A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

“The wolf butler will do fine as one of the girls,” Arleth said. “I bet he’ll have the dirtiest jokes of all.”

“What’s going on?” I asked as they marshaled me across the grass and to the back entrance of the castle.

“What’s going on is that you are in need of a distraction, Finley,” Arleth said, patting my arm. “We are going to provide it. The mass quantities of alcohol will be good for your stress and will also force you to sleep. Tomorrow, you’ll be too hungover to worry about whatever your elixir did or didn’t do to my son. You see? Sometimes alcohol is the answer.”

“Alcohol is always the answer,” Delaney said, and they both laughed.

I didn’t have the energy to resist.

We ended up in the back study doing exactly as they’d said—eating, drinking, and eventually cackling at various dirty stories and jokes. I didn’t have many, though I did tell them about Mr. Pee-body, the demon who’d paid for me to pee on him when I was imprisoned in Dolion’s castle. Hadriel and Leala did not disappoint, though, and Hadriel was even dressed in the little maid outfit he’d had Cecil make for him for shits and giggles. He’d worn briefs to hide his junk, which would’ve otherwise been on display because Cecil apparently found that hilarious. We couldn’t tell whether he’d noticed the red target sewn into the ass of the dress and decided against mentioning it.

Nyfain came to the door at about the time we usually went to bed, asking to take me out of there. He could obviously feel my worry and impatience and wanted to settle me, or sex it away, or both. I didn’t want to see his scales, though. The elixirs usually took the whole night to work, and I didn’t want to spend all night repeatedly checking them. So I resisted the incredible urge to go to him and instead downed my glass of wine and asked for another.

“Let me in, Mom,” he growled from just outside the doorway.

Hadriel shrank into his chair with a deep grimace, and Leala did the same.

Not Arleth, though. She stood her ground, with Delaney right behind her, both of them propping their hands on their hips and swaying a little.

“You’re not welcome,” his mother told him. “This is ladies’ night.”

“Since when do you have ladies’ night?”

“Since we aren’t ruled by a paranoid, small man who is threatened by women getting together for drinks and fun. Or are you, in fact, just such a man?”

Nyfain huffed, and Hadriel’s eyes widened.

“Finley is unsettled, Mother. Let me in to see her.”

“No,” Arleth replied. Delaney crossed her arms over her chest. “She is happy as she is. Sometimes a woman needs her mate, and sometimes a woman needs her mate to fuck off. This is the latter. Go, Nyfain. She’s just fine.”

“I love that woman,” Hadriel mouthed to Leala. She nodded adamantly.

There was a long pause. I felt Nyfain’s anger swirling through the bond, but he didn’t push.

“Tell her to come to me when she’s done,” he said.

“I will tell her no such thing. She’ll make up her own mind, and you’ll figure out which decision she made based on whether she comes to bed.”

“Mom, you’re drunk. You don’t need to protect her from me. I’m not Da—I’m not the mad king.”

“I am drunk, yes. I plan to get drunker. And she clearly does need my protection. She’s way overtired, she’s incredibly stressed, and she’s been pushing herself too hard. Part of protecting your mate, son, is knowing when she needs to be forced to relax. I am doing that for you. You’re welcome. If you knew what was good for you, you’d let me. Now go. The night is wasting, and I haven’t had my fill of raunchy jokes.”

“Goddess above,” he said in exasperation. Laughter bubbled up, and then I was shaking with it, Leala and Hadriel with me. “Have it your way, Mother. Send for me if she needs to be carried out of there.”

Arleth closed the door, probably in his face, and turned around indignantly.

“Carried out of here…” she mumbled. She and Delaney walked back over, poured more wine, and said, “Now, where were we?”

TWENTY-FOUR

Nyfain

I lay with an arm under Finley’s head and my other secured around her waist, holding her tightly to my body. Soft morning light streamed in through the windows of the tower.

I’d gone to bed in the tower, knowing Finley would attempt to put distance between us by coming here. Hannon had warned me of that. She got nervous after administering a new medical treatment, afraid she’d be a failure, and I knew the elixir she’d given me last night was especially important to her. My mother had clearly intuited that too. She was very good at knowing when people were on the edge and needed to be pulled back. She’d had that job when she was queen and the king was terrorizing people.