by Meg Xuemei X
“Break one more bone,” I said viciously. “And I’ll kill every one of your subjects here, and you’ll have no one to rule.”
A collective gasp of fear rippled through the court. Some of her subjects started moving toward the exit.
Tianna laughed cruelly. “You think I care about any of them?”
I was the one who had bluffed. Some of the Fae could be my mother’s people.
“We accept Queen Tianna’s Challenge,” Iokul called. “We’ll play.”
My heart stilled for a moment, and when it started beating again, every inch of me hurt.
I wheeled toward Iokul, my eyes wild with disbelief. Just as I yelled at him, a chime vibrated in the air and the ripple spread and hit all of us.
Magic had sealed the bargain.
“What have you done?” I asked, bile rising up to my throat, tears flowing down my face. “How could you do this to me?”
“As I told you before, Daisy, you aren’t the only one who makes decisions for us,” Blaze said. “And this time, we outvoted you.”
They’d talked among themselves in telepathic dragon tongue while I’d focused on battling Tianna. They’d made the decision without me. I knew they weren’t happy that my voice was louder than theirs on some issues, but I hadn’t expected that their resentment ran that deep.
I’d thought we were one.
“If this is the only way we can get rid of our masks,” Rai said, “we aren’t going to pass it up, not even for you, Daisy.”
The three of them tried to avoid eye contact with me as fury blazed in my eyes.
“Excellent,” Tianna said. “This went better than I thought.”
“Maybe you should break the bastard demigod’s blood bond to you, Your Majesty,” Iokul said. “He’s insufferable. We brothers are heading in a new direction, and we don’t want him to hang around and cling to you like a nasty bulldog puppy.”
“Possessive, aren’t you, my ice dragon prince?” Tianna smiled on a sigh.
8
“Heart doesn’t know. Heart betrays. Heart breaks. Heart divides. Heart deceives. Only the boldest move wins the wicked game.”
Sphinx’s words rattled in my aching skull, mocking the doom of me and my consorts.
My mates had made the fatal decision and forced me to seal the deal.
Maybe they knew better?
Maybe it was the bold move that would win the wicked game?
I shook my head. I didn’t think so.
My heart bled as I watched them distance themselves from me.
The Challenge had started.
My mates moved halfway away from me and toward Tianna. I stretched my hands toward them, but they ignored my gesture.
I dropped my hands in defeat.
I was to be shattered into a thousand pieces.
No, I wouldn’t. I couldn’t allow myself to break. Elvey needed me.
He gazed up at me, his eyes full of regret and pain, and that pain was for me.
“Break his blood bond to you, Tianna. Now!” I said, steel and venom in my voice. “I’ve accepted the Challenge.”
“I’m tired of him anyway,” the dark queen said. “He’s of no use to me other than a constant menace. He diluted his blood with the vampire venom, and he made a pact with a goddess.” She regarded me, a malicious smile distorting her bloodred lips. “He will soon belong to her even if I don’t break the blood bond. Either way, you won’t have him long, even though he was supposed to be your first mate centuries ago.”
I knew about his pact with Goddess Arianrhod. Tianna was just trying to add insult to injury. I would deal with Arianrhod after I handled my evil aunt.
“Release him from your fucking bond,” I hissed.
“I don’t like your tone, Daisy Danaenyth,” Tianna said. “I might not—”
“Just give him to her and let her take him, Your Majesty,” Iokul said with an exasperated sigh. “The demigod has always been a sore sight. I want him out of our way. Let her suffer him.”
A shard of glass stuck in my throat. Their attitude toward her had changed from calling her cunt to Your Majesty. Tianna saw my bitter expression, despite that I’d tried to cover up my emotions. She giggled in delight.
“A sore sight indeed,” Tianna said, eye-fucking Blaze, Iokul, and Rai one by one, and they turned up the voltage of their pure male sexy smiles.
They fucking grinned while my heart dripped with blood.
“Fine,” said Tianna.
