A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

Vemar started laughing. “I love that dick jacket. Remember when we wore it when Calia came to visit, and she stared and stared before pulling you aside and asking if you knew the design looked incredibly phallic?”

Calia visited every few months, checking in with us and spying for her king. She didn’t try to hide it, and she made a point of leaving the room when she thought we were talking about things that should be kept private. She was trying to make her job work around her friendship with Finley, and also keep an eye on Hannon for her sister’s sake.

The only thing was, she didn’t know where her sister was. That was what she said, anyway. No one did. After we left the demon kingdom, Starvos started making grand plans for the basilisk who would grace his court. Only she disappeared. Starvos had blamed us, of course, accusing us of taking her. He’d come here searching. When he didn’t find her, he thoroughly questioned Calia. Dessia hadn’t turned up, though. She didn’t want to be used. She’d always told me that. She didn’t want to be a pawn.

She also didn’t want to scare people with her mere presence.

I felt for her. I wished she could’ve come here with us, since having her around would have put people at ease, but she must not have thought it would work.

I hoped she was okay, and I hoped she stayed hidden. The worst thing in the world would be if someone found her, captured her mind, and used her as they had in the past.

“They aren’t vaginas!” I looked a little closer. “They’re flowers! It’s a floral print.”

“Really?” Vemar squinted as he looked again. “I’d thought they were vaginas, too. They look like it.”

“They have fucking stems…” My words trailed off.

The flowers themselves did look like vaginas. How had I missed that?

“Fucking Cecil!” I yelled. “I asked for floral, and he gave me fucking vagina flowers! That bastard. He knew it wouldn’t occur to me.”

Vemar threw his head back and laughed. “Good one.”

“Good one? You’re wearing a vagina coat too.”

Vemar shrugged. “I can ask girls to count the vaginas, and they’ll think it’ll be the real number, and I’ll say there is one more and ask if I can see it. They’ll get confused, and I’ll—”

“No.” I held up my hand as Hannon laughed and turned back to the door. “Don’t continue. That didn’t work with the dicks, remember?”

“Well…” Vemar toggled his hand. “It did and it didn’t.”

Hannon rapped softly before opening the door and crossing the threshold. We followed him, my mood suddenly blackened. I’d thought the seamster and I were getting along okay. He hadn’t pulled any practical jokes in a while. Clearly he’d just been biding his time until I wouldn’t suspect him anymore, and then wham. Vagina coat.

Finley lay against Nyfain on the oversized couch that had been placed near the window overlooking the garden. The weather had turned chilly, and the flowers and plants sparkled with the light rain outside.

They each had a book, but while Finley was reading hers, Nyfain had his cheek resting against her head and his hand on her large belly. His eyes were distant, and a soft smile warmed his handsome face.

Hannon stopped a ways away from them, and light flowed around him in colorful waves. Vemar and I stopped, using Hannon as a shield. Clearly it was not a good time to approach them. The human was bad enough, but the dragon could go from calm to fucking insane at the drop of a hat. He apparently just forced his way to the surface and took over, and the human didn’t fight nearly hard enough to keep it from happening. His level of protectiveness was ball-shriveling. It was best to always approach with extreme caution.

Nyfain rubbed her belly in large circles and kissed the top of her head. “He or she has strong kicks this morning.”

“Hmm,” Finley said, leaning her head back against him for a moment.

“Is this a bad time to ask to feel the baby?” I whispered to Hannon, my heart surging. I couldn’t contain my excitement. Just a few months now! We’d have a little baby to play with and hold in just a few months. I’d need to alter my jacket choices so spit-up would blend in.

Nyfain glanced over, his hand stilling. Then, miracle of miracles, he took his hand away.

“You can since Nyfain took his hand away,” Hannon replied.

I stepped out from behind him and slowly approached the couch. Nyfain tracked my progress with the dragon lurking behind his eyes. I could see it. I could see the crazy barely kept at bay.

Finley lowered her book and smiled at me, and she’d never been lovelier in all her life. Which was certainly something I’d thought yesterday, and the day before, but it was true every day.