by Meg Xuemei X
“I am above them, but I’m not their leader,” Elvey drawled. “The demons aren’t my concern. However, my life can be forfeited if someone else knows what I came here to do.”
I didn’t hear a lie in his words. He was half-Fae after all, and Fae couldn’t lie.
But I could. I was also a half-dragon. Dragons lied a lot.
I narrowed my eyes at Elvey.
He would risk so much just to get a kiss? He didn’t seem cursed. So, a kiss for him was for pleasure. Unlike me. My future was at stake if I didn’t kiss my true loves.
But I was beginning to think this was all a cruel joke. I doubted true love even existed.
“Who is that someone else who can forfeit your life?” I demanded, not expecting my sudden protectiveness.
Blaze gave me a sharp look before glared at Elvey. “Bad news for you,” he said. “I don’t care how much risk you took. You won’t get the kiss.”
Oh, really?
“I’d love to see how you can achieve that?” Elvey said. “No one can stop me from kissing the kind, beautiful queen except the queen herself.”
I glared at Blaze. Elvey was right. It was my pleasure to decide who I kissed.
The dragon prince didn’t meet my stare. He was still puffing with jealous rage, his armored chest heaving up and down. Maybe I should get rid of him, since he would only cause me further inconvenience, but the idea of removing him from my sight stabbed pain in my chest.
That was unexpected as well.
Blaze raised his sword vertically, a gesture to invite a duel to death.
Elvey sighed. “That I can indulge.”
A sword appeared in his hand. I hadn’t even seen him draw it.
This would be a mess, and I didn’t have a lot of time left in my Fae form.
“Stop!” I shouted.
They ignored me, and I didn’t have strong offensive magic to teach them both a lesson. If I were in my Fury forms, I could huff and puff and spit black fire to separate them.
Blades crossed each other, white flashing against black, the sharp sound hitting on my nerves. And I was surprised to realize that I was worried about them both. I didn’t want either of them hurt. This protective instinct over both men wasn’t exactly what I expected.
My monsters snarled outside, obviously smelling the bloodlust in my chamber and wanting to join. But they would not enter without my permission.
“Will you two stop, please?” I ordered, but I couldn’t get between them. They were locked with each other fiercely. If I distracted either one, the other one could get killed.
They lunged, withdrew, and charged again.
Slashing, ducking, and thrusting all in fluid fashion, yet every strike was lethal.
Both were excellent swordsmen, which made the situation even more dismaying, not to them but to me.
I had learned some sword skills back when I was the Dragon Princess. My childhood friend and protector Adrian had taught me. As a strategic and formidable warrior, he’d have been my general if I had taken the throne instead of being dragged here by some unseen dark force right in front of him.
I swallowed the bile. Had my grandfather the Dragon King punished Adrian? Had he survived? If he had, had he forgotten about me in the long march of time? He would have believed it was entirely his fault—that was how he was. I hoped I could have had a chance to tell him it hadn’t been his fault.
I heard a tear and snapped my attention back to the current fight.
The tip of Elvey’s black sword cut open the armor covering Blaze’s chest, but it didn’t do more damage than that.
I sucked in a cold breath. I wouldn’t let this keep going.
The dragon prince hissed, “Foul sorcery!” and swung his sword in an arc toward Elvey’s neck.
No! I almost cried out.
Elvey bent backwards, and the white sword sliced down and cleaved his left sleeve.
The duo crashed into each other in a blur of motion, unbelievably fast, their blades meeting in the air with clangs and sparks again. I knew they wouldn’t stop until one was worn out and perished.
“Enough!” I said, shocked at the sudden power pouring out of me. I had more power than I’d thought. Was it some kind of Fae magic in me that I hadn’t discovered? The impact of my power word hit them both.
The duelists halted and jumped away from each other, turning to look at me with a near-identical dumbfounded expression.
“This is my court,” I said. “And you’ll behave, or I’ll throw both of you out.”
My court? Where had that come from?
