A Kingdom of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 3)

“I honestly don’t know, but I don’t intend to look a horse in the mouth. Did you hear anything about the faeries?”

“Gift horse, love. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. You can look— Never mind. The faeries haven’t shown up yet. Weston has been here for a few days, and there’s been no sign of them.”

My stomach churned as waves of pain rolled through the bond. I held Nyfain tightly within me, feeding him the warmth of my love and support, feeding him my assurance that we’d make it through this. I was coming.

“We can’t wait anymore. Govam can get us through the portals. We’ll have to fight our way in. With Weston’s help, we can do it. I know we can.”

When I reached Micah and Hannon, Hannon’s face showing a small scowl, I opened my mouth to deliver the news. But then someone gasped, and everyone on the docks turned to look out at the sea. Looking with them, unable to help it, I felt pure joy well up through me.

A lovely boat with fresh paint and clean sails was slowly making its way into the harbor. Painted on the white wood of the bow was the royal symbol for Narva.

Calia had arrived just in time.

THIRTY-ONE

NYFAIN

Dolion spoke through his teeth. “Where is she?”

I gritted my teeth against his hot, stinging magic slicing through me. The demon king had been at this for a little over two days, trying to force information out of me or maybe just abuse me for fun. I didn’t show any sign of its effects. I would endure the pain forever if I had to, waiting for Finley.

Except this time, he had me by the balls.

His demons had found Finley’s father and brother. Now Dolion was looking for Sable so that he could torture them all together while I watched. He thought that would spur my cooperation.

He was right.

We stood on the grounds, the moon showering us in its glow. My people watched from the windows of the castle, peering down at the grisly scene.

Demons held Finley’s father and youngest brother between them, knives at their throats, shallow wounds already gouged into their flesh. One of them shook Dash, and my blood curdled to watch it. Dash didn’t cry, though, just stared straight ahead stoically, refusing to fall to pieces.

“Please don’t hurt them,” their father wailed, reaching for his son. “Don’t hurt them! They are innocent.”

The whole kingdom was innocent. That wouldn’t save them.

Dolion flicked his hand, and one of the demons bashed Finley’s dad in the head.

The older man grunted and his knees buckled, dropping him down to the ground. The same guard kicked him in the stomach, rolled him over, and then kicked him once more to stop his struggling.

My chest squeezed. Tears leaked out of Dash’s eyes.

“Where is she?” Dolion asked again.

After I’d snuck Sable out of the castle, I’d stashed her in Finley’s favorite everlass field, near the birch. It was all I could think to do. The demons had focused their attention on the villages, and they weren’t watching that part of the wood closely. I’d left her with food and water and a means to keep warm, but that wouldn’t last her forever.

After Dolion gruesomely killed Finley’s family, he’d start on the rest of the kingdom. His patience, in as much as he’d ever had any, had run out.

Dolion’s power speared through me again, making it feel like my head was being cleaved in two. That I could resist. The pain was nothing. It was the knife at Dash’s throat that loosened my lips. The drop of blood running down his skin.

I gritted my teeth for a moment as my dragon crouched within me. It was time for him to say goodbye to Finley’s dragon, and he knew it. I couldn’t wait anymore. Not if it would spare her family and our people.

“She’s hidden,” I finally said, and Dash looked up at me like I’d betrayed him. Like he would’ve happily gone to the beyond rather than give up his sister’s whereabouts. “Let them go.”

A wicked smile crept up Dolion’s blue face. “Let them go? Why would I want to do that? No, I think I will still kill them slowly unless you tell me where the girl is. If you do that, I will do them the mercy of killing them swiftly.”

I didn’t believe him for a moment.

“Spare their lives, and I’ll make a deal with you,” I ground out.

“A deal? What do you have to offer? You are a prince of ruin. Conquered. I’ve taken all I want from this place. You have no other dragons left. No powerful shifters. Unless you can unlock the magic surrounding that gold, nothing you have could tempt me.”

The gold.

That was the reason I’d been able to stall for the last couple of days. Dolion had taken everything he could from the gold reserves, but some sort of magic protected the rest from his greedy hands. Mine too—he’d forced me down to the mines to see if I could unseal it.