A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

Calia deflated. She nodded. “Anything else?”

“Yeah, I could use a hot meal and a fucking bath. My balls itch for some fucking reason, and I want to stroke the lizard.”

That didn’t sound like a half-bad idea, and it wasn’t because I wanted to be anywhere else but in the room when Finley found out about all this. Especially the part where I’d kept it all from her.

FORTY-FOUR

Finley

“What a crazy fucking life we are living,” I murmured as I watched the shore approach. It felt like we were sailing to our doom.

Starvos had barely been able to wait a week before leaving. Dolion had unintentionally lit a fire under the faerie king’s ass. Starvos might’ve been on the fence about aligning with us and going after Dolion, but his tune had changed since the attack on his lands, especially since we now had a phoenix on board. He didn’t plan on asking for permission, either. It sounded like he intended to show up for the meeting, state his claim, and go for Dolion’s throat.

This was a good thing, obviously. This was what we wanted. The problem was that Starvos planned to take the battle to Dolion. He wanted to rip into the castle of the demon king and kill anyone who got in the way, just like Dolion had done to him. He wouldn’t hear me when I told him Dolion had built a fortress, and going there might be a suicide mission.

The other issue was that Nyfain had no idea how the council would react. Starvos thought his boldness would scare anyone away from standing against him, but Nyfain wasn’t so sure. He worried some of Dolion’s existing allies might stand with him.

“How do you mean?” Nyfain asked as we watched the shore. He was dressed in finery that befitted a king, his posture perfect and his expression unyielding, but I could feel his anxiousness curling through the bond.

We stood on our private deck in a very well-appointed faerie ship that routinely transported King Starvos across the seas. He had insisted we accompany him to the council meeting as his special guests. Translation: he wanted everyone to know we were allies.

“Well, I’m a queen, first,” I replied. “And my brother is a fabled mythical being that people didn’t actually believe in. Oh, and the whole bit about every phoenix having a mortal enemy is apparently true, and she just so happens to be the cute, very shy, and incredibly dangerous girl we met in a demon dungeon. Then there’s the part about us heading into a very old and established magical council to start what might turn into the next magical world war. Something that hasn’t happened in hundreds of years. I mean…need I go on?”

“Speaking of…Dessia,” Nyfain started, and then rubbed his stubble with his free hand.

He’d purposefully refrained from shaving. He wanted to embody a quintessential dragon—ruthless, volatile, and scary as hell.

“Calia asked that we protect Dessia. Monitor her, of course, but protect her,” he said.

“I know. I was standing right there.”

“Yes, but you’d just finished piecing together Calia’s double cross, and I wasn’t sure you were really listening. You did punch Calia in the face right after that.”

“She deserved it.”

“I’m not saying she didn’t. Not even her sister blamed you for it.”

“I asked Hannon what he thought about the whole thing.”

“Did you mention that our options were basically to keep her close or kill her?”

I frowned at Nyfain. “Obviously not. He’d never agree to letting me kill her just because she was born as the one creature in the entire magical world that could kill him. I just told him the facts. That she has a history of being captured and manipulated, and if the wrong person gets a hold of her, she could be forced to act against him.”

“And what did he say?”

I sighed. “Can’t you guess? Hadriel could. He mimicked Hannon’s voice and everything.”

“He thinks we should bring her into the fold.”

“No. Well, yes, but he has volunteered to be her protector. He wants to help hide her so that she can finally live in peace.”

“He wants to protect his mortal enemy.” Nyfain laughed. “Sudden fame hasn’t changed him much.”

“I pointed out that he was the last person who should be protecting her. I mean…” I leaned my elbows against the wooden railing, and Nyfain slid a hand around my back. “Look, I know this isn’t really such a big deal. So he’s got one person who can kill him. Big whoop. I have thousands. Hell, I could slip, fall off a step, and crack my head. Dead. One shy woman with a troubled past and thick emotional scars isn’t a very big deal, even if she’s captured by some villain. So he is forced to use his magic. So what? It’s for healing and good things. Whatever. She is not a huge concern to him. That is unless the two are together. That’s just asking for trouble. It is literally asking for someone to try to take them both. They should be split up.”