As if having perceived my paradox, Elvey’s eyes sparkled with amusement and delightful anticipation. But Blaze looked confused for a second and glanced around.
Right, all of my subjects were monsters.
Queen of the beasts. That was who I was now.
Elvey pointed the tip of his sword toward the ground, but he couldn’t fool me. I knew how fast he could lift it and hack at his opponent.
Blaze, however, held his white sword at an angle, aiming the tip at Elvey. His nostrils flared. It would take a great deal for the fire dragon to calm down, even though he wasn’t in his dragon form.
Since they’d ceased fighting, at least temporarily, I swiftly stepped between them, just in case they decided to pick up a fight again. I needed to dismiss them both before I changed.
“I’m sorry I offended you by fighting in your court without asking first,” Elvey said carelessly. “I corrected it as soon as I saw my error. I’ll abide to all the rules of your court, as it is proper. Queen—?”
My heart skipped a beat. Other than the Archangel and his mate, no one had even bothered to ask my name for centuries. But I wasn’t going to tell Elvey my real name.
Blaze stared at me intently as well. He’d pursued my name before I’d run away from him.
“Faya,” I said, using the Wickedest Witch’s family name. It seemed fitting. And Elvey was half-Fae like me. I heard it was a dangerous business to let a Fae know your true name and give them power over you.
Blaze blinked. “Faya?”
“A lovely name,” Elvey pondered, “but I preferred a more feminine one, something like Rose, Lilac, or Daisy.”
My heart pounded. He knew me!
“Who gives a fuck what you prefer?” Blaze snorted. “Faya sounds just perfect!” He bowed slightly to me to show his respect. “Queen Faya, Blaze at your service.”
Elvey laughed.
I whipped a glare at both my suitors. I didn’t have time for this banter.
“I need you two to get out of my court right now!” I said sternly. “And don’t come back until tomorrow.”
“But why?” Blaze asked, very much unwilling to leave me. “I just got here, and it took me two days to track you down. I can’t just—”
Dragons were the most infuriating at taking orders and didn’t know how to take no for an answer.
“I have other court business to attend to,” I cut in sharply. Why did I even need to explain to him? Wasn’t I the jungle queen? Anxiety reigned in me as I felt the first scale coming. How had the hour run out so fast? I couldn’t have been in my Fae form for an hour. “Now go! Go! Make an appointment for tomorrow.”
“With who?” Blaze asked politely, ember eyes staring at me in longing.
Elvey watched me with half-hearted sympathy, yet he wasn’t moving an inch, either.
I could no longer afford to wait for these men to depart. I had to get out now before disaster happened. And I could no longer have the luxury to care if they’d stab at each other again in my absence.
A scale formed on the back of my left foot.
I broke into a run toward the exit. With my Fae speed, I would be able to dash far enough and blend into the forest to change into my Fury forms.
Before I reached the arched exit, a flash cut in in front of me, blocking my way out. My stalker was faster than I, faster than anyone had the right to be.
A hand lashed out and grabbed my wri
st before I could fend it off.
Elvey braced himself in front of me, regarding me, untouched at my furious, frantic glare. His face was solemn and serious for the first time. My eyes burned with rage at his interference. If I were in my Fury forms right now, I’d have picked him up between my fangs.
“I know,” he said. “And I’m sorry for inconveniencing you, but—”
I would hear no argument, not while I couldn’t afford to.
I resorted to going for the blade in my boot. I was incredibly fast, too, and in an instant, my dagger appeared in my hand and drove toward Elvey to get him to release me.
His hand moved with a blur and he caught my other wrist.
Blaze reached us. He was at Elvey’s back, his sword ready.
Elvey was between us, between two blades. But he didn’t flinch.
“Let her go,” Blaze demanded, having just proved that he wasn’t the type who could stab anyone in the back.
“Stay, Daisy Danaenyth,” Elvey said, and my blood iced over.
What else did he know about me?
Had he come to kiss me, kill me, or humiliate me?
