by Lexi C. Foss
“No, darling. You’ve been perfect, thank you.” He leaned over to kiss her wrist, dismissing her as he did most women.
Zephyrus’s jaw clenched, his palm having gone to Aflora’s thigh.
Because yeah, Dakota being here meant Constantine knew everything. No wonder she’d been so obsessed with my intentions for the Blood Gala. She was hoping to provoke an incident that the Elite Bloods could squander in some grand display. But all I’d intended to do was show Aflora the truth.
That plan hadn’t exactly backfired. She was about to learn some hard truths very quickly. However, this wasn’t how I’d intended to show her.
“Where’s Kols?” Zephyrus asked calmly.
Constantine shrugged. “Otherwise detained.”
Because he knew about Kolstov’s ties to Aflora. Brilliant. Honestly, I almost wanted to applaud Dakota for her trickery. “So what was the plan?” I asked, reaching for my wine to swirl it in my glass. “Was Dakota supposed to seduce me like she did with Kolstov and Zephyrus?” Because yeah, I knew all about that incident. “Was she supposed to gain access to the source through me? Then report back to you?”
“Something like that,” Constantine admitted. “But your lack of interest made that difficult.”
“Yeah, power-hungry cunts aren’t really my thing,” I drawled, glancing at Zephyrus. “No offense.”
He didn’t reply or acknowledge the statement, his attention on the new wave of Warrior Bloods who had approached the table. We were up to twenty now. A reasonable number. But Constantine severely underestimated my skill if he thought that would intimidate me.
“So what now, Nacht?” I asked, setting my glass down again without drinking it. Given they knew I was coming, it was probably spiked with something. Even if it wasn’t, I would never accept their alcoholic handouts. “Are you hoping for a show? Some grand finale to appease your admirers?”
“Oh, we’re all in for quite a show,” he said, sounding amused. “And I’ll be providing you and your pretty little abomination with front-row seats.”
“While I appreciate the intriguing offer, I think we’re going to have to pass.” I fussed with my tie, then smiled at the ancient asshole beside me. “So unless you want a rather violent prequel to your main event, I suggest you let us leave.”
“And I insist you stay,” he replied.
A laugh clawed at my throat, his arrogance astounding. As if I—
Aflora released a whimper beside me, her arms beginning to shake. “Kai…” My name left her lips on a tremble of sound. “I… I don’t…” She clutched her chest, her body convulsing violently beneath some sort of invisible shock, her eyes rolling back into her head.
Zephyrus reached for her, only a similar quiver worked its way through his limbs, and he grabbed his chest a moment later, his lips parting in shock as he looked at Constantine. “No.”
“It had to be done,” Constantine replied, rolling his neck. “He’s tainted the Nacht name. So I’ll do what I do best and restore it.” He flexed his fingers as power whirled through the room, the source screaming in agony inside my head.
I dove in to figure out what the fuck was happening, only to be hit with a bolt of energy that knocked me out of my chair.
“Let the show begin,” Constantine announced.
Several Minutes Earlier
IF EMELYN JYN could breathe fire, I imagined she would be doing that right about now. She’d refused to acknowledge me since arriving, her anger palpable and, frankly, exhausting.
I had no patience for it.
If she unleashed WarFire on me again, I’d return the gift in the form of an inferno. I didn’t want to be here anymore than she did. And I’d tried all week to convince my father to allow us to go separately. Alas, he’d refused.
I searched for him, wondering if what I felt earlier had been a fluke. But he was nowhere to be found.
Another oddity.
My father was never late. And neither was my mother.
“Have you seen Mum today, Tray?” I asked softly, taking in the modernly decorated space. Our mother had chosen all the fixtures for this meeting room—one that our family rarely used. It was meant for Council business that couldn’t take place at the main compound. And once a year, we all gathered here prior to the Blood Gala while we waited for our cue to enter the grand ballroom.
Untouched flutes of blood-infused champagne sat along a serving bench at the back wall. A few were also placed on the oak table, but all sixteen chairs were vacant, everyone choosing to stand instead.
My brother shook his head. “I haven’t heard from Mum all day. And it’s a bit weird that she’s not here yet.”
“Indeed,” I agreed, stroking my tie. “Perhaps we should go…” I trailed off as Shade entered the room in a proper suit. My eyebrows flew upward. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He’d never attended the Blood Gala before. As luck would have it, he chose to be here tonight. Good. We needed to talk.
I caught his eye and started toward him, determined to have a word, but his father stepped between us. “Is there something I can help you with, Prince Kolstov?”
“You can help me by stepping out of my way so I can talk to Shadow.”
“It’s all right, Father,” Shade drawled. “This conversation has always been inevitable.”
His father sighed. “All right. I’ll be over here if you need me.”
“Of course,” he replied, causing me to frown at their bizarre exchange. They were usually at odds with one another, not operating on the same team.
It left me wondering if the information about Zenaida was true. “Did you really give up your grandmother’s location?” I asked him, not bothering for a soft tone.
“The Council has known my grandmother’s whereabouts for years,” he replied. “So yes, I did, but not recently.”
