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That would have been a disaster. Sure, Beryl was a bit of a bitch and a local pain in everyone’s ass, but she was an integral part of the fae community. Losing her would send them all into a panic. And Fenrir would get stronger.
It wasn’t that he was sated by the landscape and ghosts that he’d been eating. It was that he’d come here looking for another source of sustenance. He wasn’t going to get it now.
Beryl lifted her head, locked eyes with Fenrir, and smirked…right before disappearing altogether. Fenrir’s upper lip twitched in a snarl. He sat upright and threw a hand back, grabbing the butler by his chest.
The room filled with a sucking sensation that pulled at more than just my skin and hair. It yanked at the sea of arcana deep inside me, making it roil with massive waves. I bent double as the massive thrashing waves of my arcana threw me off balance. Maddox wound an arm around my shoulders to keep me from falling out of my seat.
When I lifted my head, the room slowly settled back into place. There was only empty space where the butler had been. I realized, belatedly, that I’d just watched Fenrir feed. That explained how he’d eaten amountain top.
We’d managed to keep him from eating Beryl, but her fae servant hadn’t fared so well. I really hoped she wasn’t going to blame us for that. She was the one who’d run.
Now, we just had to figure out a way to get out of here without starting a fight.
“I like Maddox. Because of my respect for him, I’ll leave the two of you for last.” Fenrir dabbed at his mouth with his napkin like he was some sort of movie cannibal with impeccable manners.
He set down his napkin, which was perfectly clean because he’dabsorbeda person. When he looked up and leveled an annoyed glare in my direction, my blood turned cold. This time, it wasn’t my power. It was pure fear.
The corner of Fenrir’s mouth lifted as he looked me up and down. “I felt the depth of your power. I could drink you all day and never reach the end of your arcana. I see why my friend loves being in your presence so much that he would gladly put on a collar for you. He is drunk on your arcana the same way a human might get drunk on fairy wine. It will destroy him in the long run.”
My jaw clenched. My breath whistled between my teeth. Though I was tempted to pull on his life force, I had a feeling that I would find it nigh endless. He would strike me down before I drained him. There was only one thing I could do, and I was very nervous.
One lesson hadn’t been enough, but I’d just watched Fenrir devour an entire person. We couldn’t let Fenrir walk around unchained any longer.
With several ghosts lingering in the room, I found a few unbound fate threads. All I had to do was reach out and bolster them with my arcana until they became chains. I hoped Maddox was ready.
“We could take her, together,” Fenrir said to Maddox.
I paused, halfway to the unbound fate threads.
“You and me,” Fenrir went on. “If she’s the kind of woman you think she is, then she won’t have a problem letting you take everything you need from her. Maybe then you’ll be satisfied for a while. Can you imagine? That deeply sated feeling that’s been evading you ever since you were changed? You could have it. Let her give it to you.”
Fenrir twisted his words so perfectly. He suggested killing me, but in a way that made it seem like it was my idea. My upper lip curled. I drew my arcana around myself, but Maddox’s presence sucked it down like a juice box all over again.
My breath hitched. Of course, this wasn’t going to be easy.
Come on, Maddox. Tell him that you would never agree to that.
But Maddox remained silent. He kept his palm pressed to my shoulder, keeping me in my seat. My heart thumped, but the brush of Maddox’s soul against mine was enough to assure me that Fenrir’s manipulation was failing—horribly.
Maddox would never harm me.
Though, the tremble of his hand on my shoulder spoke of another story. I realized that Maddox doubted himself. His hunger tempted more than he would have liked, so I took a wave of power and thrust it into him.
Fenrir was right about one thing. I would give Maddox as much as he wanted.
“You should be wary of women like her,” Fenrir said, his eyes narrowing in my direction. “You should know that you and I were born the same way. As I was dying, the woman I loved brought me back from the dead. It was in complete defiance of everything she stood for. Actions like that make a man really feel loved. That was until we understood what she’d turned me into. I wasn’t alive, but I wasn’t dead, either.
“I hungered. It was an impossible, insatiable hunger. I think you might compare it to your modern zombie movies, though I’d like to think that I had a bit more sentience than your typical zombie.”
Fenrir leaned back in his chair. He plucked the bread from the table and ripped it in half before plunging a chunk of it in the seasoned oil with tiny flowers floating in it. When he bit into the bread, he tore at it with a vengeance.
“The woman I loved quickly realized what she’d done, and she no longer looked at me with kindness. In fact, I only ever saw disgust in her face after that. I knew she hated herself for what she’d done in the name of love. She made sure to keep the process of my creation out of every book, which I’m sure you’ve noticed so far. She didn’t want anyone to make a monster like me ever again.” Fenrir bit into his bread again, tearing at it.
His lover might have shunned him, but I would never do the same. I could give Maddox everything he needed. If Fenrir’s lover had the power to make something like him, then she should have done the same. He deserved better, but he’d let his anger turn into this world-ending hunger. I wasn’t going to feel pity for him now.
I had other priorities, like Maddox and all that I owed him. I would give Maddox every ounce of my arcana for all that I’d put him through . He would never drink me dry, though. I was a godkin. My power reached far deeper than Fenrir suspected. Though I hated the duties that’d been given to me, I knew I could do it.
Once more, I reached for the unbound fate threads. I grasped them and snapped them, my arcana flooding them until they thickened into chains.
