Page 30 of Queens Ride Horny Dragons
“Don’t you dare kill her,” Calhoun barked.
“Because, Booklet, the Civil War won’t really start until you officially become queen tomorrow. The other shifters are so angry at you, so distrustful, that they won’t believe anything you tell them. I want to keep it that way while I pick them off in their weakened state, one by one until they’re all gone, and we can take back our land.”
“Why? What’s wrong with your land?” I asked.
She leaned in close, and I screwed my eyes shut at the feel of her lips against my ear. “We’ve run out of crunchy humans to eat.”
Dread licked up my back. Humans. Fae ate humans. That was even worse that sacrificing children.
I opened my eyes again, blinking more and more, until finally I could see somewhat. Now to find a way out of this mess.
“You took Léas so we’d be at our weakest?” Tavis asked.
“It’s surprisingly easy to capture a goddess,” the fae said, and I could hear the wicked smile in her voice.
The slightest movement from Calhoun’s direction sounded, barely more than a stir of air as if he were inching closer. “You’ve been listening to see how quickly we would catch on.”
The fae spun toward him, slapping me in the face with her wiry hair. “In part, yes. We wanted to keep close tabs on all of you. But with no power and no goddess to give it to you, there is nothing you can do to stop us.Thisis our official declaration of war.”
“Andthisis ours,” a voice behind us growled. Vance.
Big Mama whirled both of us around, but it was too late. For her, at Léast.
Vance swung one of the enormous books from the throne room through the air and slammed it into her head with a sickening thud. She went down, reLéasing me, and landed in a pile at my feet.
I stared at Vance, stunned and feeling sick to my stomach. “H-how many more fae are out there walking around as humans like Bad Mama? Like Madame Theodosia? How many total fae are there?”
“Hundreds. Thousands,” he answered, his shoulders heaving. “It’s hard to say. But now we’re at war with them.”
I swallowed thickly as I stared down at Bad Mama at my feet. “And we have no way of fighting back.”
Chapter Seven
The Day of the Coronation
Belle Harrison. That was the name of the girl across the ocean who could talk to gods. Vance had somehow persuaded her to help us by explaining everything, which I was sure was hard since dragon shifters weren’t known for sharing their secrets. He’d told me she’d be here after the coronation, plus a little more about her, but I couldn’t pay attention to the details.
My thoughts were in restless chaos. My insides were so twisted up with worry that my heart felt strangled and my breaths grew shallow. We had a fae locked in our dungeon, were at war, and I had a coronation ceremony in a little less than one hour so I could be queen of a species who hated me. Not my best day ever, and it hadn’t even started yet.
It was early morning, the sun filtering through my curtains and spilling golden halo designs on my floor. I hadn’t slept at all. Instead, I’d paced my bedroom. We'd decided for me to wait until after the coronation to tell the shifters the fae had officially declared war on us. With a crown on top of my head, we thought they might be more willing to trust me, to listen to me, to do what I said. The crown was just a symbol, though, the ceremony itself a bunch of pomp and circumstance I had a feeling no one really cared about.
But we were doing it anyway. Because reasons. Also because breaking from tradition seemed really frowned upon in stovetop society.
After the ceremony, the plan was my harem, this Belle girl, and I would cross into the fae lands and kidnap Léas back. Easier said than done, I had a feeling. Beyond that, we had no plan, something that didn’t sit well inside me at all. But it was hard to have a plan when you had no idea what to expect. None of us did. Not even a little bit.
Dust motes floated around me like stars, sparkling with sunlight and the reflection off my dress hanging from the door of my closet. I scowled at it as I paced toward it and then spun around again to rip a path through the rest of my bedroom. It was a beautiful dress, the silky fabric flowing out from the beaded top in luxurious ripples, but I didn't want to wear it. I didn't want to go to the coronation at all or be wrapped up in a war that wasn't mine.
The thought of grabbing Asa and running pecked at me, like it was eating through my stubbornness to stay here. But Asa was happy here. Of course he'd be happy anywhere, but he was safe, there was no shortage of food, he had a TV in his bedroom, and three protectors he adored. And I had three protectors I adored. If I ran, I'd have to take them with me, and whether I was a queen foretold by a fake seer or not, they wouldn't be cool with just leaving.
A loud thud sounded outside my door and farther down the hallway. I stopped and stared, listening. The castle was likely bustling with activity in final preparations for the coronation.
But the ceremony wasn't in the hallway.
I crossed to the door and unlocked and opened it, then leaned out. Empty, in both directions. I closed the door and locked it again with a shake of my head.
Another thump, louder this time.
I threw open the door and marched out into the hallway, my silk robe fluttering across the tops of my knees.
