Page 342 of Bitten By the Fae
“Oh, what have you done, Shade?” I asked, noting the expressions of all my fellow Councilmen.
Even Lima appeared grim.
But Emelyn stood beside him with an expression of confusion that rivaled the looks worn by Tray and Ella.
“They know everything,” Shade drawled, sliding his hands into his pockets and leaning against the wall in the picture of comfort. “They know you’ve bonded to Aflora. Just as they know she’s been with Zakkai this whole time. And right now, your grandfather is using your Guardian to locate them at the party. Because they also know they’re here.”
“They’re here?” I repeated, my eyebrows lifting. The rest was, well, catastrophic, but the thought that Aflora washere…Oh, fuck.
Shade nodded, confirming my darkest fear. “You see, I’ve been reporting to them from the beginning. Because it was what they asked me to do. And it’s my duty as the future king of my line to do right by my faction. Just as it was your duty to do rightby all of Midnight Fae kind. But you’ve failed. Rather epically, if I’m being honest.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. This wasn’t the Shade I knew. It reminded me of that sensation I’d picked up from my father earlier, only it didn’t seem to be consuming Shade in the same way.
“Anyway, I tried, Kolstov. But you kept taking every wrong turn. I really was left with no choice. Maybe one day you’ll understand. Assuming you survive the descension.”
“Descension?” I understood the term, at least on principle. But as far as I knew, it’d never been done. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, he’s very serious,” my father said as he entered the room, that bizarre energy still wrapped around him. “You’ve mated an abomination. Hidden key facts about her growing powers. Lied to me and the Council about her whereabouts. Chosen her over all of us and your own kind.” He shook his head, his golden gaze holding more censure than sadness.
This is not my father,I thought, searching for the man beneath the shell, the one who wouldneveragree to an ambush of this nature.
Yes, I’d fucked up.
But he’d given me life. Created me.Lovedme.
“Dad, I?—”
“Quiet,” he snapped, shutting Tray down with a wave of his hand. Power shot from his fingertips, nailing my brother in his chest and knocking him to the floor on a groan I felt to my very soul.
“What the fuck?” I demanded, stepping forward, ready to take this imposter down. Our father would never conduct himself in such a manner.
Yet no one seemed to notice.
Everyone just had this vacant acceptance about them, like they were watching some film in the Human Realm, not a father assaulting his son.
“You’ve been tried and found guilty of conspiring with Quandary Bloods, abusing your position as heir to the Elite Blood throne, and perjury against the Council,” my father announced. “The punishment of which is immediate descension and the denouncing of your Elite Blood ties.”
My eyebrows shot upward. “When was the trial?”
“Today.”
I nearly laughed. “And I wasn’t given a chance to speak on my own behalf? To my own damn Council?”
“I spoke for you,” Shade said. “As your mate.”
My lips parted as realization hit me square in the chest. “You son of a bitch. That’s why you bit me!”
The bastard had the audacity to shrug.To. Shrug. Like it meant nothing that he’d taken all my rights away with a single damn bite!
And no, the irony of this situation was not lost on me.
Because he’d just done to me what he’d done to Aflora in the beginning.
“This is so fucked up,” I said, shaking my head.
“What’sfucked upis my own son, myblood, choosing an abomination over his duty to the crown.” My father—or whoever this dick was—shook his head. “The descension begins now.”
“Who are you?” I demanded.
