Page 71 of Heart of Dawn
Rather than long hair, the prince sported a shorter haircut, eloquently coiffed. While his brother favored burgundy suits, Dorian wore them in either emerald green or sapphire blue, a silver rose brooch always pinned to his left lapel.
“Another member of the royal family come to manipulate our precious queen?” the spider accused, venom dripping from her fangs.
He shook his head, his eyes finding me. “I’m here to stop my brother.”
King Damien seemed to regain some of his confidence in the presence of his twin. “Stop me?” he got to his feet. “Why would you stop me?”
“Because, quite frankly, you’re an idiot.”
Wow. Just look at those angry fists the king made. He didn’t like being talked back to one little bit.
“I am your king,” he returned, pouring vitriol into his response. “How dare you speak to me in such a tone? You are as bad as him.” He pointed an angry finger at me.
Dorian folded his arms. “You’re a king who’s lost his way. You can’t replicate this realm; you have to defend it. We’ve been expecting a turn in the tide. We’ve always known we’ve been delaying the inevitable, that Dawn will come to us one day. And now it’s here.”
“All the more reason to make a new Faery,” Damien countered.
The prince shook his head. “I swear you live in denial, brother. Did you not see what was happening here on the watching orbs? Or were you too blinded by greed? I’m thinking the latter. Nevertheless, we have to prepare for war.”
King Damien chuffed. “I see. You advocate war and bloodshed while I seek the peaceful solution. Understood. This is exactly why mother chose me over you.”
Wonderful. My final hours got to be spent listening to the bickering of royal twins.
“She chose you because you’re her favorite,” Dorian returned. “But I don’t care. I’m here to stop you, to make you understand that we have to fight for our realm.” He pulled an orb from his pocket. “I had an encounter with something outside the city walls. I recorded it to show you, but you’d already left the palace.”
Dorian handed his brother the orb.
The king clicked a button on the sphere and a projected video appeared above it, the rectangle big enough for us all to see.
Shaky video revealed the beach below the monolithic Majestic City. A skeleton stood on the sand with pink firesblazing in its eye sockets, bones rattling as it hopped from foot to foot.
“I am coming for you all,” it said. “An ocean of me devours.” Dawn howled with laughter, the skeleton collapsing into a pile of bones.
The video ended there.
King Damien paled. “What is this?”
“I think Dawn is building an army with a variety of the dead.”
“Which makes sense,” Wendy cut in. “It can’t withstand the blood of the fae, but it can have the undying ones, the dead, and soon it will get a firm grip on the other creatures of this realm.”
“By the stars,” I added weakly.
Dorian offered me a sympathetic smile. “I’m so sorry my brother did this to you. I will fix it, don’t worry.”
Damien moved to cut off the prince as he came towards me. “Go home. Now. This does not concern you. None of this does. You are nothing more than my subject with the luck of royal blood in your veins. You have no power here. Now go home before I beat you to a pulp.”
At that moment, Anya scurried at the king. She reared and drove her fangs into his left shoulder. He immediately collapsed into a twitching heap, then went as still as his guards.
I yelped in surprise. A spiteful agony gnawed at my insides, the pain making my eyes water. The effects of the moat diminished, drawing several desperate cries from my throat.
“I had enough of his tongue,” Anya said.
“Understandable,” Dorian replied.
Wendy buzzed on my cheek. “Hold on, Orion. Please hold on.” She took off, flying up to the first cell she’d filled. “The deal is broken. The moment the honey is ready, we are out of here.”
“I’ll heal you.” Dorian’s deep voice drifted into my ears, full of softness. “Everything will be okay.” He cleared his throat and pulled the most ridiculous face I’d ever seen. It wasn’tparticularly funny, but the ridiculousness of it got me laughing like a child.
