by Meg Xuemei X
I dropped to my knees and roared in fury while I stabbed my dagger toward the eye of a bulky angel who tried to subdue me. He hadn’t expected that, but he was fast enough to jerk back his head. Pitifully, my dagger only cut a line on his nose.
The angels caught my wrists, disarmed me, and bounded my hands. I spat at whoever was in front of me.
Hector screamed my name in wrath as he and Lion both went down.
Victoria descended from the air, her gray wings unfurling. She stood in front of me.
Despite the excruciating pain pounding my body, I threw my hand up toward her, hoping the offensive magic would finally come and burn her and all the angels to dust.
Nothing shot out of my hand, so I cursed Earth Mother for abandoning me before I cursed my foes.
“I didn’t know a weak fey also had a foul mouth,” Victoria said, and her angels chuckled.
She pulled the string of her bow to full and released it. Her arrow pierced my other thigh. I bit back a scream of pain.
She smiled. “Now you look better, little princess.”
“Where’s King Agro?” I demanded.
“If you must know…” She clicked her tongue. “His Majesty will return at midnight to assemble what’s left of you.”
“He’ll tear your wings off before cutting off your head.” I said.
“Not this time, traitor,” she said with a diabolical smile.
Instead of calling me an adulterer, she’d named me the traitor again, which meant that Seth hadn’t thrown me to the king’s bitch to save his own skin.
He was the only one who could help me now. He had called me his lamb in his passion. Would he allow anyone to slaughter his lamb?
Where was he?
So I cried for him, as I’d called for him when the assassins had dragged me under the water. He had heard me then. Would he hear me now? Just one last time?
Seth, come! Victoria has me! I shouted at the supernatural link that had once opened between us. I shouted again and again, but there was no response. Just like what had happened with the great Earth magic—there was no echo and no stir from my imagined bond.
Even if he’d heard me, he was too far away. But would he come for me? It wouldn’t make any difference, even if he arrived right now.
I’d been made.
I spat at the king’s bitch to goad her. “Let’s fight fair, just you and me, you coward.”
Not even bothering to wipe off my salvia, Victoria grabbed my hair and yanked it backward. “You can never take me, little bitch,” she said, a victorious grin stretching her every facial muscle. “And I won’t satisfy you by fighting fair. I’ve caught your lover boy.”
Seth? I hid my confused, shocked look. They’d caught him? But he was powerful. Even the king stayed out of his hair. How could anyone other than his lord father subdue him?
Had they ambushed him and rained down poisonous arrows on him? Seth was still flesh and blood. It was possible he could be killed. I’d seen him bleed. I’d bled him with my little teeth when he’d forced a kiss.
So he must have walked into the trap, just like me.
My heart thudded, and my fear for him was greater than the hurt from my wounds.
“The Dragonian rebel commander has admitted his affinity for you,” Victoria continued. “You can enjoy a reunion with him in the dungeon after King Agro hears every juicy detail from your blue-skinned lover about how you two conspired to overthrow his rule.” She winked. “The king’s wrath will be a sight to behold, Princess.”
I’d heard of the angels’ torture practices, beyond an earthling’s imagination. Victoria had pulled out every nail from my courtier Philomena, which was child’s play compared to what they must have done to North to break him and force him to confess.
As the king’s mistress gloated about what the king would do to me, I controlled an inner shudder and focused on how I could get my team out of this. The excruciating pain made it hard for me to think, and I had to try to not pass out from losing blood too fast.
Victoria clasped her hands. “Take the fey bitch to the king’s chamber and chain her like the filthy animal that she is.”
The angels, who had bound my hands, dragged me forward.
Hector struggled to crawl toward me, but he had so many arrows in him. Lion lay in a pool of blood. There was no way to tell if he was dead or alive.
I would not shed tears in front of my enemies, so I swallowed them, and even that act hurt.
In the hallway, I saw four of my guards lying broken amid a few dead angels. They had fought well and half of them had perished. I also saw the bodies of many of my courtiers. They’d joined the fight, and now they would never return home.
I said a silent prayer: may they pass through the gate and rest in the light of afterlife.
I didn’t spot Souline’s body. That was the only mercy Earth Mother showed me. The goddess had forsaken Mysth and my people as soon as the angels had trespassed on our land and become a threat to her.
Rage and hatred filled me, leaving room for nothing else. Yet the magic didn’t cause the slightest ripple over my skin.
I was never the Earth Mother’s favorite. I wasn’t her daughter.
As I was doomed, all Mysthians were doomed with me.
Still, in the remote back of my mind, I refused to give up one last hope.
Chapter 31
PRINCE SETH
Victoria marched toward me as I blasted open the door to the king’s chamber and stormed in.
“Your Highness,” she purred, “I wasn’t expecting you.”
The bitch thought she was funny.
“What’s this?” I snarled, my eyes fixing on Rose.
The Princess of Mysth was chained like a rabid animal at the foot of my brother’s bed. Four arrows were in her, piercing the skin that I’d touched and kissed.
Dried blood coated her swollen bottom lip. Ugly bruises sprawled across her cheeks and left eye. There were also red marks and small cuts along her neck. She must have put up a tough fight but had been outnumbered.
