“Tell him that, exactly that,” Synthia said with a backwards glance.
“Holy shit, you can read minds?” Lilith gasped.
Synthia shrugged and then nodded. “Sometimes, sometimes not,” she explained. “I’m new to this Goddess thing, but some of the things happening are handy. Some are rather a nuisance.”
“Noted.”
Chapter 16
They entered the Night Court just as the moon reached its precipice. Lilith stopped outside the gates, nodding to the guards before she tipped her head up and stared at the stars that burned brightly, as if they sensed that the Night Court needed their welcoming light.
Asrian had ignored her for the entire trek to the upper lands, and then Lachlan, one of his brothers she’d learned, had sifted her the rest of the way here. He hadn’t said one word, not even looked in her direction that she’d noticed.
“You’ve come with them?” one of the guards whispered in a hiss loud enough that the others caught the same hesitancy, fear, and loathing that dripped from his tone.
“Yes, Lain, I have come with them, now open the gates and let us in. It was not a request,” she hissed back, squaring her shoulders and staring him directly in the eye. Here she wasn’t Lilith; she was Heir to the Night and Queen of the Shadow Court. Here, she was the cold creature she’d been bred to be. “Unless you’d like to see what your heart looks like outside your body, open the fucking gate. I will not ask again.”
“As you wish, Shadow Queen,” he replied, peering over her head at where the Horde stood, waiting.
They walked into the central courtyard, fearful murmurs following them as they passed through, entering the main entrance as one large group. Liliana was covered in lace, her face hidden from those who would remember it. The inside of the castle was filled with the court’s council and her sisters, all who stood as she entered, staring at her with something cold in their eyes. She was heir by right, but any of her sisters could challenge it if they dared. Luckily, they’d preferred to spend their days being pampered and tended to rather than wielding blades or training.
“Clear the room, leave the council, and one of the bloodline may remain. Summon the head of the guard and any officials who are not present,” she announced as she headed towards the bed that sat in the middle of the room, candles burning around it as the death rattle sounded from her father’s lungs.
She didn’t falter as she approached, showing no fear even though the knowledge that he was dying hurt deeply. Lilith hadn’t expected it to hurt, not this much. He was a selfish bastard, but he was her father. Leonidas had kept the court running; he’d fought off the other courts’ sad attempts to take it by force, even though none had come close to succeeding. He’d sucked at being a father. But then, other factors played into it and everything else that had forged her life into what it was. Once the guards had entered, she stood beside the bed where her father lay, dying.
“Who was protecting him?” she asked, watching the guards who stared back at her, eyes hard and filled with hatred. “I asked you a question. This is where you answer me.”
“We don’t answer to you. He’s chosen a new heir, as you are soiled now.”
Lilith turned to the council member who had spoken. She smiled. “Then bring her out, and I will challenge her now.”
“That law is outdated,” he snapped.
“Please, tell me how he made it known that he’d chosen a new heir.”
“He told us,” he lied.
“His throat is punctured by an iron blade, so how was he able to speak to tell you such a thing?”
“I am the heir now, Lilith. You’ve betrayed us,” Hannah said firmly as she plucked an invisible piece of lint from her skirt, unable to make eye contact. “Therefore, I am the new Queen of the Night Court.”
“Who was protecting our father, Hannah?” she asked again.
“I was, but the assassin was from your court, Queen of Shadows. Everyone knows shadows cannot be stopped.”
“I have no court left, everyone knows that,” Lilith laughed. She eyed the guard and where his hand went, to the iron blade that he wielded. Lilith could smell the blood on it; her bloodline’s blood had been drawn with it. “You are aware of the powers that the Court of Night’s bloodline wields, are you not?”
“You can control minds, wield the moon’s power, and are stronger and faster than every court except the Court of Shadows.”
“You forget, we can smell when our blood has been drawn by a certain weapon or enemy. My father’s blood is on your blade, William.” She didn’t wait for him to respond. Instead, she turned into shadows and entered the three armed guards at once, splitting them apart from the inside as her shadows ripped and tore them to pieces. Screams erupted; blood sprayed and splattered the walls around Lilith as she solidified. “Anyone else help dethrone my father while I was out?”
“You can’t do this! I am the chosen heir!” Hannah said as she stomped her foot and pumped her fist down at her side.
“You traitorous bitch,” Lilith said in a deadly hiss before she sent her shadows to wrap around her sister’s throat. Slowly, very slowly the air left her throat. Blood exploded from her lips, and her eyes went wide with horror before going limp. “An attack against the king is treason, so if any of you helped, you’ll get this offer only once. Leave; stay and betray me and you will die.”
