Page 97 of Of Realms and Chaos

Bending down, the new male inspected my creature’s pulverized face, looking as if he couldn’t care less whether or not the damage was going to cause problems. Ah, a leashed prisoner.

“Your smart mouth is doing you no favors.” It was a causal statement, given with little care or compassion. Like how my creature said odd facts. It made me somehow angrier than watching him be beaten to near death.

“Well, at least one of us is smart. I dare say Prince Sterling could use a lesson or two on intelligence. Odd, seeing as he is rumored to be quite bookish.” The glorious deep tenor of his voice brought a wicked smile to my lips. When he laughed at the growl from the mortal, I nearly let my own humor ring out. I had forgotten that one didn’t have to be cruel to win. Such an oddity.

The prince in question stood, his forehead bleeding from where the bars split his skin. “One day those jokes of yours will be all you have, and that will be the moment you realize who has truly won.”

With that, the golden boy left, his head held far too high for how embarrassingly stupid he sounded. Apparently, my creature thought so too.

“Here I was thinking that was already all I had left. Foolish me for forgetting my lovely home of grime and mold. Thank you, Your Highness. Please, allow me to suck that little cock of yours as a thank you. Gods know it has been neglected!”

This time, the shadow wielder laughed too, the angry mumbling of the prince fading with each chuckle. But soon the air grew tense, a feeling of foreboding filling the spaces where the humor had quickly escaped. Something was very, very wrong.

After a moment, I realized what it was. A clicking noise could be heard in the distance, the sharp sound making my eyes blink and my ears twitch. The male that still stood above my creature smirked, turning his head towards the hallway the prince had just left through.

“You ready for more?” Again with a tone more casual than was warranted. He was toying with the prisoner, making a show of his nonchalance. My fingertips tingled from the influx of magic as the queen, with her tangerine hair and icy eyes, came into view.

The prisoner said nothing as she approached him, his face more stoic than I’d seen it before. Maybe they would end him quickly. At least then my creature wouldn’t suffer.

For some reason, the idea of his death troubled me deeply.

“Good afternoon, handsome,” the queen said, her gaze locked on my creature. It was impossible to miss his small flinch, the way he seemed to recoil from her presence igniting my fury. My thoughts warred between thinking him spineless and thinking her vile. “Malcolm, can you go fetch King Xavier?”

The male—Malcolm—didn’t hesitate, nodding quickly and then disappearing in a cloud of smoke-like shadows. Seeing him use that Moon magic was startling, just as it had been every time I witnessed it. It made sense of why the mortals and demons worshiped their false gods.

“Guess who we found roaming the Mortal Realm?” Her smile was wide, oddly sinister for something so beautiful. I quite liked her, despite the fact that she regularly ordered my creature to be tortured and hunted the same little fae princess that I did. She was despicable in the best way. A female hardened over time, crafted into a monster by those who raised her. I loved the potency of her, the way she so deeply burrowed herself in that sin.

My creature seemed prepared to offer a snide remark, a shaky version of his smirk on his lips, but then the cloud of shadows returned. They disappeared to reveal Malcolm and King Xavier, the latter looking as if he might be sick.

“Eternity spare me, I do so hate portaling.” His voice was strained, his pale skin taking on a green hue. The frown he wore was so deep that a single dimple appeared on his cheek, softening his pinched face.

“Pathetic,” Malcolm murmured under his breath, his glare practically burning a hole into the back of the king’s dark waves. Mia growled, pointing to the hallway where she had entered. For the first time, the demon hesitated, defiantly lifting his chin.

There it was, the explanation for this odd relationship. He was in love with her. Now, that was pathetic.

After a small showdown between the queen and the demon, Malcolm finally relented and disappeared, portaling to who knew where. Mia schooled her face back into neutrality, hiding some sort of eagerness that made my magic sing.

“Now that we are alone, I have some exciting news.” The queen’s words were enough to stop the two males from breathing, both looking at her with eyes that portrayed two very different emotions. “We found her.”

Xavier’s smile was bright, the pure joy on his face surprising. Did he love Asher? Could anyone love someone whom they had so thoroughly abused? “Perfect, I will go get her. Where—”

“No, you will not. You proved yourself useless when you could not kill that thing we call son.” Venom spewed from her, the words so poisonous that I wondered how they didn’t kill the foolish king.

“I fail to see why I need to be here for this little lovers’ quarrel.” Stupid male, why was it so hard for him to shut that luscious mouth of his?

Luckily for him, the lovers in question were too focused on one another to punish the insolence.

“Seeing as you failed to do so first, I do not see how you are any more qualified to retrieve her.” His insult struck her like a slap, going so far as to make her flinch from the contact. Well, well. The king had balls after all. “While we are on the topic, perhaps we can appeal to that thing rather than risk her being harmed.”

The stone beneath my feet began to rumble, as if the planet itself were attempting to split in two. A single rose grew from the queen’s palm, thorns tearing their way through her.

“Asher will be safe, make no doubt about that.” As her cold voice echoed through the room, I left, knowing the truth of her words.

Asher would be safe—until they got their claws into her.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Bellamy

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