Page 85 of Wrath of the Fae

His face is in mine again. Those curved fangs an inch from my face, and those golden eyes filled with anger.

‘I’ve heard them scream,’he says.‘I’ve heard them cry for you. Princess. Little Bird. You have fantasised about seeing them break apart. That is what you want. To see those teeth break. Just as they broke you.’

‘What do you want from me, Leviathan?!’ I demand, terrified and angry but desperate not to show it.

Why isn’t this thing talking sense? Why has it brought me here?

‘What of the false King?’

‘What about him?’

‘You have a plan for him. What is it?’

‘Death,’ I reply, with utter truth.

‘And what of the humans?’it asks.‘Of the dark one poisoning their world?’

‘Ivan?’

It nods slowly.

‘He will die if it’s the last thing I do. Is that a problem for you, King of Monsters? He and the false king have allowed your children to rise and wreak havoc on the realm.’

He watches me. I focus on keeping my attention on those golden orbs, endless and burning.

‘They are not my children,’ he replies, moving closer.‘You do not know. Your wings have not told you.’

‘Told me what?’

He moves closer still. ‘I ruled this realm many aeons past. When the sky burned, and the ground shook. Darkness reigned, as did despair and suffering. I collected the souls of the damned for food and sport. I ruled. I revelled. The damaged and dangerous were swept to my home, and I played well with their pain. Until one morn, light spread across the sky. A tear between worlds. She fell, spiralling down. Down. Down.’ He turns again to the corpse. ‘So pure and good, there was no malice for me to take.Her home was stolen. Her kind was torn up and twisted. Her name was Alina,’it tells me, looking down at the body of the winged woman.‘The Queen of her realm. The Fae Queen. The first. The Goddess you all speak to.’Its eyes land on me.‘I saved her people. Gave them refuge here. But my creatures could smell them. They wanted to devour them. So I drove my monsters deep down and far from them. I held them. Kept them sleeping. They fed off pain. They fed off despair. Until the Fae were safe and strong, until they were happy, I had to keep my creatures away. Now they wake. They smell such pain and despair above us, and they’re insatiable. And I struggle to hold them, daughter of Fate. They are waking up. Two have already broken free. Of fire. Of sand.’

‘The Desert Demon. The fire creature below the mountain in the Eleventh Kingdom.’

‘Two of Thirteen Leviathans that I forced away are free. The others are waking up. Their pets too. Those so dangerous I sent them to sleep as well. And all are starving. All are hateful of the light ones I betrayed them for.’

‘You betrayed them? But why?’

He slowly starts to slither towards me.‘For her. For love. Our love made something I never thought could be.’

‘What?’ I whisper.

Its eyes narrow on me.

‘You.’

‘M-me?’ I breathe.

‘You are of my blood and hers.’He nods towards the body of the woman.‘Together, we made this place her new home.’

‘Who stole her old home?’

‘Wicked creatures, driven by greed and a need for power. Creatures that spread poison. That devour and pollute.’

‘Where are they now?’

‘Trapped. Her sister stayed behind and sealed them inside. Tell me… daughter of Fate. What are you willing to do to fix and save those stolen by your earthly father?’He towers over me.‘The Dark Fae in the human realm. The stolen powers that corrupt humanity. He intends to steal this realm too. Tear it apart. This one and that one. Just as his ancestor did before.’

‘His ancestor?’

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