Page 52 of Last Ride of the Umbra Fae

“Which is why we need that Umbrabitch. Sergil cannot wait to get his hands on her.”

My grip tightened around the bottle as my jaw tensed. I saw how Fang looked at me as I thought about the way Sergil had eyed Vessa. No doubt she would be an experiment to him.

“When your cock was buried inside her, did you find out how she’s connected?”

I laughed, imagining punching through his face as I focused on the way it intensified his stare. Deploying facetiousness, a wicked grin curved my mouth as I said, “Why? Who wants to know?”

On my next breath, he lunged for me, but I would always be too quick for him. I parried his attack, moving out of reach. The clumsy fuck landed with his face buried right where my ass hadsat. I grabbed him by the back of his robe and tossed him to the side, sending the table and other settee off the dais.

“I won’t mince my words, Fang.” I gritted my teeth. “The deal is off, and I just came to say farewell.”

The animosity finally hit the air. I saw the betrayal flare in his eyes, and in a blazing heap, he gripped me by the coat as we engaged in a tussle that flung us down the steps.

His strikes were hard as they’d always been, packing a punch just to show his role, but today, I was here to prove a fucking point.

“You fucking traitor. After all I’ve done for you.” He growled before I introduced my fist to his jaw and his head whipped to the side, sending blood splattering across the floor.

I growled, pulling him off his feet, and slammed his body against a pillar. The stone cracked on impact, deepening the fissure as it vined up to the ceiling. I swung too wide, and he caught my fist in his hand and punched me in the gut with the other. I lurched forward as he swerved a heavy uppercut into my jaw. He grabbed me by the coat and threw me against the same pillar.

I spit to the side, welcoming the bit of pain with a blood-coated grin, knowing I’d keep fighting for her until he took his last breath.

“Come on, Fang.” I seethed. “Show me who you really are.” A darkness hung around us as I pulled on the tail of an angry bull. I wanted to see him become the very thing he despised. “You can use glamor all you want, but I know who you have always been.”

I was looking into a mirror, an eye for an eye, soul for a soul. He had taken mine long ago, so it was only fair I took what remained of his. He was a Water Fae. I knew the power ofArimocked him every day while he hid in his city surrounded by twin rivers with an ocean for a backside. It was a reminder of everyone he’d killed. I’d heard them on the nights I’d stood inthe palace. Ripples in the water had floated on a gust of wind and into my room. Maybe subconsciously, the fountain reminded him of a power he refused to touch.

“The power ofAricalls you like a siren,” I said—words of a distant language unbeknownst to me; maybe the cries of the fallen.

“You might have a way with words around women, but they will not work with me. Your desultory plans have always been your demise, Ryder. Unlike you, I’m always a step ahead.”

My brow arched.

“I received a little tip from someone about where you were, and I decided to do a wellness check. You know, in case you had a change of heart,” Fang said.

Silence hung in the air. My jaw clenched as panic threatened to spill over, but I quickly reined it in, eyes darkening.

“Judging by the look on your face, I see I was correct. By the way, where is your little Umbra half-light now?”

A growl tore through me as I sent his body flying, the force so strong, his body broke the next pillar.

He was unearthing a demon I hadn’t felt in quite some time—a darkness that would ravage this city until she was safe in my arms. Just then, a calamity of gunshots and cries wrung out outside the palace. As I diverted my stare toward the entryway of the grand room, Fang was at my back.

There was no time to form my next thoughts; they exploded in a white haze as he used his power ofAri, summoning a blow against my temple and knocking me to the ground. I landed on my side. Without a doubt, I knew the clamor of destruction outside was Vessa, but when I reached through the bond, I felt the sharp, jagged edges of the dark; one that might as well have saidfuck you. I cursed under my breath and slowly rose to my feet, licking the blood off my bottom lip before I spat.

I grinned, seeing Fang in his true form. His fae ears took shape in a shade of blue that mirrored the azure sea surrounding the city. His hands, ones I had spent far too many years sparring with, reminded me of their crashing waves.

“There you are,” I whispered. Water swirled in crystal orbs around his fists. “I admit, blue doesn’t suit you.” I pulled a dagger from its sheath and stalked his way. “But maybe red will.”

The electricity that coiled down my spine faltered my next step.

I knew the moment she entered the room and felt the darkness she brought with her. Before I could turn my head, she unfurled her power, then clamped it around my neck. I felt the fevered chill of betrayal against my skin; I feltherin my next breath.

Fang’s laughter bellowed at the threat of a woman who had every right to end me. My dagger clamored against the ground as I tried breaking from her grip.

She spun me on my knees until I was face-to-face with her. I remembered when she’d said she was the devil, and for the first time, I felt it.

Moonlight-silver eyes stared back, an emptiness in them as the ground shook beneath my legs. The wall behind her cracked, splitting in a thousand fissures up the wall. Pieces of rubble fell from the ceiling and crumbled to the ground.

She did not move.

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