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“Then shield all of them,” I said. “And shield my grandparents until we come back for them all.”
A look of grief darkened Elvey’s eyes. “I’m sorry I won’t be able to help others. My magic can shield only one person and link her to my essence to preserve her. Even if I can shield them all, it’ll alarm Tianna as soon as the black heart is deprived of the regular energy feeding. Plus, most of them are beyond saving, including your grandparents. All we can do is free their souls when we return.”
I knew he was telling the truth.
“But Nerida is in worse shape than my grandparents,” I said.
The veins in his temples jumped. “I’ve been looking for her for centuries,” he said, pain slicking in his eyes again, “just as I’d been searching for you. I can’t bear to see her hurt like that.”
She was so important to him that he was feeding her with his own life force. Was she more important to him than I was? It was horrid of me to even think of that and to feel jealousy when she was like that. I banished the green monster to the dark recess of my head.
“We have to go, until we come back.” I urged him.
Unable to bear to look at the princess again, Elvey pulled me to run with him, as if he wanted to run from his own past and all of darkness and nightmares in the world.
I broke free of Elvey’s hand, halted by the black crystal vessel, and stared through the lid at the black heart pulsing powerfully, greedily, and menacingly. There were tens of thousands of innocent souls, including my father’s, trapped in its great evil net.
I raised my twin daggers, my feet ready to kick off the lid, and plunged my blades into the black heart.
“Not yet,” Elvey said, pulling me away with his demigod’s strength.
Then he used his magic to make the corpses of the demons and the witch disappear and put on glamour to make the temple look the way it had been. Tianna wouldn’t discover the ruse unless she came in person and investigated in depth.
I would bet that while she was engaged in the Challenge with me, she wouldn’t go anywhere, especially since she had the hot-as-fuck dragon princes adoring her and fighting for her affection.
As we ran out of the temple and down the stone stairs, with the black dragon flying ahead of us, all I thought of was the need to get to my former consorts and save them from Tianna.
The demon king/dark Fae queen had consumed tens of thousands of souls. She wouldn’t spare the dragon princes once she was tired of them. She’d covet the dragon souls’ immense energy.
It didn’t matter that they’d turned on me in order to lift the final piece of their curse. I wouldn’t want them to suffer that horrific fate at Tianna’s hands. I wouldn’t want anyone to suffer that fate.
It was time for them to see my adversary’s true colors.
17
Elvey, Rosalinda, Zembyr, and I returned to the Red Palace. Adrian returned to our main army outside Sihde. He needed to lead them. Before he took off, he kissed Rosalinda, and the Fae warrior returned his kiss fiercely, instead of pushing him away like I thought she would.
When we entered the throne room, the court session was almost over. Tianna and the dragon princes had left. One of Tianna’s servants told me that the dark queen was in the Lotus Lounge with the dragon princes. It seemed that the servants weren’t all that loyal to their dark queen, either.
According to them, the princes had insisted on entertaining Tianna after I hadn’t responded to her summons. Apparently, she had been furious beyond belief at my ignoring her.
I was more queen than she could ever be. The throne was mine. It always had been. And it would be mine. She had stolen it from me.
Elvey and I headed to the Lotus Lounge, with Rosalinda and Zembyr trailing behind us.
The lounge had a grand foyer that opened into what looked like an outdoor garden.
Jax—Tianna’s captain—and a few guards in red armor blocked the entrance.
“You don’t have permission to enter,” Jax said haughtily.
“Careful when you speak to Her Majesty, Jax,” Elvey drawled. “I’ll only say this once. Queen Daisy doesn’t need permission to walk in her realm. Move or I’ll remove you.”
Jax spat. “I serve only one queen, and it is not the dragon bitch.”
Rosalinda and Zembyr stepped forward, ready to strike Jax down. The enemy captain and his five guards moved toward us, more than eager to spill blood.
Tianna’s supporters were bloodthirsty and loved destruction more than anything, but for Tianna not to forfeit the Challenge, they couldn’t spill blood unless it was to defend themselves. If my warriors struck them first, they’d all fall under the blade of the punishing power of the unseen force.
