A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

I felt the surge of power, belatedly realizing what it meant.

“That glass was intended for my mate,” Nyfain growled, across the room and grabbing the king before anyone could even open their mouths in surprise. “Are you trying to kill my mate and unborn child, Starvos? Is that why you invited me here?”

Nyfain rammed the king against the wall by the throat. Hot and heady power slammed into Nyfain and washed over us all, the faeries’ response to the threat to their king. I felt the slap of bone-crunching agony through the bond.

It didn’t show in Nyfain’s posture. I doubt it showed on his face. He was no stranger to magic trying to force him to submit. He was well used to pushing past pain or ignoring it.

My dragon fed him a huge swell of power. Nyfain’s dragon added to it. Fire rolled over Nyfain’s body, then mine as I pumped out more power.

Faerie guards rushed to help. My people didn’t know what to do, if they should interfere.

So I did.

I ran toward him, flinging out my will and locking the two kings in a cage, impenetrable to interference by anyone else. I would not disrespect Nyfain by pulling him off. Just as he hadn’t called me down for how I handled the situation with Eris. We were a team, and we’d fight and die by each other’s side, whatever the reason.

“What do you get out of it?” Nyfain asked the king, slamming him against the wall once, twice, banging his head off the wood. “Are you working with Dolion?”

“It wasn’t me!” Starvos yelled. “It wasn’t me, I swear. You are here because I am interested in an alliance. I just needed more information. I don’t know what this is about. I had nothing to do with it!”

Nyfain leaned into him as Starvos’s hands slapped at his shoulders uselessly. The guards tried to pry into my cage of will, and I sucked in more power to keep it in place.

“You have a breach,” Nyfain said in a rough voice. “You better clean house. If my mate is harmed in this kingdom, I will burn it to the fucking ground. Do I make myself clear?”

“Y-yes,” Starvos stammered. “Yes!”

Nyfain released him and stepped back, bumping up against my will.

“Call off your guards, or I will authorize mine,” Nyfain said, watching the other king closely.

Shaking, Starvos looked around, seeing his guards struggling to get to him and not getting very far.

“How… How are you doing that?” he asked, his voice trembling.

“Call them down!” Nyfain commanded with a rush of power.

“Y-yes, of course. Stand down.” Starvos put out his hand and tilted it a couple of times. “Back. Get back.”

Slowly, the guards relaxed. They adjusted themselves and stepped back, weapons still out.

“It wasn’t me doing that,” Nyfain said as I dropped my will and took a deep breath. “It was Queen Finley. You must’ve underestimated her. Not surprising, since you clearly underestimated me. Your magic scared the late king of Wyvern. It does not scare me.”

He rolled his shoulders, adjusted his livery collar, and turned his back on the king.

“I’m okay,” I heard, drawing my attention to Calia.

Hannon and Hadriel helped her sit up. Her sister held her hand.

“I’m okay.” She kept her hand on her throat, her voice scratchy. Her beautiful violet eyes blinked open, finding me and then filling with tears. “Thank you. Oh, Finley, how can I ever thank you? You’ve saved my life twice.”

“Well, I mean…” I wiped the sweat from my brow. “That glass was intended for me, so I guess thank you!”

Nyfain picked up the full glass that had been in front of him. “How can we figure out if this one was also poisoned? That might help us determine who did it.”

“Well, we all know who did it, don’t we?” Hadriel said. “I mean, who has access to a bunch of plants and also hates Finley? I can think of one…”

THIRTY-NINE

Finley

Urien and Leala met us in our rooms, the pandemonium from dinner still raging through the castle.

“Of course it wasn’t Eris,” I said as Leala took my livery collar and crossed the room to secure it. I didn’t even remember taking it off. I must have done it sometime in between realizing what was happening to Calia and figuring out she would be okay. “She isn’t a cook or a server. How did anyone expect her to deliver the plants into our drinks?”

Nyfain walked over to his dressing area so Urien could strip him of his finery. I followed suit to mine to make things easier on Leala. Usually I helped her, but today I just stood there, exhausted and strung out, and let her handle it.

“I know. And I knew it wasn’t the king trying to poison us,” he said, looking over at me. “I just didn’t want him to think we were behind Calia’s poisoning.”