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The guards, who’d been staring at me from the hovel, suddenly snapped back to life and ran toward me.
I turned around, facing them, ready to fight whoever else was ready to take my life.
But the magic manacles snapped around my wrists before I could do anything. I looked at the guards, furious that they’d caught me yet again, but there wasn’t anger or irritation or sheer disinterest in their eyes.
What I saw was fear. They were terrified of me.
I’d just killed their monster. They hadn’t put the cuffs on me because they were worried I would escape. They’d chained me because they feared what else I would do.
4
AFae male stepped into the arena, and he looked every inch a warrior. He was tall and thickset, with muscles for days. Cropped brown hair stressed his hard expression, and his green, merciless eyes tracked me when he walked to me.
“Come with me,” he said.
I stared at him defiantly. I wouldn’t do what he said. I didn’t want to do what any of them said.
When I didn’t move, he grabbed my arm in his giant hand and dragged me with him.
He was strong, but not only as a warrior. He had magic, too—more magic than any Fae I’d encountered in Steepholde. It flowed through me the moment he touched me. My muscles tensed, and I prepared to go another round. I had to get out of here, but his magic paralyzed me. Iwantedto fight him. I couldn’t do anything, though.
Ihatedmagic.
He dragged me through the entrance he’d appeared from and up golden carpeted stairs. When we stepped under the roof, the cool breeze and shade brought relief after the scorching sun. I was filthy, sweaty, and covered in blood—the monster’s and my own.
“Thank you, Dex,” King Rainier said when the warrior—Dex—planted me, wobbly legged, in front of the King.
“Kneel,” Dex ordered.
He didn’t give me a chance to defy him again. He shoved me down, and my knees hit the ground.
“Your Highness,” I said tightly.
“Look at me,” King Rainier said.
I glanced up, and our gazes locked. Those icy eyes bore into the depths of my soul, and again, the world stopped. Everything faded away, and the two of us were removed to a different plane. His eyes swirled to become a brilliant azure and then a deep cerulean color.
“You’re not Zander,” he said, and his words sliced through the spell that seemed to hold us together. In an instant, his eyes changed back to the color of ice. His voice was deep, smooth like velvet, and a shiver ran down my spine. But his face was hard, contrasting with his warm voice.
I shook my head. “Obviously not.”
“Execute her for treason,” Lucia said. Her voice was sharp and unpleasant. “I don’t know what her plan was. Maybe she tried to infiltrate and kill you, too, my love.” She put her hand on his.
“Be quiet,” King Rainier snapped.
He shook off her hand. He sat upright and tall, but he was stiff and unyielding.
The future Fae Queen looked shocked, but Lucia snapped her mouth shut. She leaned back in her high-backed chair rather than leaning toward the King as she had been. She folded her hands in her lap.
“What magic is this?” he asked me.
“I don’t know. It’s not mine.”
“Then how did you shift back into your normal form?”
“Maybethatform isn’t her normal form,” Lucia interjected. “Maybethatcreature is the trick.”
I glared at her.
