My wicked smile grew. My royal bloodpower pulsed.
Death would be had by my hands and gore would paint my face. I would lick my claws clean of their lifeblood and chew on their bones. My veins heated, throbbing. I wanted this now.
“We don’t have time for that!” Queen Mikko argued in her soft tone, though it was brusque. “This is a Fae fucking disaster! If they have kidnapped Princess Trixie, are the Fae trying to keep us from finding this artifact?”
I buried my royal bloodpower to think straight, digging with my mental claws to trap it down deep where control lay—until later.
My dark eyes narrowed to thin slits. “The gremlin was extremely interested in determining if we had found the first artifact. And he did want to know more about the second one. It is a possibility that they are trying to sabotage this quest.”
A dark thought entered my mind, creeping in uninvited.
What if another Fae had noticed her Fae-spark anomaly?
What would they do? Would they take her to Fairy to stand trial before the King and Queen? Or would they simply send a Fae punisher to this realm?
Fucking Fairy, this was a damned shit show.
“Is this a game to them?” King Elon asked harshly. “I know the Fae like to have their fun, but this is truly bizarre if it is one.”
I grunted in agreement.
“What is that in the sky? That black dot.” Queen Mikko flicked her finger up into the air. “I believe that is a Fae-gift, not a bird.”
We darted our gazes in that direction.
I held my breath, my eyes squinting into the sun.
If that brat was simply late, I’d cut out her useless womb.
Minutes passed in the strained quiet.
All rulers sat tall on their Fae-gifts, muscles tightly wound.
Waiting for the winged creature to draw nearer.
Eventually, King Traevon stated quietly—gravely, “It is Penelope. Without my daughter.”
My breath exploded from my lungs, my fury boiling. I flared my nostrils the closer she flew, a scent well known in the Shifter Kingdom drifting in the wind currents. I growled softly, “I smell blood. The Fae-gift is hurt.” I curled my fingers, my claws slicing through the air.
Penelope landed awkwardly before us, rearing up on her hind legs and neighing a scream, with her red and black wings spread wide. Three thick, long gashes bled from her left flank, her blood dripping down onto the cobblestones, coloring the grand entrance of my castle crimson. The strap of my soul mate’s travel bag was held brutally between her teeth, the bag swinging back and forth in the air with the Fae-gift’s erratic stumbling. Penelope tumbled hard to the ground directly beneath her sire’s head, her spooked, fiery eyes staring up at him in fear.
“Fucking shit,” I snarled, quickly releasing my waist belt and my legs from my flying saddle. I jumped down just as the elven king dismounted his Fae-gift with deadly grace. I quickly bent at the knees to evaluate the gashes, placing a soft hand on her black-haired flank where she was uninjured. I crooned softly, “Shh. It is all right, girl. You did good. You made it to your sire.”
Penelope lifted her head and bared her teeth at me.
Just like her damned owner would.
King Traevon knelt by her head and brushed his hands over her black and red mane, gentling her. “Is Trixie all right, Penelope?”
The Fae-gift nodded her head.
The elven king exhaled heavily with relief. “Let King Athon examine you. He will help. Calm yourself.”
The Fae-gift’s teeth showed once more.
Stubborn like her owner, too.
Her sire lowered himself to the ground and rested his head on top of hers, keeping her still and unable to look around. His nose wiggled, and he huffed through his nostrils, his fiery, red eyes trained on my person.
