He led me through the burning village, where humans were already on their knees in chains. We came to a small hut they’d spared the fire—for good reason.
I lifted my leg and kicked the door, meeting resistance as expected. I let my hands light up with crackling blue bolts, and they arced right into the door, splintering it into a thousand pieces.
A high-pitched, womanly screech punctured my eardrums as I ducked into the hut. A man with honey-colored hair stood in front of a woman with voluminous brown curls. Their ratty clothing was tattered and stained, but the man showed far too much pride despite his appearance. He held a candlestick up like a knife, making me raise a brow.
I stepped closer, and while the woman shied away, he tried to feign like he wasn’t intimidated. But I could see the fear in those brown eyes clear as day.
How anyone ever thought these two were Asteria’s birth parents was a mystery to me. Sure, the woman had dark hair, but Asteria’s was darker than hers, and the woman’s green eyes were nothing like Asteria’s blue. The man looked even less like her.
As I stepped within reaching distance, I aimed to do just that when the man whipped the candlestick toward me. I laughed, knowing his hit would feel like nothing but air to me. Humans were so weak, after all.
Instead, I let out a bellowing scream as the candlestick hit my cheek. My flesh sizzled, burning like a brand across the delicate skin.
“Iron,” I growled, canines lengthening as the man yelled and moved to hit me again. I grabbed his arm, sneering at his pathetic display as I squeezed my fingers tighter and tighter, until the man was forced to let go with a sharp cry of pain.
“Jovin!” The woman cried out, stepping toward her husband, who was cringing from the pain shooting through his arm. He lifted his other, motioning her away.
“Stay back, Mya!” He forced out through clenched teeth.
“How sweet,” I mocked, tilting my head to the side as I put on a show of sarcastic sympathy. “But you do know attacking a Fae like that…” I tsked with my tongue. “That’s aguaranteeddeath sentence.”
The woman’s whimper as she backed up against the wall was opposed by her husband, who set his jaw and lifted his head in defiance that looked so familiar, despite not a drop of blood between them. Between this human’s audacity and the reminder…
I wanted to strike him down where he stood. My lighting was my preferred weapon of choice to do it too. But I took a deep breath, reminding myself of the plan.
I needed them alive.
For now.
“Kill me then.” The man, Jovin, apparently, shrugged. “You’re going to kill us all anyway. No Fae rounds up a bunch of humans to take us on a picnic.”
I scoffed a laugh, shaking my head. Asteria thought her parents were nothing like her in this regard. But I could see she got more than she thought from the man who raised her.
“So you think it smart to antagonize me?” I asked, raising a brow pointedly.
He scoffed, shaking his head. “We’ve been hearing the rumors of what you do. We also heard…”
I furrowed my brows, his eyes meeting mine with a fire that I didn’t expect from a human. Asteria had always been the exception.
“Where is my daughter?” he asked firmly, lip twitching.
My brows flew skyward as my head reared back. Someone had indeed been gossiping if those rumors had made it all the way up here. The woman, Mya, managed to find her spine as she stood angrily.
“Where is my baby girl?” she demanded, her husband grabbing her and pulling her back as she tried to stomp forward. “What did you do to her?!”
I laughed, unable to help myself. I gave them a dramatic pout. “Well, that’s just the thing, isn’t it? She isn’tyourbaby girl.”
They both looked truly confused. Meaning that knowledge hadn’t made its way along with the rest. I couldn’t wait to find out what they did and didn’t know, and we’d have plenty of time for that.
“You mean you don’t know?” I gasped, pressing a hand to my chest, as I stalked toward them.
Jovin pressed Mya further behind him, raising his chin as I neared them.
“She’s Princess Asteria Earendel. The long-lost Fae daughter and heir of the Day Kingdom,” I told them, watching their jaws drop, and eyes widen with shock, confusion, disbelief, and anger. It was truly a delightful cocktail. “You two were just the patsies the queen found to raise her daughter for her.”
“No,” Mya whispered, shaking her head in denial. “No, I birthed her myself.”
“All part of the spell, warping your memories.” I waved my hand dismissively. “You got her days after her birth, and the spell ensured you remembered her as yours. Helped to sell the whole thing.”