Okay. I’d… missed something. Something vital.
I glanced around again, this time taking in the tension of the room. And the increased presence of Warrior Bloods—something I’d thought was meant for protection but now suspected served an entirely different purpose.
“Oh, what have you done, Shade?” I asked, noting the expressions of all my fellow Councilmen.
Even Lima appeared grim.
But Emelyn stood beside him with an expression of confusion that rivaled the looks worn by Tray and Ella.
“They know everything,” Shade drawled, sliding his hands into his pockets and leaning against the wall in the picture of comfort. “They know you’ve bonded to Aflora. Just as they know she’s been with Zakkai this whole time. And right now, your grandfather is using your Guardian to locate them at the party. Because they also know they’re here.”
“They’re here?” I repeated, my eyebrows lifting. The rest was, well, catastrophic, but the thought that Aflora was here… Oh, fuck.
Shade nodded, confirming my darkest fear. “You see, I’ve been reporting to them from the beginning. Because it was what they asked me to do. And it’s my duty as the future king of my line to do right by my faction. Just as it was your duty to do right by all of Midnight Fae kind. But you’ve failed. Rather epically, if I’m being honest.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. This wasn’t the Shade I knew. It reminded me of that sensation I’d picked up from my father earlier, only it didn’t seem to be consuming Shade in the same way.
“Anyway, I tried, Kolstov. But you kept taking every wrong turn. I really was left with no choice. Maybe one day you’ll understand. Assuming you survive the descension.”
“Descension?” I understood the term, at least on principle. But as far as I knew, it’d never been done. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, he’s very serious,” my father said as he entered the room, that bizarre energy still wrapped around him. “You’ve mated an abomination. Hidden key facts about her growing powers. Lied to me and the Council about her whereabouts. Chosen her over all of us and your own kind.” He shook his head, his golden gaze holding more censure than sadness.
This is not my father, I thought, searching for the man beneath the shell, the one who would never agree to an ambush of this nature.
Yes, I’d fucked up.
But he’d given me life. Created me. Loved me.
“Dad, I—”
“Quiet,” he snapped, shutting Tray down with a wave of his hand. Power shot from his fingertips, nailing my brother in his chest and knocking him to the floor on a groan I felt to my very soul.
“What the fuck?” I demanded, stepping forward, ready to take this imposter down. Our father would never conduct himself in such a manner.
Yet no one seemed to notice.
Everyone just had this vacant acceptance about them, like they were watching some film in the Human Realm, not a father assaulting his son.
“You’ve been tried and found guilty of conspiring with Quandary Bloods, abusing your position as heir to the Elite Blood throne, and perjury against the Council,” my father announced. “The punishment of which is immediate descension and the denouncing of your Elite Blood ties.”
My eyebrows shot upward. “When was the trial?”
“Today.”
I nearly laughed. “And I wasn’t given a chance to speak on my own behalf? To my own damn Council?”
“I spoke for you,” Shade said. “As your mate.”
My lips parted as realization hit me square in the chest. “You son of a bitch. That’s why you bit me!”
The bastard had the audacity to shrug. To. Shrug. Like it meant nothing that he’d taken all my rights away with a single damn bite!
And no, the irony of this situation was not lost on me.
Because he’d just done to me what he’d done to Aflora in the beginning.
“This is so fucked up,” I said, shaking my head.
“What’s fucked up is my own son, my blood, choosing an abomination over his duty to the crown.” My father—or whoever this dick was—shook his head. “The descension begins now.”
“Who are you?” I demanded.
“Your king,” he replied, power underlining those two words and wrapping around my neck like a noose. “Now kneel.”
“Fuck you,” I choked out, my own gifts roaring to life, preparing for a fight.
I wasn’t going to bend over and take this shit. The source had chosen me for a reason. I was the future king. And I let them feel it by unleashing all my power in a rapid wave of fire that engulfed the room in red embers.
“Kols!” Ella shouted, her small frame collapsing over Tray, her defensive shield rapidly melting beneath my fury.
Phoenix fires! I yanked my essence back, sparing her and my brother, only to feel my father’s energy flare outward. It struck me directly in the chest.
My knees buckled beneath the impact, the air whooshing from my lungs. No! I pushed back, creating a shield to protect myself against the onslaught, but it was too late.
Dark energy rippled along my arms, the source calling upon my spirit to relinquish control. It hit me from inside, spreading a sharp demand through my veins, sucking the life from my very soul.
I cried out, the agony shredding apart the core of my being. It felt as though I was being ripped in half, my purpose in life dying before my eyes.
Don’t do this. Please don’t do this! I begged as the dark source reneged on every promise it had ever made.
The Council didn’t help.
My father continued to pull… pull… pull.
“You’re killing him!” Ella screamed.
Tears streamed from my eyes, my vision blurring as I attempted to yank some of the power back into my veins, my soul screeching in anguish at having my essence ripped from me without permission.
This can’t be happening, I thought, bewildered and dazed. How is this happening?
I wasn’t given a trial.
I wasn’t given a chance to speak.
