Page 102 of Fae Champion

“And yet it must be you who does it,” the queen said. “You need to prove your allegiance to me or I can’t choose you as the next heir to the throne. The rule ofthis kingdom must be more important to you than anything else.”

Rush felt her before she walked into the room. His head tilted in anticipation of her arrival even as his shoulders bowed heavily, as if he’d already known who would appear next and dreaded it.

She was about my age and entirely stunning. She glided through the slim corridor between bodies, felled and standing, who seemed to part to make way for her as if she were floating instead of walking, as if she were too pure to be part of the queen’s putrid court.

The attention of every single man in that hall, including that of the ogres, followed the graceful movements of her lithe body, every one of them elegant, utterly feminine, and fully beautiful.

Had she escaped from the Etherlands? Or, more probable, had the queen stolen her from there and returned her to a world too crass to contain her?

“Larissa,” Rush breathed, and I instantly understood why he’d never wanted to speak of her with me.

With unblemished skin as pale as moonlight, and hair the color of a dusty rose, she didn’t belong here.

This was the first time I’d ever seen her and already I knew I’d fight so she wouldn’t be tainted by the queen, by what she’d done to Embermere, by what she wanted to do to all of us.

Even West whispered, “No” as Larissa drifted past him, her gaze, soft yet powerful, only on Rush.

When the queen spoke again, her every word feltlike that much more of a violation just because of Larissa’s presence.

“Kill Elowyn and Larissa lives.”

At that, Larissa’s eyes jumped to me then back to Rush, alarm at last marring the gentle gray of her irises.

“And just because I’m feeling merciful today, I’ll still let everyone else live too. Even the filthy beasts.” Saffron and Xeno, I presumed. “For now, anyway.”

“Rush, no.” Larissa’s objection was a gentle spring breeze.

Rush’s silver eyes shone with his inner torment as he looked from her to me and then to the queen, who told him, “Your parents will never forgive you if you let another sister die.”

His sister, of course she was.

“Will you stand by and do nothing as you watch Larissa die by your actions? As you did Ramana?”

I swallowed roughly, my throat tight with an emotion I didn’t want to name.

“No,” West whispered again, his face drawn, his stare haunted.

The queen shrugged. “All you have to do is kill a single girl. Just one, and this will all be over. You’ll have proven your loyalty to my satisfaction. Larissa will keep getting her treatments, isn’t that right, Braque?”

“Of course, my queen. Whatever you say, you know it shall be done.”

The queen smiled beatifically. Had I not known better, the act would have been convincing.

“See?” she told Rush. “Your sisterwill be fine, better every day. Braque will even put more effort into healing her.”

“Of course I will, Your Highness,” he inserted, an obsequious slither.

“Your generals will be safe. You’ll even honor the girl’s memory by saving her pets, however poorly chosen they are.”

Rush merely stared back at her, none of his handsome features revealing the nature of his thoughts. Was she making him too great a deal to refuse? Was I about to begin the battle that would determine whether I lived or died—yet again?

“You’ll go through the rest of the Fae Heir Trials. It’ll be easy, you know it will be. And you’ll have your pick of wife. Perhaps that Natania who’s had her eye on you for so many years? So ambitious, that one. Her mother Dayana would prove a valuable ally. You could sic the dowager countess on whomever you needed and she’d gossip them into an early social grave.”

She laughed airily, the sudden lightness entirely at odds with the scene. All the queen’s inner parts, I feared, didn’t come together properly.

“Or maybe you’d prefer someone like Coretta.” She tipped her head as if considering. “Her voluptuous curves might be more to your liking. Do you like to suckle, Rush?”

She wagged her tongue lasciviously, causing the chains and gems hanging from her crown to swing, and Braque to titter and then do the same. I recoiled at the sight.

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