The fey princess raised her head and met my gaze, a storm wheeling in her eyes, yet it didn’t strike. I was sure now that the magic wasn’t in her—if she had had the slightest offensive magic, she would have used it to wipe out her foes.
But I had seen her white light; I had tasted her magic when I’d come hard in her.
Had I been mistaken?
My relief at her being alive didn’t lessen the black rage in me. I kept my eyes hard as usual, even as they fell on my female.
For a second there, she seemed surprised to see me, as if she couldn’t imagine that I had come for her. Then a look of uncertainty flitted across her eyes—she didn’t believe that I would do anything to protect her.
She had no clue that she was my destined mate and that I had crossed light years and many worlds to find her.
Only my mate could claim my seed.
Now those vermin were trying to take her away from me.
As I looked at her again—beaten and broken on the ground—I could no longer contain my pain and wrath at my female’s suffering.
I turned to Victoria, not caring if she spotted the murderous menace in my eyes. No one who harmed my mate would be allowed to see the light again.
I estimated the situation.
Two king’s guards stood by the inner door. Over a dozen of Victoria’s elite sentinels were posted outside. They hadn’t dared stop me from entering the king’s chamber, but they wouldn’t let me take the princess without my brother’s permission.
When I had hurried here, I’d seen soldiers everywhere. Victoria had locked down the king’s palace and the entire city.
Ephraim loitered outside with a squad of my old team. They would join me if I ever had to fight my way out with the princess.
We would have to leave a heap of bodies behind. My brother’s bitch had forced my hand, leaving me no room to elaborate on my plan other than to take Rose to my villa. After I healed her, we would escape with my team
to Valhalla.
“You put your future queen in chains?” I asked, my voice lethally calm.
“She’s no queen of mine,” Victoria said. “I finally caught her pants down.”
“Caught her what?” I frowned in distaste. She obviously hadn’t caught me with Rose. “Do you understand the consequence of a false accusation? King Agro won’t just flog you this time for damaging the future empress.”
“King Agro won’t marry a whore,” the general affirmed. “I have a Dragonian spy’s confession. The princess used the rebel’s device to contact the Dragonian commander. I lured the Dragonian rebel leader out. His name is North, and I have him in my cell.” She blew out a satisfied sigh. “I haven’t had such a good day for centuries.”
“Did the king know about this?” I demanded.
Agro was supposed to return to Atlantis tomorrow. I needed to solve this before he came back.
“His Majesty is probably on the way back after I sent him the urgent message.” Victoria turned to glance at Rose in disgust. “His beloved Mysthian princess will soon pray for death after King Agro meets her lover.”
“You’re nothing but trash,” Rose spat, “and your king treats you so. He’ll never marry you even after I’m out of the way.”
Victoria strode toward the princess to strike her.
I was beside the general in an instant, my hand grabbing her fist and twisting her wrist before she laid a finger on Rose.
The general groaned in pain.
The king’s guards tensed, but none came to aid her. Not yet. I was still the High Prince of All Angels, and a formidable one.
I shoved her back. Touching her, even in a punishing way, made me sick.
“High Prince,” Victoria said, eyes flashing with enjoyment and anger, “you’ve just defended the traitor, who insulted the king’s general!”
“I wouldn’t give a shit if she’d gutted you,” I said. “You’ll not touch her. No one touches her.”
I knew then that there was no way out of this other than to fight.
Victoria stared at me, then something registered in her eyes. “You—” She darted her gaze between Rose and me.
I gave her a vicious grin. “I what?”
“You’re the true suitor,” she drawled. “The Dragonian rebel commander confessed only under extreme measures. But it was you all along. When the fey princess went to Babylon, you and she were together. That was why you went against me for her when she returned. You always have that hungry look whenever your eyes fix on her. I didn’t believe that you had a thing for her before because you couldn’t get hard.” She darted a glance at my crotch. “Who could believe our High Prince has been lusting after a fey bitch?”
“Got it all figured out, don’t you?” I said coldly, my glance darting to Rose. She widened her eyes. For the first time since I had entered the king’s chamber, the light of hope ignited in her eyes like starlight from the secret universe. Joy shone on her face despite her dire condition. My chest tightened.
The king’s guards looked more confused than stunned. They seemed like they wanted to be anywhere but there with their mistress and me and the princess.
“I’ll give you a chance to deny it as a courtesy, Prince Seth,” she said. “And all will be forgotten.”
“Why would I deny it?” I said. “And who the fuck do you think you are to grant me a chance?”
“You’re the High Prince of All Angels, one of the most powerful angels in the universe,” she said. “You can have any female of our race, yet you desire a fey. You know how this is going to end—our own high prince falling for a fairy whore that is forbidden to him.”
“You’ll pay for what you did to her,” I said flatly.
Victoria cocked her head. “For millennia, I thought I would never have an opening to get back at you. But payback is a bitch, High Prince. Soon, you won’t be our royal prince anymore. You won’t be merely stripped of your title, your birthright, and all of your privilege. The Lord of All Angels isn’t a forgiving type, even when it comes to his favorite warrior son. You’ll be hunted all of your life. You’ll be set as an example for all rebels to see. You’re done, through and through.”