“Stop!” Emelyn demanded at the same time Tray wheezed out, “Dad…”
Wind rippled through the room, silencing them all and zeroing in on my chest as another spell pounded into my heart.
The denouncement.
He was eviscerating my essence. Exsanguination. I’d seen this done. I knew the chances of survival were slim, and after having the source ripped from me? I would never recover from this.
I was going to die.
By my father’s own hand.
For falling for an abomination.
For choosing right over wrong.
For not wanting to subject an innocent to the death penalty just because our archaic laws dictated it.
I curled into a ball, my soul weeping as the blood drained from my body, squeezing every bit of life left from my veins.
I’m sorry, I thought to Aflora. I’m so sorry I failed you.
And Zeph.
Oh, fuck, Zeph.
He would die, too. Not because of my death, but because the Council would require it.
All of them would pay the ultimate price.
Because I couldn’t protect them. Because I’d failed them. Because I’d missed what was right in front of me this whole time.
Tray, I whispered, my twin, my other half, weeping in the distance. He was inconsolable. His sounds pricks of pain against my ears.
I reached for him, my spirit longing for his familiarity. He’s gone. They’re all gone.
The Council was vile and depraved. So fucking corrupt. So horribly behind the times.
I can’t die like this! I thought, searching for the last of my reserves, needing to do something, anything, to hold on.
But there was nothing for me to grasp.
Everything had gone dark. So. Fucking. Dark.
No source.
No Midnight Fae essence.
No magic.
I was a shell of a fae. Left to wither and die alone. Because I’d never finished the mating bond. I had no one. Except Night.
A caw in the distance answered my call, black feathers touching my cheek as my familiar curled against me with the god-awful sound of death leaving his beak. It shattered the last of my reserve, knowing I’d failed him too. My sweet, loyal crow. So beautiful. So full of life. So… so… still...
No, I wept, clutching him to me as tears rolled down my face. Not you, too.
The injustice of it all curled in my stomach, my world disappearing in a cloud of torment.
“Nooo!” The scream pierced my ear. Aflora. I desperately tried to see her, to tell her to run. But I couldn’t move.
Aflora, I thought, trying to picture her beautiful face and failing. Why couldn’t I see her? Because we weren’t mated. Not fully. She was never mine. And for the life of me, I couldn’t remember why. It was a horrid twist of fate.
There would be no coming back from this.
Run, I whispered. Run, sweetheart. Run.
Silence fell, and regret threatened to overwhelm me.
We never had our chance. I’d chosen duty for too long. Arrogance had consumed me. An endless life of immortality. But sometimes fate plays tricks on us all.
Aflora...
My story was the punch line of a cruel joke. I took it all for granted. I should have known.
There’s so much… I would have done… This can’t be the end…
I choked, the last of my breaths escaping. I used it to breathe her name, my apology and regret whispered on the wind.
Leaving me alone with a withering soul and my dying crow.
Staring into the abyss.
Of a starless.
Everlasting.
Night.
I COULDN’T BREATHE.
I’d heard Kols in my head, begging me to forgive him, screaming for another chance. And telling me to run. But my limbs were frozen from the onslaught of his agony.
So much pain.
So much regret.
So much loneliness.
Tears dampened my cheeks, and my knees curled into my chest as I struggled to regain control of my lungs. But the severing of his life rendered me immobile.
I screamed, not caring who heard, giving up on everyone around me, on life, on the world. The injustice! The incredible, horrible decision. And why? Because of a bond? One we’d created?
Earth Fae were all about life.
We valued vitality and sunshine and beautiful creatures. I longed for my leaves. My roots. My beautiful, adoring flowers.
This kingdom resembled death and misery.
They killed Kols.
Why?! I wanted to shout, my heart shattered. We weren’t done!
He was my mate. My rock. My chosen half.
The earth source shrieked at the loss, one I let loose through my own lungs, my soul in tatters. How could you?! I wanted to demand. What is wrong with you?!
He was just a man.
A royal.
A good fae.
With a kind heart.
My Kols. My prince. My elemental mate.
It felt as though they’d severed one of my roots, the tree inside me wilting and dying from the loss. It burned. Oh, Elements, it burned!
I forgot how air worked.
Stopped allowing my heart to beat.
It was all gone.
He’s gone.
My Kolstov… “How could you?” I breathed out loud, my voice a choked whisper of sound, hoarse from all the screaming. “How. Could. You?”
Energy rippled out of me, pouring into the ground as I released all my fury and pain and anguish. I was done. So done!
I hated them all.
They would burn.
Flames shot from my fingertips, scorching the ground.
Shrieks followed.
Power rippled.
And still, I unleashed, furious at those who had harmed me and mine. My. Mate.
They took him from me. They destroyed everything. I hated them! They would pay for what they’d done. Voices called my name. I ignored them, my agony too loud, my tears too fierce, my fire too hot.
Earth Fae create.
Midnight Fae destroy.
They considered me an abomination—a combination of the two.
All right.
I’d accept that. And now? Now they could feel what happened when I used both powers.