“You need to let the dragons see who you are,” he said, his voice soft and pained, “so they can decide for themselves what to do with you. It has to be that way. Fate has looked the other way. You can no longer hide.”
“If you don’t release her the next second,” Blaze gritted, “you’ll suffer—” Then he stopped cold, his threats swallowed.
The red scales had covered my nose and now layered my forehead rapidly.
“You’re beautiful and deadly in whatever form,” Elvey said, letting go with his hands that gripped my wrists. “I know you’ll hate me for this. But for it to work, they all have to accept your two forms.”
There was no mockery in his tone, but still I sent him an enraged, withering glare before I could cool down and question what he knew about my curse.
Blaze widened his eyes, their beautiful golden color darkening to dusty bronze. I switched my gaze from Elvey to him, waiting for disgust appearing in his eyes.
To my surprise, there wasn’t any.
The dragon prince only cursed, “Star shit!”
The inevitable was happening right in front of two gorgeous guys, thanks to the half-Fae mage. Yet he didn’t seem to take pleasure in my dilemma, or humiliation. He didn’t show much sympathy either. There was only cold fury and steel in his darkened blue eyes, not at me, or Blaze.
I had no mind to figure out the true object of his wrath as shards of agony rammed into me. My bones started bending and reshaping, my spine snapping and spiraling out, my skin and muscles and tissue stretching from my Fae form to a vast, beastly body.
I shrieked from the terrible pain, tears forming in my bulged eyes. Unlike when I could shift to a dragon painlessly and instantly before I’d been cursed, my every cell was filled with excruciating pain. Even after centuries, the agony never lessened during each change.
Yet I knew the worst was yet to come.
“Don’t fight the pain, Daisy,” Elvey whispered.
That was fucking easy for him to say. My slender fingers thickened and extended to become claws. Maybe I should swat him with them and maul his perfect, handsome face, then he would know how not to fight the pain.
“That’s lousy advice!” Blaze said through his clenched teeth, as if my pain was his. “How can anyone not fight pain? She’s suffering greatly!”
“Let pain take over,” Elvey said, his cool hand touching my face. “Let it walk through you. You must have gone through it thousands of times and more. What else could it do to you? Sneer at it if you have to. Welcome it with mockery, but don’t give it an inch.”
I had never tried his ridiculous method, but then I had never been a stubborn person. Besides, I believed his touch took some of my pain into him, since his face distorted for a second.
I let the remnant of pain pass through me, and the blinding pain receded, until two other Furies tore through me with the force to cleave my soul.
I screamed at the tearing pain, then it was over.
Panting, three of us crouched between Elvey and Blaze.
A new scent wafted toward me, and I noticed that I had more guests.
Iokul, the ice dragon, and Rai, the lightning dragon, stepped in. They’d watched my change while I’d been distracted by my blinding pain.
They stared at me, their swords tightening in their hands, as I, in my Fury form now, stared back.
Elvey watched them, his pose relaxed, his sword nowhere in sight. But that couldn’t fool me, as I smelled the thick scent of his magic tighter than a whip.
He would defend me if the dragons attacked.
Blaze moved and stepped before three of us Furies and glared at his brothers. “You’ll not harm her—them.”
Both ice and lightning dragons growled. “Why do you think we would harm her?”
Blaze’s gaze fell on their swords.
Rai immediately sheathed his blade across his shoulder.
“What about him?” Iokul pointed his sword at Elvey.
Elvey pulled his lips back with an inviting grin.
“We fought already,” Blaze said. “It’s a tie. Don’t mind him. He enjoys annoying people. Let’s pretend he doesn’t exist.”
Elvey arched an eyebrow. “But I do exist.”
“Isn’t he the lord of the demons?” Iokul demanded.
“There it goes again,” Elvey sighed. “I really hate having to introduce myself repeatedly.”
And I really didn’t like having to face everyone with my Fury forms. Perhaps I could sneak away while they argued.
Elvey turned to me, completely ignoring the dragon princes, who still glared at him with menace.
