Page 90 of Prince of Ruin

Unable to watch, I drop my head, tears streaming down my face into my robes, and wait for it to be over—when a loud thunder, like two boulders crashing against one another, roars through the cavern, silencing every bat screech, every cheer, every sound until only only footsteps can be heard echoing through the chamber.

“Do not make another move, Bat.”

I blink my eyes around the room. I know that voice. The epitome of authority. The very definition of cruelty. It haunts my nightmares. Fills my dreams. I’ve heard some version of it over the past few weeks, but this one is real. Authentic.Powerful.

This one ishim.

Sovereign Clavicle strides into the cavern. His body is still mortal, still very human, with a short, slender form, black rimmed glasses, pink hair with no antlers. But the purposeful way he walks and the determination in his eyes is every bit a pissed off fae Sovereign.

The bats part to let him pass. They’re nearly twice his fucking height, their fangs long enough to rip his throat out, yet they actuallyflinchwhen he speaks again. Not that I’m one to speak. My heart is palpitating in my chest at the sight of the man who single-handedly destroyed my life.

Clavicle’s footsteps seem to make the ground tremble as he marches through the parting bats until reaches the pit and faces Abaddon head on. “Back. The. Fuck. Off.”

Abaddon must recognize the real Clavicle, too, because he stumbles back, the fear in his black eyes visible even from my place at the edge of the cavern.

“Sovereign Clavicle,” Abaddon says in a low voice, bowing his head. “You’re back—the real you.” He gestures toward Aden. “I have our sacrifice prepared. If you would like the honors—”

Aden is staring at Clavicle with a wild look in his eyes. He senses the shift in energy too, that limitless power that radiates off Clavicle in waves, even though he never knew the true Clavicle. My heart jolts when the Spine Sovereign, known for hisdisregard of humans, reaches for Aden, and I wait. Wait for him to shove the love of my life in. But instead, he grabs Aden’s arm and tugs him away from the ledge before wrapping his arms fiercely around the other human.

I blink, my mouth dropping open. Is this a trick? Is he messing with my Aden before killing him? I don’t trust him. Not one bit. But Clavicle sets Aden aside, behind him, away from the pit, and looks Abaddon in the eye.

“When I am finished here, you will deliver Aden and Tarsus back to the Skull Palace and leave them both alone to live peacefully.” He scans the cavern as he speaks. “Is that understood?”

His order is followed by immediate agreement. He may be the Spine Sovereign in human flesh, but the bat colony is still sworn to him.

“Good.” He turns toward the pit now, and everyone watches silently as he stares into the fiery depths of the volcano.

“You said that humans must pay in blood if they want to live in this realm,” he shouts into the Heart of Faerie, addressing Mother Terra herself. He removes a knife from his belt and drags the blade across his wrist, not even flinching from the gesture. Crimson blood drips from his hand into the pit. “Every ounce of my blood is human blood. But I am also fae.” His voice grows steadily louder, echoing through thecavern. “The most powerful fae sovereign, you called me. I have a foot in both worlds. I am the bridge that combines them both, and as such, I have the authority to say that humans are welcome in this world, to live freely, without a blood price.” He bares his teeth and sneers into the cavern. “But you are hungry for blood, aren’t you, Hag? You want your sacrifice.”

The cavern walls hum in response, the ground trembling beneath us. I tug my hands in the shackles, desperate to grab Aden and get the fuck out of here before Clavicle pisses Mother Terra off for good and the mountain collapses on us, but my hands are bound too tightly.

“You want a human sacrifice?” he shouts into the cavern. “I’ll give you a human sacrifice. A sacrifice toendall sacrifices. An atonement for all the wrongs you believe humans have done against you. To make up for all the human sacrifices you missed, I offer myself.”

I blink, and he’s throwing himself into the fiery pits of the volcano, disappearing beyond the ledge.

Clavicle

I must have passed out in the fall. Because one moment I was free falling, the gravity of the Heart of Faerie pulling me down into her hungry stomach, and the next I’m cracking my eyes open. I’m in the belly of the planet, sitting before the same crackling fire I sat before as Clav when I confronted Mother Terra two weeks ago.

Clav didn’t know jack shit about how cunning you have to be when facing a fae goddess. He should have handed the reins over a lot sooner.

Now it’s my turn, the true Prince of Ruin. King of Destruction.

Mother Terra has got to be pissed. No one faces a goddess head on the way I did. Not without severe punishment. A quick death in lava would have been too-merciful a death for a defiant fae king like me.

Mother Terra sits across the fire from me, her usual black pits of eyes already glowing in fury, like burning coals.

“You’re back,” she seethes. “Therealyou.”

My lips peel back from my teeth. “It was the real me all along, Mother. Just a different version.” Deep within, I feel a hint of surprise from Clav, followed by relief, then gratitude. When he found out about me—his past self—he was terrified of what would happen if I took over. He didn’t realize that he’d changed me in ways no one else could. I learned the feeling of empathy, compassion, selfless love.

But I’m still the ruthless Prince of Ruin, and I have a bone to pick with the goddess who runs our planet.

“I haveyouto thank for giving me the most miserable two weeks of my life, Hag.”

“I always did like you more than the others.” She cackles, her lips curling in a feral smile. “And the two miserable weeks did you good, did it not? Otherwise you’d still be locked up in that poor boy’s head.”

“Thatpoor boyis me.”

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