Rage (Her Monsters Book One) - K.A Knight Page 0,98

people started to notice, they worshiped me and called me a god. Only when I went to a fae learner, which is what they call their teachers, I learned that was exactly what I was. Over the next fifty or so years, I honed my powers and my story became myth.”

I frown and still my movements, but he continues, “All the humans I knew were dying, plague. It was a sad time, it was also when the council found me. They are always aware of a relic’s birth, but because I was in nature they did not. It angered them and I was kept there for a while so they could understand what I am and what I can do. Eventually, they realised I would not be kept prisoner and they had no choice but to release me. Every now and again they would venture into my land to try and convince me join them.”

“Why didn’t you?” I ask.

“I didn’t want that life, I just wanted to be left alone. It always felt like I was searching for something, like no matter what I did it wasn’t enough,” he says sadly, before cupping my chin and raising my head. “That itch went away the night I met you. I finally knew I had found what I had been searching for, for so long. Everything paled in comparison, when you took that first breath it was like I did as well.”

I smile and kiss him again before settling down. “Anyways, over the years my land, in what you now call Scotland, was diminishing. Humans were getting bolder and bolder, and cutting and destroying it. One day, I went to the cities to meet with the council. It took a couple of days, and when I came back, it was gone.”

Even now I can hear the desolation and devastation in his voice, and it causes a physical pain in my heart so I snuggle closer.

“My whole land was destroyed for them to make houses and roads. They demolished the fae’s habitat as well, killing them,” he admits, making me gasp.

“They killed them?” I growl.

He sighs, squeezing me closer. “Little Monster, humans are hardwired for it, killing and destroying. They also have love and beauty but I digress, yes, they killed them. They couldn’t see them, didn’t know they were there thanks to the glamour, but the fae could not escape even if they wanted to, they were surrounded.”

“Why would they not want to escape?” I question, confused.

He sighs again, and it hits me just how little I know of this world. “Fae are tied to their land. It is where they get their powers from, and if their land dies then so do they. Many would rather die with it then live without its power or try to recreate it somewhere else.”

Sitting up, I swing my leg over so I’m straddling him and I brace my hands on his chest. He grips my hips and his eyes show me how much pain it cost him when they died.

“You loved them?” I ask.

He nods. “They were the only family I really had. They raised me, many were my friends. I had helped birth children, I had played with them, they were my life, Little Monster, they were gone just like that. I went to the grove where they lived and it was horrible. Their broken bloody bodies littered the ground, still clinging to their land even in death.”

I part my mouth when he reaches up and captures a tear on his finger, which I didn’t even realise I had shed for him. He kisses it before watching me again.

“What did you do?” I inquire, knowing my monster wouldn’t let that go and neither would I.

“I am not proud to say that I let my heartache and pain consume me. It was the first time I changed so completely. The skeleton grew across my face, and for once I felt like the god they called me. I made my way through the remaining forest, calling animals to my side. Wolves, bears, everything you can imagine, and together we attacked the town. It was like I couldn’t stop myself. The hate and pain was too much, everything was red, and only when I stood in the middle of the massacred town did I realise what I had done. My hands were stained, my body too, with their blood. I killed them all, Little Monster, men, women, children. Innocents. I slaughtered them, killed families. I had