Demon Fae.
With a shriek, I whirled to face her, only to find her completely normal. She wore a regal crimson gown, and herskin was ivory like normal. Her eyes were the usual brown. No fangs. No claws.
“B-But… I…” I sputtered, unable to form words. My heart slammed against my rib cage, making it hard for me to breathe.
She inched closer, her eyes flashing with lethal intensity. Her movements were so smooth and graceful, like a predator. My skin prickled, every instinct screaming at me torun.“How did you find that, Eira?” Each word was sharp and precise. “In fact, I’m fairly certain my chambers were locked. You shouldn’t have been able to get in at all.”
My throat went bone dry. I held up the mirror, then glanced at the reflection again, angling it so it was facing her.
That beastly creature stared back at me, baring her fangs.
I flinched, and Calista hissed, “Give it to me!”
I darted backward just as she lunged. The black mist in the room thickened, concealing the floor from view. I tried to stumble away, but I tripped over something. Pain ricocheted up my body, and I crashed to my knees with a loud cry.
A low growl echoed, making my skin crawl. Blood and ice, whatwasthat? Did she have an animal with her?
Or had the sound come from the queen herself?
Shivering bones, she was going tokillme.
Light gleamed in my peripheral vision, and I glimpsed the open door of her bedchamber. The faint lantern light from the corridor beckoned. My only chance to escape.
I moved toward it, but I was hit by something heavy and solid, my body crumpling from the impact. Dizzy, I staggered to my feet, only to gape in horror at the sight before me.
Calista stood nearly as tall as the ceiling, her skin gray and leathery, with great black wings stretched behind her.
She looked exactly like the vision in the mirror. Her all-red eyes blazed as she bared her fangs at me. She was positively monstrous. A creature from my nightmares.
Pure, blood-chilling terror clawed its way through me, coiling so tightly that I felt like I was choking.
“Give me the mirror!” she screeched. She swiped her arm, claws slashing. A sudden rush of adrenaline flooded my body, and I ducked just in time. On instinct, I draped my invisibility over myself, backing slowly away from this beast that was my stepmother. I heard Calista’s sharp intake of breath as I vanished from view.
Where were the guards? Her door was wide open. Why weren’t they coming? Surely, the people had to see this. They had to know who their queen truly was.
All this time, shehadbeen harboring a secret. But the evidence wasn’t hidden in her chambers. It was what lay underneath her powerful glamour.
Father had said Calista’s true nature was horrifying.Thiswas what he’d meant.
She was a Demon Fae.
“Where are you, you vile vermin?” Calista shrieked, her head swinging back and forth as she searched for me.
Thanking the gods I had managed to hide my invisibility from her all these years, I stumbled toward the open door, desperate to escape, to survive. If I was the only one who knew about Calista’s true form, it was my duty to the people to expose her. I had to?—
My thoughts were silenced by a sharp pain, followed by white-hot fire scorching my veins. Calista had been wildly slicing her claws through the air in her efforts to cut me.
And she had succeeded.
I tried to scream, but no sound came out. Gods, the pain was blinding. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t feel my body at all.
I let out a low groan as my head started to spin.
Calista’s eyes narrowed as she turned her head in my direction.
“What is this?” she hissed.
I froze, alarm coursing within me. Had she seen me?
