“That sounds fun then. Can I be the meeting enforcer?” Maggie asked.
What were we talking about again? My head spun with images of Maggie in black leather forcing the Elven Council to their knees atsword point.
I let the partial truth slip out. “Trusting you with a weapon seems suspect. You can’t even kill me.”
What hope was there for us without trust? A kitchen table conversation was so far from the politics I dealt with every day, I didn’t know how she would react. Maggie burned so hot and buried bad things so deep. Those weren’t particularly great traits in negotiations. Her wounds would only fester at my side.
Maggie’s body wound tight as a spring and I was about to make a joke until I realized Severin was running straight toward us. Brad stood up from the bath, which was a thousand times worse than him taking my seat. I felt his tiny dick burn right into my retinas.
My ex-bodyguard, Ailred, raced behind the Fae, bursting out of the mist. The world narrowed to my prey. Fury rose in a wave to consume me. A slow death would be too good for that traitor. All my sleepless nights lay at her doorstep.
I shoved Maggie out of the way, ready to totally “accidentally” push Severin onto her sword before grabbing the traitor when he popped out of space in a shower of golden dust.
“I’ll do it myself,” Brad shouted.
The bangle on his wrist glowed in the steamy darkness as he touched it in sequence. I was intimately familiar with Brad’s metallic magic. The scar on my chin, down my neck, throbbed at the sight of his favorite weapon. Ailredstopped cold in front of the shadows where we hid. Did it look a little too dark? Were my eyes glowing in anticipation of having her within killing distance? Brad sank back into the water with a huff and Ailred stepped closer.
My hands shook with the prospect and I lunged forward out of the dark, dragging the swordswoman into the shadows. Maggie dove out of the way, stepping out of the portal, but I had my hands full of a spitting mad, lethal bodyguard who definitely knew she was about to die.
My Nightmare boiled out of my skin, in his element, ready for retribution. The world narrowed down to my prey, who slashed at me with her pitiful metal pin. I swallowed it into the void. My form moved and shifted into the thing she feared the most as I drew out her nightmares. Terror filled her eyes. Her screams died in the void space I held for us.
Is this the beast you dreaded I would be?I asked her.
Her wide eyes and thrashing limbs said ‘yes’. I trusted her the most after Yaya and she fed me to that monster, weakened my Nightmare with an ichor of light, my Elf with sliversbane until she trussed me up and handed me over.
Were you hoping I would beg for your mercy? Or did you want the throne for yourself?
I pulled out her choicest nightmare, a fear of worms, of all things, with my magic and spun it before me likethe finest filament, before I stuffed it down her throat for her to choke on.
Ailred coughed and slowly suffocated. Her mind seized until she stuttered out, “I just needed the talons.”
My rage swept through the void. Disgusting. The void warped, the darkness reacting to my emotions. There remained not a shred of Elf left in me at the moment. All that pain for a bit of money? Pathetic. I deserved at least a grand plot against me.
How much?
“Nemian paid five thousand.”
There was no reason for her to lie. The head of the Elven Council proved dead set against me from the start but I thought I had him tamed, within some limits. My territory had clearly been festering for a while and I could admit I had been too self-assured to care. The territory always seethed with plots. You got used to anything after enough time.
She spit directly in my face, or in that general direction as extra eyes, more heads, random teeth grew, blinked and disappeared. “I should have asked for more.”
What a petty price for your life.
A tendril of darkness stung her struggling leg. My venom spread quickly through her body, touching her mind. She didn’t scream or rail against me. True dread didn’t do that to people. Ailred’s mind broke slowly against the fear, madness glassing over her eyes and stilling her struggles. Her nightmares tasted delicious onmy tongue - fitting payment for all she put me through as I swelled larger.
I wasn’t completely pitiless. When her mind finally shattered, I removed her head from her neck in a clean swipe. A warrior’s death. Her body returned to the depthless energy. The adrenaline, the toothsome fear still coursing through me, sharpened my hunger for other things. Would Maggie scream when she saw us this time? If I hadn’t scared her during sex, this might do the trick. I scanned the void.
“Maggie?” My voice formed more of a howl than a word.
That was probably a bit much, even for me. I rearranged myself back into my Elven form.
“Maggie?” I called.
The portal stood open as my own fear surged up my spine. Eyes glowing, I stepped into the bath only to find it empty. No Maggie. No Brad.
My temper flared. If she had gotten cute and tried to kill him again, I would spank her raw.
Stalking to the edge of the pool, I followed her poppy scent to a mess of water and evident struggle. Bottles knocked over, towels askew, oils everywhere. The thought of Brad touching her sent shadows racing to my side.
