Page 28 of The Beast King's Bride

“I told you, my dear Talensar,” the Faerie says and her face seems to blur, letting another face show through underneath, like a glass mask shifting. “With every infraction you commit, and you have already committed many, time will always be the price you have to pay.”

“But I have almost no time left,” he grits out.

“No. Sad, isn’t it? If only I could kill you outright, if only the magic of Faerie would allow that, but no, I have to find roundabout ways to finish you off. But finish you off I will, of that have no doubt.” Her voice rises, echoes inside the throne room. “This court is mine. One by one, all Night Courts will fall to me, and the Day Courts will follow.”

Ice enters my spine. I don’t know what is going on but I have a feeling it’s very, very bad. The cold seems to be real, spreading through the hall, through the walls, reaching my hands that are resting on the wall.

Magic.

The empress is using this Lesser Faerie to be her voice, her eyes, her ears, but also a means through which to cast spells. Just how powerful is this empress?

And why should I care what happens to this Fae king and his kingdom, or even to the whole of Faerie land? If he made a bet with the empress and lost, if he’s a bad ruler and she decided he isn’t fit to rule anymore, if he lost some battle here in this world that I barely know, then tough. His problem, not mine.

It has nothing to do with me.

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