Page 466 of Bitten By the Fae
And the dark source.
These fae needed me more, too. They required my light and life to guide them into a phase of regrowth and prosperity.
Which required me to do something destructive first.
Something I would never have considered doing just weeks ago.
But I’d learned through my trials that sometimes we must destroy to pave the way for re-creation. For life could not exist without death.
Constantine was a bad seed, his mentality so warped by wrongness that he could no longer see the light. Being a queen required tough choices, and this would be my burden to bear.
My final ascension trial.
Returning the bad seed to the earth, where it could eventually be reborn and blossom into something good.
Claire studied me, her blue irises intense and guarded as memories flashed through her eyes. I recognized the haunted gleam in her features because I often felt it myself when I thought about Elana. She’d destroyed nearly all the Spirit Fae with a plague that she’d later turned on the Earth Fae.
I’d felt that dark magic, had absorbed and dismantled it before it could reach the heart of my source. I hadn’t understoodit at the time, my mind working on protective instinct alone, but now I knew that gift had come from Zakkai.
As his Quandary Blood mate, I’d been able to save my fellow Earth Fae by reconfiguring Elana’s spell and pushing it away from my kingdom.
Which meant I’d been an abomination all along, since the young age of seven.
Yet I lived in peace with my fellow Elemental Fae. And now I would share that peace with the Midnight Fae.
“I’m not a threat,” I told her softly. “It’s not how much power we have that matters; it’s how we use it.” And if anyone would understand that, it would be Claire. As an Elemental Fae with access to all five elements, she knew better than anyone what power could do to a fae.
“Being connected to two sources makes you beyond powerful,” Constantine seethed. “It makes you wicked and deceitful, and I’ll ensure that everyone sees through this charade you’ve created.” Inky wisps of energy seeped from his fingertips while he spoke, but no one else seemed to notice.
The dark source protested in my heart, telling me this wasn’t the way, begging me to fix it.
This was the magic he’d used to manipulate and control others, the wicked spell that had consumed two Elite Bloods and likely several others.
Tadmir’s obsidian gaze met mine, knowledge sprouting from his depths.
He can’t see it, but he can feel it,Zakkai explained.Just like me. Although, I can sense it more clearly through your mind.
It’s like black tendrils of smoke,I told him.Pouring out of him in waves.
This is his final stand,Zakkai whispered as the power strengthened, sending electric sparks across my psyche.
Yes.
But I wasn’t going to fight Constantine.
Enough fae had been injured and hurt by his games and antics. I wanted to blossom on a platform of regrowth and life. Not stand on the skulls of those who had wronged fae kind.
This kingdom had been ruled by death for far too long.
It was time to demonstrate what vitality and light could do.
Constantine sent his power outward on a rush of air, touching the souls of everyone nearby, even Claire. But I caught the roots before they could connect to the cores of their beings.
And I gently pulled it back, refusing to allow their spirits to be tarnished by his darkness anymore.
“Constantine Nacht,” I said, my voice carrying through the LethaForest and beyond. “You rule from a throne of destruction and hate. It’s time for a new era of re-creation and love.”
I pulled his spell into my staff while I spoke, the black ribbons easily responding to my call.
