Page 88 of Enticing Monsters

Cadmus’s eyebrows dip together. “I’ll tell you what I know, but I do think Her Royal Highness should be here for this conversation.”

I wince. “Yeah…maybe don’t call her that.”

“Serafina works,” Tristan adds.

“What about Serafina?” The girl in question steps out of the bedroom wearing nothing but a large tunic that is four sizes too large for her.

I find myself fixated by her long, bare legs…and realize quickly I’m not the only one.

Both Tristan and I whirl around to glare at Cadmus, who immediately diverts his attention, the muscles in his jaw rigid with tension.

Kian follows after Sera, shirtless and in a pair of old-fashioned pants that are probably terribly uncomfortable.

“Your Highness.” Cadmus bows his head respectfully, and Lost’s face twists in a grimace.

She holds both of her hands in the air as if to fend him off. “Call me Serafina. Please.”

Cadmus rises and nods once. “Of course.”

Serafina moves towards me with the gracefulness of a ballerina, practically floating across the wooden floorboards. I can’t say I thought too much about what Serafina would be like post-sex—all of my thoughts centered on the act itself—but she’s marvelous like this. A tiny smile curls up her lips, and her eyes glimmer as if she’s about to share a secret.

Next time, I want to be the one to elicit such a reaction from her.

“Did you discover anything?” she asks me.

“He wanted to wait until you were…up from your nap,” I lie, heat building in my cheeks.

Sera giggles before turning her attention towards Cadmus, who watches her intently. The smile fades from her face, replaced by a ruthless determination she usually saves for strangers and enemies alike.

“You told us a little bit before, but I want to know everything.”

Cadmus nods, though a frown tugs at his lips. “I will answer your questions the best I can. Where should I start?”

“At the beginning,” Sera says firmly.

“There isn’t much to say. Faerie is a lot like your Earth, but in a lot of ways, it’s different. The goddess who created us made the ultimate sacrifice when she implanted her soul and magic into the very ground we walk on. It’s because of that the fae are able to do the things they can do.”

“A goddess?” Sera moves on shaky legs to sit on one of the wooden chairs in the kitchen.

Kian immediately stands behind her, draping his arms over her shoulders in a protective embrace.

“Arisha created this world and everything in it,” Cadmus says. “Or at least, that’s what our sacred texts tell us. I imagine it’s similar to your… What do you call it? Your Bible?”

“And the fae were separated into two courts—Seelie and Unseelie,” Sera says, her voice almost mechanical, as if she’s reciting something she read in a book.

“For the longest time, the courts were ruled by independent rulers, but there was constant strife and war between the kingdoms.” Cadmus pauses and scratches at one of the scales adorning the inside of his wrist. “Remember when I said that Faerie was different from your world? Well, when Arisha gave the earth her magic and soul, a piece of her remained trapped there. A lot of fae believe that the world is sentient, that Arisha lives on and is able to alter the fabric of reality when she desires to.

“The first skinwalker was born thousands and thousands of years ago. When she had her Revelation, she didn’t register as a Seelie or an Unseelie fae. Everybody was aghast, because how could someone not identify with a single court? Some fae thought she was some type of abomination.

“But the skinwalker was kind and frighteningly intelligent. It wasn’t long before she captured the attention of two princes—one from the Seelie court and one from the Unseelie court. They both fell desperately in love with her and sought to make her their queen. At first, the kingdoms were appalled, but no one can argue with fate. And fate made her the mate of both men.”

I take a step forward, fascinated by this little snippet of history that has been lost with time. I wonder if my dad ever heard this story before. “She became queen of both kingdoms, didn’t she?”

“The Peony Queen.” Cadmus nods once. “Named after her flowing pink hair.”

“What happened after she passed?” Kian asks, placing his hands on Sera’s shoulders and giving them a squeeze.

“Her eldest took over, as was common back then. But it became apparent that he wasn’t the ruler his mother was. But then rumors began to spread of a young man with pink hair and the power to shift into any person, living or dead. A lot of this story is lost in history, but we believe the skinwalker staged a rebellion against the tyrannical king and won. He was crowned and saw the world prosper like it never did before.

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