Page 4 of Consort

“They’re just sprites,” Vernan says calmly. “Illusioned, but nosey as usual.”

I’m filled with so much relief, some of it spills from my eyes. Vernan has either covered for us, or Farris’s illusion worked against him. It doesn’t matter to me which it is. We’re safe.

“Who the fuck illusioned a couple of sprites?” Mitah asks, still holding his arm up toward the treetops.

“Someone bored,” Vernan drawls, clearly uninterested. He turns to us and makes a shooing motion with his hand. “Run along, sprites.”

If Vernan had caught us spying on them, Mitah might have taken Farris away and caused me trouble in the future. But the layered illusion worked.

The relief is dizzying. Or perhaps I’m dizzy from the breath I’ve been holding. I slowly let it out as I try to avoid looking at the shifter.

But his anguished cries still echo through the trees, each one making bile rise higher in my throat. I’ve grown up watching my mother bring life into things and nurture them. To save and strengthen. Watching Mitah do the opposite with an innocent life goes against everything she’s taught me.

I wish we could use this distraction to save the shifter. But Farris grabs my arm and drags me away. He’s right. I know he is.We’re helpless to save him. But that doesn’t make it feel any less wrong to leave.

As we run, I cover my ears to block out the cries that will haunt me forever. Tears fall down my dirty gremlin cheeks as we flee, but they burn the same as they would on my true fae skin.

Tales of the nobles and their cruelty are common. It’s normal to hear about the wicked things they do. But having the gruesome details unfold firsthand has been unbearable. Knowing each encounter I’ve heard about has been this real and this horrific floods my heart with hatred.

Hatred for Mitah, for the other nobles, and for the queen herself, who’s at the heart of it all.

The guilt of my weakness will gnaw at me forever. But a rage flickers to life inside me, burning away my self-pity. Mitah cannot be allowed to live.Iwon’t allow him to. I don’t accept that it’s impossible. I’ll find a way to grow my magic. To surpass him in power and strength and take his life in retribution for the shifter’s. After that, I’ll hunt down every fae like him.

My magic may be weak now, but it will soon become lethal. Then, I’ll unleash it on those in power. No matter the cost to myself.

Chapter 1

Rue

Present

Nope. Absolutely fucking not.

After a hurried bath in the stream, I douse my sleeping clothes in the cold water. A few shifters are bathing upstream from me, but luckily, they don’t pay me any attention. I scrub my undergarment with a chunk of my mother’s strongest soap until my fingers blister. But it does nothing to mask the sweetness that seeped into the fabric while I slept.

It won’t be enough. Nothing can hide the scent of a newly presented Omega.

I wascertainI was a Beta. There’s no way this is right. Omegas usually have an Omega parent. I don’t. I’m also not tiny. The ones I’ve seen barely reach my chin. They look like younglings beside the Alphas.

I’m no youngling. I’m definitely not as whiny or submissive, either. I used to stare down the Omegas in our pack and count how many seconds it took for them to whimper.

Not me. Whimpering isn’t in my vocabulary.

This cannotbe my life. Omegas are weak and pathetic. I’m neither of those things. And losing my mind when an Alpha walks by is something I willneverdo.

Fuck that, and fuck Alphas, too.

I’m nineteen, the age when shifters come into their designations. But I’m mere weeks from turning twenty, and nothing had changed. I just knew I’d already presented as a Beta. What kind of sick twist of fate is this? To dump this trash on me when I had already accepted my future?

If fate wanted to be unreasonable, why couldn’t it have just made me an Alpha instead? I’ve never met a female Alpha, but if fate has gone mad, why not? I’d gladly take Alpha designation overthis.They’re bigger and stronger than the rest of us, with extremely heightened senses. They can even shift into wolves. Betas can’t do shit, but I was totally fine with that.

A fuckingOmega. At least I’m still not tiny and weak. But the sickeningly sweet slick coming out of me now is bad enough to make up for that. It’s meant to enhance mating by helping the small Omega take on the giant Alpha cocks. They definitely need it. I’ve seen what the Alphas sling around after shifting.

ButIwon’t be needing it.

And I’ve got to get rid of it. The scent drives Alphas mad… and it’s all over my clothing.

Omegas are assigned to Alphas once they present without any say in the matter. I refuse to be an Alpha’s mate. I’ll never be under his control, forced to submit to his will like some meek little puppet.

---