Page 101 of Finding Love with the Fae King

Iwascurledupon the terrible-smelling cot below me. It smelled of mold and death as I tried to hold my breath from the stench. A plan was forming in my head as Tulip was sleeping a few cells away, but first, I had to get out of here. Acting as sweet as I could, would be the only way they would let me go.

“Daphne.” He nodded as he opened the door. Suddenly, there was a click on the door, and my head immediately jerked up to see none other than Alaneo. The loud squeal it made would be ingrained in my mind throughout my life. I would make sure Alaneo would suffer once I was Queen.

“After much deliberation, we decided to set you free. Just know this, Daphne”—Alaneo stood above me as I sat with my perfect posture—“we will be watching you closely.” I nodded enthusiastically.

“Of course, for the safety of Osirus and the kingdom!”

“And the future Queen Melina, correct?” His eyebrow raised to test me. I smiled at him again as I bit my cheek.

“Absolutely! Once mated, they will make an excellent pair.” Alaneo nodded and opened the door.

“They are already mated. It’s a done deal.” Alaneo walked me down the corridor, and I glanced back at Tulip, who nodded a few times and slipped back into the darkness of her cell.

They were already mated. Shit, that put a damper on my plans. I wanted to growl, throw, or hit something, but I wasn’t out of the woods yet. There were ways around a bond, but finding someone wouldn’t be easy. The last witch found was completely mutilated by a changed she-wolf, a most unexpected demise for her.

There were others…

“Tell the happy couple congratulations, then!” Alaneo walked in silence as he led me to a side door of the palace, one I used to use every time I wanted to get in quietly. I might have slept with the guards a few times to get in, but nothing I couldn’t handle. They were quick to be done, anyway.

“One more thing, Daphne.” I turned around to look up at Alaneo, who was standing on the steps with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. “You may have been pardoned of death for collaborating with the enemy because of your mother, but that doesn’t dismiss you entirely. You are forthwith stripped of your title, and you are no longer Duchess, but a mere commoner. Don’t worry, most of your friends are too, so don’t worry about being alone.”

My mouth dropped. This I wasn’t expecting. I thought I could at least maintain my title until all of this was through. “You have one week to get your things out of your home, and then it will belong to His and Her Majesty.” I couldn’t say a word, not without sounding like a spoiled brat and blowing my cover.

“Of course. I thank you again for sparing my life.” I bowed my head and walked hastily before he could take anything else away from me. I needed to get to work and fast. There wasn’t a way in Hades I was going to give up my home, where I was born and had lived for the past hundreds of years. Not in his life.

Marching up the steps, I threw the door open to have the maids packing their bags. “What the hell do you think you are doing?” I seethed.

“Madam, we have received word that you are no longer a duchess, and we have been granted new jobs at the palace,” the eldest spoke as she picked up her bag. “We wish you the best, Madam.” Several maids, the butler, and the cook all took off through the door. I couldn’t even make them come back; they were going to the palace and would tattle on me.

Letting out a large growl, I felt my teeth start to itch, and my claws come forth. Breathing deeply, I tried to think of soothing thoughts. I would not revert to my animalistic ways. We were the superior race. A few breaths caught in my throat as I felt the itch fade. Now it was time to get to work.

Grabbing my father’s mirror from his bedside table, I repeated the enchantment that I had heard thousands of times. The mirror reflection fogged, and in it, I saw none other than my partner in crime, Sorceress Prinna of the Blood Coven.

“It’s been a while,” her sickly sweet voice spoke. For a witch or sorceress, you would think they would be ugly as they drew some of their powers from the dark. Not Prinna. She was the epitome of beauty and didn’t even have to use her magic to make her that way.

“I heard the Court failed in battle. Why do you summon me, Daphne? I can only do so much with my small coven, and your father got caught in three days. That wasn’t enough time to weaken Osirus’s army of shifters.”

Prinna and her coven were summoning the dark powers of demons of Tartarus that were thirsty for innocent blood since that fueled their own dark power, but it took time. Osirus struck early, and we were left defenseless. If my father hadn’t been caught, we could have survived, even won.

“Yes, there were complications.” I huffed in irritation. Meaning I didn’t want my father to have control over me once I was mated to Osirus. “But this isn’t over yet if you still want some power over the Cerulean Moon Kingdom.” Prinna wanted the power of the northern area of the Cerulean Moon Kingdom, specifically the dragons. Dragon shifter blood was scarce, their skin was tough just like their scales, and they hardly ever flew south near Vermillion. To send her own up the mountain to capture one would not only be suicide on them but as well as her coven since Queen Eden and King Elijah were brutally protective of their own. She would need an army, specifically the Golden Light Kingdom, to storm their territory, and that was what I promised them. An army that was swift and stealthy.

“Fine, what do you need?” she spoke exasperatedly. The dragon’s blood would make her and her coven stronger, so I knew she would take the chance.

“First, I need you to free someone from prison and find someone to break a mating bond.”

Prinna scoffed. “I don’t have anyone to do that,” she growled out. “It would take time.”

“How much time?” I pressed.

“I don’t know, time. I’d need to find a powerful demon with no blood attached to them from Hades or a God. Both will be hard to find and be willing to work with us.”

“Figure it out, and I’ll do the rest. I’ll get Osirus’s mate to you, and you hold her until it breaks. First, rescue the prisoner.” I held out three nail clippings that Tulip gave me and dropped them into the mirror. They appeared in Prinna’s hand as she took a sniff.

“A wolf? What will a wolf do for you?” Her eyebrow raised in question as she crushed the nail in a bowl with various spices.

“Melina trusts her, the wolf’s name is Tulip, and she will deliver her to you.” I snickered at the full-proof plan. This was going to run smoothly, and with little manpower, I could feel it.

Melina

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