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Damn.
My eyes flick to Slade, finding him bored with all of this, if his expression is telling.
“You’re not going to do anything…dirty, are you?” I ask warily.
“The incubus never crossed such a line. He charmed us—never forced or used his power to coerce us,” she answers immediately. “I can promise nothing of the like will happen to him. As I said, he will not be touched or harmed.”
“Will you tell me what you’re going to do with him?” I ask on a defeated breath.
“No, Your Grace.”
“She can refuse to answer. She just can’t lie,” Slade tells me when I look over at him to see if his illegal spell has worn off. “I’m curious why she’s being so lenient, since it’s clear she’s wanted this revenge for a while.”
“Because the incubus is no longer the same male,” Polly answers. “And because we’re loyal to the royal family—a family the incubus is a part of.”
Slade groans. “Why the hell are you loyal to them?”
Polly levels him with a glare. “Because the night stalkers picked us off without consequence. The lycans ransacked our homes and stole our precious things without consequence. There was no law—only a pecking order with a charade of a fair and just council for all sides. But they all feared war, so they did nothing as their people died, bled dry by those who would never suffer a just fate.”
She lowers her eyes when she looks back at me.
“Our queen restored law. She created these forests where my sisters and I have been able to restore ourselves from the dangerous world that once nearly drained us dry. Without this place, we’d be a shadow of our former selves.”
Slade looks confused as his eyes dart to mine. “Your mother fucking created this forest?”
“You really don’t know something for once?” I ask with a bit more bite than necessary.
Flicking my gaze back to Polly, I silently apologize to Dice, but he really does deserve a little shame. “Three hours. Not four. If he tells us he was tortured or harmed in any way, my mother will carry out her law.”
Taking her hand, I cast my own spell. A spell I know she feels and understands, given the expression in her eyes.
Her lips twitch. “Anything you say, Your Grace. You will be a fair queen one day,” is all she says before she disappears from sight.
Or a really stupid one with a list of regrets.
Slade starts to dematerialize, like he’s finally done with all this, and I take a seat, getting comfortable on the meadow’s grass just outside the wicked forest.
Immediately, Slade turns back solid and glares at me.
“What the hell are you doing? You heard her. It’ll be three hours.”
“And I’ll wait right here all three hours, because I hexed her. If at any time Dice is harmed, she’ll suffer triple the fate. The hex won’t lift until he’s back at my side. But I want to be close enough to hear screams, just in case I need to save him.”
He continues to glare as though my explanation is silly.
“If you can hex people that effectively, why the hell aren’t you doing it to Gavin, Morgana—or the fucking demon inside her—and giving them a fate just as fucking burdening?”
Rolling my eyes, I lie back, letting my eyes get heavy.
“That forest pumped my more dormant parts. It always does. It fuels my darker pieces because it was created by the darkest magic. My hexer abilities aren’t usually so powerful, and only if my adrenaline has been pushed to the maximum. As it has today. Besides, Polly isn’t as anywhere close to as powerful as anyone you just mentioned, which makes it almost effortless for me to hex her.”
Cursing, he takes a seat next to me, and I crack one eye open to look up at him. “No one is asking you to stay. Thank you for your help back there, even though you’re still a murderous psycho
path.”
He glares down at me, and I try not to smile.
It’s been a twisted fucking day like that.