“Are you sure about that?” I asked.
Suddenly, she looked uncertain.
It was unthinkable to everyone that I, the cruelest High Prince of All Angels, would fall for any female, let alone an earthling.
She chuckled uncomfortably. “Are you messing with me, High Prince? You’ve been heartless for eons. You’ve never looked at the same female twice.” She shook her head. “You won’t toss your life away for fey trash.” She stopped as she saw something glinting in my eyes, and her face paled.
She was the kind that killed without remorse or hesitation, but I was more of a predator than she could ever be.
She reached for the hilt of her sword. “You’ll go that far for her?” She still sounded incredulous, though she reeked of fear.
“I would go to the end of hell for my mate,” I said.
Angels had stopped being an honorable race ages ago, but we still held matehood above anything, especially when an angel had found his true mate.
Two blades in my hands, I struck.
Chapter 32
PRINCESS ROSE
Prince Seth stormed in, his gaze sweeping over me.
I couldn’t read what was in his mind as he posed as the icy, cruel, and formidable High Prince of All Angels. This angel had nothing in common with the one who had slept on my breast a few hours ago.
No one knew his deal with me. No one knew of our one-night stand. Now that I’d been caught for conspiring with the Dragonian rebels, the prince could just strike me down to cover his trail, and then go on with his conqueror’s life like nothing had happened between us.
He had what he’d wanted from me anyway. I had broken his seal. It would be mercy if he just ended me now.
I didn’t see any hope out of this horror, and I had no one but myself to blame.
If I had acted a day earlier, my people and I would have all left for safety, and North wouldn’t have been captured.
We would have met the angels on the battlefield by now and cost them a great deal if and when we went down.
Now all that was left was my last lament: I was a dud. I was useless. I had tried a hundred times to conjure my magic to wreck the angel king’s palace and his army, yet I had failed.
The prophecy said that the offensive magic in me would snap alive at the worst crisis. What crisis could be greater than this as I was chained like an animal waiting to be slaughtered?
The prophecy was all lies.
“You put your future queen in chains?” the prince asked Victoria expressionlessly.
Was he trying to talk down the king’s bitch to let me go? I almost shook my head at him. That wasn’t going to happen. She had North, and he’d confessed. She wouldn’t get another chance like this to bring me down.
The only way for him to free me was to destroy Victoria and her army. If he attempted that, he would doom himself, no matter how powerful he was. I didn’t see the reason for him to fight for me. I was just the newest female he had fucked, though he’d been more into me than any other female in the past, according to him.
Our bond was short-lived. It was over when the mating was done.
“She’s no queen of mine,” Victoria said, then bragged about how she’d caught North and me with one sling.
Vanna, the rebel spy in the king’s palace, had betrayed me. Victoria had gotten the communication device from her as solid evidence.
As I was sick of the king’s bitch’s tirade, I told her the truth that her king would never marry her, and she stormed forward to punish me, but Seth caught her fist before she could add another mark to my face. He was incredibly fast, and I’d barely seen him move. He shoved her away from me.
My heart leapt. The prince was defending me. Would he go even further?
“I wouldn’t give a shit if she’d gutted you,” he told
Victoria, his every word emitting menace and cold fury, and even Victoria flinched. “You’ll not touch her. No one touches her.”
Victoria darted her gaze between Seth and me, and something registered in her snake eyes. “You’re the true suitor,” she said, throwing her hand over her blood-red mouth. “You always have that hungry look whenever your eyes fixed on her. I didn’t believe that you had a thing for her before because you couldn’t get hard.” She darted a glance at his crotch, and I wanted to gouge her eyes out just for that. “Who could believe our High Prince has been lusting after a fey bitch?”
“Got it all figured out, don’t you?” the prince said icily, his eyes on me. I met them. Why didn’t he deny it to save himself? I wouldn’t contradict him if he lied about our relationship. I wouldn’t drag him down with me at this point.
There were thousands of words in his eyes for me, and his tenderness reserved for only me made me want to weep.
How could I constantly doubt him?
“You’re the High Prince of All Angels, one of the most powerful angels in the universe,” Victoria said. “You can have any female of our race, yet you desire a fey. You know how this is going to end—our own high prince falling for a fairy whore that is forbidden to him.”
“You’ll pay for what you did to her,” the prince said, his voice a blade that would impale any of his opponents with fear but sent me such warmth that I shut my eyes for a second to savor it.
I missed a few quips between them while I tried not to sob.
The king’s general stared at Seth with a tentative look.
“Are you messing with me, High Prince?” She let out a dry laugh. “You’ve been heartless for eons. You’ve never looked at the same female twice. You won’t toss your life away for fey trash.”
Then she stopped. The cold kill light was evident in the prince’s eyes.
At that moment, Seth was a purebred predator that was born and built to maim and kill.
Victoria swallowed. “You’ll go that far for her?” Her hand moved toward her sword.
“I’ll go to the end of hell for my mate,” Seth said, his ice-hard eyes not on me, but on her.
