Page 68 of Beyond the Faerie Gate

Fae spill out of every entrance, laughing. Drinking. Singing along to the music echoing from within. Some are even hanging out of the windows, or pressed up against them, fucking to the delight of the crowd below. It looks like any other cheery brothel on a busy night.

There are guards too—a lot of them. They patrol the area in black uniforms with silver orchids emblazoned over their hearts.

An anguished scream rips through the air, and as one, most of the patrons raise their glasses, whooping. When it happens again, a minute later, they do the same thing.

Sick, twisted… assholes!

I may not know much about sex, but that is not the noise of someone who’s enjoying themselves. That was fear.

“So, what’s our plan of action?” Lore asks, catching up with me now that I’ve stopped across the street.

I ignore him, delving into my connection to Danu as Maeve suggested. Unlike before, when it felt like home and freedom, this time the power at the core of me is pure, unfiltered rage. I’ve never felt like this, and deep inside, it terrifies me.

But that part of me is buried deep in my connection to the Goddess. Lost under the avalanche of our combined fury.

“You’ll go inside, and you’ll do whatever it takes to make Jaro and Drystan leave.” I don’t even recognise my own voice.

Lore’s teeth-filled smile mirrors the savage way I feel. He doesn’t question me, just pecks a swift kiss to my cheek. “Have fun, pet.”

He blinks away without waiting to see what I’ll do.

The first step I take echoes across the street. Maeve and Mab move tight to my sides as I take another and another. I should be alarmed at the fact that I can feel them, but I’m so deep in the connection to Danu that it doesn’t register. My hair floats around my face, caught in a static charge as I come within touching distance of the first patrons.

Mab grips my shoulder in a silent show of support, and I lean into the touch as I raise my hand. Lightning—actual, honest to Goddess lightning—shoots from my fingertips, zapping through the crowd and striking the building beyond.

This time, it’s their turn to scream.

The closest people to me turn, catch sight of my eyes, and drop to their knees. The guards rush forward, only to do the same. One tries to attack me from behind, but his fellow soldier tackles him to stop the blow from ever touching me.

“Nicnevin.” The whisper ripples through the space, but I ignore it. My other hand flicks out, and a second bolt of lightning flies toward the brothel.

The fire sparks quickly. Flames lick up the nightshade vines, racing across them to the airy curtains which catch alight instantly.

Good, they deserve to burn.

Fae stream out of the building, and I force my way past them until I’m inside.

“Stop this!” a high fae screams. “We’ve done nothing!”

I pin her with my stare, taking in her expensive clothes and the jewels dripping from her ears and wrists. Is this the madam? The one who thinks she can own one of my Guard?

“You have someone of mine. I’m here to reclaim him.”

Her golden face pales, and she falls to her knees at my feet. “We didn’t believe it was real!” she pleads. “Your Majesty, he’s under fae! We thought it was just another of his tattoos.”

Maeve grabs my other shoulder as I bend and grab the Madam by the throat, forcing her to her feet with a strength I didn’t know I possessed. “Your excuses disgust me.”

Using my grip on her, I lift her bodily and throw her through the wall on my left and into the room beyond. She hits the next wall, causing the stone to shatter, and then slumps to the ground, unmoving.

Dead?

The part of me which cares is barely a whisper in the back of my mind.

I stalk through the building with Maeve and Mab still holding onto me. Together, we follow that sad whisper in my chest up three flights of stairs and down a corridor until I reach a hall of locked doors with tiny barred windows in them. Cells.

As I go, I crumple the locks on each of them in the palm of my hand, allowing the prisoners to flee.

When I reach the one at the end, I kick it open and come face to face with him for the first time.

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