Page 3 of Veil of Monsters

His lips twitch in amusement. Some part of the Lorenzo that I know is still there. His eyes drift down her slowly before rising back up. “We are going to get to know each other very well, my little mate, but first my brother has called an audience with both of you. He wants you to explain yourselves. I would suggest you don’t say anything to get yourselves killed.”

My voice is far more confident than I feel. “Emerson won’t kill me.”

“Then you don’t know my brother, fae,” Lorenzo coldly replies.

“Calliophe,” I inform him. “I’m your friend, Lorenzo. You guys might not remember me, but you need to listen to me because I’m telling you the truth. We are very good friends. You held my hand when I was fighting my own demons, when I couldn’t accept being fae after being mortal for my entire life. You trained me to fight, told me not to give up on Emerson when he was being an ass. You were at my side, my brother, always, even when I couldn’t accept how kind you are. I love you, Lorenzo, as my family, just like Posy. Please, search in your heart and listen to me. I can tell you so much, things you privately told me, like what happened to your wings.”

Lorenzo watches me, assessing me. “Talk, Calliophe. We do not have long.” For the next ten minutes, I try to explain everything from the very beginning. From when I was mortal and Emerson kidnapped me from my apartment to find his missing sister. I tell him everything. Every story, everything he’s told me about himself. Things that I couldn’t possibly know unless we were friends. By the time I get to the end, Lorenzo’s eyes have widened, and he runs a hand through his hair. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but things you’re saying—” He pauses. “My father spoke to you?”

I nod. It’s an odd part to focus on, but I don’t question him. “I’m Emerson’s mate. The girl reborn, and I broke the curse by dying being turned into a fae. I’m his, and he is mine.”

“You are bonded to the court, but you are not wearing marks of a mating or being the queen,” Lorenzo reminds me. “Emerson, I doubt he would have forgotten to do those.”

“We didn’t have time in the sea, but it was the plan to come back and do it all,” I answer.

“I know little of love,” Posy quietly says. “But they loved each other furiously. Magic, no matter how strong, cannot wash that away. We will go to him.”

“And us? We were friends?” Lorenzo asks her, sliding keys from his pocket.

Posy goes to say no, but I speak first. “Yes. Posy saved your life in the water test and sacrificed herself for you. You were distraught, trying to get her back here, even when she was a bat.”

Posy frowns at the look Lorenzo gives her. “That was a mistake of mine. The last time I had feelings… I will not do that again, because clearly that shit nearly gets me killed.”

Lorenzo opens the door as two fully armored Wyerns walk down the corridor. Lorenzo nods at them, my heart pounding. They are taking me to Emerson, and even a shadow of the male I love is enough to give me hope. He isn’t dead and I will fight for him. No more sitting in the shadows. It’s time I fully embrace them. “Bring the prisoners to the throne room and do not harm them.”

ChapterTwo

CALLIOPHE SPRITE

Heavy drums beat loudly, echoing down the creaking corridors of the castle, and they match the drumming inside my head. I don’t know which is louder, but it’s all I can focus on with every breath I take. Thump, thump, thump, thump. As I get taken closer to Emerson, some part of me senses he’s near, like an awareness that pricks at my skin. When I’m getting close to the throne room, I begin to recognize the familiar corridors. The guards suddenly stop, and I look around them to see Emerson’s father walking our way. He stops in front of me and kisses my cheek. “We should play music together soon.”

He remembers me. Lorenzo looks shocked, one, that his father talked and, two, that he knows who I am. His father leaves without another word.

“Believe me now?” I ask. Lorenzo shakes his head and carries on. We stop in front of the large, towering doors that make me feel tiny in front of them. Last time I was in his throne room, it was me and Emerson alone. Him growling at me. Him hating me. It’s like being thrown back in time, but this time, it hurts me. A flashback fills my mind of him telling me he wanted me on his throne, at his side as his queen, as the doors are slowly pulled open. Posy’s hand tightens in mine. Everything would have been so different if we had come back here together. If we’d come back with all his memories.

I need to do something to convince him that I’m his mate. I don’t know if it would have been easier when I was mortal. He doesn’t hate mortals at least. A fae, a race he absolutely hates because he doesn’t remember the truth about his mother. God, his mother is dead. He must know this, and part of him must be hurting, even if he’ll never admit it to someone he thinks is a stranger like me.

I glance at Posy, thankful the sea god left her with her memories. I have one person. I’m not alone in facing this. She nods at me and lifts her head high, making it clear we’re going to be strong when we walk in there, because we don’t have any other choice. Hold our heads high. Don’t break. Make sure that they know that we’re strong and not to be fucked with.

The guards fully open the doors, and the room is littered with Wyern males. They all start sneering, cheering, and shouting when they see us. The most common words I hear are “fae scum” and “kill them.” So far, so not fucking good. The guards, marked by their black armor, make a small path for us to walk through to where their king sits on a throne. I knew it would be hard to see him, to see his empty gaze when he looks at me, but it tears my heart out all the same, and I’m so unprepared for it. I can’t hide my emotions as Emerson’s eyes find me and it’s like the whole room fades away. There’s only us. We aren’t in his court, where they’d quite clearly kill me in a second. There’s just us, like it’s always been, but what I wish I had seen is gone in a second.

His vivid purple eyes narrow on me as he lounges on his throne, one leg crossed over the other. He’s dressed in black armor, making me think that he’s worried about an attack at any moment. I can tell by how tensely he holds himself that something is bothering him more than his memories being missed. What is Louie doing? In my heart, I know it’s Louie doing all of this. He’s coming for me, and I can’t be here when he does.

Lorenzo, not so gently, pushes me in the back to make me walk forward. Posy growls at him, a sound that doesn’t come from a mortal, and magic laces her words. “Don’t touch her.”

Lorenzo whistles low. “You’ve certainly got a temper, little mate.”

Posy stops, turning on him with a feral sneer. “Give me a blade and see exactly how my temper rises, bat.”

His chuckle is cold as she turns and carries on walking to my side. Some things never change. Those two will argue all the way to their graves. They always were like this when she was a bat.

My heart leaps out of my chest as I stop close enough to pick up Emerson’s scent, and it wraps around me like a familiar friend. Goddess, I want him. I love him. At Emerson’s side, standing next to the rest of his court, is Zurine. She wears black armor too, but her corset is laced with silver, matching her hair. The rest of his court is near her, watching me with nothing but hostility, but oddly, Felix is nowhere to be seen. Neither is Nerelyth, which I am thankful for, even though she’s bonded to his court. Does she remember me? I wonder where they’ve gone and why the sea god would put them somewhere else.

I don’t have time to question all of it as I stop in front of my king, who towers over me on his throne. His wings are hidden away with magic, and he almost looks mortal for a moment. A gorgeous mortal who should not walk this earth. But then, as his power rises, the shadows blink out the flames in the room until there’s nothing left except for fae lights around his throne. Now, he looks like a dark god sent here to destroy us all. Everyone goes silent from this touch of his power, and a pinch of fear prickles at my chest until I remember. This is my Emerson. My king. My mate. He would never hurt me.

Death had been my friend until I met him, and his shadows chased them away. I will fight for him, too.

“What dark magic,” he begins, his voice sending shivers down my spine, “did you use to take our memories, fae?”

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