Chapter 10 #4
“Why would I? You’ve just made me think of a great idea for the throne cushion: green with a sun design.”
Lanlin’s cheek flush. “It is decided then.”
He straightens, revealing me to the room again.
My skin feels too hot as well.
I glance at Horus.
Horus appears shaken. “Well, Freya, you are quite exquisite. I am sure that I will meet you again at one of my parties. Your eyes are like precious emeralds. Your hair is the sun come down from the sky to light our dark night. Your—”
“Oh, do my ass next.” I squirm on the throne. Do Horus’ lines usually work on the Omegas here? “Is it like a succulent peach? You could just bite it for hours, right? And my toes are like wiggling worms. My—”
“Perfect little nose,” Daire’s eyes are dancing with amusement, “is the sweet plum that the ravens peck.”
Maybe Daire is enjoying this too much.
I still laugh.
Horus drops his mask, revealing the true ugliness underneath. His fangs extend in anger.
“Interrogate them, Mother.” Horus’ eyes are hard.
Immediately on the alert, Lanlin rests his hand on the back of the throne. “There is nothing to ask.”
“I see.” Isis cocks her head, glancing around to ensure that she has the full attention of both the Void Cult and members of the Scarlet Temple.
As plainly dressed as she is, it’s clear that she holds the power here.
“As your poor, belated mother and father’s consort, however, I still feel a duty to their kingdom.
Their blood and spirits would cry out to me otherwise.
Isn’t that only right? KalaKant was killed by a fae.
Do you believe that she would expect you to take a fae as your Blood Lover?
Now that the peace has been broken, let us execute both wolf and fae as a blood sacrifice for KalaKant… ”
Lanlin’s roar echoes through the chamber, and everyone shrinks back.
My heartbeat races. Adrenaline spikes through me.
But I’m not scared.
This is a protective Alpha, near feral, protecting his pack. I witnessed it in Fang Kingdom. I just never thought that anyone would be driven to it because of Daire or me.
“Nobody harms my blood mates,” Lanlin snarls. Shadows curl from his shoulders, forming monstrous shadow bat wings behind him. “The treaty stands.”
His giant wings are like vast silhouettes against the constellation walls.
Yet despite everything, I have the feeling that Lanlin isn’t the monster in this room.
I catch sight of Daire’s expression, which is lit with admiration.
I’m not sure if it is wing envy or admiration that Lanlin is so publicly standing up for us as a pack.
Possibly, both.
“How does the treaty stand?” Ruin wipes his sleeve over his sweating forehead. “A peace was brokered only if the raids were ended. They’re not.”
“The dragons attempted to assassinate you,” Nebet adds.
I hate it, but they both have good points.
I keep quiet.
Wraith taught me the trick of when listening, silent and invisible, is the most valuable skill.
“I don’t believe that the treaty was broken by King Aurelius,” Lanlin announces with a certainty that I wish I felt because it is fucking killing me that my own Alpha could have used Daire and me as pawns in this secret move.
But what if he did…? “This was a power grab by that barbaric Atticus and his men. I have killed them all. Until I know otherwise, I will not be the one who breaks my word. I am not a betrayer.”
Not how Aurelius tells it.
I ball my hands in my lap, trying to remember all the tricks that Wraith showed me about keeping calm, expressionless, and not revealing my true emotions under pressure.
And this is pressure, when Daire and I could be executed.
“Admirable,” Isis coos. “KalaKant birthed an excellent son. But you also mustn’t be a betrayer to your own people. What if this fae and wolf were in on the plan?”
“They weren’t,” Lanlin growls.
“My mistake,” Isis says with cloying sugariness. “It’s just that they look so…unbroken. As if they haven’t been questioned in the punishment pits at all.”
My shoulders hunch.
Lanlin’s shadow wings grow even larger, until they tower to the tip of the pyramid.
“They haven’t been, have they?” Isis says, softly.
Furious muttering rises in the chamber.
I fight to not move and keep my expression blank.
“They’re your fated mates,” Isis adds with fake sympathy. “On my fangs, I don’t expect you to be able to break them yourself. Give them to the House of Crocodile. We’ll make them talk.”
“And I’ll make you scream in your death thoes if you suggest that again.” Lanlin crosses his arms.
Sobek steps in front of his mother.
“Let me ask them the questions here.” Sobek’s voice is gruff. “Prove to everyone that you are not hiding anything. Otherwise, all in the kingdom will doubt your mates. How will they rule beside you then?”
Lanlin considers Sobek for a long time. I can’t decide whether he will savage him.
