Page 161 of The Crown of Nyx

The other Fae with him were females; I didn’t recognise the older one, with the dark hair and eyes, but the younger one…yeah, she was all too familiar.

She’d been one of Black’s little followers at the academy. I’d heard the snide remarks she’d made towards Ivy more than once when she thought no one was listening.

It shouldn’t surprise me that she’d chosen Dante’s side.

“My disappointment,” Hyperion snarled. “You have only one chance to join the right side of this conflict. Otherwise, your death is mine.”

Beside me, Orion stiffened, but my anger boiled to the surface. “Disappointment,” I spat, earning a sharp look from the male beside me. “That’s fucking hilarious coming from the likes of you.”

Hyperion gritted his teeth. “I do not converse with bastards.”

“Me?” I laughed this time, the sound harsh in my own ears. “Oh, yeah, okay. Funny. I also don’t like talking to wankers who betray their Queen all because he couldn’t get his dick wet. But yeah, sure,youshould have standards. At leastI’mmated to the Queen. And you’re just…you.”

Finding out on the car ride out of Avalon that Hyperion Black was jealous because he hadn’t been Queen Greer’s mate was wild enough. But overhearing what Orion admitted to Ivy in the ruins of the city? Worse.

Hyperion’s face flushed with anger. “You little half-bred bastard,” he seethed.

Once, that might have actually hurt my feelings. There used to be assholes in the palace who liked to spit those insults at me when I’d been particularlynaughtyback in the day, but I’d grown a thick skin. It didn’t bother me nearly as much, especially knowing now that Sable really had set me up for success when it came to protecting Ivy. It didn’t matter much now, not knowing who my biological father was. All that mattered was that Sable had done something great for my future.

I shrugged without lowering the gun, aiming it at his head. “Yeah, but isn’t that what you are?”

It was a shot in the dark. Someone like Hyperion Black wasn’t as obsessed with power like he was without reason. And I had a feeling that if he was calling out daddy issues, then he had to have some of his own hidden in his past.

I had to admit, I didn’t know much about him. I was sure Maeve or even Nash knew more than I did. Hyperion was one of those Fae wankers who didn’t really like spending that much time out of Faery. Though, knowing more about Orion and his life with his asshole of a father, I had a feeling that really wasn’t the case.

How much treachery was going on in his manor in the city, I wondered? How much was actually happening right under our noses?

Rather than responding with more words, the Fae high lord attacked. Shadows whipped out from his outstretched hand, aimed right at my chest. I didn’thave a chance to consider any type of shield, other than hoping the charm Ivy had built into my gear would hold. I’d heard about how strong her protective charms were, and I prayed to the Goddess that it would save me now.

But Orion jumped in front of me with his shadow-blades raised. I cursed as soon as the shadows hit him, but he barely moved an inch at the force of his father’s attack.

It gave the two female Fae a chance to strike. The one from Ivy’s class shifted from girl to beast, taking on the form of her court creature—a wild Fae beast made of earth and leaves. Her court thrived in battle with this form.

Against enchanted bullets, though, she was just like everyone else.

Either she was stupid, naive, arrogant, or a little bit of all three, because she charged right at me without caring about the fact that I could tear her head clean off with bullets. I shot at her; one bullet tore through her shoulder, and she let out a scream that definitely alerted the others to our presence.

It really didn’t matter. I mean, it would have been nice to stay hidden and make our way back to Ivy, so she wasn’t going in totally alone with Adrian and demon king.

The first bullet that went through her didn’t slow her completely, but the second had her on the ground. She shifted back and cried out, blood spurting from the wound in her stomach. The bullets we’d enchanted would stick a little longer than regular bullets, and should be hard to pull out on her own.

At least she was distracted by the pain. Nash fought the other female. She was skilled, but her brutality made her sloppy. It didn’t take a genius to know that her brand of fighting was moretorturethan battle. Because of that, Nash had her on the ground, a bullet in her chest, and the blade of a dagger pinning her hand to the earth.

Our eyes met. The half-Fae asshole nodded to another grouping of tents, where there was no fire.

The third pyre that would create a barrier of flame.

Aka, his plan of chaos.

I hated to admit it, but it was a damn good plan. And clearly working, because there were not only shifters, but other soldiers coming towards us now.

Orion held his own against his father, probably for the first time in his life, actually inflicting damage. And who was I to get in the way of that?

I nodded to Nash, who threw me a fire stone, and together, we aimed them at the last tents. The stones flew through the air as the sun peeked over the horizon, the smell of death and decay overwhelming.

The stones hit their mark and erupted into flames, swallowing the dark tents and everyone within.

But they also cut everyone who had made their way to us off from the main part of the village ruins.

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