Page 14 of Queens Ride Horny Dragons
The three of them shared a look that turned my stomach to stone.
Vance released a breath. "Dragon shifters have…certain enemies."
I never would've guessed that about them.
"Who?" I asked, my voice shaking because I was sure I would hate the answer.
"Fae,” Calhoun growled.
Vance nodded. “The dark, terrible kind. We went to war over land about five hundred years ago and then signed a peace treaty. They live in their territory, we live in ours, and in the middle is a line neither of us crosses."
"And if one side crosses that line?" I asked.
Vance closed his eyes briefly, his jaw tight with tension. "Crossing the line is an act of war."
Oh my fucking god. War? If that guy in the video was fae, then the war had already begun. I touched my fingers to my mouth to keep in all my screams, my curses, my wishes to take Asa and run away. I looked back at my brother, and he was happy as can be, completely oblivious while he painted his rocks. The way it should be.
Tavis crossed his arms, worry lines on his forehead that I’d never seen before on him. "It might not be them. We don't even have proof that this guy killed Oliver. He shot him. Maybe that was it."
"Calhoun said that Oliver…” I started, my voice sounding very far away, “that Oliver's body was a warning.”
“It was… It had to be a warning." Calhoun gazed at me, the corners of his eyes tight with haunted agony.
We'd likely be sharing the same nightmares tonight.
"There was…” I swallowed hard and looked again toward Asa. “There was another murder while I was at the Vivix building today."
Calhoun surged to his feet. "What?" he hissed. “IknewI shouldn’t have left you there.”
"While you got the video footage?" Vance asked.
I nodded, taking Calhoun’s hand as a reminder that I was fine. Physically at least. He was, too, since he’d gotten himself all stitched up. "Someone came into the surveillance area while I was in there. I hid so I didn't get a good look at them, but I think they took the footage from today with them. I think they were looking for last night’s, too, and then…someone else came in. Caught whoever it was in the act."
Tavis shook his head in disbelief while his mouth hung open. Vance rubbed his eyes hard with his palms as if to scrub that info from his brain, and Calhoun stood with his hands balled so tightly into fists that his knuckles turned white. If he’d had his power surge, I would bet curls of steam would be rolling off of him.
"And then what?" he asked, his voice hard.
I tried to form the words for what I had seen underneath the desk on my way out, but that would mean picturing it in my head. For my own sanity, I couldn't. Not right now. Not when I was so tired and everything was so fucked up.
"I'm sorry," I choked out. "I can't."
"It's fine, Yara." Vance put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed some warmth back into me. "Really. Just tell us what you can."
"I got out of there when I could,” I said. “As fast as I could."
Calhoun blew out a slow breath. "Another murder."
Tavis ran a hand through his blue hair, making it spike up in all directions. “These murders… It feels almost casual, like it’s done without even a second thought.”
“It’s sounding more and more like the fae,” Vance muttered and turned away. “Cold. Brutal.”
"If it is the fae, what do we do?” I asked. “Is there a way to stop them?"
Vance turned back, his lips firmed together. "I’ve been cobbling together stories of what happened last night. Our goddess went missing before we got our power surge, which sure can't be a coincidence. We're weakened. The fae…” He shook his head. “They don't need a monthly power surge."
I closed my eyes, exhaustion taking its toll, but forced them open against a bitter sting. No rest for the weary. Besides, how much worse was this going to get before it got any better? "They're powerful."
"Very," Tavis said.