She raised her hand, her fingernails slashing across her wrist. Her blood, half-black and half- red, leaked from the gush. The evil queen chanted a series of ancient spells.
Primal, dark, and foul power crackled the air, and the whole court staggered back at its impact.
A wave of black light burst out of Elvey. He clenched his teeth, and two trails of blood, half-black and half- red, trickled from his blue eyes.
“You fucking—” I roared, throwing my White Light at Tianna, but pulled it back just in time. If I attacked her first during the Challenge, I might forfeit my chance of winning back my three mates. “I asked you to break the fucking blood bond,” I thundered, “not to hurt him again.”
“Let the demigod tell you if he’s released,” Tianna said in disdain, and waved a hand dismissively.
Elvey’s throat bobbed up and down. “Daisy,” he said hoarsely. Tianna had just fixed his windpipe.
I knelt beside him, cradling him in my arms.
“It’s done,” Elvey said, smiling at me. “You freed me.”
Joy lit me up. But when I raised my head and my eyes found my dragon mates, pain sliced through me again.
Iokul, Rai, and Blaze watched Elvey and me without emotion. All I saw were their cold, gorgeous faces under the masks—the masks they wanted to be rid of more than anything.
In order to remove their masks a bit earlier, they chose my enemy over me.
I trembled more violently than my injured Elvey.
Then, the next second, I lost Elvey in my embrace and also the sight of my consorts.
I stood on the glassy surface of the dark ocean, facing my ultimate enemy alone.
Realization dawned on me. Tianna had dragged me to this world of her illusion while my shield was weakened because of my inner turmoil. I pushed my magic at her, only to find that she merely wanted a private dialogue between us.
I enhanced my shield. I would allow her to have a brief conversation, for now.
Tianna regarded me with twisted amusement and interest. “It’s my obligation to tell you the truth of the Challenge,” she drawled. “If any of your mates betrays you in any fashion, you’ll lose. As soon as they’re intimate with me, the curse will return to you. This time it’ll be permanent and unbreakable. You’ll return to be the beasts of Furies for eternity. You won’t shift to Fae for even a second. And no one—not any man, your mates, or Elvey—will ever be able to save you. I planned your mother’s death, your curse, and this final backup Challenge for a millennium. How satisfying it is for me to see that your mother’s and Aine’s blood sacrifices for you were for nothing. That’s why I even allowed you to enter Sihde with such a bad attitude.”
Bile rose up to the back of my throat, and raw fear closed its tight passage.
If I returned to be the beast again and forever, I wouldn’t make it. The bitch didn’t even need to kill me. My mind would shatter, and I’d never pick up the pieces. Madness would claim me completely. And no one could ever reverse it.
Tianna knew exactly just that.
She giggled as she watched fear coat every inch of my skin.
With every ounce of sheer will that I possessed, I yanked the terror from invading every cell in my body, tossed it at my feet, and stomped on it.
I wouldn’t allow it to paralyze me.
I couldn’t afford to let my one true enemy get into my head, not just for my sake, but for my mates’, my warriors’, and my people’s—Fae, dragons, and humans alike.
“Why tell me this?” I asked w
ith a stony face.
“First, the rule of the Challenge requires it. Second, I want you to suffer like no one has ever suffered. I want you to live in terror every second while you constantly ponder when your dragon consorts will betray you, and when they’ll be so eager to let me fuck them.” Her devious smile grew wider, and it was the most evil smile I’d seen. “You’ll scream and fight for a way out. But this time, there’s no way out. And you can’t tell anyone the true nature of the Challenge. You can’t demand your former mates quit the game. Once you do, you’ll fail the Challenge and return to be Furies immediately. The magic of the Challenge bonds all of us. You might want to research what happens to a Fae who breaks her promise.”
I already knew that. A Fae breaking a promise became a soulless creature, neither living nor dead, and never had a moment of relief. It was one of the worst fates.
I swallowed. My mind burned with one single determined thought.
I might not get out of this hell, but I’d make sure to drag her down with me, so she would never lay her claws on anyone else.
