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Groaning, I cover my heated cheeks. “Can we please change the subject?”
“I was thinking I could show you the grounds today and make you comfortable, if you want?” Cora suggests. “If you willbe here for a while, we could prepare a wing for you and get you some clothes.” She looks hopeful, and it fills me with joy.
It comes crashing down, however, when Cora’s mate Krug steps into the room. His expression is cold and hard, and we all instantly quiet down. “They have responded. They will meet us there when the moon fills the sky this evening.”
Everyone is silent as we stare at him.
Merryl and the humans are meeting us tonight.
We have to reason with them and end this. Nothing else matters.
It is a stark reminder that monsters are dying while we play house.
We have no time to waste.
I’m nervous,but you wouldn’t know it by looking at me.
Cora produced an amazing gown spun from Nero’s scales that will protect me. It shines brightly and is painted a deep black to show my glowing skin. She also braided my hair into an elaborate updo that looks like a crown. Physically, I look every bit the monster lover. I look like a dark wraith standing between my men, my sister, and her mates as we form a line across the dark grass that blows in the light wind.
The moon is high above us, shining brightly in the darkened sky.
The woods around us are quiet, as if the monsters sensed what’s happening tonight and fled. We spent all day preparing for what may happen and journeying to the neutral territory at the very edge of the Shadow Lands to meet, yet I’m still nervous.
What will Merryl do?
I know humans are unpredictable, especially when threatened.
Part of me hopes they will back down, while another part of me feels like they never will and all that will come from this is death and bloodshed—blood that will spill across this neutral ground and spark a war neither side can afford to fight.
I can scarcely believe it has come to this. The man I knew and loved would never hurt anyone, yet I have changed and so has he. Now, he hunts monsters, the very beings I love and have become, and the ones my sister has become queen of.
He threatens everything, so we have to end this tonight before more horror and pain descend on these lands. We have a chance for a better start, and under Cora’s rule, everyone can be free and equal.
Some don’t want freedom though. Some crave chains and pain, power and imbalance.
Some thrive on it.
We may be monsters shielded by shadows and cloaked in darkness with fangs and fur, but it’s the humans who step out of the trees who are monstrous at heart. They are killers and hunters.
Merryl stands at the front of their group. For a moment, I see the boy I fell in love with before his face hardens. At his side are over thirty humans, who are all looking at us in disgust. Their bodies are covered in weapons and traps, and they are streaked with dirt and blood that I can smell from here.
They don’t stop until they stand in the clearing with a yawning gap between us that I feel will never be bridged. My powers flood my senses, as if detecting my nervousness or knowing something I don’t.
For a moment, silence fills the clearing before a burly man at Merryl’s side steps forward. He’s older, with a scarred face, dark, angry eyes, and a shaved head. I’m assuming he is a farm workerfrom his muscles. “You wanted to meet, false queen?” he asks. “Well, we are here.” He bows mockingly as Cora frowns at him.
“You forget I come from the Shadow Lands.”
“You did before you let monsters defile you and turn you into one of them,” he sneers, and Cora’s mates snarl, stepping closer, but she holds up her hand, stopping them.
“You seem angry. Maybe you should go get defiled. It might calm you down a bit,” she replies coolly, wearing a mocking grin on her face. “But yes, I asked to meet—”
“Kai, come with us now,” Merryl snaps, and every head turns to him. His eyes are on me as he ignores everything else, and he holds out his hand. I feel every gaze swinging between me and him. “Last chance,” he warns, his voice thick.
I step forward, and he sighs with relief, but I stop just before him, ignoring his extended hand. “No,” I tell him. “This is where I belong.”
I watch his hand curl into a fist and drop. “With those beasts?” he spits.
“With them,” I murmur with a nod. “Please, Merryl, stop this. You aren’t a bad guy, but this is wrong—”
