Page 8 of The Unseelie War
Loaded withlead!
Howhysterical!
A shame the man did not appreciate the joke as he slumped over, eyes wide, blood pouring from the gushing wound in his ribcage.
The little toy weapon the man still clutched had been so amusingly noisy, shouting itratta-tatta-tattaand instantly giving away the location of its owner. An owner dressed in some garishly obnoxious splotchy green pattern that heassumedwas meant to hide the man, but instead made him stand out.
Humans.
Idiots, the lot of them.
But they were wonderful fun to slaughter.
The bullet wounds in his chest and wings were already healing. Rotating his wrist, he flicked the blood from his sword and continued his advance up the street. He needed to find the rest of his forces, and quickly.
When he had woken up in the direct, glaring Earthly sun, it had taken him a few moments to fully grasp what had transpired. The magnitude of how deeply a human could expertly, imaginatively, andentirely, bugger everything up in a single gesture always amazed him to no end.
Ava had done a magnificent job of ruining not one, not two, butthreewhole planes of existence in one fell swoop. This was why humans made terrible demigods.
His wife being the sole exception, of course.
He hoped Abigail was all right. But he was certain she was quite fine. He would locate her soon, after he found his armies, waged unholy hell upon the humans, took this opportunity for precisely what it was—his chance tofinallyachieve his ultimate goal.
Total and unstoppable war.
The merger had been…violent. Chaotic.Glorious.Three worlds smashed together by a novice little creature who had no idea what she was unleashing. The sheer audacity of it brought a smile to his lips.
“Magnificent.” He stopped to watch a flock of origami birds fly past overhead while a group of terrified humans cowered behind an overturned car that transformed into a nightmare creature. The car roared, turning on them, its hood opening up to reveal rows of hideously rusty, jagged teeth. It ate the lower half of one of the humans’ bodies, ripping a young woman’s legs clean off at the thighs. She screamed in agony.
The car made quick work of her friends. But it let the first woman bleed out before it ate her corpse.
Valroy smiled.
“Absolutely magnificent."
Somewhere to the north, London was being consumed by an apocalypse demon born from collective human fear. Closer to home, some manner of building that advertised banks and financial institutions had become a twisted collection of living architecture that was devouring anyone who tried to enter.
It was everything he had ever dreamed of and more.
Valroy stretched his wings to their full span—nearly twenty feet from tip to tip—and felt the delicious rush of power that came with being unbound. For the first time in his existence, there were no careful political considerations to weigh, none of his wife's gentle restraint to consider, no ancient laws to navigate around.
Just pure, unadulteratedopportunity.
A group of Seelie nobles stumbled into the clearing, their usual ethereal grace replaced by obvious panic. They were led by someone Valroy recognized—Lord Caelum, one of Abigail's more tedious advisors.
The fool actually seemed relieved to see him.
“Your Majesty! King Valroy!” Caelum called out, his silver hair disheveled and his pristine robes torn. “Thank the stars—we've been searching for any member of the royal family. The situation is?—”
“Perfect,” Valroy interrupted. “This situation is absolutely…perfect.”
Caelum blinked, clearly having expected a different response. “Y-your Majesty, with respect, I'm not certain you understand the gravity?—”
“Oh, but I do.” Valroy began walking toward them, his movements deliberately predatory. “For the first time, the barriers between worlds have fallen. The careful balance that has constrained me all these centuries has been shattered. Do you know what that means,LordCaelum?”
The Seelie noble's face went pale. “M-my King? Certainly you must understand the direness of the?—”
Valroy knew his smile revealed his fangs. “It means I am no longer bound by the petty little agreements our courts have made. No longer forced to pretend that the worlds deserve consideration or protection.” He gestured broadly at the transformed landscape around them. “Look at what the Weaver has given me! A place where dreams and nightmares walk among mortals, where my natural order can finally be restored! Where I can befreeto work my will!”
