What did you do? (Infatuated fae #2)

6. Present Day

6

PRESENT DAY

Mendax

C aly had told me I was a villain.

She must have learned what bad guys are from someone meaning her harm because she has no fucking idea what a villain really is.

She thought I was awful when I hated her. She’s about to learn just how horrible I am in love with her.

My skin itches in anticipation.

I lower my chin and reach for my powers. Like a crack of lightning, the ghost of smoke appears over my skin, eagerly whispering sweet, masochistic nothings to my black soul as I shadow through the portal.

Unsurprisingly, there’s a guard at the entrance. With everything taking place with the Fallen fae, of course they would have guards at the royal portals. The Fallen were the same ones who had been attempting to take over my castle.

The guard couldn’t see me—not that a small Seelie guard would stop me anyway. The Fates themselves couldn’t stop me from getting to that woman, and anyone that got in my way would sorely regret doing so.

I reach for her tooth dangling on a cord around my neck and rub the smooth, white edge methodically against my bottom lip, mindlessly aching to feel her closer and remembering the fire in her eyes when she spat the molar at me in the Unseelie dungeon.

Would she fight me when I got to her? Probably. It didn’t matter. She was as deeply in love as I was. She just might not know it yet.

I would make sure she knew.

I walked past the guard unseen, his beady Seelie eyes flickering in my direction. He could sense something awful was near him, the feeling when your primal body recognizes that you are in danger. That’s all he would notice though.

I meant to let him live. I had intended to slide by unseen before making my way to the Seelie castle and retrieving my things—but I couldn’t.

My black blood prickled under my flesh, overcome with the need to rattle his Seelie bones.

I squinted, standing in front of the guard. It was bright as could be in this star-forsaken land. In my shadow form, I was completely invisible to the naked eye. I preferred blending into the darkness and night, but I could conceal myself enough in broad daylight for short periods. It was one of the reasons Smoke Slayers were considered some of the most powerful fae.

It was incredibly easy to kill when others couldn’t see you.

I didn’t want to just kill this guard though.

I wanted to make a scene.

I had barely killed anything since I watched that golden bastard put his hands on my pet in the human realm. I knew that instant, he would experience a death unlike any other. That would be the price he paid for tangling himself with my love. Aurelius certainly knew better than to fuck with me, but I would be pleased to remind him.

That was the difference between a so-called villain and hero. It wasn’t about who had the greater powers or tricks. It was about who felt the strongest and to what capacity. Even some of the best thieves and murderers have a surprisingly strong moral compass. The gauge that tells them it’s okay to steal bread or rob someone in the village for their starving family but not to hurt innocent people.

I didn’t care who I hurt. I’ve never needed something in return for hurting anyone, and I didn’t need motivation to inflict pain. I was built full of rage.

I used my strengths to get what and where I wanted. No matter what accomplishments, praise, accolades, titles, or companions I ever had, I had never felt the way I’ve seen others feel. I had had friends, family, lovers—if you wanted to call them that—but I had never felt anything from it. Not the way I felt when I unleashed myself and killed. Sure, I had people who I would have helped: Alistair, Walter—before I dropped him off the roof and into the Seelie portal anyway.

The thought of what would have happened to my love if she had managed to get through the portal with Walter and land in Seelie without being bonded to me made a guttural growl rip out of my throat.

The guard in front of me froze, stopping his pacing to look straight through me. Tiny goose bumps rose on his sweaty flesh. What horrible armor they had.

I was within arm’s reach of him. His golden-tan cheeks sagged just slightly. There was the barest tremble to them as his eyes darted around in an attempt to find the cause of his terror. His heart rate doubled, nearly deafening to me.

Walter would be easy to find. I would start with him so he could help me with Caly. The portal I had dropped him into went straight to the golden seas that butted up against the small village beyond the Seelie castle. If he was smart, he would have shifted into a rat in the confines of the village, but knowing how much we both hated the Seelie, I was betting he had already exposed himself with a fight and landed in a dungeon somewhere.

“Aye, who goes there?” shouted the Seelie guard in front of me.

My smoky wings unfurled with a soft thrum, enthusiastic to kill. Smoke tendrils crawled up his body leisurely but gained speed with every inch they touched. The smoke wasn’t as easy to hide, its darkness too great to be covered completely in this light. His nostrils widened, taking note of the woody, amber scent of my smoke just as his eyes found mine.

It didn’t matter. All of the Seelie realm was about to know I had arrived.