Chapter 28
Twenty-Eight
A thousand heads, he cuts off. One by one. All children and babes still suckling at the teets. And when he’s finally done, he rises, covered head to toe in blood. He is the Demon of Raza.
Sometimes you have to sacrifice the few in order to save the many. - King Richard
Karl’s blue eyes dart to mine. He takes a quick step back.
Glancing around, as if my guards will save him, he shakes his head of blond hair.
“Wow. You’ve got a temper on you, Arienna.
Raising your voice at me like that. Any higher and that would’ve been a scream.
You all heard it. I’m lucky our wedding didn’t go through. ”
“Your wedding?” I ask softly. Looking down at her for an answer, I’m irritated when she isn’t already staring at me. Her eyes are still locked on to this dumbass.
“It didn’t go through,” she says through clenched teeth, “because you were too busy banging my mum. And my sister!”
Dear fucking gods. Forget the wasps making me look like a treat. Her fiancé is a piece of work. Though that doesn’t make me feel any better. Her bar is so low, it isn’t exactly a compliment for her to want to be with me.
Irritation lines her pale-pink eyes, and I hate knowing that it’s because of him. That he has enough power over her to make her feel something other than the goodie toodie feelings brownies are supposed to feel.
I finger the blade at my waist; I have so many on me.
I could use them all one by one, filling him like a pin cushion.
Jace steps closer to me, and my eyes narrow in annoyance.
It’s not like we even need a peace treaty with the brownies.
I could start massacring them all right now, and their “rules” won’t even let them run or scream.
Of course, only the die-hard rule followers would obey, but it’s not like the others are warriors.
I could raze their village in a couple hours.
Starting with the fucker in front of me.
“I only started banging your sister,” Karl says in a way that makes me hate him all the more, “because you didn’t care enough about me to stop eating donuts. You gained three grams since I met you.”
Pulling the knife free of its sheath, I throw it at his feet.
He jumps back with a squeal.
Shaking his head, Jace steps out of the way. “You just dug your own hole, you moron.”
Removing Arienna’s arm from around me, I step up to him. “By insulting my wife, you insulted me. You insulted the Raza kingdom because she is now our queen.”
He pales. The smell of urine permeates the air, and it is still a better addition to life than he is.
“And so I challenge you, Karl the Dumbass, to face me inside a fairy ring.”
His eyes roll back in his head, and he collapses.
Leaving him to sleep in his piss, I turn to Jace. “Load him up with the cargo. He comes back with us.”
Small hands grab my arm. “You can’t do this. He would have apologised. You can’t kill him for it.”
I turn to her, hating the fear in her eyes. For him. The bastard who hurt her. “The challenge has been issued.”
“So retract it.”
My jaw tightens. “It doesn’t work like that.” And even if it did, I wouldn’t.
“Why not?”
“Because it’s tradition to settle such insults in the ring.” And I’m looking forward to carving him to pieces.
“But it won’t even be a fair fight! You’ll just kill him.”
I shrug. “So I’ll give him a blade and fight him unarmed.”
“That’s not the point!”
Ducking my head, I grab the back of her neck and haul her close until we’re nose to nose. “Why do you care?”
Her throat works, and I have to struggle to stop myself from tightening my grip into a fist.
“He was my fiancé…”
“Do you love him?”
“No!” She glances away, looking at him. “But you can’t just kill everyone you don’t like,” she says desperately. “I thought you wanted peace.”
“His death won’t change my treaty with the Vylians, I assure you. And I’ll just apologise to the brownies.”
Tears wetting her eyes, she tries to lean over to look at Jace. My hand tightens, causing her to flinch. Her gaze flies back to mine. My grip eases again. “Tell me why you want to save him,” I demand, needing to know the truth.
“Because…” She glances side to side. Her gaze drops to her feet.
“Every second you don’t answer is another punishment I will give you.”
Her pulse beats rapidly against my fingers.
One second.
Two.
“Because he’s not a monster like you!”
Time stops.
My blood chills.
Everything freezes.
Then I blink once and straighten. Looking down at her, I murmur, “No. You’re right. No one’s quite like me.”
Turning, I stop at Jace’s side. “Box up all the wasps and take them somewhere far away to be released. Only then is she allowed inside to collect her belongings.”
Spreading my wings, I take to the air. Jace curses as I leave him behind, but he lets me go this time.
Although Brownston is surrounded by Raza on all sides, and many of my home enemies lurk in the trees, he knows I need this – a brief moment of privacy.
Besides, anytime we leave Raza, the witches in my guard cast a spell on me.
If there’s any danger, I’ll trade places with one of them in an instant.
Flying above the meadow encircling the town, I search for the gold-and-white chariot of the brownie royals.
Dirt paths cross between rows of mushroom-shaped houses and hollowed-out rocks covered in luminescent moss.
Artwork celebrates life rather than battles of blood and terror.
There’s so much laughter drifting up to my ears; there’s so little fear of what happens if you can’t pay rent or buy groceries or get drafted to the front lines.
