Chapter Forty-Four
Avari
The dining room exploded in shadows before I could blink. The Lord of the Shadow Isles swore, rage twisting his features. ‘What the fuck?’
The one and only Queen of Ortensia had portalled straight into our dinner, using powers that weren’t hers.
She didn’t so much as glance at him; she moved straight for me, determination gleaming in her cold, putrid eyes. She’d come to drag me back into her golden cage.
Despite the darkness I couldn’t believe she wielded, my mother didn’t reach me in time. Alec appeared before her in a burst of shadows, unflinching at her glare.
The queen drew a deep breath of frustration and halted. She turned her attention to the lord, her voice cold as the deepest parts of the ocean. ‘So you’ve met your daughter.’
His jaw clenched as he invaded her space. ‘The one you’ve clearly been stealing shadows from?’
Challenge sparked in her glacial eyes, delight flickering behind cruelty. ‘Like she needs them. They’re useless to her.’
Hearing my mother’s high-pitched sneer made me sick.
Admitting to stealing my powers was one thing, but gloating about it showed how rotten she was. Nothing but decay, corrosion and moral regression lived in that woman.
Resentment tightened my chest, chased by a pang of fear. ‘What are you doing here?’
The corners of her lips curled. ‘Taking you home, of course.’
The lord stepped even closer, cracking his knuckles, his eyes glinting with unspent fury. ‘Ava stays here. Are you running low on the powers you steal from her?’
The accusation wiped the smirk off her face. She blanched, then roared, ‘It’s not your business. My daughter and I will discuss it privately. Ava, get moving; we don’t have a whole day.’
Miriam’s crimson eyes swept over her. The queen’s gaze lingered, intrigued by their colour, until my sister snapped, ‘She’s not going anywhere with you.’
My mother’s expression flickered. She sidestepped the lord and lunged for me, but he caught her arm and squeezed until her face twisted. ‘This is her home and she’s staying. You take one more step towards her, and it’ll be your last.’
Beneath the hurt, I felt relief. At least now I knew why I always struggled with my magic. It wasn’t inadequacy; it was her. ‘You’ve been stealing my power…’
‘Oh, don’t be stupid. What use was it to you anyway?’ she scoffed, disdain tightening every polished feature.
‘And what use was it to you? You left me weak.’
The shrew giggled, locking her gaze on mine as if she wanted to watch me break. ‘You were born weak. It’s something you accomplished on your own.’
‘And you snatching my life essence had nothing to do with that?’ My voice shook as dizziness swept through me, bile rising at the back of my throat. Arguing with her was pointless; she lacked both logic and compassion, making up for it with pure malice.
A hint of amusement twitched at her lips. ‘I look at it as your way of paying me back, really.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘You ruined my life, you owe me. I’ll feed on your power because I gave you life, and it’s mine to take.’
Her calculated tone sent a shiver down my spine. She really was insane.
‘You must be out of your mind, you crazy old hag,’ Miriam snapped, her glare sharp enough to cut glass.
It made perfect sense now. ‘So you birthed me just so you could steal from me?’
‘You shouldn’t have been born at all. I was doing you a favour! And with this—’ she gestured at the man holding her immobile ‘—as your father, you couldn’t have turned out all that good anyway.’
Their faces hovered inches apart, both ready to strike, the air thick with twisting shadows and magic.
I laced my witchcraft with heatless fire, covering everyone in a protective bubble that thrummed with a silent hum.
A flash of surprise crossed the queen’s face before she smoothed it away. ‘What a happy family,’ she said lightly, biting her lip with mock amusement. ‘Too bad your newfound daddy’s a rapist.’
My heart hammered. I didn’t want to believe it. I studied her, but even through the tremor in my chest, I knew this was her trying to fracture us.
The lord seethed, shadows curling around his arms like living smoke, weighing the cost of ending her where she stood.
Triumph glinted in her eyes. She wanted him to lash out.
‘Just because you get drunk enough not to know whose bed you land in, doesn’t mean I’m a rapist,’ he growled.
‘You knew I was mated!’ she spat, her veneer cracking. ‘You did it on purpose!’
He laughed bitterly. ‘At least he got to see what a whore the fate tied him to.’
Her witchcraft lashed out like a whip, aiming for his chest. He stifled it with thick, merciless waves of shadow that sucked the air from the room. My lungs burned; I coughed as darkness pressed in.
‘I’ll kill you all,’ she screamed, her voice shredding the silence. The threat sounded too real, and despite everything, I found myself caring about these people more than I should.
And just as I started to hope she would choke on her madness, my father swept a hand through the air, and his darkness swallowed her whole, portalling her away.
Relief hit me so hard my knees nearly gave.