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“Hers looked fresh, as if she’d been in an explosion right there and then, but that doesn’t make sense, does it?”
“Unless she got caught in a trap.” Milo spoke up with a grim expression. “You’d think of such a tactic as one a dark fae would use, but that type of flame is so deadly in nature, the dark fae hate using it. They need permission from the royal kingdoms to use such dark magic, but fae kingdoms themselves have not banned the usage of such an elemental catastrophe.”
“What does it do?” I had to know what made it so different—or deadly.“Obviously, it’s fire that burns your flesh, yes?”
"Yes, but I’d categorize that magic as hellfire. It’s not solely a fae skill. I’m sure beings of the underworld can use the same technique, but the reason why many call that specific fire a deadly plague is because its burns are permanent and can’t be healed.”
“So isn’t that the same type of fire she uses upon the prisoners?” Jayce reasoned. “Also, it seems weird that she’d dominantly use fire as a weapon when it should be a trigger, don’t you think?”
“Not necessarily.” Dimitris spoke up as he looked deep in thought. “It’s all psychological. That’s why she gets turned on by the sight of another’s agony. She trained herself to see the pleasure in misery. That was her way to counter her own PTSD reaction she should have from being burnt from this hellfire.”
“That’s one of the rare tidbits I have about her, but her obsession specifically with Sweet Domino is oddly fascinating.”
“Fascinating?” Ruby arched an eyebrow while she looked at me. “How is my sister oddly fascinating to this wicked bitch who has every intention of getting her killed?”
“Ah,” Arthur began as that wide, crazed grin was back for round two. “You’ve made an error in thinking the Vile Queen wants your half sister killed.”
“How do you even know that we’re half sisters?” Ruby interrogated.
“I know a lot of things,” Arthur countered with a wink before he was suddenly in front of Ruby, which made her frown. “The Vile Queen has a little obsession with your family, which is why she knows the in and outs. The secrets of your reign that’s all a façade while the real queen to sit upon the throne goes through the chaotic torture of being an outcast in this cruel world.”
He farther leaned in then, but Ruby stood her ground, enduring his intimidating move.
“How does it feel to be the used child? I’ve always wondered how you can be so genuinely loving to a woman you know will take your spot and the platform you’ve been forced to rise upon. Does it make you envy her? Hate her? Despise that the child from your mother’s first love will get all the fame, fortune, and royalty she was born into and you’ll be nothing but the scapegoat?”
“Arthur.” My voice was stern, which seemed to cut through his ruthlessness because he was behind me again and hugging my neck happily.
“Anyways!” Arthur hummed in delight before he was resting on my shoulder again. “The Vile Queen knows exactly what Willow is destined to become, but she doesn’t wish for Willow’s death.”
“She’s been doing everything she can to either kidnap or kill her!” Ruby snapped. “Now you’re defending the bitch and saying she doesn’t want her dead.”
“You’re not understanding what I’m saying, Scorching Princess,” Arthur declared with a pout. “Willow is but a gamble. Her life versus her death. Alive, the Vile Queen receives the perfect pawn for her master plan that she’s been devising for fifteen years. If she receives Willow dead, then it’s but a celebration of new life. A rebirth, if you will.”
Ruby was going to argue but another voice intervened.
“Rebirth as in Willow would be resurrected but she wouldn’t be Willow.”
I simply had to look behind me to see Loki standing there with a blank expression on his face.
“Should we even ask how you got there?” Milo inquired.
“Nah,” Loki stated and allowed himself to smirk ever so slightly.
He didn’t delay in taking the few steps to be on my left side—and also didn’t hesitate to push Arthur away from clinging to me.
"Hey,” Arthur whined and looked like a hurt child. “I wasn’t finished hugging her.”
"If I don’t remove you from hugging her, you’re going to make her into an anxiety support doll. The only difference is she has a beating heart,” Loki grumbled and leaned in to kiss my left temple.
I looked at him—my eyes boring into his long enough to make him smile softly and run his hands through my hair.
“Don’t look at me like that, Sweets.” His voice was barely there as he leaned in and maneuvered my head enough so our foreheads pressed against each other. "I don’t want your pity.”
“You know that’s not my intention.” My voice was just as soft-spoken, but the rawness of my buried pain regarding what he, and even Arthur, endured was bubbling to the surface. “You didn’t deserve to suffer like that. Neither of you deserved to be treated in such an inhuman way. There’s no excuse worthy of such suffering. No matter how much agony she may have endured from others…to use you guys like that…”
I really had to keep it together because I wanted them to know that I’d always be a pillar for them when they needed me, but it was hard to not get so emotional.
His smile continued to spread as he looked at me with so much hope.
