Page 48 of Prey It Ain't So

Wrinkling my nose, I marvel at their jolliness. If they were normal parents who hadn’t exiled their only son for the infraction of teen love, I might join them in their frivolity. But the icy letter from their scribe, the distance they purposefully created, and their happiness at tricking Rennie is downright cruel. I’m uncertain if it’s deliberate cruelty or they're just fucking crazy, but no way am I letting this go.

“Perhaps you don’t get many visitors because your reputation for unnecessarily sadistic behavior has spread beyond these mountains.”

Maël stops laughing, tilting his head as he stares at me. “Excuse me? What sadistic behavior?”

“We arenotlike the rulers of your Council, young leader. I confess to being clueless about your accusation.” Doireann’s face falls and I hear a few soft snarls around me.

The guys know they’ve hurt Rennie, as well, and this will not end well if the damn rock heads don’t quit playing games.

“You exiled Renard for something ridiculous and have not spoken to him in a bazillion years!” They look at me, then the king nods once, and I throw up my hands. “Instead of writing back, you delegated it and then set up an elaborate ruse of formality and lies when he came home. You haven’t even spoken to him directly to further service that stupid joke. Do you notseehow that could appear to be abusive and cold-hearted?”

Doireann blinks, looking around the room for a moment before she yells, “Everyone but our guests, out!”

In a blink, the other gargoyles, staff included, book it out of the room as if they’re on fire. The royals look at me and my men for a moment, then the king reaches up to pull an amulet out of his collar. It’s bright red, but it glows as his fingers press it lightly. A flash of light precludes a weird ‘pop’ in the air and then breathes a sigh of relief. “It’s done, my love.”

“What’s done?” I ask suspiciously. Maël and Doireann lean forward, their faces reflecting concern rather than anger. I feel Rennie’s confusion as he stares back at them and it makes me impatient. “Go on, tell us. I’m tiring of the fucking bullshit.”

Doireann smiles again, but this time, it’s not imperious, but genuine. “Delores, there are so many things I wish we could have told Renard, and now you. We have precious little time a day todo so without fear of being heard, though. Maël can protect us for short bursts, but not at length like we could many years ago. I think you all knowwhythat is, or you would not have come to us.”

Renard’s voice is raspy as he asks, “Is it because of the Treaty?”

“Yes, son,” Maël says. He looks sad and regretful rather than the happy prankster he was a moment ago. “Everyone in the mythical and magical communities knew what was coming several years before the wars that ended in the Treaty. We started adapting our cultures to fit in better with the shifters, so we could survive them—something our powerful friends understood. They knew not all of us could survive if they lost and did their best to help cover up the truth.”

“Which is what, exactly?” Felix demands. His eyes are golden with frustration as he looks at our hosts.

“Mythicals are and have always been the product of shifters and magical beings inter-breeding.” Doireann shrugs, as if that’s not the biggest bomb in the room. “Everyone knew that at one point, and they didn’t care. It wasn’t a problem until a small group of wealthy shifters started loudly blaming every issue or problem on magic. They claimed it was going to get us discovered by humans and we’d all be exterminated. The movement picked up speed much more quickly than anyone expected.”

“And we were at the peak of the hysteria when you came to us,” Maël whispers. “All four of us debated what we were going to do when we noticed you two were so obsessed with one another. We knew it could lead to our people being targeted.”

“How in thefuckwas pretending to kill and bury her, then exiling me the best solution?” Renard spits his question angrily,sitting up straight for the first time since we were seated. “Mon dieu, maman, papa. J’étais à peine un homme!?2”

Fitz snorts, his lips curling up. “Barely a man now, too, broody boy. You did better than they expected, I suspect.”

The queen nods, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “It’s true, you were so young. And we did not want to lose you at all, but Fionola’s parents were convinced that you were both too stubborn to listen. We didn’t want a real life Romeo & Juliet situation, so we… faked one.”

Aubrey slams his fist on the table, then stands with a snarl. “I must move or I will do something we will all regret.”

I nod at the dragon, putting my hand on Rennie’s leg to comfort him. Looking at his parents, I shake my head. “I wasn’t there and I have no idea what kind of threat the shifters were. But I can’t imagine putting your child through the unimaginable grief of seeing his first love be killed for the sin of loving him, then casting him out on his own. It’s as farcical as a soap opera, and what’s more…”

“What’s more?” the queen says, her head tilted in confusion.

“What’s more is that youfailedso completely to fix anything.” I stand now, too, feeling the energy inside of me rising with my anger. “Renard was crushed and mourned in a pit for centuries. You’re all trapped in a mountain fortress to stay safe from mythical hunters that I thought were funded by humans, but very likely are being paid by the Society to kill off all your species surreptitiously. And most of all, whatever the Fae royals did to fake the damn funeral, they lost control of their girl. She’s currently implementing a fucking long game to implodethe entire world, starting with the heirs of the shifter elite. Obviously, her goal is a war to free her people.”

The king and queen stare at me in horror, and Felix buries his face in his hand. Chess and Fitz are trying to hide their smirks, and Aubrey is muttering to himself as he stomps around behind us. Only Rennie has the guts to look at me, and he chuckles softly. “I guess we’re not holding our trump cards anymore,ma petite?”

We were due to spill the fucking beans at some point, and I could have done a much worse place than the gargoyles’ goddamn banquet hall, I suppose.

We Are The Champions

Fitz

My Baby Girl hasballs,and I am here for it.

No, really, she’s brave as fuck and every time she busts our carefully laid plans to lay the smack down in some way, I fall for her all over again. I know it makes my reined in bro and the careful dragon want to rip their hair, but I don’t give a single, solitary fuck. Delores Drew is a perfect combo of both brains and fearlessness in dealing with all the asshats in our sphere. She’s not quite so reckless in private sometimes, but when it counts? Oh, yeah, she’s a motherfuckingqueenin the making.

The grumpy gargoyle’s parents are just staring at her now. I love that, but I can feel how satisfied she is with the bomb she dropped. It’s emanating from my mate like arousal does when we’re touching her—victory. When they say nothing for a few more moments, she scoffs and tosses her hair again. “Look, I know that came off too blunt, but if we don’t have time, then politeness will not cut it. You made a bad decision, everyone suffered for it, and now we’re fucked. That’s reality now, and you have to make peace with it. Otherwise, we can’t move forward with a cohesive strategy.Capice?”

“Fucking mob movies,” Aubrey mutters and I bark a laugh.

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