But in Raza, you come home from war, and you still have to fight to survive.
Brownston is nothing like us. It’s sickeningly cosy – exactly where my wife belongs. Not with a monster like me.
Spotting the carriage a few streets over, I land on top of it, then roll off the side and through a window. The queen and king smile as I settle on the empty seat facing them. The carriage lurches as the driver struggles to keep the four mice pulling it in line.
“We’re in the middle of a peace talk with the Vylians,” I say, cutting straight to the point. I want this over and done with. I don’t have the time nor the desire to suffer through any small talk. “I want to open trade routes between the three of us.”
“Hello, King Morningstar,” King Openhai greets with a bow of his head. “It’s nice to see you again. I hope you’re enjoying this pleasant weather.”
“You have a serious wasp infestation,” I say, dragging us down the path of conversation I want.
“I’m in the middle of sorting it for you as a gesture of goodwill between our kingdoms. In return, I want you to give Vylians and Razians full access to your markets.
Our people will be allowed to trade here, as yours will be allowed to trade in ours – provided they have the required licenses, of course. ”
They share a look. Leaning out the window, the king asks the driver to circle the town. As he settles back down, he says, “We’ll pay Raza for the wasp removal. We’d prefer a different… gesture of goodwill, if you will.”
I still, knowing that tone of voice. “What is it?”
“As you know, our kingdom runs on a very strict set of rules. We are generous and kind.”
“I’m not in the mood to listen to whatever crap you teach in your schools. Spit it out.”
Queen Hurvan clears her throat. “There are a number of people, all immigrants, of course, who have come over here and taken advantage of our way of life. They break the rules repeatedly, but because they say sorry…”
“We can’t do anything,” her husband finishes.
“Surprising,” I mock. “Who would’ve thought that people would take advantage of others in a cult?”
“This isn’t a cult.”
“That’s what every cult says.”
“I realise we have our differences, King Morningstar,” Queen Hurvan says, leaning forward, “but we have less crimes committed than in Raza. The last murder to take place here was over two centuries ago. We have peace, something that your ‘non-cult’ kingdom does not.”
“I thought you wanted peace… a monster like you.”
Shoving Arienna’s words down, I study the two before me. “So you want me to kill these people for you?”
“No. Well…”
“No,” King Openhai confirms, glancing at his wife. “We just want you to take them away with you.”
Scoffing, I lean back in my seat. “You want me to take known criminals into my kingdom? What did they do?”
“Well, one of them pressures women into having sex with him.”
“A rapist.”
“No. Because they all said yes in the end, and there wasn’t any vio–”
“That’s still rape, and you know it. Otherwise, you would not be pushing for me to take him.” To kill him, even though they won’t say that. No, they need to keep their manicured hands clean. They need me to get mine dirty for them.
“Because he’s not a monster like you!”
“And the rest?” I ask.
“One creates a lot of… accidents that lead to people’s deaths.”
“For fuck’s sake, just say he’s a murderer.”
“She.”
I smile coldly. “She. So you have a murderer and a rapist for me.”
“She’s not a murderer. There haven’t been any murders in –”
“Anyone else?” I cut in, not caring enough to debate the honesty of their statistics.
Another glance passes between them. “There’s a list,” King Openhai says.
“How many?”
“Twenty-seven.”
Tilting my head, I study them. I let the silence stretch between us until they start to squirm. “That’s a fair amount of people.”
“What you’re asking for is a big thing. Your kingdom is made up of –”
“Murderers and rapists?” I ask all too politely. And ruled by a monster.
“What my husband is trying to say is –”
“Your little ‘paradise’ here doesn’t work.”
A flush creeps over her cheeks. “On the contrary. There are tens of thousands of us living in Brownston. Twenty-seven out of that is miniscule. Whereas, the vast majority of your people are murderers.”
“But not rapists,” I say deadpanned.
Her brow furrows. “Murderers are worse than rapists.”
Leaning forward, I brace my hands on my knees.
“You would think that death is the worst a person could suffer.” Rising before they can reply, I add, “I accept your deal. Give me a list of these twenty-seven ‘accident causers’ and ‘a bit too forward men’, and I’ll take care of them by the week’s end. ”
When they agree, I exit their carriage the same way I came in. Spreading my wings, I fly back to my wife’s house.
Ex-house, I tell myself.
She might fit in here fucking perfectly with her quick judgment and easy laughter, but whatever life she has here is over. I’ve taken it.
And soon, I’ll take her new one too.
Landing beside her house, I head inside.
Finding her in the living room, I grab her arm, then haul her out and onto Maeve.
She yelps as she struggles to get back down, but I hold her in place as we launch into the air.
My hand slips around to her front, causing her to still in an instant.
My lips meet her ear. Her breathing turns ragged.
Hearing her words over and over, I pull down her sleeves and slide my hand down her jumpsuit. Rougher than I was on the way over, I push my fingers inside her pussy. I’m not trying to calm her this time. I’m trying to calm me.
“Why do you care?”
“Because he’s not like you.”
Monster or not though, it seems I can still make her want me.