Page 40 of Fae Champion

“Plans change.”

“Some plans shouldn’t.” West glanced at me before looking back at Rush, his tone turning imploring. “Bro, we’ve all sacrificed so much to get to this point. So, so fucking much. And now we’re so damn close we’re almost there. The Gladius Probatio will be over tomorrow. You’ll be announced the winner, go through the rest of the trials, end up with a wife, andbam, done. Then all we’ll have to do is keep our cool and wait. You can’t risk all that over some pretty snatch. Any of the drakesses lined up for you’ll do whatever you ask them to, in and out of bed.”

I inhaled sharply and prowled forward. But before I could give West a piece of my mind, Rush stepped between us.

“If you know what’s good for you, asshole, you won’t refer to her like that ever again.” The air surrounding Rush seemed to crackle as he stared down West. “The queen was going to let her die down there.Fucking die. You know that as well as I do. Too many people I’ve cared about have been murdered at that woman’s command. I won’t let El die too.”

West’s eyes flashed his anger. “It’s not a matter of what’s right and wrong, Rush, it hasn’t been for a long-ass time. You acting all high and mighty like we’ve got achoice is a dick move. If she escapes, the queen’ll kill you too. And if she doesn’t, you’ll wish she had.”

“The time for these kinds of concerns was before we broke her out.”

“You told me I’d have time to distort the trail so she wouldn’t know we were involved. I was gonna make it look like Elowyn managed it all on her own, and after her performance in the ring, even if the queen had no explanation for the how, she might’ve believed it. At least we had a chance at it.”

“Then there has to be another way.”

“There isn’t. We’ve been over it a dozen times already. It’s not like I want her to die, Rush. Fuck, you know me better than that.”

I sidestepped Rush and wedged myself between the two men, so close to West I was able to distinguish the flecks of amber in his otherwise chestnut-brown irises. I tipped my head back to better glower at him. “Rush might know you, but I don’t. And I don’t appreciate being referred to as ‘pretty snatch’ even if you’re right and my snatch is plenty pretty. That’s not for you to say.”

“Your snatch is the least of our worries right now,” West replied.

“Hey, man,” Rush growled from behind me, crowding forward. “You’d better watch yourself.”

“Yeah, West,” I said. “Watch yourself, or I’m gonna make you.”

Ryder walked up behind West and wrapped an arm around him, his large hand on the other fae’s chest. “Chill out, man. There’s no need for insults. We’re all trying to figure out the best next move, remember that. We’re all in this together.”

West turned, stepping out of Ryder’s calming grip. “But we’renotin this together. She’s new here. She doesn’t know how Ramana died in horrific agony because she was trying to forge a better world for all us fae. How many thousands and thousands have suffered and will continue to suffer if Rush doesn’t fucking win the damn trials.”

“Look,” I interjected, “before you get all riled up here, I assure you, I’ve seen enough of the bitch to have a pretty decent idea of what we’re dealing with. I’m sticking around. And Iwillkill her.”

West scoffed. “Do you know how many have tried before you and failed?”

“No, nor do I need to. I’ll succeed or I’ll be dead, so it’s no skin off your back either way, now is it?”

Hiroshi stepped up next to West, drawing my attention. “Where it concerns the queen, there are far worse ends than death. Given how much she seems to despise you, she’ll make you regret staying.”

Despite my determination to avenge Xeno and Saffron, I swallowed thickly, shoulders unclenching before clenching again. “Either way, I have to stay. I won’t endanger Rush.”

Rush squeezed my shoulder. “El, you’ve gotta go—and now.” He looked over at Ryder. “How long till Roan’s ready to lead her out the other way?”

Before Ryder could answer, I spun, findingmyself chest to chest with Rush, the tension between us so different from what it had been just half an hour before in the bathtub. “You saved me from certain death in my match with Selwin. I already owe you one.”

“He’s stuck his neck out for you more than once,” West chimed in from behind me. “Too many times. Rush, you’re the queen’s favorite, but you know that won’t last if you push her too hard.”

“She still controls me and she knows it,” Rush said, his beautiful lips drooping with resignation—another reason to kill the woman.

“And if she starts denying Larissa her treatments to punish you?”

Rush’s eyes hardened into granite, and he seemed no longer able to see me standing right before him. “You get all pissy and you forget all about your promises now?” Rush huffed as loudly as an angry dragon. “She won’t deny her treatments or she loses her control over me.”

“Okay, yeah. But Larissa would still survive if she denied her one or two. Larissa would just suffer more. Are you ready for that? ’Cause you damn well know the queen’s gonna punish you where it hurts most if she doesn’t just outright kill you.”

I spun back around to face West, Ryder, and Hiroshi. “But the queen needs Rush.”

Ryder’s normally light eyes darkened. “She knows one of the three of us would step in if we had to.”

“I don’t understand. If she knows you guys are trying to change things, why would she let you?”

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