Chapter 10
Lucien
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Groaning, I push myselfup, the grass cool beneath me. The others are scattered nearby, but only three sets of eyes stare back at me, and theirs aren’t the one I want to see.
The three changelings are just sitting with their legs crossed, using their fingers to draw in the dirt where they’ve torn out a patch of grass. Just...waiting. For us, or more likely for Cambria, to make sure nothing happened to her while she was unconscious and vulnerable.
The once invisible barrier over Achlys’ hidden city has a blue tint to it now, making the place appear trapped within a bubble. Not far from us, deep grooves are clawed into it, bloody handprints marring the surface. Dorian’s pet shifts closer to me, pulling his filthy hand from the dirt to rest on his lap, flicking a quick, hopeful glance at the others.
“Much more of that, you’d have broken through.”
His nails are bloody, raw. Yet he didn’t pull any energy from us, or leave us long enough to hunt. The other two are in a similar shape, though looking far worse from the carnage they created before they found us.
Rubbing my temple, I push through my headache. “If that’s all she had to do to keep you out, she never would have needed us.”
On my next scan of the barrier, a face peers back at me a short distance away, twisted with disdain. Holding her eye, I stand up, pushing past my dizziness and not showing an ounce of weakness in front of her. She says nothing, nor do her remaining guards surrounding her. They haven’t even cleared the bodies from the streets, just stand amongst them without a hint of sadness or remorse, simply rage.
“Look at what you’ve done,” Achlys seethes, gesturing around her. “Was this your plan all along? Get us to trust you so you could tear us apart from within?”
A humorless laugh spills from my lips incredulously. “You all but invited the light court into your home for tea. Your hubris sealed their fates, not us. We were willing to help you. Why throw that all away?”
That’s what it comes down to after all. She got exactly what she wanted, but didn’t trust that she could keep it, and her scheming ruined everything. She doesn’t deign to answer, not to me. A queen has no need to justify her actions to those she deems beneath her.
“There will be no greater joy for me than the day the people you control and discard so indifferently realize it. Who will protect you then, when your people don’t believe in you enough to sacrifice their lives for a callous queen indifferent to their suffering?”
It could be a trick of the light, but I could swear that two of her guards share a brief glance, my words hitting their mark. She may have thought we plotted to tear her apart from within, but that beautiful little idea wasn’t sparked until she hurled the accusation in my face.
If we’re going to be the villains in her story, may as well make sure the stories are so terrible that people think twice before hunting us down.
Walking straight up to the barrier, I get the sweet satisfaction of watching Achlys tense. She knows full well the limits of her power, is aware it won’t keep out the changelings. But by the smug posture of her guards, they aren’t, still believe in their queen.
Channeling every bit of hatred, disdain, and loathing I have for this woman, for this world, I let it flood my body like pure adrenaline. My blood heats, breaths coming heavier and quicker. And when I drive my fist into the shield, I make sure to hit where Azazel had already weakened it.
At first, I have nothing but screaming knuckles. As I pull my hand back and shake it out, a smirk plays on Achlys’ face, but it quickly falls as the cracks become visible. As they race around the dome, the sound grows loud and ominous enough that all noises of the forest cease around us. That protective shield turns into a spider web of fissures, a net trapping its prey.
She visibly looks relieved when it doesn’t fall despite the damage, willing to accept the warning for what it is. “Leave this place, and take your abominations with you,” she decrees, like she still gets to issue commands. “Leave us be, and we’ll do the same for you, won’t hunt you down like the traitors you are.”
I just hold her gaze as I lift a leg and slam my foot into the fractured dome in front of me. It shatters as easily as the bones of the man that tried to kill my mate, the shards raining down like glass on their heads.
“Stay out of our way, and maybe we’ll send the changelings in a different direction.” I turn, bending down to pick up Cambria. Azazel grabs Dorian, and one of the nameless changelings hefts up Atlas.
It’s so silent that I can hear Achlys swallow even from here. “Deal.”
Turning to look over my shoulder, I raise an eyebrow in humorless challenge, reveling in the way she blanches. “It wasn’t a request for a bargain. It was a warning.”