“You’re soiled! Even soiled he wouldn’t agree that you weren’t fit to be our queen!” Claudette, an elder Fae who looked as if she was at least a few thousand years old, screamed. “They killed our queen! They killed an entire court, and in their wake, they left their little bastards scattered all over the lower lands. You are not fit to be queen now, not with their taint on you or already growing within your womb.” She cried out as her head tilted at an odd angle. Lilith smiled hauntingly as the woman’s corpse crashed to the floor.
“I am not soiled, and they did not murder my mother.”
“I watched it happen with my own eyes!” Lariat growled but didn’t step forward.
“Oh, Lariat,” my mother crooned as she lifted the lace veil. “You always were sweet, but they didn’t kill me, they actually saved me. Had it not been for them, Alazander would have murdered me, and yet my beloved king wouldn’t intervene or even beg for me, but you did.”
Her hand touched his scarred face with a gentleness that was unsettling. They were familiar in a way that made Lilith give her mother some serious side-eye. Now was not the time for that shit. People gasped and rushed forward.
“Our queen is back! We are saved!”
A hand touched Lilith, and she looked down at her father, who was staring with wide eyes at her mother. His eyes moved between them, and then he pulled on her until she lowered next to him.
“Mmm…” he struggled to get the words out past the damage of his throat. Synthia moved closer and his eyes rounded as he took in the glow that resonated from her. Her hand touched mine and then his, and he was there, in her head.
“Mother…?”
“Is alive,” she said out loud.
“You’re my heir, my daughter. You’re my soul, Lilith. The best of me,” he said gently in her head. His eyes went wide as the tears filled Lilith’s eyes, which she wiped away before anyone else could see the weakness. “You can hear me.”
“I can hear you, father,” she admitted, her eyes lowering to hold his. “Synthia is the Goddess of the Fae, the Horde King’s wife.”
“I need you to know I’m sorry. I’m sorry my grief consumed me. I’m so sorry I couldn’t look at you without seeing her and hurting. I should have been better, more present. Instead, I pretended the court had remained the same, holding parties and locking out those who needed us. You’ll have to fix it back to what it was, the glorious Night Court. The beauty it held; you can do that because you hold enough that the moon Goddess will bless you.”
“I’m sorry you failed too because I needed you. I needed my parents, and instead of losing just one on that day, I lo
st you both. It’s in the past, though, and I forgive you. I forgive you both,” she said loud enough for her mother to hear.
She stepped back as her mother stepped closer, staring down into her husband’s eyes. “I relinquish the Night Court or any hold I held on it. I give it to the daughter we created, your heir. I don’t forgive you for neglecting her or locking her in a room. She was your heir, the moon in your sky and stronger than you could ever hope to be. You knew being of two courts would be hard on her, and yet she has yet to be trained to use your court’s power. Did you see how she killed, how she defended you? She murdered your attackers using my power, not yours. You failed her, and you will die knowing that. The Goddess will not forgive you easily for failing her. I forgive you for what you did to me, and what you did in your grief, but allowing our daughter to travel to the Horde Kingdom to retrieve what she thought was my corpse? Never. She was only a child, Leonidas! Our child, born of a love brighter than the moon and stars you so adore, and yet she traveled alone, unprotected through her enemies’ courts to the High Fae lands; that is something not even the strongest of your warriors could have done.”
He blinked as Lilith watched, his shoulders trembling with unshed tears he refused to let drop. She wanted to defend him, but her mother wasn’t wrong. Plus, unless she wanted to openly support her father and challenge her mother and her words, she’d have to bite her tongue. She hated politics already.
“Enough,” she announced. “I will rise to Queen tonight since the king is unable to rule any longer. Prepare the ceremony and open the gates to the kingdom.”
“The people are upset, starving! They could loot or worse, there must be precautions taken,” a member of the council said.
“I said open the gates; they’re starving because you failed to speak your mind on the matter. You wanted to feed them, to bring them into the safety of the court, yet you said nothing. So we will let them in and feed them. Have the kitchen prepare a feast, quickly. Something easy, and enough to feed an entire caste of Fae,” she continued.
“And a king? They will demand you claim one for the ceremony. Even if you don’t mean to keep one, or decide on another later,” she continued.
Lilith’s eyes moved to where Asrian leaned against the back wall, staring at Lilith with amusement in his emerald depths. She turned her head to the council member, who frowned.
“Cade will offer for your hand if you are queen, he has shown interest, even with everything that happened. He has made it known he will accept you still.”
“I will worry about that when we get there.”
“As you wish, my queen.”
Chapter 17
Lilith listened as the ceremony droned on. It was insane how much shit went into a crowning. Once she’d been handed the staff, and knelt for her crown, the crowd knelt, including the Horde, who had witnessed the entire event without commenting. Only Ryder and Synthia hadn’t knelt, but then they were High Fae royalty and above her.
