Page 66 of Tell Them That I’m Coming

“Yes,” I reply evenly. “You took someone I love.”

She snorts then, soft and dismissive yet still undeniably feminine. “Love. You demons cling to it like it’s some sort of gift. A virtue.” Her gaze flicks briefly toward my mate. “And yet,” she continues, “you stand beside a fae who has never known it.”

“He didn’t know it before me,” I correct. “And that’s your fault. You broke your realm,” I say quietly. “You cursed it because you were hurt.”

Celeste’s grin—no longer friendly, but cruel—sharpens. “I freed it from the shackles of a bond thrust upon them they may not want. And look,” she adds, “I allow them the chance to purchase the bonds they choose. For the right amount of gold, any noble fae female can have your demon friend.”

Not as long as I’m alive.

“You will give him to me,” I say.

She raises her delicate eyebrows. “Careful, halfling.”

No.

“I didn’t come here to beg,” I say. “And I didn’t come to be bought. I’m certainly not paying any gold for the male who’s been like my kin all my life.” Sensing my resolve, the butterflies launch upward, spiraling in a whirl of orange and black. Binx chitters a warning—for the queen, not me—and my shadows start to thicken around my boots as I proclaim: “I came to take back what you stole from me.”

A hint of fear touches the corner of her eyes as she glances at Thane. “Thandriel. Come stand by my side.”

Thane shakes his head. “No.”

Her eyes flash, glowing almost as bright as mine. “I call you by your true name. Obey me. Thandriel, come.”

Thane’s fingers brush the top of my hand before throwing his cloak behind him, altering his stance so there’s no denying his defiant report. “You don’t have power over me any longer, Celeste. Not since I accepted Alana as my mate. Not since she gave me the great pleasure of taking me as hers.”

“You would defy me for her?” the queen asks coolly.

“Yes.”

His answer is simple. Final. Even better, he means it.

She sputters, and I do what I can to draw her attention back to me as I say softly, “Your reign ends today.”

Pity she’s not about to go quietly…

“Guards!” she shouts. “Grab my nephew. Bring him to me now!”

I almost shout out that he’s not her nephew. That he never was. That she stole him… but it hits me then. It’s not just Rafe I need to rescue.

I need to rescue Thane.

I need to rescue all of Noctavara.

The four guards all lunge for Thane. Obviously. The queen ordered them to bring him to her, and despite my being the demoness spoken of in the prophecy—or that she, at least, believes I am—I’m a twenty-five-year-old halfling who let herself be caught and chained by slavers when she was taking a pee. I’m not the threat, obviously.

But that’s only because they underestimated Alana of Sombra.

I defeated King Yelios when I was four months old.

Who knows what the doppelseers saw me do in Noctavara, but now I’m going to eliminate Queen Celeste now.

Whether he meant to give me access to his sword belt or not—and, knowing Thane, I definitely think he did—I reach for the hilt jutting slighting from its sheathe. When the guards caught us in the halls, they took my sword.

They didn’t take Thane’s.

He was the queen’s… something. They didn’t want to offend her, I guess, but that was their mistake.

Before anyone can realize who the true threat in the gold throne room is, I channel my Mom, remembering how the other human parents tease about the time she stole Glaine’s sword from his belt, and snatch Thane’s.