Her delicate wings shutter against her back, wafting her long hair as we walk toward the enormous double doors.
“Clearly, I’m hell fae,” she answers flatly.
Well,clearly. But... she must be part dragon. Right? Or perhaps she only takes after one parent rather than both… Like that dragon king I heard so much about last night his traits could have been recessed … or something. Right?
“You have no dragon traits at all from your father?” I can’t help but pry because this is the first actual useful thing anyone’s spoken about since Creatchin took the throne and turned this kingdom—queendom—into a renovation party.
“Shifters don’t work like that. How little do you even know of your own kind, girl?” She glares at me with unsheathed disgust gleaming in her big black eyes. “Fae can be half-breeds. But the beast within shifters only allows one alpha. The dominance of a monster will overpower any other trait from either the mother or father. And I thank our Goddess every day I inherited my mother’s dark magic rather than the lazy powers of a dirty animal I can’t control.”
With that, she pushes past me and strides inside behind the others. The door closes behind her.
And the group has left me alone.
Thank. Fuck.
My eyes close slowly, and I sag into the shimmering black stone wall.
“This queendom is exhausting,” I mutter to myself because I’m just good company like that.
“As are you,” a rumbling tone says from far too close.
My eyes flash open, and there stands all six foot five inches of the largest man I’ve ever gazed upon.
Fucking Zilo.
The sun halos around his long dark hair, giving him a godlike appearance that he honestly always seems to have. Why are hischeeks so naturally glistened like a pixie stripper sneezed glitter on his obnoxious face? Really, could the world dampen his complex, just for a moment?
Can I have one moment alone in this ridiculous place? Please?
“You need to watch your mouth. And your eyes, for that matter.”
“Watch my eyes? Really? Do tell how one accomplishes such a feat.”
He flicks his annoyed glare away for only a moment before pinning it right back on me. “Stop glaring at the queen.”
“It’s wrong for me to glare but a-okay for you to want to sink your little cock into her?” I arch a brow at him but he’s quick to reply.
“I’m sorry,little?”
Ah, his complex just can’t take it, can it?
“Stop making a fool of yourself and flirting with a woman who’s clearly only using you as her guard.” My arms fold hard, but he takes an even harder step forward, his chest suddenly pushing against my arms as I stare up at his insufferable face.
Even his beard is pretentious. No one’s beard is that nice. Stop grooming so hard. It’s embarrassing.
“Listen. She’s skeptical of you,” he whispers. “You were nearly the king of Hell’s bride. Everyone here is watching you, Cersia. Avian and Roman can’t always be around to protect you from yourself.”
“No one needs to protect me. I manage just fine, thank you.”
His eyes widen, and his head dips low, his voice growling against my flesh as he speaks once more, “Then why did I hear the word dragon following me around this morning as you whispered behind my back?”
“Why aren’t you afraid of what’s to come? Why do you trust her? Why?” I don’t understand the pain that shoves into my chest as my voice shatters over that last word.
I guess... I guess it’s because I know he doesn’t treat me the way he treats her. He’ll never hang on and believe every word that I feed him. I’m not... I’m nothing to him.
I was a means to an end. That end has come.
But I’m still here.
