Page 57 of Tik-Tok

“Have you now?” Tik-Tok said through clenched teeth.

A body suddenly flickered into existence, slumped in the throne. The elegantly wrought chair with its fine designs held the vilest of beings. Glarondal’s hair hung in thin, black clumps, patches of his head bald and bleeding. Brown spots dotted his dry, waxy skin. The rusty brown of his eyes was hidden beneath a blue film, and a large sore grew on the corner of his mouth. The body Tik-Tok had once feared beyond all things was now hunched, fingers bent at wrong angles, limbs little more than bone.

How?Fae didn’t age like this. They stopped showing their years once maturity was reached, and only began again when they were in their final century or so. Even then, it was never like this. Never so … mortal.

“How did you come to my kingdom, fae? Is there another who can open the portal?” He coughed and blood spurted from his lips. A darker, dried crimson covered the white tunic he wore. “If there is, bring him to me and I will reward you handsomely.”

“I will bring you no one,” Tik-Tok said without an ounce of leeway.No one,but especially not North. He walked slowly into the room, skimming his golden hand over the backs of the dining chairs. “After all the trouble it took to get here, I’m surprised you would want another portal.”

“This place will drain the magic from you,” Glarondal spat. “So gradually that you won’t notice until it’s too late. You can’t stay—take me back with you.”

Tik-Tok smirked. Seeing his father this way, hearing the desperation in his voice, was the sweetest gift. Even sweeter than his mother’s dying screams had been. “Oh, I have no intention of staying.”

Glarondal pushed up on the arms of his chair in an attempt to stand, but fell back in his seat. “We should leave for the Fae Lands immediately.”

“What will you do there?” Tik-Tok grimaced at the small white worms slithering through a bowl of fruit. “Will you rejoin your family?” He wasn’t sure why he asked, but he was curious. Not of his plans, but if he had an ounce of remorse in his abhorrent body.

“My family was murdered by my son,” he wheezed. “Hateful youngling.”

Tik-Tok froze.What thefuck?Was he serious? All thoughts became suspended as he stared down the worthless male. Even emotions failed him. For a single moment, he felt nothing—not anger, not fear, not glee or disgust.

Then it all came rushing back tenfold.

His eldest sister, cradling her stomach, protecting the life inside, even as their mother dragged the very essence from her body. His older brother, leaping in to save her. Their father meeting him, midair, with his sword, spilling his brother’s guts. The screeching cries of Tik-Tok’s younger sister as Glarondal stalked toward her with blood dripping from the blade. How he’d severed each of their spinal cords to make sure they stayed dead. And the way it felt to be held immobile by magic, watching,knowinghe would be next…

Tik-Tok lunged forward and, in the span of a breath, he held his sword against his father’s throat. “Ikilled them, Father?” he seethed. Glarondal’s mouth dropped open in shock. “I seem to remember it differently. Please, do tell me what happened.”

“Tik-Tok.” He drew a loud, gasping breath. “You’ve come for me.”

He pressed his blade a little deeper and a line of red trickled down Glarondal’s veined skin. “I’ve come tokillyou, you wretched blackguard. Fordecades, I’ve hunted for someone to open the portal. I made sacrifice after sacrifice to be here so I could chop you into tiny pieces and feed you to the sea. Even then, that wouldn’t be enough to pay back all you did to me and my siblings.”

“You can’t kill me.” Glarondal laughed, but it quickly turned into a cough. Tik-Tok eased the sword away so the bastard wouldn’t kill himself and rob him of his vengeance. “I’m agod.”

Respen laughed from across the room, but quickly shut his mouth when Tik-Tok shot him a glare. “Sorry, Captain. It’s just…” He gave Glarondal a scathing look.

“Captain?” Glarondal said, and latched onto Tik-Tok’s sleeve. “Who would follow a vermin like you?”

“Who would worship a piece of shit likeyou?” Respen shot back.

A spark of magic suddenly zapped Tik-Tok’s golden arm, tingling, and he yanked it away from his father. “Did you try to steal my magic?” he spoke quietly. Too quietly. Making it louder than the blasts from Salt’s ship.

“What happened to your arm?” Glarondal croaked, rubbing his hand as if it stung.

It probably did—his arm repelled any magic, including having it stolen, and his father had been foolish enough to try while touching it. Only one other had attempted it before, and the dryad had quickly become engulfed in flames, all from one small spark of protection. Tik-Tok leered down at his father. “I don’t think I’ll kill you after all,” he said slowly. “I think there’s a better end for you.”

“Wh—”

Tik-Tok motioned Respen over with a nod. “Take us back to the first village.”

“Aye, Captain.” Respen lifted a brow and gripped Tik-Tok’s shoulder. “Hold onto him.”

Tik-Tok grabbed the dying male by the throat, eliciting a panicked gasp, and Respen’s power dragged them from the cave, directly back to the crossroad where they’d stood only an hour ago.

Dropping his father, Tik-Tok strode up to the house that the young girl had exited earlier. He squared his shoulders and pounded on the door. Eagerness built in him as he waited for someone to answer. All this time, he’d wanted to savor his revenge, and this was how it needed to happen.

A portly being swung the door open and gasped. He was square-jawed and hairless—at least what wasn’t hidden beneath loose black robes that covered him from neck to ankle. “Your Exalted Eminence,” he said with a bow. The confusion on his face was hard to miss. His daughter had likely told him howblasphemoushe’d been before, striking doubt into the whole family. “It’s an honor. My daughters told me you’d arrived, so we prepared—”

“Enough.” Tik-Tok closed his eyes for a moment before he lost control of his temper and punched the innocent man. “Bring your family outside to bear witness.”

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