“You still have a month to remain in your lovely, queenly Fae form, niece. Enjoy every second while you can. Oh, you probably won’t be able to, not even when you fuck Elvey, because your mind will keep wandering to when Blaze, Rai, and Iokul will pound between my thighs. I’ll fuck them one at a time, then all of them. I can’t wait to have their massive cocks.”
“Shut the fuck up, you disgusting worm,” I said.
My bonding magic flared up, and I shattered her glamoured world.
9
Tianna jerked on her throne of gold and black diamonds, outrage marring her deceptively beautiful face. She hadn’t expected my strength. She hadn’t expected that I could crash the bubbles of her illusion.
She wasn’t done with me. She wanted to continue to toy with me out of boredom and nastiness, but I was done with her, for now.
Right now, she wasn’t my concern, but Elvey was.
I held him in my arms, and my trembling ceased. “I’ll never let anyone touch you again,” I said, my gentle fingers tracing his jaw to comfort him, to assure him.
Even being tortured like this, Elvey was still gorgeous beyond words.
“And I won’t let anyone touch you, beloved,” he said fiercely.
I forced back my tears. Without him watching out for me, I’d have been dead several lifetimes over.
“Shush.” I pulled him closer, knowing how painful it was for him to even talk.
Elvey passed out in my arms as his body finally relaxed.
“Healer!” I called. “I need a healer!”
No one approached us. No one dared.
Blaze, Iokul, and Rai watched us. They seemed to want to approach me, and I pleaded with them with my eyes, but they stopped halfway. All I got was unreadable expressions on their masked, hard faces.
My heart constricted.
Sphinx had said I would find a way home with four loves. He’d meant this fairy land was my home, the home that I’d never known.
I’d come back, freed my last mate as we’d set out to do, only to lose my other three mates.
Would I really lose them, or had I already lost them?
My agonized gaze traced them.
Couldn’t they see that I was a mess? Wouldn’t they come to pick me up like they’d done before?
A flicker of emotion flashed by their eyes, but that was all they had for me.
Tianna laughed. “Let’s go, boys.”
She rose from her throne, swaying her hips. She was every bit a seductress, sultry beauty in her every move.
Blaze, Rai, and Iokul snapped their heads toward her, enthralled again. They’d seen a fair share of gorgeous women in their lives and they hadn’t been touched, until now.
They’d devoted themselves only to me, until now.
I wanted to lunge at them, drag them back with me, and make them stay with me. I wanted to bleed Tianna, so she could never bewitch my mates. But I could do nothing before the Challenge was over.
Cold logic told me that she didn’t bespell my dragon consorts. She didn’t need to. They were willing to go with her.
The dark Fae queen glided toward the exit in her red gown, her golden hair that didn’t cover her fully exposed creamy back flowing at her feet. Blaze, Iokul, and Rai fought to walk on either side of her, just as they used to compete to win my affection.
They started bantering when Rai didn’t get the coveted spot beside Tianna.
“Oh, you three, stop that.” Tianna giggled, but not for my benefit this time. She thoroughly enjoyed their rivalry for her attention.
They left the room together, the usurper’s sickening flirtatious laughter and the princes’ growling at each other finally fading off.
My former consorts turned completely heartless toward me as soon as Tianna promised to lift the final piece of their curse.
My pain was too great it numbed me.
But I couldn’t let it numb me. I needed to be functional.
I called for the healers again, but when I darted my wild gaze around, the whole court had vacated.
Everyone had left.
Out of fear of Tianna, no one came forward to help Elvey and me.
Rage, panic, and helplessness burned through me. One day, I’d level this court to nothingness.
“You’ll be fine,” I whispered in Elvey’s ear. “I’ll take care of you.”
In my loneliest and most helpless state, a voice reached me. When Tianna challenged you, she didn’t know she’d made a mistake. According to the ancient royal Fae laws, only the heir can challenge the queen. While challenging you as a current ruler, she actually put herself in the position of the heir and endorsed you as her queen. And as the true queen, it’s also in your position to denounce her ever to become your heir.
