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“If you think that’s a deterrent, you highly underestimateyourself.”
His lips parted briefly before his jaw quickly snapped shut, and he tried to suppress his own grin.
Zurie’s garden was a hidden but expansive courtyard that included a dazzling variety of flora set in perpetual bloom, thanks to her magic.
And aetra.
Two guards posted at the entrance shut the elegant carved double doors behind us, sealing us the tiny little demon that ruled this realm.
In the distance, Miroslav, who was a slash of black against the vibrant garden, stood beside Zurie, a mask of innocent beauty garbed in pale blue.
"I don't need to threaten you for you to understand that if I discover any betrayal, you'll be made an example of,"Zurie whispered in a deceptively soft tone.
Miroslav stood frozen still, staring down at Zurie, and it was only when I homed my hearing in on him that I realized he wasn't breathing. Sweat beaded from his forehead as veins bulged in his neck. If I didn't know better than to hide my eavesdropping, I'd have gaped in shock at the sight. Miroslav was the most powerful male I'd ever seen- and that was without the assistance ofaetra.
As one of the few remaining Orisha— beings with deity-like powers that hailed from the mountains and deserts of Yatól,aetrahad no effect on them. I'd witnessed him kill thousands in an instant during the war with little more than a thought. Without him, it was likely Zurie would have lost the war.
The Kahlohani had not only been fearsome but also strategic. They'd always seemed three steps ahead of us, in addition to having a formidable ally- The Selcarim Army.
Selcarim was a western coastal region that was ensconced by a mountain range so treacherous the only way to cross it was to gothroughit andunder it. The only people who could find and make it through the tunnels, winding and hundreds of miles long, were the Selcarim people themselves. The region had a plethora of myths and mysteries that surrounded it because anyone who wasn't from there had never ventured there and returned, except for their natives.
Additionally, there wassupposedlyno land worth mining; thus, Zurie had no incentive to infiltrate it. Self-governed, it was the only land on the Atratusian mainland that remained independent of Zurie.
It wasn't until Miroslav began actively participating in the war, not too long before he showed up, that the War had swiftly ended. Traditionally, a royal seer or advisor didn't risk stepping foot on a battlefield. However, after 12 years, Zurie finally decided to risk her most powerful, newfound ally. Before then, I don't think she even had truly grasped the extent of his power. In a matter of weeks, the Kahlohani had been forced to surrender.
To see him made victim to Zurie was deeply unsettling, even though I had no doubt the male deserved it. While she was one of the most powerful fae in Atratus, I couldn't help but wonder just how much of that display was in thanks to the amount ofaetrashe consumed. Unlike Miroslav, she kept a vile of it on her at all times. Though she made a point to be discreet about her usage of it, she always bore the telltale signs of someone who was on it: the scent of the flower seeped from their pores in its signature earthy, floral musk, and her tongue was often stained darkest purple.
Thanks to the fermentation process required in order for it to maximize its magic-enhancing potential, the flower and its pistils had to be prepared as a concentrated tincture, which intensified the natural purple of the flower and stained anything it touched.
Her gaze snapped to us, and she released Miroslav, who quietly drew in a deep, steadying breath before wiping away beads of sweat on his forehead.
Zurie gave Malekai and me a small, forced smile. "See that you escort Irae Kalini and her steed to the location of her next task tomorrow, Miroslav."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Miroslav gave Zurie a stiff bow before turning to leave, his eyes briefly meeting mine and giving me a quick nod.
As we approached, the Queen came to stand in front of a large pond, holding a small sack from which she drew bloody chunks of meat with her blood-tipped fingers. The fish, I had never discovered what kind specifically… All I knew was that they had come from another realm. Supposedly the realm of her ancestors.
The water sloshed violently as the creatures fought for each bit of flesh she tossed in. She wore a placid look on her face as she appeared to starethroughthe pond and fish, not bothering to look up at us as we approached. I found my gaze drawn to the matte grey and brown, sharply finned creatures thrashing beneath the surface.
As we neared, Malekai and I both bowed at the waist, exchanging a brief glance as we straightened. Zurie stood a full foot and a half beneath Malekai's 6'8, with long light brown hair that hung in two thick braids over her shoulders, framing her heart-shaped face with its pointed chin. Large, blue, doll-like eyes and long eyelashes gave the illusion of innocent youth.
Zurie was older than anyone I personally knew, but perhaps that was because having come from the military, most individuals I knew had a great propensity to die. And to speak of her innocence would be like trying to dress a wolf in sheep's clothing.
"Beautiful, are they not?" Zurie murmured softly in her delicate, ultra-feminine voice.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Malekai replied promptly as his eyes remained on me, "They indeed possess a… savage and terrifying beauty."
Her gaze rose like a blade, drawing our eyes to her deep blue ones. Her gentle features are a sharp contrast to the twisted creature within.
"Terrifying? Why, I don't find them terrifying at all, General. Hunger does not equate to malevolence. A rabbit grows hungry and devours a carrot. Do you find rabbits terrifying as well?"
As if to punctuate her sentence, one of the fish thrashed above the water just as she tossed another bit of flesh into the pond, giving us a glimpse of its multiple rows of jagged, razor-sharp teeth.
"Perhaps it is merely their… physical characteristics that I find off-putting. Not their nature," Malekai amended.
The queen grinned, revealing a set of fangs, remarkably sharp for a fae.
