“And now you threaten me in my own home,” he said evenly.
“Please forgive my brethren. They are new to their bodies and have not yet learned to manage the ridiculous emotional highs your kind possess,” she said icily. Indeed, Andromeda rarely felt much at all. Except for rage. Rage against this king. Rage against the humans. Rage against her own self, atLife, for holding her reins. She wanted to break free of her bridle and loose her full might upon the world.
The king folded his beefy arms and leaned back in his high-backed chair, the arms carved to look like dragons. “If you want me to ally with you, you’ll have to control yourbrethren.”
“Perseus, Orion, sit.”
The creatures sat.
The king squinted at them. “Not bad. Now, can you do that on the battlefield? Can you do that when you’re not around to watch their every move?”
“They’ve made vows to me,” she said crisply. “I control what they do and don’t do.”
“Hmm. And the humans? What do I get out of it? I presume their kingdoms will be yours and not mine.”
Andromeda smiled. She’d been waiting for him to ask this very question. With a dramatic flair, she dropped four of the gemstones on the table. They clattered across the rough surface, their effervescent light splashing color onto the king’s ruddy face. He leaned forward, squinting.
Uh oh. I did not like this.
“This some new kind of gemstone?” he asked, picking it up and turning it so the light of the candelabra illuminated the crimson. “Where’d you get it?”
“It’s where we came from. It’s what we are. Within those gemstones, you will find the power over Shadows and Storms. It is a great sacrifice for us to gift you with these, but we will do so for your loyalty.”
I noticed she did not mention Light and Tranquility to him. The positive aspects of the creatures were not as impressive as the negative. Why would a brutal fae king wish for light?
The king looked up. There was a greedy look in his eye. “I can have these powers once we win our war against the humans?”
“Say you’ll join us,” said Andromeda, “and you can have them now.”
Deep down, I felt the flicker of pain. Andromeda was giving two of her brethren away, and it hurt her. I hadn’t thought it was possible for her to feel that kind of loss. But she had accepted that it was the only way for her to get what she wanted.
The end of humanity.
“Deal.” The king swept up the gemstones. They clinked together in his hand. Andromeda shifted on her feet, and I could feel her unease, but she remained silent. The king looked at her and smiled. “But if we are going to do this, you and I, you should speak with King Ovalis Hinde, the ruler of the humans.”
“What? Why?” Andromeda had not expected that.
“You do not know Ovalis,” the king said. “Go meet him. See his city. Get close to him and listen to his heartbeat when you mention war. And I will fight him if you still believe he means to destroy us.”
Andromeda clucked her tongue. “This was not part of the deal. The power of the gemstones should be enough.”
“This is my attempt at preventing needless bloodshed.” He took a long pull of his ale, then slammed his tankard on the table. “Or are you monstrous enough to deny us of that?”
Perseus growled. I could see it in his eyes, the desperation to loose his fear upon this man. But if he did, the king would never ally with Andromeda, so he tempered his base instincts as best he could.
Andromeda sighed. “Very well. I will meet with him, but I must warn you. It will not change my mind. The humans need to die. Including Ovalis Hinde.”
“We’ll see,” he said, smiling.
Darkness crept into my vision, but I was too focused on the glint in the fae king’s eyes. A glint Andromeda had missed. How had she not seen it? This man was not her ally, nor did he mean her well. This was some kind of trap.
Good, I thought, just before the haze took me.I hope he stabs her in the heart.
Thirty-Four
Tessa
PRESENT DAY
