A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

I’d heard the things she’d said about Finley last night. About how fragile she clearly was, having to be carried. How common her roots. How disgusting her scarred back, very unladylike, and how ugly her scales. About how she’d stolen Nyfain away, using her pretty face and spread legs to do so.

She’d said all this to anyone who would listen.

What an absolute fool.

Of course, Finley wouldn’t have cared about any of that. She likely would’ve laughed it all off. It was only the idea of someone claiming Nyfain that riled her up, not this particular woman. Finley clearly saw little value in Nyfain’s old intended, same as me. Same as Dee. Same as her people, for goddess’s sake. There were many in a faerie court who would marry for the bloodline, even without a dowry. The woman had to be tolerable, though.

But mess with the everlass, and suddenly Finley did have a problem. A big one.

Thank the goddess. Finley needed to prove she was Nyfain’s equal by making a dragon-scale show of violence.

Finley turned just her head, a glimmer of recognition sparking in her eyes before concern for the plants washed it away.

“Are you joking?” she asked Eris.

Eris’s eyebrows lowered. “I asked if there was a problem.”

Finley turned her body this time, very slowly, very purposefully. The air crackled with barely contained rage. With power. Her gaze burned into Eris.

“What do you do here? You’re a gardener, is that right?” Finley asked in a tone laced with menace.

Eris lifted her chin and crossed her arms over her chest defensively. “The head gardener, yes. A job I got through skill and hard work.”

Unsaid: not through my appearance and spread legs.

Dee’s brow pinched in anger.

“Skill?” Finley leaned in a little closer, and Eris’s whole body went taut. “Let me ask again. Are you joking? Here’s another question: who the fuck are you kidding? Do the people around here who make the elixirs check your work, or do they just assume these particular plants aren’t as useful as they thought?”

Eris’s jaw clenched. “What would you know about it? You’re common. You didn’t get any sort of royal education before you traipsed around in front of my fiancé—”

Finley moved so fast that I couldn’t have stopped her if I’d tried. She grabbed the other woman and, in a show of power that made my eyes widen, spun and threw her way up and out. As Eris flew, Finley launched into the air, and suddenly her dragon burst forth, taking to the sky with mighty pumps of her wings. Her clothes dropped in tatters to the ground behind her. Her burgundy scales glittered with gold, so incredibly beautiful. She dipped her head and snatched Eris out of the air.

The other faerie near us exclaimed something in her language, probably a swear.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have told her to handle it like normal,” Dee said in a wispy voice.

“It wouldn’t have mattered. I didn’t think she’d react to a claim on Nyfain made by that woman. Clearly, I was wrong. Let’s hope Finley’s bite doesn’t kill her.”

Dee clucked her tongue. “She hasn’t learned the kind of control Nyfain has mastered. Not many have. You better start thinking of how you’re going to do damage control.”

I shrugged. “It’s a pressurized situation. Maybe…that’ll make a difference…”

Eris screamed and struggled, her arms and legs flailing. When they were high in the air, Finley’s dragon opened her mouth.

“Welp, that’s one way to solve the problem,” Dee murmured.

“Holy fuck, what did I miss?” Hadriel came running from the path. A pink loafer went flying from his foot. Hannon and his brother and sister jogged after them, all of them looking up at the falling faerie.

Vemar sauntered out last, his hands tucked into the small pockets in his blazer, a crazy grin twisting his lips. He didn’t look up but veered a little to the left when he could, well out of the path of the falling faerie.

Eris, windmilling her arms and kicking her legs, screamed so loudly her voice turned hoarse. Finley swooped down in a beautiful, easy glide and snatched the faerie woman into her mouth again.

“Do you see blood?” Dee asked as Hadriel made it to us, one foot bare.

He was breathing heavily. “Hannon and I are away for one fucking hour, and suddenly Finley’s dragon is playing catch with one of the faeries? Arleth, my darling, this was absolutely not in our plan!”

“What’s going on?” Hannon asked, watching as Finley took Eris up high again.

“Eris made a comment about Nyfain being her fiancé,” I told them, looking behind me at all the faeries in the field, who were watching the scene unfold in shock.

Finley again dropped Eris, who continued to scream.

“Well, she obviously won’t be invited back here.” Hadriel threw up his hands, looking at me in bewilderment. “What the hell is she going to do with herself if she can’t work the plants?”