“It will happen. I will bring you the necromancer’s heart. I swear this to you. Now, I want you to cum.”

I didn’t have to move this time. Vincent lifted me up and down, working me over his huge shaft, all with a simple movement of his talon-tipped hand that was not unlike if he were jerking himself off. By some miracle I could fit him in his entirety, probably because of the heightened endurance and strength my monster afforded me.

“Cum on my cock like a good little monster.”

I clung to his shoulders, his feathers tickling my cheeks, his cock filling me to the brim. It was sensory overload. I wondered what the crowd thought of this, of me taking a beast of this size. I almost wished they could see me. But a greater part of me was glad that he shielded me from their prying eyes. This was a private moment for us alone. They could still hear my warbling moans and my enthusiastic cries. For the rest, they’d have to use their imaginations.

“What about the vampire claiming me? What’s the Feral King going to do to claim me?”

“Something special. Something that will make my perverted little slut happy, I can promise you that.”

I came with a scream. The fae held me flush to his groin, coming undone with me in the same moment. There was a rush of hot fluid filling me to the brim. White seeped with black as cum, blood, and sweat mixed together. I sagged into my mate’s chest, convulsions wracking my body. He pressed a tender kiss to my brow, smoothing my hair with his talons. “You did so well. Such a good girl. Such a good mate.”

With my cheek pressed against his chest, I peeked up at him through my tangle of red hair. “Such a good queen?”

“The best our world has ever seen. Now, are you ready to cause some chaos?”

When I nodded he pulled me off his softening member and helped straighten my crown. Then, with a final kiss to my lips that was softer and sweeter than I would ever expect from Vincent, he pulled me against his chest and launched us into the air.

Chapter twenty

A Thorn in the Side

AsVincentlaunchedusinto the air, my stomach dropped with a new sensation I’d never experienced before. The wind whipped my hair around my cheeks, and blood rushed in my ears as if it were singing. It wasn’t unlike when I’d ridden Corry’s motorcycle for the first time. It felt like true freedom, something I’d come to relish.

Vincent landed on the railing of the second-floor gallery, his talon-tipped feet curling around the wood, making it splinter. He set me down gently, and I ran my gaze over the crowd that watched us. For the tensest moment of my life, everyone stood frozen, watching us with a mixture of horror and wonder in their cold, dead eyes.

“See how they look at you?” my dark fae muttered behind me on a rough purr that made the skin on my back prickle and my thighs clench. “They are starting to see you as we do. They see the chaos inside you. And they fear it.”

“As they should,” I murmured, twisting to send him a sidelong grin.

Both Vincent and I were buck-ass naked, but my thin coating of blood and sweat might as well have been a ball gown covered in glistening jewels for how queen-like I felt. On second thought, scratch that. I felt like a pagan goddess, fresh from a ritual, and here I was to spill more blood all in my name.

When I found my brother’s face in the crowd, noxious fury swept through me, driving my heartbeat into a rapid gallop.

He stood in his box that jutted out above the other seats, like a tyrant gazing out over his kingdom. Erik and Sharpe flanked his sides. The blond-haired leader of the Boston Coven regarded me with disgust like I was nothing but trash. Sharpe stared at me with something softer banked in his one good eye. Pity? Somehow that made me even more pissed than Erik’s unmasked disdain. My childhood doctor had always known me as the helpless little princess, locked away in her suburban tower. He should have known better by now.

My helplessness had only been an illusion.

The idiot had bought into his own lie. I guess burning his eye out of his socket hadn’t been enough to get the memo through that I wasn’t that little girl anymore.

The top of Lavinia’s head peeked over the railing where she stood beside her master, barely visible from my angle. She wasn’t tall enough for me to see her, but just knowing she was there brought me a small sense of relief. It was good to know someone from their side of the court was in my corner.

I veered my attention back to my brother, unflinchingly meeting his stare. He wore a blank expression. An emotionless mask. It didn’t fool me.

He was pissed.

Licking my grinning lips, I ran my tongue dramatically over the points of my fangs. “Guess your magic doesn’t work on hybrids and half-bloods. Bummer. It makes me wonder if you can pull off a spell powerful enough to resurrect my father.”

“You haven’t even begun to taste what I’m capable of, mortal filth.”

My eyes narrowed.

I wondered exactly how loyal the BC were to Dagon. They worshipped him for his power. Maybe all they’d need to switch sides was proof that I was stronger than him.

Now that begged the million-dollar question.WasI stronger, or was this newfound strength coursing through my body just going to my head?

“Sharpe, Thorn. Capture them.” Dagon’s icy command brought his cronies to life. “Do not kill them. Kill them, and the treaty with the Elders is broken.”