A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

“Read?” Hannon suggested as Vemar finally made it to us. “There’s a really nice library here.”

“What happened to the everlass?” Dash asked as he looked down at the withering plants.

“They haven’t taken very good care of them, it would seem.” Hannon resumed looking at the sky.

Finley swooped down again, plucking Eris from the sky one more time. Instead of heading back up this time, she dipped at breakneck speed.

“She better not fucking crash,” Hadriel hollered. “Finley, don’t you fucking crash! The master will go absolutely crazy if you put the baby in that sort of danger. Do you know who will get a foot up his fucking hole? I will!”

“You’re probably focusing on the wrong aspect of that scenario,” Hannon told him. “You might want to worry more about the baby, no?”

“Oh, give me a break, she’d never do anything to hurt the baby.” Hadriel waved his hand in the air. “She’s crazy only to a certain point. But the master— Fuck, I’m calling him master again. The fucking king is not rational where she and his child are concerned. Finley! Do you hear me—”

Finley angled quickly, her wings out, catching the wind to nearly stop her. She dropped her head and let go of Eris. The woman tumbled out in a mess of limbs, rolling across the ground. Finley shifted back before running at her, yanking her up off the ground and hoisting her into the air at face level.

“That is a warning,” Finley said, and fire crackled to life across her bare skin. “If you ever make any sort of claim on him again, past or present, I will kill you. Gruesomely. Now get the fuck out of this garden so that I can fix that patch of everlass in peace.”

She tossed Eris away before turning around. The flame flickered again before diminishing and going out.

I wondered if Eris would get to her feet and demand justice. Demand someone do something. Instead, she just lay there shaking. The rest of the people in the garden let her.

“Hadriel, go find Leala and tell her I need some new clothes,” Finley said. “Have someone send a note to Nyfain that I’m fine.” She braced her hands on her hips and looked down at the everlass. “Hannon, in the meantime, go find someone with an apron, would you?”

“Sure.” He pointed at the kids. “Stay here with Finley and the others. No wandering off.”

“Hannon,” Sable whined. “It’s not dangerous here. Everyone says so.”

He didn’t respond, just headed toward the work tent as though he’d been there countless times. No one stopped him from walking in.

Hadriel held out his hands, staring at Finley with wide eyes. She didn’t notice. Instead she pointed at the nearly crowded plant between the others and gave me a look.

That plant was dangerous, but to explain why would reveal our secrets about the crowded plant. It wasn’t something I wanted the faeries knowing.

“Pull it,” I told her.

She reached down and yanked it out by the root.

“Sorry,” she told it quietly, and from her tone, it was clear she meant it.

“Excuse me,” a woman with a snaggletooth said as she walked forward, her face a little pale. In fact, all of their faces were pale. They clearly weren’t used to seeing this sort of violence. “Just what do you think you are doing?”

Finley tossed the everlass plant to the side and faced the woman, utterly naked and not bashful about it. Those days had long since passed.

“Eris tried to claim my mate, and—”

“Not about that. I heard what she was saying. She deserved what she got. No, what are you doing, pulling that plant out?”

She came to a stop a few steps away from the everlass plot, giving Finley a wide berth.

Finley held up a hand to her, shaking anew with rage. “Here’s how this is going to go. I’m going to fix up this piece-of-shit everlass patch. You people have mangled it. Look at them!” She took a deep breath. “More will spring up in the days and weeks before we leave. You have my word on that. I’ll have Nyfain help with the process. Dragons will be visiting them around the clock. In fact, you’ll need to clear more space.” She pointed to the neighboring plants. “Those can be rehoused without a problem. Those can be killed. They’re useless compared to the half-dozen other plants in this huge garden that do the same thing. Give me some space, both in the ground and personally, and I’ll make these plants flourish. Then I’ll show you how to harvest them and dry them so that you get the most out of them.”

Dee grimaced, but the promise was out. We couldn’t take it back now. We’d just have to hope they couldn’t manage to care for the plants on their own. It would be hard to lose such a valuable trading commodity.