Page 84 of Madness of Her Mages

Wow.Blaze’s shocked voice echoed in my head.What a heartless bitch.

Elements!I replied.If that’s how she feels about her own mother, I can’t expect her to be kind to me.

Blaze’s chuckle echoed in my head.No, you can’t.

I leaned toward Felicity. “Did you witness it?”

“I was nothing more than a babe.” She crossed one arm over the other, her wine goblet dangling from her hand while she heaved a disinterested sigh. “I hardly remember.”

Sorrow tied a knot in my chest as I realized why Felicity pretended not to pine for her young son, though he lived sofar away. She obviously thought it perfectly normal to grow up without parents. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

She laughed out loud. “Why would you be?”

“Because,” I said, leaning against Blaze when he wrapped a protective arm around me, “she was still your mother.”

“She betrayed our queen. She’s nothing more than ash now,” she said with a hateful sneer. “If she had a grave, I’d spit on it.”

I didn’t mean to gasp aloud, but, damn. I wondered if her mother’s ghost was one of Ember’s friends. If so, what did she have to say about her cold-hearted daughter?

Steffan cleared his throat, and Felicity glared at him.

Be nice,he projected to her.

“Where are my manners?” She flashed a serpentine smile. “Please take a seat. We have a delicious spread for you.” She motioned toward the buffet table. “I thought you’d appreciate the crackers with fresh grains harvested from Elisi. I believe Elisi would’ve been your childhood home hadn’t your mother and fathers betrayed our queen.” I imagined my cousin’s words were blades, and she was having fun twisting them deep inside my back. Didn’t she realize how callous she sounded, or was that her intention?

“Yes,” I said as I sat on the sofa beside Drae. “My fathers were the Dukes of Elisi.”

“Malvolia dissolved their province, and it belongs to Delfi now,” Felicity said in a sing-song voice while she sat between her mates.

The bitch is enjoying getting under your skin,Drae projected to me.

Very much so,I seethed, smiling at Blaze as he sat on my other side.

“I assumed as much,” I said to Felicity while trying my hardest to maintain my composure. Once an independent country like Windhaven, Elisi was where my mother and fatherssaid they would have been happy to remain for the rest of their lives. It made me sad to think that Malvolia had taken it for herself. It also frightened me to think she could do the same with Abyssus.

“But I suppose you don’t need it, since your mates have Abyssus.” Felicity turned up her chin, giving Drae and Blaze appreciative looks. “What’s it like living so close to the wilds of the Periculian Forest?”

Drae cleared his throat, leaning forward. “Nothing matches the untamed beauty of Abyssus.”

Felicity folded her hands in her lap, eying the three of us from beneath her lashes. “So would you be content to remain there for the rest of your days?”

“Why do you ask?” I blurted.

“Just curious.” She shrugged before squeezing her mate’s knee. “Geoffrey, why don’t you pour us all wine. Then we can toast to our new cousins.”

He flashed a tight smile and stood. “Of course.” Then his thought resonated in my mind.Should we go through with this after what Malvolia did to Monte and Furori?

Don’t be silly.Felicity’s grating laugh echoed in my mind.My cousin won’t punish us for a bout of diarrhea.

She won’t know it was us,Steffan added.We can blame it on spoiled food.

They’re going to poison us now,I projected to my mates while squeezing Drae’s knee, tension wrapping a noose around my spine.

Blaze stood, pretending to stretch his wings while watching Geoffrey out of the corner of his eye.He slipped something into our drinks.

Geoffrey returned with a tray of drinks, handing three goblets to us and one to his brother before taking one forhimself. He then took a decanter and topped Felicity’s drink. He set the tray down on a small table between the sofas.

I followed Drae’s lead, picking up my goblet, though not drinking. Blaze sat beside me while holding the stem of his goblet away from him as if he was afraid to inhale its fumes.

---