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“Until we meet again, cousin,” Elvey said. “And don’t look at my wife wrong.”
Finrod bowed his head. “My brother and my sister, I’ll see you soon.”
20
Elvey and I strode toward the throne room in the Red Palace. Rosalinda, Zembyr, and our royal guards trailed after us. My court waited for us on the left side of the hall where my throne was positioned.
Tianna no longer bothered to vandalize my throne. Elvey would just conjure a newer, shinier one for me. Another reason she left my throne alone was that she knew how much I hated to sit beside her.
I noticed that more Fae joined my side. They’d all thrown their lot in with me. Many of them had seen what Sihde had become after I’d stripped it of Tianna’s glamour and opened their eyes. It was no longer about which ruler they rooted for. They were angry at Tianna for poisoning the land. Many of them wanted to fight for their home and their future and were ready to give their lives for their beloved realm.
Tianna sizzled on her throne. Her spies had tried to track me but had failed yet again.
I settled down on my throne, unease and anxiety slithering up my spine. I always felt this way when I perched on the throne because nothing felt right in this place. Elvey stood beside me, partly shielding me from Tianna. He placed his hand gently on my shoulder, and his body heat and solidity drove away the evil wind coming my way and calmed my nerves.
“Where have you been, niece?” Tianna demanded. “You should have been at the court earlier. I summoned you, but you failed to appear.”
“Shove your summons up your bony ass, Tianna,” I said. “You aren’t the true queen of Sihde. You aren’t my heir and you never will be. I denounced you. You’re but a usurper, temporarily sitting on a throne you stole.”
“Bluff all you want and enjoy your short stay here,” she sneered. “You’re every bit as nasty as your exes said. You’re losing it because your ex-consorts are no longer yours. They’ve chosen me over you. By the way, your eyes are still a little red and puffy, and no amount of makeup can cover that. Did you cry yourself to sleep last night after my dragon princes turned you down and treated you like the trash you are?”
I’d been hardening my heart, but it still felt like a dagger plunging into my heart to hear her calling my former mates her princes.
“They’reminenow,” Tianna continued to gloat. “You’re the one who won’t be warming that throne by the end of the month. While you cried your eyes out last night, my princes, who shall soon be my consorts, were confessing their undying love to me.”
I had tried my best not to spare a glance in their direction from the moment I’d entered the throne room. I’d pretended that Blaze, Rai, and Iokul didn’t stand behind Tianna like three massive puppies, afraid that if I looked at them I’d melt down again.
Tianna had noticed that, knowing how much their presence still affected me and their changing of allegiance hurt me like iron nails in my flesh. As such, she kept hammering the nails deep into my body, wanting to see me bleed over and over.
Their cruelty toward me rushed back to me at her mention, and the scene of Tianna seducing Iokul swirled alive in front of me. I’d been shut out on the other side of the mating bond, so I’d never had the chance to see it through. Had she succeeded?
Probably not in truth since I was still here.
But had she gotten that sultry goodnight kiss from Iokul?
My heart seared in pain, a feverish wave of fury rolling off me. All of my fault in the relationship to them was that I hadn’t been able to lift the last piece of their curse, but I was going to try everything in my power to remove their masks. All I’d asked was a little more time, but they’d turned on me at the first chance. They turned against me and spat in my face when they spotted a better candidate.
I’d loved them more than anything, but I was ready to scratch that love from my bones. I hated them, and the hate burned hotly and brightly, despite Elvey’s efforts to stop it from consuming me.
I wanted to hurt them as much as they’d hurt me.
“What do you gain by bragging of having my leftovers, Tianna?” I said in a bored voice. Through my faint mating bond to the princes that cracked open just a little, I sensed how tense, shocked, and seething they were on the other side of the bond.
So, my words still had an effect on them. At least, it could still hurt their huge male egos. Good. Now that I had their attention, I was going to pierce their apathetic, pathetic walls.
“I’ve been long since fed up with them,” I said in an amused, cruel tone. “Those three pretty faces are good for nothing. Their constant bickering and competing only gave me headaches. I should probably thank you for picking up my scraps and saving me the trouble of taking out the trash.”
The black hatred in Tianna’s eyes wanted to cut a bloody trail to me, yet she could do nothing about it, not while she was also trapped in our Challenge.
A ring of fire puffed out of Blaze’s nostrils, and a flash of lightning struck across the wall, leaving black marks in its wake. Despite Tianna’s magic ward, the room’s temperature abruptly dropped. Even the ice dragon couldn’t keep his cool.
The court turned deathly quiet, waiting for a fight to break out.
Elvey’s heady chuckles rose amid the silence that threatened violence. He stopped for a heartbeat and laughed again, wiping tears from the corner of his eyes.
Tianna turned to glare at him, her venom dripping from her every pore.
“Don’t you enjoy that, Tianna?” he said. “This is the best fun I’ve ever had in your twisted, fake court for centuries.”
