Looking up, I followed the direction of their stares and my blood ran cold.
A tall, black-haired Fae in his early forties stood at the top of a balcony overlooking the guests. His eyes were cold and dark, and his black wings flitted behind his back, tendrils of smoke curling off of them. But even so, I could see the resemblance to Liam from here: the chiseled jaw, the full pout. It was Liam’s father, and worse yet, he wore the crown of Aubin. He was the Winter King.
The fucking Winter King killed my mother.
I’d seen pictures of the crown; we had a book on all of them. The Winter King’s crown had a large ruby crystal in the center that amplified his power.
“Greetings, my Sons.” His voice reached out towards us, bringing with it a rush of frigid cold air. The men in the room all clapped as the human women looked up adoringly at the king. Elle froze next to me and I wondered if she recognized who the hell he was.
“Tonight, we celebrate the Sons of Darkness … the union of human and Fae, which will bring forth a new race into my new world.”
What the what?
My blood ran cold as everyone clapped excitedly and women started to pair up with men, walking over to couches, or mattresses on the floor, and disappearing behind curtains. The women started to undress, and it hit me then that this was a fucking breeding orgy party.
Bile rose in my throat. Was he deliberately trying to grow the Dark Fae race?
“Be fruitful and multiply,” the king said, before walking away from the balcony and into the arms of a woman with long red hair who had been standing behind him.
“Holy fuck,” I whisper-screamed. He was purposely creating more Sons … and these humans seemed all too happy to oblige. Our most cherished rule was to keep our people a secret to the humans, but he’d clearly outed us to select few who were willing to…
I felt sick.
“Where is the you know what?” Elle whispered, eyes widening with urgency.
The crystal. I’d nearly forgotten why we were here. Shaking my head, I took a deep breath and pulled on my power, feeling a tug down the hallway, where there was a staircase leading down. A guard stood in front of it, barring our way.
“There.” I nodded to the guard.
Elle nodded. “I’ll distract him. You get it and we meet at the bike.”
I nodded, nerves flushing through me.
Elle walked over to the guy while I stayed back. He wore a trim black suit, but underneath his coat I saw the glint of a dagger. He looked my bestie up and down in a seductive way as she approached him. I wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to do. Use an illusion? Knock him out?
Nope. She walked right up and started making out with him!
Oh gods!
I bolted down the hall and slipped right past them while she kept him occupied. “Oh baby, I’d love to but I gotta work,” I could hear him telling her as I took the stairs two at a time.
She had balls of steel. What if he’d led her to a mattress? I didn’t even want to think about it!
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I let my wings carry me across the hall so I didn’t make a sound. Even though the wings were invisible, they still worked. When I reached an open room, I peered inside to find that it was actually a huge open space, and when I looked up it spanned three floors. I was in some kind of walkout basement with a circular castle type of vibe. The entire wall in front of me was made of glass, which led out to a beautiful back yard and in-ground swimming pool. To the right was a set of wooden double doors. The pull at my navel told me that was the way to go. The crystal was behind the door, I knew it.
Reaching for the lock on the door, I froze when I heard rustling wings behind me.
“I knew you would be here.” Liam’s voice should have startled me, but instead it just made my whole body buzz. He was standing behind me dressed in all black, with his angelic blond hair gelled to one side. I had somehow memorized every inch of his face when I’d stared at him in those hours of his healing on my couch. My gaze ran over his blue eyes, somehow looking like they were lit with embers of gold.
“You’re a seeker too.” I had to hear him say it. His eyes roamed over my body, taking in my dress and curled hair.
He stepped forward, bringing with him a chill of cold air as he gave me a nod. “You need to leave. My father will kill you on sight.” His words were gruff and oddly protective. The blue light started up then, spinning in a circle right over my heart. He looked down at his chest, the matching blue glow casting shadows across his face. His brows pinched in confusion.
“Why does it do that? Why only with you?” His question held so much wonder. I was too embarrassed to tell him that it wouldn’t stop until we’d mated. Too scared to see his reaction when I told him it was because somehow our dead ancestors in the upper realms thought us fit to spend the rest of our lives together.
I remembered the queen then, and my promise to the elders and my people to get the crystals. “Liam I—”
My words were cut off by the sound of footfalls. “Hey! What are you two doing?” someone cried out. A guard had come up behind Liam.
