Page 77 of Wolf Queen Ruin
“You banished me.”The words came easier now, the pain of resistance fading as I surrendered to truth.“Cut me off from the court’s magic.Forbade any fae from offering me shelter or assistance.”
My father’s spectral form nodded.“And what became of your kingdom after your…departure?”
The court dissolved, replaced by scenes of war and devastation.The Winter Court’s armies marching through familiar forests.Ice spreading over summer gardens.Bodies of fae I had known from childhood lying broken on bloodstained ground.
“The Winter Court invaded three months after I left,” I said, watching the fall of my homeland play out around me.“They had been waiting for a moment of weakness.”
“Because your absence created a power drain.The Summer Court needed its prince.”My father’s image approached me.“And where were you while your people died, my son?”
The scene changed again—a modest cottage in a human village.Me, still fae but diminished without court magic, holding a dying Theodora’s hand.
“I was trying to find a way to transform Theodora.To save her because she was sick,” I admitted.“I heard rumors of an alchemist who had discovered such secrets.”
“Elliot,” the Wolf Queen said.
I nodded.“He promised a solution.He didn’t specify what kind at first.”
The cottage dissolved, replaced by a dark laboratory lit by strange blue flames.Elliot mixed potions while I waited impatiently.Little did I know that the solution to my problem wouldn’t be found in a potion.
“He tricked you,” my father said.
“He didn’t lie,” I corrected.“He promised transformation.He delivered it.”
The Wolf Queen cocked her head to the side.“And you sought transformation as well?”
I nodded.“Without fae magic, I was also very sick.”
The memory played out in front of me—my body convulsing as vampire infection spread through fae blood.Something darker, hungrier, had devoured the rest of the Summer Court within me.I’d screamed as vampire need overwrote my fae existence.
When the transformation finished, I was something new—a vampire with fae memories, and fundamentally changed.
“And Theodora?”the Wolf Queen asked.
Pain constricted my chest.“She waited for me to return.I was…incapacitated by the transformation for decades, but I asked Elliot to turn her right after he turned me.By the time we sought her out…”
The scene shifted one final time—a simple human graveyard.A fresh grave.Theodora died three days before I reached her.
“I was too late,” I whispered.
Collective grief—not just mine but my kingdom’s—crashed over me like a physical wave.I fell to my knees as the emotional onslaught overwhelmed my senses, crumbled me beneath the weight of truth.
The scene changed again, showing my early vampire years—a dark, vengeful creature hunting members of the Winter Court across Europe.Blood and death followed in my wake.
“You blamed them for everything,” the Wolf Queen said.“The Winter Court and your wolf allies who were supposed to help you at the first sign of an attack, and didn’t.You blame everyone except the one truly responsible.”
I looked up sharply.“I’ve had centuries to understand my responsibility.”
“Have you?”The Wolf Queen’s form solidified, becoming more substantial than the other apparitions.“Or have you merely found new masks to wear while you continue to seek revenge?”
The spectral courtroom transformed again, showing scenes from my modern existence—the feared enforcer for Elliot, the cold tracker of supernaturals.
“You hide behind duty now,” she continued, “even though you once fled from it.You build walls of protocol and propriety.”
Each word struck with precision.I remained kneeling, silent.
“What remains of the fae prince who valued love above power?”she asked.
Inside me, conflict raged.My vampire nature warred with my fae heritage, my careful control battling against buried truth.My body manifested the struggle physically; my skin flickering between vampire pallor and fae glow, fangs extending and retracting, the weight of centuries pressing down upon me.