To my surprise, Daire shrugs. “Go on, let the arseholes ask me their questions. I’m only a courtesan pet, aye? It’s fine.”
I sit forward with a jolt.
What in the hell is my trickster up to now?
Lanlin looks unsure. “Three questions only.”
Daire unfolds his wings, flapping them like he’s about to fly a race. “Fun.”
Sobek and his brother exchange a glance, before stalking together up the steps.
“Fae,” Sobek starts.
“Dove.” Daire flutters his eyelashes winningly.
I fight not to laugh.
The roughish charm doesn’t work on Sobek, although it appears to on Horus, who stumbles and almost falls flat on his face.
“Dove,” Sobek starts again, “were you informed that Lanlin would be attacked or assassinated and the terms of the peace treaty breached?”
Daire cocks his head. “Who would tell a courtesan war plans?”
These Bloods don’t know fae well enough. Daire is going to dance around their answers, searching for loopholes, and telling truths while telling lies.
“Fools,” Lanlin mutters.
Sobek’s expression becomes even grimmer. “Are you only a courtesan?”
I press my nails hard into my palm not to show my reaction.
Daire wraps his wings around himself. “Nay, I am also a bandit. A rebel. A soldier in the defeated featherglass army. I was captured and turned into a pet.”
“You can see how cruelly he’s been whipped.” For the first time, Horus sounds sympathetic. “That barbaric Maximinus is renowned as a fae pet-hater. It must have been interesting to be owned by him.”
Sobek takes longer to think of his third question. “Do you want to hurt Lan?”
Oh, no.
My gaze shoots to Daire’s.
“Nay,” Daire replies. “Sin is my soulmate’s Alpha. A king. He has saved my life and Freya’s. On the sacred ash, I truly don’t want to hurt him.”
He meant that.
It wasn’t a lie.
But what does it mean for our mission? Only that Daire doesn’t want to hurt Lanlin or that he won’t?
“Are you now satisfied?” Lanlin demands through clenched teeth.
Sobek shakes his head. “The fae is lying.”
Daire looks offended. “Unseelie tell the truth.”
“They’re tricksters.” Isis points at Daire. “He’s hiding something.”
Daire runs his hand down his robe with a wink. “Not in this outfit.”
“Then tell us about the mask.” Horus reaches for Daire’s silver mask, before pulling his seared fingers away with a hiss.
“Do you like it?” Daire grins. “Cursed silver in dove wings. I think that it brings out the lavender in my eyes. Wait, isn’t that more than three questions? Greedy.”
“I’m using my compulsion on them both.” Horus glances between Daire and me, and suddenly, I am falling into his dark gaze.
All I can see is the gray of his eyes like a tunnel.
My breathing evens.
I’m not in control of my body anymore.
I can’t move.
There is nothing but the tunnel of his eyes.
Somewhere, Lanlin is snarling, “If you dare, I will paint the walls of Sin Audience Chamber with your blood.”
“It is always blood with you. It was ever since you were a child,” Isis replies.
Then a voice echoes all around me, as if it’s inside my head.
I can’t escape it, and it’s so mesmerizing — a lure — that I fall into it.
I whimper.
The soothing voice is whispering to me that every dream I have had is now mine if only I listen.
If only I obey this Alpha.
Obey.
Obey.
“Who are you really?” Horus’ smooth, compelling voice echoes around me.
The small thread of me that remains battles against the compulsion.
And the thought — he is doing this to Daire too — chills me with enough fear to fight.
We’re dead.
We’re so fucking dead.
“A fae who has lived too long,” Daire replies, as if he is a shadow of my own thought.
What the hell does he mean?
The compulsion is eating at me, a migraine throb behind my eyes. The words are bubbling up my throat against my will.
My tongue feels too large in my dry mouth.
I can’t keep them down. “A fucking survivor.”
I slump into the throne, breathing hard.
The compulsion is cut off with a scream.
Lanlin is holding Sobek bound in his shadow wings, as he struggles. Lanlin’s eyes are wild with fury. Shadow has Horus pinned down to the floor with her claws sunk into his leg.
Isis has dropped to her knees.
Only the High Priestess has stepped forward, weaving ribbons around herself threateningly.
Daire’s legs have buckled, and he’s collapsed to the ground. Yet he’s watching the chaos with a fierce grin.
When Lanlin flicks his wrist, Shadow sinks her teeth into Horus’ thigh.
He howls, “Mercy, brother.”
Yet Lanlin only flicks his wrist again.
Shadow savages Horus, between his legs this time, before picking him up and shaking him. Then she hurls Horus like a ragdoll against the chamber’s wall, painting it in blood just like Lanlin promised.