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Blind rage, unlike anything I’d ever known, flooded through me and numbed the intense pain burning my blackened arm. The anger strengthened my flames, which searched hungrily for anything they could devour. I set my sights on Colin and the familiar sword in his grip.
Grief would have to wait.
The fae necromancer who had just killed my flame’s mate stared at me with something like awe and lust, unaware he was about to die. A mistake I was happy to correct.
Two guards ran toward me. Without a drop of leniency, I threw my hand up and directed fireballs straight for them. Their uniforms caught fire at once. They yelled and fell to the floor, trying to extinguish the flames. Their screams faded away, replaced by the sounds of a crackling blaze.
“You’re spectacular.” Colin’s gaze swept over me, enraptured. “A true queen fit to rule by my side, my true mate.”
My mind reeled. How this idiot came to that conclusion was beyond me. After everything we’d been through to be together, my true mate was dead, and soon, Colin would find his place in Hell.
Gripping Lisa in both hands, I stalked toward him. He might have the Last Hope, but that detail didn’t matter anymore; it had become insignificant.
Because I would end him no matter what it took or what it cost me. I would sell my soul to whatever devil wanted it if it meant vengeance would be mine.
He grinned and raised his sword in a casual yet defensive stance. “You want me to prove my dominance over you, is that it? With pleasure, my love.”
Proving his dominance over me? Talk about gross. My fire snapped out, clawing at him as I closed in, only to be snuffed out as his sword swept through the flames.
“He has the Last Hope, V. I’m so sorry,” Angela’s voice called out weakly.
I hadn’t even noticed her before now. She sat beside the bed, holding a dagger in her limp hand. Blood oozed down her face from a deep gash on her forehead.
A really disgusting-looking Fiadh was in pieces around the witch, the limbless torso lifting as she attempted to move. Her blackened mouth and eyes opened and closed, and I shuddered.
I already knew Colin had the weapon. It wasn’t Angela’s fault. None of this was. It wasn’t anyone’s fault except his. He caused all this death and destruction, and today, he would finally face the consequences of his actions.
Except my magic didn’t work against him now. I would need to beat him without it.
Extinguishing my flames and wings, I held Lisa loosely by my side.
His eyebrows raised in a look of surprise. “Giving up so soon?”
I stared at the man who had forced my parents to flee their home and return to the sun far before their time, requiring that I care for Maddox alone. I stared at the man who’d had my brother’s murder staged as a suicide, rendering me guilt- and grief-ridden for years.
I stared at the man who’d taken my mate’s life, leaving me with nothing left to lose. He had no fucking clue he’d fucked with the wrong woman for the last time.
As I stared, Colin’s gaze flicked around the room as if not understanding why I’d dropped my fire and hadn’t attacked him yet.
My lips curled up into some sort of grotesque smile. “Do you still feel them?”
He frowned. “Feel who?”
“Not who, what.” I circled him slowly, my steps light. “Your wings.” His expression darkened with understanding, but I kept going. “She took them from you, stripped away your fae essence. Rejected you as a man and a worthy mate.”
I enjoyed a sick sense of satisfaction watching his anger rise, and I added a taunting, sultry lilt to my words. “So I ask you again, do you still feel them? Do you go to spread them wide only to realize once again that they’re gone? Do you feel them aching against your back, phantom limbs that reduce you to little more than a human?”
Angela’s tired chuckle added fuel to the fire building within him.
Not that I had anything against humans, especially after befriending Angela, but it would be a low blow to him. One more jab should make him combust.
“You’re so weak and pitiful, you can’t even beat me without that sword’s magic.”
I loved being right.
His face transformed and reddened with rage, and he charged at me, raising the sword to strike me down. I parried and twirled, kicking him hard in the knee as I danced away.
He grunted and stumbled but blocked my next jab. “You’re right about Fiadh. She ruined me, ruined my life. My family and friends—the entire Spring Court—wouldn’t take me back. They ridiculed me, made me an outcast.”
