Page 51 of The Unseelie War
“Good.” Valroy turned around slowly, his smile absolutely radiant. “Then you'll understand why what happens next is necessary.”
The Maze burst from him like a physical thing, shadows pouring across the hillside in waves of absolute darkness. But these weren't the simple shadows of his earlier displays—this was entropy itselfgiven form, the hungry void that lurked at the heart of his nature finally allowed to feed.
Izael had perhaps half a second to realize what was happening before the darkness reached him. To his credit, he did not try to run. Did not scream or cry. He simply stood there, teal eyes meeting Valroy's blue ones with something that might have been forgiveness.
The shadows swallowed him whole.
When the Maze receded a moment later, there was nothing left where Izael had been standing. No body, no ashes, no trace that he had ever existed except for the faint echo of his final expression.
He wasn’t surprised that Izael’s last moment was one of laughter.
The silence that followed was absolute.
Finally, it was Bayodan who cleared his throat. “My lord…was that wise? Izael was popular among certain factions. And Lady Alexandra has power that is?—”
“Izael was a cancer,” Valroy replied calmly, as if he hadn't just erased one of their most influential nobles from existence. “A beautiful, irritating, chaotic cancer that would have rotted our purpose from within given enough time. And Alexandra…will be dealt with. Locate her and bring her to me.”
He turned to face his remaining lieutenants, noting with satisfaction that both Cruinn and Bayodan looked appropriately terrified. “Anyone else feeling conflicted about our mission? Now would be an excellent time to voice those concerns.”
Neither of them spoke.
“Excellent.” Valroy spread his wings, feeling the intoxicating rush of absolute power flow through him. No more doubt. No more voices of conscience. No more reminders that there might be better ways to handle their situation.
Just the clarity of purpose that came with burning all the bridges behind oneself.
“Signal the attack,” he commanded. “All forces. No prisoners. No mercy. No quarter given.”
As his followers scrambled to obey, Valroy allowed himself amoment of perfect contentment. Below them, the human outpost waited in anxious trepidation of what was about to fall upon them. Above them, the stars wheeled in patterns that belonged to all three realities simultaneously, a reminder that the old rules no longer applied.
By dawn, he would have his first real victory in this new war. And perhaps, if fortune smiled upon him, his dear half-brother would finally emerge from whatever hole he'd crawled into to collect the revenge that he had been threatening for two millennia.
Either way, the night promised to be absolutely magnificent.
The killing could finally begin.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
When Ava and Serrik emerged from their sanctuary below the opera house, they found the main theatre space empty. But it wasn’t hard to figure out where everyone had gone, judging by the sound of shouting and muffled explosions coming from outside.
“Well, shit.” Ava sighed. “Here we go, I guess.” Glancing back at Serrik, she saw his jaw set, tense and rigid. Yes, he had decided to stay with her. Yes, she had convinced him not to abandon the fight.
But they hadn’t resolved his actualproblem.
That his urge and vow to destroy all fae still remained.
And now it looked like he was going to have to face down whether or not he could choose forgiveness in the end sooner rather than later. All because Valroy couldn’t put a fucking pin in it for ten goddamn seconds.
They headed out the front door of the opera house, emerging into a world that had fundamentally changed in the space of a few stolen hours.
Nos and Ibin were standing on the sidewalk, watching the horizon. Lysander and Bitty were missing. So was Abigail, but that wasn’t entirely shocking. The Seelie Queen likely had business to attend to.
The air tasted different—electric with magic and thick with the acrid smoke of distant fires. Where before there had been the chaotic but somehow peaceful merging of three realities, now there was something darker threading through the atmosphere. Violence. Fear.
Death.
“I repeat—well, shit.” Ava instinctively reached for Serrik's hand. Through their connection, she could feel his immediate shift into predatory alertness, every sense extending outward to catalog threats. “Do I even need to ask? It’s Valroy, isn’t it?”
Serrik's golden eyes swept the transformed landscape around them. In the distance, she could see columns of smoke rising. The aurora lights that had danced so beautifully above them during their intimate encounter now flickered erratically, as if the very fabric of the merged reality was being stressed by whatever Valroy was doing.
