Page 76 of Wolf Queen Ruin
Chapter twenty-three
Damien
ThefaeSummerCourtmaterialized around me—a place I hadn’t seen in centuries.
Golden light filtered through crystal spires that should not exist in the Wolf Queen Crypt.Impossible architecture of living branches intertwined with precious metals.The scent of nectar and magic thickened the air.
Home.
A place I desperately wanted to forget.
My body felt wrong—lighter, almost buoyant.I looked down to find myself dressed in the formal regalia of the Summer Court crown prince: gossamer robes woven with sunlight, the royal circlet resting on my brow.My skin had lost its vampire pallor, returning to the golden glow of Summer fae nobility.
“Welcome home, Dahmien.”
My father’s voice.My true name in the Old Tongue, pronounced as it should be, with the subtle inflection that human tongues often struggled to capture.
He stood before the throne, tall and terrible in his beauty, his crown of twisted living branches and summer blossoms floating above his head rather than resting upon it.He was just as ethereal and eternal as I remembered him.
And just as cold.
“This isn’t real,” I said, hearing the musical quality of the fae returning to my voice.“You’re dead.”
“Indeed.”My father’s perfect features arranged themselves in an expression of disapproval I knew all too well.“Thanks to you.”
Spectral courtiers materialized around the throne room, those from the noble houses of the Summer Court, faces I had known since childhood.All watching.All judging.
Among them stood a woman of imposing presence, her features shifting subtly between human and wolf.The Wolf Queen, observing me from within my illusion.
“Crown Prince Dahmien of the Summer Court,” my father’s voice rang out, “you stand accused of abandoning your kingdom in its hour of need.How do you answer?”
Was the Wolf Queen’s trial an actual trial, born out of my subconscious?
“You already know the answer,” I said.“I made a choice.”
“Yes,” said my father.“You chose a human woman over your duty to your court and crown.”
The accusation burned like silver against vampire flesh.Before I left, I’d convinced myself that my choice had been noble, motivated by love rather than selfishness.But after…I realized I’d made a grave mistake.
“Tell us, Prince,” the Wolf Queen said, her voice cutting through the illusion, “why did you leave your kingdom?”
I remained silent, and pain lanced through me, not physical but something deeper, magical.Fae magic burning through my system like acid through paper.
“The trial requires truth,” she said.
The court around me rippled as my resistance weakened the illusion.I’d spent centuries burying these memories, constructing a vampire persona that excluded my fae beginnings for my own mental survival.Admitting the truth meant dismantling that careful construction.
“I fell in love,” I finally said, the words like ash in my mouth.“With a mortal woman named Theodora.She lived in a village near the border of our realm.”
The court scene shifted, memories projecting around us—a dark-haired woman with laughing eyes, her hands stained with dyes from her seamstress work.A human with no magic, no title, no immortality.Just extraordinary courage and kindness.
“And when I commanded you to end this inappropriate dalliance?”my father pressed.
Another stab of magic forced the truth from my lips.“I refused.I told you I would renounce my claim to the throne rather than give her up.”
The scene shifted again, showing the throne room as it had been the day I voiced my decision.My father’s rage manifested as actual summer lightning crackling through the chamber, courtiers pressed against the walls in fear.
“And then?”