“I have to go, Daisy. I won’t spoil your pleasant reunion,” he said, his knuckles tracing across my scaled face, and pleasure burst in me.
I blinked once. How could I feel this way toward him even in my beastly forms?
All the princes growled and stepped toward us threateningly.
I tried not to shriek with so many dominant males lounging around me.
But Elvey ignored everyone except me. Hope and sudden sadness in his star-blue eyes told me he wasn’t willing to take off, as if it was tearing him up inside to leave me.
“I’ll do more harm if I stay.” He blew out a ragged breath. “I should have better control than this.”
Elvey vanished in a flash of light.
An ache rose in my chest and settled in my heart at his absence. I hadn’t even kissed him, yet my heart ached for him.
When I turned my gaze on the three dragon princes, it was as if my wound started sealing itself.
A new question rose: what would they do with me?
CHAPTER 11
The piercing pain from the change had left me, yet I still trembled.
I didn’t take flight and escaped into the gray sky, as I usually did, as I wanted to.
All three princes stared at me, then everyone started talking at once.
“What the hell is going on?” Iokul demanded an answer from Blaze, but his icy gaze stayed on me.
I stared back, my scaled eyelashes heavy. The memory of him thrusting into me in the shallow of the pool played in my head. We hadn’t been able to finish due to my change, and the pleasure I had felt was still raw. I didn’t know if the other princes knew about our coupling and how they would react if they found out.
Blaze had thrown a jealous fit when he’d caught me trying to kiss Elvey, so I assumed none of them would take too kindly at knowing I had fucked one of them and kissed another.
I tried to rub my temple, only to remember that I had no fingers but claws, and my temples were all covered in red scales.
“Just give me a fucking minute!” Blaze barked back. “It’s too much to process.”
“What the hell did the warlock want?” Rai asked, not giving his half-brother a break.
“He wants what I want—her,” Blaze said. When he gave
a quick glance at his brothers, his eyes narrowed with a displeased realization. “You all want her, too?”
Rai ignored Blaze and approached the main me. He knew which was the one who took charge among us.
“Hello again,” he said, his piercing sapphire eyes gazing at me. “You ran away last time.”
“It seems to be her main trait,” Iokul said drily. He stayed near the entrance on guard, his hand on the hilt of his sword.
“I didn’t hurt you last time,” Rai said. “And I don’t intend on hurting you now. I won’t let anyone hurt you, either.”
What about my three heads you want? I asked him, my eyes softening.
He shook his head, and his thumb traced my scaled face. He was the kindest. I thrust my nose onto his palm and purred.
He chuckled. “That’s a good girl. I’m glad that you’ve recovered.”
His brothers watched our interaction unhappily.
“Who hurt her?” Blaze asked, rage in his voice.
“The hunters’ drones,” Rai said. “They nearly killed her.”
Blaze cursed, and Iokul roved his examining eyes over me to see if I was still wounded.
“I didn’t know who you are before,” Rai said to me. “But I think I know now.”
“Know what?” Blaze asked hoarsely, moving closer to me, so Rai wouldn’t be the one to have my sole attention.
“I heard of the legend long ago,” Rai said. “Centuries before we were even born, a half-dragon, half-Fae princess vanished from the Dragon Realm without a trace. The whole realm searched for her, but to no avail. Even now, some dragons are still looking for her. They say the princess was cursed to be taken. Her name was Daisy Danaenyth.”
I could feel my eyes moistening, yet in my beastly form, I didn’t have tears.
Blaze sucked in a sharp breath. “The half-bred warlock called her Daisy Danaenyth. He knew about the princess, and he tried to bewitch her.”
“Over my dead body will I let Elvey have her,” Iokul hissed icy steam.
I snapped my head in his direction. He’d been quieter than the others.
We’d had hot sex, but we hadn’t finished it. His silver eyes had burned with controlled, cold rage even since he’d stepped in the chamber. I sensed his hurt and anger at my betrayal, as he had now guessed that I was also involved with all his brothers.
