Whoever this was, everything inside me screamed “enemy.”
She stopped in front of me, saying something to Vin in fae tongue, to which my mate responded in an icy tone.
The exchange was awkward and left my skin crawling.
Whatever he said, it made the woman bare her serrated teeth. Then she directed her evil bitch glare at me. She snatched for the hem of my dress, revealing my mark to her mean gaze. I snarled and swiped my claws at her, jumping back in the process.
It was too late. She’d already torn my dress, baring Vincent's mark to the crowd.
“Tell me, new lander,” she seethed in a thick accent I could barely untangle. “Why is the scent ofmybetrothed leaking fromyourcunt?”
Chapter twenty
"Touch her again and..."
Severalthingshappenedatonce. Vincent’s wing snapped out to conceal me from the sea of leering eyes, all while pushing me back as I instinctually made a grab for the female’s throat.
He beat me to it.
His vicious talons encircled Val’s neck. I was all too familiar with the fae’s brutal hand necklaces, but not a spark of jealousy fizzled inside me. The way he held this woman was different. There was no gentleness underscoring his brutality. No desire in his touch. He held her in the same way he would an enemy he was trying to strangle.
“Listen to me, Valkera,” Vincent growled, his voice booming and all-consuming, like a raging storm.
Most of the onlooking fae couldn’t understand English, but they knew their prince had just dropped Val’s full name, which ignited a rush of murmurs. There were probably a hundred ways for Vin to demonstrate that he had no loyalty to this woman. He’d opted for something smooth and potent. He’d dropped her true name like it was nothing.
“Touch her again, and you’ll regret it.” He released her with a small shove.
My gaze flicked to Vincent’s mother, who watched the exchange with an unreadable expression, a mask locked in place that seemed every bit a part of her regalia as her crown. So that’s where Vin got it.
Judging by the queen’s body language, she didn’t appear as disgruntled by my appearance as Val. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that this was a sign of neutrality. She could’ve been just as eager to tear me to pieces as Vin’s ex. She was probably just better at hiding it.
A series of shivers shot down my back once I noticed everyone’s attention was glued to Val and Vin…except for the queen. Her beady eyes honed in on the storm glass needle hanging from my neck. The energy between us was off-putting. Tense. Like when I’d first met her son, only without the underlying sexual tension.
I could deal with hateful exes. It was annoying as hell that Vin hadn’t thought to mention Val, but at least this was a road I’d traveled before with Lexi. Still…making potential enemies with my mate’s mother? That was a whole new ball game.
Val rubbed her throat where marks on her flesh were already forming—What a thing to be jealous of. “How dare you!”
“How dare I?” Vin roared. “How dare you for putting your claws on what’s mine!” He moved to charge her, but I grabbed both his wings, keeping him rooted in place. If I wasn’t allowed to bitch slap some manners into this chick, he wasn’t either.
She laughed bitterly. “What’s ‘yours?’ That’s cute. Keeping a new land creature as a pet is not unheard of, to have your fun and put it out of its misery. But to claim it as yourmate?Disgusting!”
“Call me ‘it’ one more time if you want to see what it’s like to be him,” I said, kicking at the headless man’s leg and making his speared head jiggle slightly.
Val’s lip curled. “What is that stench?” She strode closer, andVincent stepped in front of me, growling at her in warning to keep her distance. The bitch was lucky. Vin standing between us was the only thing keeping her head on her bloody shoulders.
“She reeks of death. Like other males with no heartbeat. Not only is she—” She paused, her eyes slitting on me. “What’s the human word? Ah, yes.Whore.Not only is she a whore, but she’s a whore for corpse walkers.”
My mate’s feathers bristled. “You promised not to use that fucking name.”
“And you promised to marry me.”
Her spite was palpable. Suddenly I felt myself hating this woman a little less. Because now I “got” her. Vincent had left her to find his father. When he’d first gone, I could only imagine how hopeful everyone had been, how eager she must have been for his return.
After all this time, he'd come back. But not for her. He wasn’t the same person. He wasn’t even the same kind of creature.
“It was an arranged marriage,” Vincent said in a soft voice as if his train of thought was following mine. “One that never happened. We never mated, and weneverwill. I told you that with my last visit.”
“Oh yes. Your last visit.” The fae pushed out a bitter scoff and moved to stand next to her queen. “You mean when you appeared out of nowhere, leaving us to think you were dead for years?”
