Page 108 of Royal Lies

Snapping my fingers, I caused lightning to appear before a small hill of dead soldiers. Then I reappeared on the field away from Fletcher and above the bump of bodies on the ground.

At that moment I was glad Fletcher couldn’t sense my emotions. If he did he would have discovered the small relaxations in my shoulders as our hands detached from one another. Ya, I’ll have to deal with that trauma from the memories some other time. I couldn’t let Fletch find that out, it would damage his pride. As a good girlfriend, I should do my best not to hurt his ego.

Looking down at my feet I frowned at the small barely hill-sized stack of bodies. Man, I wish it was bigger. Then again, they seem like palace guards with their silver and blue armor. It would probably be a bad idea if there was a mountain of bodies since shadows don't really have bodies. So the only bodies I would be standing on would be from our side.

Hmm, maybe I didn't think things through.

Oh, well! It's too late now.

"Villains, bow before me now! For I am the great hero who will be your ruin!" I bellowed. I decided to change the last couple of words because ‘ruining someone's life’ sounds much better than ‘saving the day’.

I watched as the fight continued. No one was turning to me, I felt a little down. So all that drama for nothing—how sad. It sort of ticks me off.

You know, you put so much effort into something only to have people ignore you. Maybe I should have made the sound of thunder louder. Then again, there was already so much noise. Maybe that was why they didn't hear my roar. I’ll make the ground shake too next time.

I pouted, feeling a small pat on the top of my head. Looking up, I spotted a weary smile etched across Fletcher's lips. I turned away, unable to meet his eye. "Maybe next time. For now, why don't we try and save my brother's castle from being taken over, shall we?" he asked, assuming I would be trying this again and again until I got the results I wanted. Most of the time I would, but I wasn’t so dense as to not read the room. The giant monsters rampaging near the castle certainly placed a damper on my fun.

I sighed.

I was hoping to have a little fun. How rude of them to spoil my mood.

"Fine. I don't understand why everything has to be so serious," I plunged a dagger into the gut of a charging shadow a little disappointed at my failed big entrance. It was cloaked in darkness, so it wouldn't just pass through the thing. Looking behind Fletcher, I spotted a pool of black tar behind him. Hmm, he must have been watching out for me while I was making my big entrance, which turned out not to be as big of an entrance as I’d liked. No one was even paying attention but Fletch. I couldalways count on him to be on my side, even if my ideas are a little out there.

Swirling around, I roundhouse kicked a shadow in the gut before casting a layer of shadow over Eli, Lucarious, Fletcher, Akasuki, and whoever else I sensed.

Not the soldiers, though—they'll just have to be slaughtered.

Why? Because it's shadow magic I’d just cast. Since my magic is far stronger than the soldiers on the field, the layer of shadows I cast over their bodies would soon fuse through their skin, causing them to be corrupted and turn into shadows themselves. Everyone I knew had their own protective shield around them and enough magic to ensure that the shadow magic I cast wouldn't bleed through their barrier and corrupt them. As for Lucarious, well, he might not have any protection spell around him, but the man is half-dark fae, so he should be fine. If the soldiers carried even the slightest hint of dark magic in them, I would have had no trouble casting the spell over them so they could fight back, but none of them did. The Wolf Court was as pure as they came.

Lifting my leg high in the air, I ax-kicked the shadow I’d just punched in the face. Flashing a dagger in my hand, I lifted the shadow’s crumpled body by the neck. "You know, I was really fucking hoping to have some fun. Yet, no one even clapped for myamazingentrance. Don't you think that'ssounfair?" I rattled on, but before the shadow could even tilt its head in confusion, I was already slicing off its head. Crouching down, I kicked back, knocking the shadow coming for me from behind. Turning, I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"Well, aren’t you just a coward, coming at me from behind? Don’t you think I could sense you?" I tilted my head slightly grinning like a mad woman before smashing through its ribcage and tearing a hole with my foot through its stomach. Ripping my leg out, I peered through the gap in the thing's body. I smirkedat the shadow trying to stitch itself together with lines of sticky black blood stretching from one end of the gap to the other. Grinning, I looked up to where the outline of a head with no face was before reaching down and planting a foot on its neck. "Bye-bye~" I wiggled my fingers to bid the thing farewell with my free hand before yanking the head from its body, effectively turning the form into nothing but black liquid. The gaping hole in the thing's body stopped its regeneration before fizzling away into ash.

As always, the only way to kill a shadow was by detaching their head or ripping their heart out. Just as I was thinking this, I reached out a hand in front of me, tearing out the only red-colored item in the thing before it crumpled to the ground and turned to slush but not before it uttered those same words, “Help me.”

I closed my eyes for a brief second trying to ignore that new information. I couldn’t let that distract me, not right now. Before I was just killing to get some steam off, I could let my guard down a little then. Right now, I need to protect the castle. Needless to say, now was not the time to get caught up in my thoughts.

"Everetta! A little help here?!" I heard someone shout from nearby as I turned toward a scene I didn't think I would ever get to see.

Finally some fucking entertainment.

I beamed taking my time to stroll over

There with his back against the ground lay Lucarious. His body was being pinned down with one paw as another tried to shred him like cheddar cheese. I watched as he threw fireball after fireball at the creature. The thing was like huge with its black-furred body and razor-sharp claws on all four of its paws. Two in the front and two in the back. It was more like a cross between a werehound and hellbear. The body was round andpuffy like a hellbear, but the head was like a werehound, its snout sticking out longer than typical for a hellbear. And, oh!! It had a fluffy black tail just like a werehound too. Oh, it would have been so cute if only it wagged its big giant tail. Its body was fifteen feet tall.

I stared and looked on as each fireball was thrown and absorbed into the creature's body. Hmm, what should we call it now werebear, houndbear, or maybe werehell, hellwere? Naw, the first one was good enough. I observed the scene before me, noting how the monster grew bigger and bigger with each fireball thrown into its body.

It appears the man hadn’t caught on to what the beast was doing. Maybe it was the life-crushing grip Lucarious was caught in or perhaps it was because he was currently trying to avoid more of his tanned skin from becoming even more of a shish kebab than it already was. Seriously, the man had cuts everywhere: his left cheek, his upper right eye, his lower arms and legs, his middle, his sides, everywhere. I think I could even see the bones of his ribs with how deep his cuts were. The cuts were coming so quickly his body didn’t have enough time to heal itself. This wasn’t good.

“What in the shadows Ev, aren’t you supposed to be helping me?!” Lucarious was bellowing, barely dodging the next swipe of claws the beast threw at him. I cast a small bubble around me to shield me from the creatures coming at me. I made sure to use dark magic as it seemed to be the only thing that worked against these things. “What?! No please?” I asked to mask my true intentions. I couldn’t very well just jump into a battle without information now could I? Besides, it was fun watching him struggle

Lucarious gawked back at me, his fury evident in the deep frowns of his lips and the trench that was his eyebrows. Igestured for Lucarious to continue knowing fully well that he would never say please. It went against his pride.

While I was playing my little charade I was hitting the beast from the other side, where there was nothing but a wall to distract the thing. A wind blade here, a water slash there, little dirt boulders against the thing’s side.

Nothing.

Ok, fine. It wasn’t nothing. The thing was absorbing all my attacks.

---