“I give the Court their Queen, Lilith of the Houses of Night and Shadows. Queen of the Night Court and heir of the Shadow Court,” the priestess said, smiling at her as she continued. “Who do you choose to claim as your King?”
“I have a King already,” she whispered thickly. “I have Asrian, Prince of the Horde, born son of Alazander the Murderous King, and brother of ruling Horde King Ryder, King of the Beast. If he’ll reign at my side,” she finished, not bothering to lift her eyes in case he rejected her claim.
“Beast King?” Ryder whispered in a hushed tone.
“Beast mode sounds interesting,” Synthia uttered beneath her breath.
“Does he reject it?” someone in the audience whispered, and Lilith’s face flamed with embarrassment. “I think he rejected her.”
“I don’t accept one year and a day,” he growled beside her. “I accept you and your people, but not the timeline.”
“Choosing a king is forever; eternity until death steals you from this world,” the priestess whispered as if she was trying to keep the confusion down from the audience.
“You want me forever?” he asked, his hand forcing her chin to lift, to meet his stare. “And my children?”
“They’ll create monsters, this is insane!” someone from the audience screamed.
“I’d cease your tongue before I remind you why I am King of the Horde, creature,” Ryder hissed, and the audience went silent.
“My children will be your children, protected by the Horde. I have the Horde King’s word on it; anyone who challenges or questions any child we produce will be given the option to accept my child, or leave Faery and enter the fires that burn in the next realm. That is why I asked it. That was what I needed to know so that when I took my throne, you’d be at my side, Asrian. Do you accept me?” Her eyes begged him, unable to put into words what she needed to because of the eyes on them. Weaknesses were used against those who exposed them. She’d rip the throat out of anyone who tried to harm him, but he’d rip her heart out if he rejected her.
“I accept you, Lilith. I accept this court and the people. I will provide for them where the last king failed, and I will give you strong sons to defend this court with. I have the strength of the Horde at my back, which will also defend this court in the way it has since the first tithe was made to my grandfather and the Horde. I accept you forever.”
“This isn’t a wedding,” Sinjinn hissed from the crowd. “Fucking kiss her already and let’s get these guys some food. They’re starving and starting to look at us like we’re the food.”
“It is done then. I give you your King and Queen of the Night Court. The Horde and the Court of Night have prepared a feast fit for kings. Join us, toast to a new court, and a new rule.”
Once the people had begun to rush towards the great hall for a seat, Lilith worried her bottom lip with her teeth as Asrian stared at her.
“You chose me,” he said.
“I like you in my bed,” she shrugged as a smile tugged at her lips.
“Is that so?”
She smiled and looked up at him. “I know you don’t love me, and I’m not sure if what I feel is love or not yet. I also know the higher courts don’t marry for love, only bloodlines and alliances. But I want you, and when you walked away from me in the bedroom, it left an ache I never want to feel again. I want to see where this goes; I want to know you and have a chance to make this work. If it doesn’t work out, well, the Horde King is your brother, so you’ll have an out. Isn’t that what you called what you offered me? For the record, I can hear the whispers in every shadow of every court. I am the Shadow Queen’s heir.”
“I don’t know about love, but I know you’re mine. I don’t want anyone else. But this thing, I want this with you. I want to be in your bed too, even if I am your heathen king.”
“I’d like you there, heathen king. I think we may need to borrow your brother’s title tonight,” she laughed as they started towards the hall where the feast was in full effect. Lilith paused on the stairs, looking to where her mother and sister served the starving members of the court as the higher lords watched them in horror.
It was surreal standing in the hallway where the Horde King had so long ago beaten her mother. Now, the new king stood beside his queen who spoke to the kids as she waved her hand and plates laden with food would appear before them. The laughter was contagious as she stared at her people.
“You will be amazing because if not, I’ll be the first to tell you just how much you suck,” Asrian said with a chuckle beside her as he slipped his hand into hers. “Sometimes bad things happen, and after enough time has passed, good things take their place and the bad is a little easier to deal with. You lost a parent tonight, but you gained one back. You gained someone who thinks you hung the moon and stars, with a little anger as you hung them, but for me, you hung them in that sky.”
“Who taught you to talk like that?” she laughed as she turned and placed her hands into his.
“I watched Ryder grovel to get his
queen, and when you want something as much as I want you, a little wooing is needed.”
“This is going to be quite an adventure with you, isn’t it?”
“I promise to keep you on your toes, wife.”
“And I promise to keep you happy and well-fed, my sweet heathen king.”
“Promise?” he asked as he pulled her against his body.
“I promise.”
The End
About Amelia Hutchins
Amelia lives in the great Pacific Northwest with her family. When not writing, she can be found on her author page, hanging out with fans, or dreaming up new twisting plots. She's an avid reader of everything Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy.
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Suggested Reading Order for Series
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