Page 32 of Dark & Dreadful Brutes

…Even if it made me ache again every damn morning.

We rode through the day. It was late afternoon when Gleam started climbing up the thick branches and making her way higher into the trees. Soon enough, I was watching a city come to life around us. The homes were built inside the trees, the shapes of them carved perfectly without seeming to harm the wood.

My hair whipped around us as Gleam maneuvered over bridges I never could’ve imagined, and through the most incredible wood and vine arches. There were some ice bridges and arches too, but most of them seemed to be melting, so we avoided them.

There were fae all over the place too, and I noticed all of the men were dressed like Ravv, and most of the women wore short dresses like mine, or even less clothing. It didn’t surprise me, given what he’d already told me about the fae’s preferences.

“This is Jirev?” I asked Ravv, just wanting to be certain.

“Yes. Kier’s city is impressive—though far too hot and sticky,” the man behind me grumbled.

“Who’s Kier?”

“Kier Jirev is the king.”

Oh.

“King over all the fae?”

“No. Just this kingdom.” His voice was flat, but that didn’t surprise me.

Anger was his typical state, after all.

“How many fae kingdoms are there?”

“Three. The cities are called Loire, Jirev, and Vuuth, named after their current kings.”

Veil, he couldn’t have given me that information earlier? I should’ve been bothering him with questions throughout our entire journey.

“Loire is made of ice, this one is in the trees, and the third…” I trailed off.

“Underground. They live in caves inside the mountains on the border of the Weeping Skies.”

I shuddered at the mention of that cursed place. Dragons and winged demons lived in the wicked mountains, and we had all grown up being told stories about the brutality that happened there.

The Demon of the Weeping Skies reigned over the mountains, not as a king, but as a scourge. If the legends were true, he was some kind of twisted dragon that the elves had turned into a magical assassin. He was said to have more power than anyone else in Evare, except the other two assassins who were called the Monster and the Beast.

“I’m glad you’re not from that one. I don’t think I’d do well underground,” I admitted.

“You’re stronger than you think.”

My head jerked toward him, and I found his eyes scanning the trees. “What are you looking for?”

He didn’t answer me, of course.

I was beginning to wonder if no one had ever taught the fae how rude it was to ignore someone.

We passed dozens and dozens of other fae. Most of them were with massive creatures—some with idorr, others with gray wolf-looking things, and others with terrifying jungle cats.

Eventually, we approached the biggest tree I’d ever seen. There was a set of massive doors at the front of it, with a huge balcony attached to them. “What’s this place?”

“Kier’s castle.”

I found it strange how Ravv didn’t call him King Kier, but assumed the fae just didn’t respect their leaders the way humans were expected to.

I found myself liking the casualness of that. A king who didn’t demand respect probably wouldn’t have a dungeon, or a cellar beneath it for people with magic they shouldn’t have been born with.

“Is it safe for me to be in here?” I asked him, as Gleam landed on the balcony attached to the castle.

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