Page 50 of The Fate of Eternity

The ridiculously sweet scent is the first thing I notice, followed swiftly by the click of shoes. The space between each step, mixed with the sugary notes of whatever perfume she drowns herself in, confirms the person prowling toward our table without lifting my gaze.

“Give me strength,” Kryll breathes, his irritation mirroring my own when I catch a glimpse of her out of the corner of my eye.

“What was that, Kryll?” she asks, tapping her fingers impatiently on her sleeve.

“I’m asking someone for the strength to deal with your presence. Don’t worry yourself. You could help by walking away, but we both know you’re not going to,” he grunts, making my eyes widen in surprise.

I’m used to Raiden giving her shit, but a snarky tongue from Kryll is something else entirely.

Her nostrils flare as her lip curls in a sneer.

“Why are you here again?” I ask, cutting in before she can say something to offend my dragon. That’s only going to piss meandmy wolf off. Nobody wants that, not when I’m already out for her blood to begin with.

“Get to it, Vallie. I’m hungry,” Raiden grumbles, laying his fork on his plate as he looks up at her with a heavy sigh.

“I’m not here for you, Raiden. I’m here for her,” she grinds out, aiming a perfectly manicured nail in my direction.

Excellent. At least she’s getting straight to the point this time.

“What do you want, Vallie?” My eyes fixate on hers, waiting for whatever bullshit is about to follow.

She scoffs, pursing her lips as she rakes her eyes over me. “Don’t sit there all high and mighty when you’re a lowly fae.”

I roll my eyes at her constant crap. If she thinks calling me a lowly fae is going to hurt my feelings, she’s in for a shock. “A half-breed. That’s what you called me earlier, right? Maybe stick with that slur instead; it might cut a little deeper.” I reach for the water bottle at the side of my plate, taking a sip as I keep my eyes trained on her.

Apparently, that’s not the response she was looking for.

She leans closer, waving her finger more firmly in my direction. “You are nothing but trash. Everyone knows it. It’s embarrassing that you’re here. You need to run back to wherever your cowardly father is hiding and never come back.”

My spine stiffens, my wolf ready to take control as my eyes narrow. “What did you say about my father?” The words are dark, the tone even darker as my hands ball into fists on my lap.

I hate the grin that splits across her face. She knows she has wormed her way under my skin with the mention of my father. Fuck.

“I’m not repeating myself. You heard me,” she goads, planting her hands on her hips as she rakes her deathly gaze over me.

“Don’t. Ever. Speak. Of. Him. Again.”

Calm and collected. Calm and collected. Calm and fucking collected, Addi.

“Or what, whore?”

My teeth grind together as Kryll leans into my side. “She just wants to cause a scene, Princess.”

He’s not wrong. That’s all she has ever done, and I’m over it.

Taking a deep breath, I turn away from Vallie and focus on my food. Her eyes burn into the side of my face, and I’m acutely aware of the audience she’s conjuring for the second time today.

“That’s right, simmer down, bitch. Learn your place while the important people speak.”

I drop my fork, turning back to her with narrowed eyes. Is she dumb as fuck, or is she dumb as fuck?

Exhaling, I force the muscles in my face to relax as I try to breathe through the growing rage. “I’m going to kill you one day. Do you want today to be that day?”

I mean it. I fucking mean it. Screw calm and collected. It gets me nowhere with assholes like her.

She cackles at my warning, inching closer to the table as she snarls at me. “Fuck your threats. They won’t amount to anything, just like you. Your mother didn’t want you. The state of the entire kingdom has been because of you. You were never going to be a true heir to your father, not as a half-breed bitch. Your sister would have been no possible replacement either. I wonder if she’s as much of a whore as you or if?—”

Her words are lost as I launch through the air. My bones crack and pain ripples through me from head to toe, but the ache is nothing in comparison to the damage her words cause.

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