Page 83 of Fate and Flame
“They’re like animals,” the king roared. “If you don’t feed them, of course they fucking die.”
The sniveling fae moved to hide behind his chair.
“Humans are worse than—”
“My king,” another fae said, standing. “We’re not alone.”
In another jerk, we were standing corporeal back in the Flame Court with Greeve and Fen.
“It’s true,” I whispered, eyes locked on Gaea.
She looked as sick as I felt. “That was Evin. He can detect magic,” she mumbled into my ear.
“Explain.” Fen crossed the room in three strides to stand beside me. To put his hand on me. To know I was safe and home. He couldn’t help that need and, in this moment, I needed him also.
I turned into his chest and buried my head.“Everything got messed up.”
His mouth flattened into a line, clearly trying to control his words. “Greeve told me what happened with Coro. If you hadn’t baited him so much, he might still be alive.”
My head snapped to Greeve. Fury coursed through my veins, the mental repercussions of another murder still fresh in my mind.“If I hadn’t pushed him, he would have never told us a thing. He has been on Autus’ side this whole time. He claimed Autus was the rightful High King of Alewyn, Fen. And Gaea and I just confirmed that he does, in fact, have a human army. I did what I had to do, I won’t apologize for that. And you and I both knew Coro was destined to die.”
“But now we have two kingdoms with no leaders. Did you think about that?” Greeve asked.
Fen grabbed my arm, holding me back as I attempted to storm over to him.
“Where’s the dark draconian that fears nothing and only wants what’s best? You know what your problem is?” I yanked my hand from Fen’s arm and got right in his face. “Your fucking mating bond is turning you into a territorial asshole. The sooner you guys figure that shit out, the better. Don’t talk to me, don’t look at me, don’t even think my fucking name until you can get that beast inside of you in check.”
He looked at Gaea, and she gasped, taking several steps backward until she stumbled into a table and knocked over a glass. It shattered on the floor as I stormed out at the same time as she spirited away. Fen followed, and about halfway to the room, I felt like an asshole. I’d known and hadn’t told her. Just as Wren had done to me. And more so, I’d just outed Greeve, who was supposed to be my family. I could feel the rage swirling with the sorrow in my soul, and I knew if I didn’t get out of the castle and somewhere safe soon, I was going to explode and take it down with me.
I stopped, faced Fen and told him what I needed to do. He grabbed my hand and led me to the room, where we got what we needed and left the castle together. I slipped the earring into my ear and Fenlas did the same. The pressure of my magic, my emotions, and my fear still pushing me quickly to a jagged ledge I wasn’t sure I could come back from.
Murder was such a seductive, terrible thing. Justifiable to the hands that served it, no matter the consequences. The king who could kill a half pixie because she ran out of wine. The Promised One who could stand on a table and kill a king because her fate told her she could. But who was holding fate accountable? More so, would the self-loathing I felt watching the life leave their still bodies suffocate me?
We swam. Fen leading the way until we came upon the ruins of the sea castle. We found Kai and Leora and called them to a meeting in a castle room with a table anchored to the ceiling by chains and carved white chairs anchored to the floor. I couldn’t sit down, couldn’t keep my body still as they reported, Leora’s glow and Fen’s calmness the only thing grounding me.
“Can I get you something?” Leora asked, her gaze flickering between me and Fen.
“We need a full report of the sea. Who is with us, who is going to fight against us,” Fen said, looking directly at Kai.
There were no jokes, no humor, pure business today. Kai could tell something was wrong, but could he tell I was about to explode? Doubtful.
“The sea is vast, Fen. The court doesn’t sit in one spot, they roam. We’ve got a few thousand maybe a little more willing to fight with us. The others either haven’t seen us or won’t talk. We’re still running into trouble with the fae that thinks he’s owed a kingdom. Morwena kept prisoner camps. She was basically forcing anyone that wouldn’t fight with her into chains.” His eyes flashed to Leora.
She smiled at him. “We’ve set them free.” She glowed bright.
“And the others?” Fen asked.
“The hydra’s been hunting. She’s brought back anyone that didn’t piss her off enough to get eaten. We haven’t kept them chained up, but they are all under guard at Morwena’s largest camp, which is on an island.”
“Why would she use an island?” I asked, my hands starting to shake.
“She has the water gated off and she was forcing them to share the evada pearls. Only the strong survived.”
Anger rolled down the bond.
“Have we done the same?” I clutched the back of a smooth chair in my hands, knuckles white as the chair began to crumble.
“No. We’ve tried to treat them kindly, though they haven’t done the same. Leora was attacked twice, so she had to stop going when food is delivered.”
