Page 13 of Wrath of the Fae

‘Yeah, Tessa. I wanna know.’

‘Any answer they give will never be enough. Any answer they give will only break your heart more, and you can not risk that.’ Her hand grips mine, and her icy stare tinges on desperate pleading. ‘Sense my truth, Raven Rivers. I do not like you.’

True.

‘But I trust you. We need you to help us set this right before the human world and our own are swallowed whole by monsters and their masters.’

‘I’ll fight till my last breath, Tessa. I will not stop. So if you are that concerned about me, then you better come along and keep me level.’

I give her a sarcastic smirk and stride past her. Wolf steps aside and allows me through.

‘That’s settled then,’ Lucca grins. ‘C’mon, Tessa. Let’s chat with some First Kingdom fuckers.’

‘STOP, RAVEN! Fucking stop!’ Tessa shoves me back and stands before me, trembling from head to foot. Her entire body is splattered with blood. It covers her face, hair and clothes.

Her fault. She stood too close. Terror is painted on her features, not just on hers but also on the others lingering at the edge of the room.

Lucca steps forwards and slowly takes the sword from my hand, staring at me intently as if waiting for any signal I may turn it on him next.

‘He’s dead,’ he tells me softly. ‘Dead and gone. Let me take this.’

They better be. They deserve to be.

They screamed and begged. They sobbed. Bled. Gagged on their insides and eventually died. Before they left this world, Lucca dug into their thoughts as I sunk their iron weapons deep into their flesh, scratching bone and tearing muscle. They eventually spoke their truth. They spilt every word they could, all in the hope that they would be spared.

They weren’t. They spared no one themselves. I know because I sensed their lies. I felt their disgusting, grotesque truth.

Little men given authority over those who once stood above them. The leader was a vile creature. Now he sits before me in pieces. He lusted after the girl who lived in his village before he joined the First Kingdom army. She didn’t love him. She didn’t even like him. When he swore allegiance to the king, she was his gift.

She’s dead now.

I hold his sword in my hand. The blade drips with thick, warm blood. His blood. But once, hers slid down it and ran over his fingers. It bubbled as it reacted to the iron of the blade, just as his does now, like butter on a heated skillet.

I look at it. This foreign metal was brought over into the Fae realm by Ivan fucking Walker and his sadistic Authority agents. There is no iron here. Not naturally. I rest my palm close to its surface. It hums, but not as much as some of the other iron blades I have seen since arriving here. It’s not supposed to be here, and although its effect on us is still painful and devastating to our powers, its strength fades over time. This blade must be a year old, at least. I rest my hand on it, and my skin sizzles a little. My magic cowers deep inside me but doesn’t abandon me completely.

I close my eyes and let out a long breath to steady myself.

Blood. So much blood. My hands warm as it slides between my fingers. My palms are slick and smothered.

Huge droplets fall and land on the floor at my feet

Drip. Drip. Drip.

It’s all I can hear. The scent of pennies and rot are all I can smell.

So much red…

I asked when he had seen Rhea.

He replied that he saw her on her wedding day, three weeks after she and the others returned to the Fae realm.

Three weeks after she watched me die screaming beneath that arch. Three weeks, and she had married my Mate.

My Mate!

The soldier then said he saw her again four months ago in the great hall of the King’s palace.

My mother’s palace.

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