I turned around to go find Emmie. She would know exactly where I needed to go.
* * *
Plans hadto be put in place. But most importantly, I needed King Tariq to get up off his ass and get over here to help me.
Aelius was, unsurprisingly, on board with the plan and anxious to strike out at his wayward daughter. But I needed a truly impressive show of force. One with all my allies clearly involved.
I wanted Asteria to know she wasn’t safe. That I had numbers on top of blood magic to take her down with.
I wanted Calix to see my military might and fear his would be inadequate. The way I was forced to feel during his attacks. I wanted him to feel Asteria slowly slipping out of his fingers until he lost her forever.
And King Tariq needed to get himself here for that. I sent a message through my spies, with a strict deadline for his arrival. I needed this to go smoothly, and I couldn’t afford for him to fuck this up. His daughter was enough of a problem.
Speaking of problems…
A loud boom in the distance made me close my eyes and clench my teeth.
Fucking rebels.
They’d been stirring up trouble since I let knowledge of the camps become public, but it was during this past week that they had begun getting worse. Now, they weren’t just trying to get their people out of the camps; they were trying to destroy everything I’d built as they expressed their fury at what was happening.
I made my way through the palace to see where the smoke was coming from. My eyes widened.
“Fuck!” I let my wings unfurl and shot up into the sky. Pink feathers ruffled in the wind as I flew straight toward the plume of smoke. My own fury was pumping through me, and mine was much greater than whatever these pathetic humans could muster. I would need to make an example of them and stop this foolishness in its tracks.
As I neared, I could see those who’d managed to leave the building in time gathered around outside. I landed with a thud, and everyone cringed away slightly at whatever expression was currently on my face. I could well imagine, with the anger rushing through me.
They burned my fucking brothel to the ground.
The fire was burning itself out now, leaving behind the charred ruins of what was once my most profitable establishment—and myfavorite.
“My life’s work.” I turned to the woman who’d come up beside me, finding Saskia, the manager and previous owner of the brothel that just went up in smoke. She looked forlornly at the husk of the business she’d built from the ground up.
“Several of my girls perished in the fire,” she added, a grimace on her face as a few tears tracked down the dark streaks on her cheeks from the smoke.
“We’ll make them pay,” I promised her. “And then we’ll rebuild.”
Saskia snorted, “That doesn’t put money on the tablenow.”
A muscle in my jaw jumped, I’d clenched it so hard. I had no patience for her bullshit right now.
“You have plenty. Get the girls together and find someplace to run the business in the meantime. I’ll handle the rest.” I demanded before taking off into the air once more.
These rebels were targetingme, which meant they weren’t nearly as afraid of me as they should be. I would have to do something about that.
I flew straight to the heart of the human settlements within Evenfall. The apartment buildings were crumbling a bit, but still perfectly serviceable for the amount of time a human needed to occupy them. They didn’t live long, after all, mayflies that they were.
They were lucky they got buildings to live in at all. We could have kept them chained up in cells when not working. Our ancestors stopped that kind of thing long ago, but we should never have eradicated the practice.
They’d become too comfortable. Too expectant. They needed to remember they were slaves, not employees.
One of the buildings containing the human apartments was more dilapidated than the others, which made it perfect for my plan. I pulled a vial from my pocket, uncorked it, and downed the shimmering blood quickly.
I shuddered, letting the blood magic settle into my veins. Feeling my lightning crackle within me as it stirred. A chaotic surge in my blood as it fired to life.
I held up my hands, calling my lightning, feeding it my rage, and letting it flow forward. The sharp bolts of lightning struck the building in succession.
The fire caught quickly, but I let several more bolts hit, making it spread even faster. The screams inside and the pounding of running feet were like music to my ears. I smiled slowly, enjoying the show as the rats ran out of their cage.
