Page 144 of Madness of Her Mages

They are controlled by Malvolia. They won’t be innocent for long.

A retort formed on my tongue, but I decided to let it go. There was no point in arguing with a demon. “Are you going to lecture me, demon, or help me escape this bubble?”

Do you swim, Fae?

“Of course, I swim.”

Good.

His sibilant laughter was my only warning before the bubble popped, and I swallowed a mouthful of saltwater. The water was so frigid, it burned my skin like every nerve ending in my body was being stung by thousands of venomous spiders. I raced for the pinpricks of light above, my lungs aching with each stroke. Gasping for air, I surfaced, feeling as if I’d been transported into another world. Or maybe I was dead, and this was hell. I couldn’t tell if it was dusk or dawn or somewhere in between. The sky was a strange, muted white, almost gray. I swam against waves that knocked me back under water, tossing me around like a ship in a gale. I continued to fight the waves until I neared what looked like a capsized boat, its sail floating on the surface of the water. Each stroke was like swimming through sludge, the freezing water turning my veins to ice. The air was as thick as soup, making each strained breath more difficult, but I finally reached the boat and grasped what I thought was its sail, but no, it was a leathery wing.

“Beau!” I called out while shaking the wyvern. “Beau! Beau!” I swam around the wyvern, my heart sinking when I saw his tail had detached from his body. I looked into his vacant, fathomless eyes.

He’s dead.Nox’s voice lacked the slightest bit of sympathy.

I clutched Beau’s neck, my throat tightening with depression and despair. “Anya will never forgive me.”

You’ve got bigger problems.

A loud horse’s neigh sounded above me, and I looked up at none other than the queen bitch sitting atop her flying horse from hell, an army of fire mages at her back.

“Hello, Prince Helian.” Her smile was wickedness incarnate. “My, you look so much like your father.”

I dug my fingers into Beau’s leathery scales while working hard to unclench my chattering teeth. “Qu-Queen M-Malvolia.”

I flinched when her horse snarled down at me, revealing a mouthful of bloody, shark-like, jagged fangs while the cold, displaced air from its wings stung my partially numb and frozen face.

She motioned toward that big hazy orb hanging in the sky that was either a sun or a moon. “Was it you who caused that light display?”

“It w-was.” I couldn’t control the vibrato in my words as the stinging cold seeped into my bones and numbed my hands and feet. I nodded down at Beau while shaking his wing again. “Now f-fly away before my wyvern w-wakes and attacks you.”

Malvolia threw back her head and let out a grating burst of laughter.

Now would be a good time for you to use your concealing magic, demon.I cursed Nox when I was met with silence.So that’s how it will be? Coward.I squinted up at the sorceress queen. “Don’t you have a w-war to fight or children to eat?” Damn. I was cold. I could no longer feel my fingers or toes, and I feared I wouldn’t last if I stayed in this water much longer. Becoming Malvolia’s captive was looking more appealing.

She gave me a curious look, like a cat deciding if she wanted to play with a mouse or eat it. “I don’t have an appetite for children, but I do have a war to win.”

“Then you should g-get going.” I waved her away like I was shooing a fly.

She flashed an exaggerated pout. “In a hurry to get rid of me?”

“I have a w-war to win, too,” I answered as if I wasn’t stuck in a very precarious position.

“At least we have that in common,” she drawled before turning to her fire mages. “Seize him.”

I winced when two mages flew at me, hooking their hands beneath my arms and dragging me from the water. It took all my willpower not to seize up. The air was colder than the water, stinging my skin like I was being lashed by a thousand little whips. They raised me until I was eye level with the queen, her snarling horse snapping at me, and I feared I was about to become his next meal.

“W-what are you going to d-d-do to me?”

“Oh, my dear Helian.” She licked her lips like a starving woman. “I think the better question is what Iwouldn’tdo.”

Fuck.

Epilogue

Malvolia

Iwalked around the table where my new prisoner lay. He was still sleeping after my green witches healed the frostbite in his legs and hands. Though he lacked wings, this Sidhe Fae prince was a perfect male specimen. I trailed my fingertips across his thick, muscular thighs, the insides chafed from riding the back of a dragon. His chest and back weren’t as broad as Ravini mages who needed the extra width to accommodate their wings. But his cock was particularly long, draped down his thigh like a sleeping snake. His abdomen was taut, and his chest and arm muscles were honed from wielding a sword. But most stunning of all was that smooth curtain of silver hair. Paired with his long neck, dark brows, and tapered ears, he was the embodiment of Sidhe Fae. And he was all mine. I was going to have so much fun with him.

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