checking to see if the assailant still lived.

“Sire!” A guard in Seelie livery approached. Behind him Oran followed, carrying a pot.

“Your Majesty, was that the former queen?” A fussily dressed courtier minced over the grass toward us.

I crouched on my husband’s shoulder as he turned to answer the questions being launched at him. Feeling exposed, I tried to make myself as small as possible. Surely, we were safe now.

I regretted my assessment when someone grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and pulled me from my perch.

“I have you!” my tormentor cackled, backing away from the frenzy around the attempted assassination.

Dangling by my neck, my legs splayed, claws extended, I twisted and swung. My human instinct warred with the cat form. Natural cats normally hung limp when scruffed, but I was not a normal cat. On one aspect of my situation both natures agreed—panic, anxiety, and pain exploded through me—I wanted out of his hold now!

“Cease!” my assailant ordered, thrusting his face into mine. I caught a fleeting glimpse of the Unseelie king’s face. Then he lofted my body above his head. I gagged and spat as my equilibrium disappeared. The world whipped around, and pain exploded in my head as he dangled my whole cat’s body weight from my neck. “I have your mate, Azulin, and I will kill her if you do not submit your throne.”

Whirling around with the motion of his arm, I tried to catch his sleeve with my claws. I missed—well, not entirely. He swore when my back claws caught his forearm. I smelled blood when I dangled helpless once again.

“Unhand my wife, or I will kill you where you stand.” Azulin’s coldly calm response caused instantaneous silence. The audience in the courtyard seemed to take a collective gasp.

“I knew it!” someone yelled.

“Your throne for the woman.” The Unseelie king shook me a bit, making stars dance before my eyes. I attempted to protest, but no sound came out. Then I tried to transform but my magic didn’t respond.

True panic set in. Azulin couldn’t give it all up for me. To strive so long and hard to preserve his nation and keep them free of the power-mad fae, only to have me be the cause of his failure. I struggled with new fervor.

“That is no woman,” one of the Unseelie commented.

“She’s a shapeshifter,” another fae said.

Sounds of revulsion passed through the crowd. “No one slights my queen!” A familiar brownie’s voice cut through the silence.

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