A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

Fire swirled around us. Heat and light throbbed within us. It wasn’t enough, though. That blasted woman had been right about that. It was frustrating that someone so delicate-looking and pretty could be so dark and annoying. It would be easier on my logic if her personality matched her image.

She’s only annoying you because she seems to know you better than you know yourself, my phoenix said as he blew fire into the next room over. Demons jumped out of the way, but many of them didn’t move in time. We thinned the herd, killing the bastards on impact.

She doesn’t know me; she knows you. It’s different.

Fine. She knows me better than you do. Better than I do.

Her animal and you are cut from the same cloth, that’s why, I said as he looped through the air and went back for another round. They were ready for us, though. They jumped out of the way faster and stayed there longer, knowing they couldn’t withstand my fire. I am the light. She is the dark. Together we are the whole. Enemies. Allies. Apparently it changes constantly.

We flew by a section of castle without windows utterly closed off from the outside. Beyond that, we saw him, standing in the middle of his room with only three other demons. He faced the windows with his hands behind his back, grinning.

Fire curled up from deep within me, summoned by the memory of what he’d done to my family. To me and my kingdom. I felt the heat before passing it off to my phoenix, and he let it explode outward, blasting through the windows and into the room.

As though he was waiting for it, the demon king and his minions gracefully stepped behind the white half-walls erected throughout the space. Our fire washed over and around them, hitting the back walls and furniture and setting them ablaze but doing no further damage.

The demons stepped out when it had passed, one and all with simpering little smiles on their faces.

They knew we couldn’t do brimfire. They knew we were utterly useless.

What do we do? I asked, willing him to go back and check on Finley. Get some weapons and go in there on foot? We’re useless in the sky if we can’t figure this out.

It was then the phoenix saw the shape traveling across the barren land below. Her thick purple cloak fell from her shoulders as she moved, her back straight and her head bent forward in determination. The rain pelted the silky dress that draped her small frame, plastering it to her slight curves. Her hands moved down her front, at the buttons it seemed like, then pulled the gown from her shoulders.

She’s going to help. My thoughts were wispy. My heart surged of its own volition. She’s going to sacrifice her safety to help Finley.

She’s helping us all. She must assume the situation is hopeless without her. She’s probably right. You heard her; she is concerned about what will happen if Finley and Nyfain fall.

I didn’t care that her reasons were probably selfish. I cared that she had great power and knew how to use it. We needed that right now.

She dropped her gown, stepping on it as she continued on toward the castle. Her undergarments were discarded a moment later, and I had a strong urge to turn away and allow her some privacy. But she wouldn’t be concerned about such things, and I shouldn’t be noticing her full, perky breasts or the gentle sway of her hips as she walked toward her unveiling, something that would change the course of her future forever.

Why are you so bashful? my phoenix asked, watching her flick off her shoes and pull something from her wrist before tossing it away. You are a shifter. Shifters aren’t bashful.

It doesn’t matter. Never mind.

Her chest swelled as she took a deep breath, and then she looked behind her. My phoenix followed her gaze, seeing a lone figure way back at the crest of the hill leading down to the beach. Calia, watching her sister.

Then Dessia looked up at us, and I could almost feel the darkness swell around her. I could feel it reach into me, way down deep, deeper than I thought I went. It traveled to my very center, where a strange spark glowed at the base of my person.

No, not my person. At the connection between my phoenix and me.

I felt that darkness pressing on us, as if a great weight.

Fear curled around us, a strange sort of panic. My phoenix’s breath came faster and his chest tightened.

The weight increased as she walked toward us, looking up, always looking up. Murder was in her gaze, I could see it, even from the distance. I could feel it pressing hard inside of us.

My phoenix’s wings flapped quickly, and we dropped low in the sky, almost hitting a dragon. Still the horrible feeling persisted, and then it occurred to me: this was how she killed us. She found that part of us only she could reach, and squashed it. She crunched it within her magic, like the press of time.