Bishop and King Athon both stilled in place, the King of Shifters gradually turning his face in my direction while my soul mate jerked his head to the side to stare at my profile.
I lifted my white brows in the room's darkness, only the moon’s glow lighting the space. “I won’t repeat myself. I did not stutter.”
My soul mate tilted his head and rumbled gently, “You have nothing to fear where my king is concerned, elf. He and I have never been sexually involved. He only likes women, whereas I only like men.” He nuzzled his cheek against mine, whispering softly against my ear, “He’s like a brother to me, buttercup. That is all.”
I sighed and returned my attention out the window, pausing when I noticed a beautiful white butterfly flutter across the windowpane and beat its wings up into the night sky. “Thank you for telling me,” I said as my attention snagged on a creeping shadow of dark fur. I tipped my head to the monster and muttered, “The punisher is here. Be ready to act if needed.”
The three of us went mute and still.
It was hard not being down in the thick of it, but I was old enough and wise enough to know when you used your best assets against a foe—and protected your weaknesses.
Unfortunately, I was part of this weakness.
The punisher lifted its three brutal heads and sniffed heavily at the air as he crept closer to my king, who was still stargazing and pretending he didn’t know the Fae was there. The Fae panted heavily, with drool dripping down its slobbering jaws as if it wanted to take a large bite out of my king.
My brows scrunched together as the punisher started circling him, eyeing him closely…as if he absolutely was going to attack.
“Fuck,” I whispered. “That’s not good.”
“He may have been thewrongbait,” Bishop muttered under his breath, his arms tensing around mine. “Has he broken any Fae laws recently?”
“Are you jesting? It’s Fae fucking King Traevon. When has he not?” King Athon breathed hard out of his nose. “Shit.He needs to get out of there now.”
“Where is that asshole dragon shifter?” I hissed frantically, scouring the castle grounds. “He’s supposed to—”
Aroarso profound it shook the castle under my feet exploded from the sky, cutting my words off right as the punisher lifted his heads andhowled, making King Traevon grasp at his chest and crumple to the ground, my king curling in on himself andscreamingin agony.
I clenched my fists by my sides, jolting in place and barely holding myself back from blasting the punisher with my deadly ice. My soul mate’s arms tightened around me even further, holding me snugly against him.
The Fae punisher snarled and prowled toward my king, only for a shadow like a pretty, shimmering cloud to float over it. In the next second, the punisher was thrown to the ground as the dragon shifter became a man once more, his claws out and attacking with ruthless force, both snapping and clawing one another.
Thentheir power flared.
As one, the three of us took a step back.
The breath in my lungs came out in a shaky rush asso much Fae powervibrated bone-deep: unnerving, intensely eye-opening and overwhelming.
“Fucking Fae.” King Athon narrowed his eyes on the battle, watching it all closely. “He is going to be a problem.”
“Which one?” I mumbled, watching my hurt king and the raging Fae battling it out. “If you speak of the dragon shifter, he is helping us right now.”
“Precisely so. He’s helpingright now,” King Athon murmured absently. “How long will it be before he tires of his games like all Fae do and turns that power on us?”
I contemplated as the dragon shifter fell onto his back with the punisher’s fangs sinking deeply into his bleeding shoulder, the dog-like head shaking and trying to rip flesh from bone.
I murmured softly, “I will give him the benefit of the doubt for now.” Then I sucked in a sharp breath as another of the punisher’s heads bit down onto the struggling dragon shifter’s throat, the third head biting into his remaining free shoulder—the dragon shifter was well and truly fucked. “That…is a death blow.”
But the oddest of occurrences happened.
An apparition appeared above them.
It floated and hovered steady in the dark.
I froze in place and muttered breathlessly, “What in the realm?” I grabbed Bishop’s arms around my waist, digging in my fingers deeply to hold myself up. “It…That looks like Grandmother Isabella.”
King Athon grunted at the view of the ghostly woman, her see-through body flickering in and out of existence. “Yes, I recently learned King Traevon forgot to mention that his mother turned into a wraith at her death.” He flicked a finger at the view. “As all wraiths are Fae-blessed and Fae killers, I believe the situation is well in hand.”
I watched in growing fascination—and horror—as Grandmother Isabella sank her own fangs into the furry neck of the punisher. At the same time, her ethereal body turned dark, and shadows twisted out from her person.