It was the voice of the forest spirits I’d encountered, and it kept filling me with the details of the Challenging laws.
A ray of light pierced my clouded thoughts. As the rightful queen of Sihde, I could invite anyone into the realm. The barrier and ward could no longer stop my army should I summon my warriors.
My consciousness stretched far and searched outside the Red Palace. I called for my Fae warriors with my bonding magic, and my White Light crashed the illusion of the black sea and broke down the ward on the palace.
I waited until my small Fae army charged into the empty court, where I cradled a broken Elvey in my arms.
Rosalinda and Zembyr sprang toward me at the vanguard.
“Elvey needs a healer!” I said.
Rosalinda looked around, squatted beside me, and laid a hand on Elvey’s forehead. “Where are you mates?” she asked.
A blood tear dropped from the corner my eye.
“Tianna took them?” Zembyr snarled, his knuckles white on the hilt of his broadsword.
“No, they chose to go with her,” I said.
10
Rai, Blaze, and Iokul had left with Tianna without a backward glance at me, as if I was nothing to them.
I had no tears to spare, except for the one drop of blood that rolled down my cheek.
Zembyr’s eyes burned with rage, but he didn’t say anything. He’d seen enough betrayal in his lifetime. Quietly, he, Rosalinda, and another warrior lifted Elvey from the ground.
We carried Elvey to my suite in the vacant east wing of the palace.
According to the rules of Challenge, I’d have to live in the palace and attend court for the duration of the game.
Half of the Fae warriors settled in the east wing with me; the other half of the army would camp outside, so we wouldn’t be trapped in one place if any conflict broke out.
Ginger, the healer we brought with the army, tended to Elvey and mended his bones, and Rosalinda assisted her. She had some healing magic. I was useless. I could contribute nothing other than wiping the sweat off Elvey’s forehead.
“The bitch must have hexed your consort kings,” Rosalinda said, clenching her fists. “We’ll hel
p you get them back. They’re dragons. They might not be able to resist her Fae glamour. The only one who can resist her is Elvey, so she broke his bones.” She gave me a look of sorrow and pride. “You can oppose her as well, my true queen. You broke down her ward.”
I’d done that, but I couldn’t protect my mates from her.
“My mates didn’t know her true face,” I said numbly.
I couldn’t tell anyone the truth of the Challenge. I couldn’t tell her that the moment my consorts truly betrayed me, the curse would return to me and render me to the Fury beasts again and forever.
“They should have known Tianna is the ultimate evil that needs to be purged from this planet,” Zembyr said, his voice hard and unforgiving.
“Tianna can glamour and manipulate minds,” Rosalinda said. “She’s also a seductress and deceiver. She ensnares men’s bodies, hearts, and souls all the time. Elvey was her first failure, but then she blood bonded him.”
The unspoken words were clear. My court was worried that my dragon consorts wouldn’t be able to resist Tianna.
I swallowed the bile on my tongue. “They think she could lift their final curse,” I said dully, “and they’d no longer have to wear their masks by the end of the Challenge. I’m not giving them up. I’ll help them see who she really is. Afterwards, they can choose whom they really want.”
If they still wanted her—
I wouldn’t go there. I’d melt down if I went there. I’d figure this out later.
“Your Majesty,” Ginger raised her gaze from Elvey after hours working on him. “Tianna didn’t just break Lord Elvey’s bones. She cast a spell that prohibits him from healing. I can’t counter her spell. I could only straighten his bones. Lord Elvey will have to heal on his own.”
Rosalinda looked both worried and outraged. “In the past, it usually took a month for him to heal. Once his strength half-returned, he could eventually counter her spell.”
I shut my eyes for a second. He’d endured this kind of torture for centuries. I couldn’t accept that he would be bedridden for a month. Elvey had once mentioned that I would bring my White Light to the world and it would trump the darkness and set free all who were in bondage and slavery.
