“Dear gods, there’s one… two...three of them!”I gasp as I watch three Hyatts and three Fabias battle it out.The three womenare allnowholdinga smashed bottle in their hand.The three Hyatts buzz angrily, swooping and diving over the crowd.
Running towards them with open arms, I shout, “Stop!”
A flying shoe slamsinto my nose, dropping me to the ground.Groaning, I mumble, “So we meet again.”Even in pain, Iama freaking polite brownie.
Clutching my face, I crawl onto my hand and knees.I look up to findthatthe three waspshavedisappeared.I really hope they’veflown off.But Idon’tget the chance to look around for them before my visionisblocked by three Fabias.And they all look pissed.
Climbing to my feet, Igoon the defensive.That’salways the best course of action when itcomesto talking toMad Fabia.“Why did you never tell me you were a triplet?”I ask.“I thought we shared everything.”
All three of them roll their eyes.Oh yeah, they’resorelated.Theyhavethat down pat.
“Like you told me when you picked up all the wasps?”
Drat.This was not supposed to backfire.Time to use the ‘can’t be mad at me because I did it for a good reason’ technique.
“But I only did it so they wouldn’t grow up like you.”Itbreaksmy heart knowing shegrewup thinkingthatno one, not even her parents, loved her.Having seen her pain, Ican’tlet anyone else go through that.The waspswereall alonebefore I found them, and no one should ever be alone.
“Like me?”sheaskscoldly.
Gods, they even all talk at the same time.That’srude.Now Idon’tknow which one to address.
“Yeah, like you,”I say to the one in the middle, hoping that’s the right Fabia.“All orphaned and stuff with no one to loveyou.But then we met, and now you’re not alone.Isn’t that nice?”
They purse their lips together,and I know I’m getting through to them.
I smile.“But hey, it’s cool you’ve found your sisters.Isn’t that nice?Group hug!”Stumbling forward, Iwrapmy arms aroundthe one I think is my best friend.She pressesher palm against my face and shoveshard.
“Get off me, you twat!”
Ah, her expression of loveisalways so energised.This oneisdefinitely the real Fabia.
“We still need to get the other wasps out of Brownston,” she hisses.“Do you have any brilliant plans for that?”
I nod vigorously.“Of course I do!Ihavethe bestestplanever!”
Seven
The queen sits at the top of the Razian hierarchy.Beneathher kneels the king.
The only kneeling I’ll do for a woman is when her legs are spread before my tongue.-KingRichard
If I wasn’t already planning on killing the Court, I sure as fuck would be now.They let it leak that I’m looking for a bride, and now every female noble, influential merchant, and war hero has requested a private audience.Most of them I’m able to refuse, but I cannot afford to offend them all.A king needs his allies, and when I extinguish the Court, I’ll need powerful ones to have my back.Especially since there are whispers of a coup again.Nothing substantial, of course.Not yet.
But I’ve caused too much tension by offering Vyla, the fairy kingdom to the north, a way to surrender rather than annihilating them completely.Half of the populace is saying it’s a clear sign of weakness.That this is why a man isn’t fit to rule Raza.The other thinksit’s a plan of idiocy.That it will cause the other three kingdoms we’re at war with to attack us harder, thinking we’re ripe for the picking, and if they do so all at the same time,wecould be the ones being annihilated.
So when the door to my study is opened for the seventh time tonight, I school my face into a mask of pleasantry and look up from my work.Yet another woman stands before me, hoping to take my crown.But the mere fact that she is here means she will not be the one I marry.I need someone I can manipulate.Who isn’t bright or ambitious.Who does not know even the basis of our laws.And who is too naive to see me coming until my knife is in her back.
“Your Majesty,” thewoman says, bowing at the waist until I can see the back of her neck.Fighting the urge to stab her in it and have Jace clean up the mess, I wait to hear her out.As she drones on, it isn’t lost on me that this is what the Court wants – keeping me too busy to see to my royal responsibilities, let alone to any of my nefarious plans.It’s been six days since that damn wedding, and with every day that passes, the Court has more time to discover what I’m up to while I don’t have the time to make sure they can’t.
So I burn through our conversation as fast as possible – pleasantries, respecting the influence of her family, flirting with her just enough that she thinks she has a chance at my hand but not so much that she’ll turn spiteful when she does not get it, and then kicking her out.Politely, of course.
As soon as Jace closes the door, I focus back on my work, shifting through the ridiculous pile of public grievances laid upon my desk.Most ofthemare about our upcoming peace treaty with the Vylians.Five months ago, I led our troops to a hard-won victory, conquering not just the border areathat ourtwokingdoms have been fighting over for centuries but also a handful of Vyla’s major cities.I carved a clear path to their capital.I couldhave enslaved them all, including their king, but instead, I waved a white flag.A move that will “destroy our kingdom”, according to the grievance in front of me.
My brows pinched, I start to read further, but I’ve not made it one paragraph before the next knock sounds.With a curse, I push to my feet and head for my study window.Yanking it open, I leanout and tumble into a roll.My wings spread out, and I take off under the glow of the firefox mossthat fills the lamps of our city.
Jace joins me in the night sky, chuckling in a way that makes me want to tear off his wings and watch him fall to the ground below.“Only you would be upset by spending an evening with beautiful women,” he teases.
“They’re not women.They’re locusts.”Ready to strip the very life out of the world, chewing it down to bone.None of them wish to marry me to rule by my side.Theywill hold more power than me as soon as they’re crowned.Then my life will be theirs to end because the Court will push it into their head (if the thought’s not already there) that I am no longer needed.I am Raza’s first ruling king, and they are determined that I will be the last.
