tips of their boots and up their forms, turning them to stone. As she moved her hand again, the statues toppled over, and the stone shattered into pieces on the ground, making dust rise over the kingdom.
In seconds, all the charging cultists had been reduced to were pebbles.
I let out a choked gasp, and several others around me did the same. I’d never seen such power in my life. Droga was making Gabby stronger by the day.
There was a massive bout of silence that seemed like it was being strangled out of the surrounding crowd.
Then a guard shouted, “The king and queen have saved us!” His colleagues cried out in response, and all at once, soldiers raised their blades to cheer Gabby and Elijah on. Servants fell to their knees, weeping in relief, while others bowed in awe before them as if kneeling before a god.
“We owe them everything,” I heard a servant say. “We would’ve been dead if those cultists kept attacking. The new king and queen have been sent by the gods.”
More voices rushed around us in the crowd. “Such power can only be gifted by Tomir. They were meant to sit on the throne.”
“They will lead the Arcanea into a new age.”
“Hurry, tell The Annual Arcanea to send reporters. All must know of what the king and queen have done!” a taskmaster yelled, pushing a servant down the path. The servant broke into a run, heading toward town.
Elijah sent us a smirking smile. Amongst the grand magic performed by Gabby, no one remembered that Prince Ethan and his friends had jumped into the heat of battle to help.
As the crowd cheered and applauded, I realized Gabby and Elijah had planned this. They’d staged the attack on the palace from the Black Claw, so they would look good. And the cultists they’d killed had been willing sacrifices, eager to give themselves up in hope of being rewarded by Droga in the afterlife.
This had all been a setup. And the people were falling for it. Now that they were seen as noble heroes defending the palace, no one would challenge them. Anyone who did would be disregarded by Elijah’s subjects.
The faces of my friends were shadowed and murderous. Even Odette looked pissed as all hell. I could practically hear Ethan’s teeth grinding from here. All the shifters turned back into men as we turned away from the crowd.
Stefan let out a low growl as he said, “What do we do now?”
It looked like Gabby and Elijah had won. But I wasn’t done yet. As Elijah gloated to the audience and accepted their praise, I noticed Gabby slip silently into the palace behind him. I bunched my hands into fists and headed forward.
“Where are you going?” Ethan asked.
“To make this right. Don’t follow me,” I snapped. “I’ll meet you all in the inner courtyard at the university. The one with the round pool. Don’t do anything else until I get there.”
I didn’t leave any of them time to argue— especially not Ethan. I stomped out of there and wove my way through the crowd that was forcing its way into the palace. Inside, many of the masquerade guests were also singing Gabby and Elijah’s praises.
She was in here somewhere. I wouldn’t be able to corner her for long— no doubt she’d be looking to talk to the press the moment they showed up, if she wasn’t surrounded by a group of giggling fans.
I followed my intuition and entered the first bathroom I came to, where I saw Gabby standing in front of a mirror. Her illusion spell had dropped— her dress and skin were once again covered in the blood of the dead deer, which was dry now. She was bent over the sink and taking deep breaths, obviously trying to recover some stamina.
She’d had to rush in here to hide before her magic failed, and she dropped the ruse. Pathetic.
“Had to take a break after throwing Unseelie spells around?” I accused. “Or is it because you’re tired of living the lie?”
Gabby snorted. “Everything in the fae world is about falsities, Sosna, It all depends just how good of a liar you are. You can pull off anything you like, as long as you can make others believe the pretty story.”
Gabby was right. For as beautiful as this world was, it was totally fake.
And I was tired of never experiencing anything that was real. That included Ethan and I.
“I’m not working for you anymore, Gabby,” I said. “It’s over.”
“Excuse me?”