Beneath the Dust (Force of Nature #4) - Amber Lynn Natusch Page 0,16

the same thing myself—if the land needed a particular brand of magic to heal it, if only temporarily.

And if warlock magic would work as well.

“Or perhaps the fey king wants us to believe that,” Merc said, his expression more grim than I’d seen it in a while. “The fey are tricky and cunning, and never to be underestimated. We need to get to the bottom of this before it gets more out of hand than it is now.”

“That’s going to be hard with your coronation coming up,” Jase said. Knox and I turned to him, confused.

“Coronation?” I asked. Merc and his brothers nodded.

“He has to be publicly announced, and given the current unrest, it needs to happen sooner than later. He needs the vampires to pledge their fealty to him. Without it, he won’t be recognized as the true leader, and we’ll be in more chaos than ever.”

“Not a good time for that,” Knox said under his breath.

“It is a formality that cannot be avoided—not even under the threat of the fey king’s creatures.”

“When is this going down?” I asked, my heart racing for the third time that night. A coronation that all vampires would be made to attend sounded like exactly what we didn’t need at the moment. We needed to be planning for the fey king, not a party.

“In two days,” Jase replied.

“Perhaps sooner, if necessary. It need not be the opulent soirée that Father would have thrown. We just need it to be done.”

The air was heavy with unspoken concerns and uncertainties. I hated seeing them in the eyes of the males around me. Each had a burden to bear in this war, not to mention its new twists and turns. Selfishly, I missed the days of old, when my biggest concerns had been avoiding the warlocks on my daytime excursions and not getting too drunk when I’d partied with Jase and Dean.

“Well I, for one, am thrilled to hear that this isn’t going to be some ridiculous party like I used to be subjected to,” I said, trying to break the tension. “I knew I loved you for a reason, Merc.” His tight features softened slightly at my comment.

“I got the sense that you were not a fan,” he said, stepping closer to me, “but you did seem to enjoy taking your clothes off at them—and that is an opportunity I’ll gladly create for you whenever possible.”

“So that wasn’t a one-time thing, huh?” Knox asked. He leaned closer to me as Merc approached. Whether it was instinct or not, I couldn’t tell.

“Nah, Piper whipped off her dress and threw her shoes at one of the socialites at the party before that,” Dean said with a laugh. “It was pretty fucking epic.”

“It really was,” Jase agreed. “You showed that bitch Sylvia. You showed them all.”

“I showed them my pale ass and my scars, you guys,” I replied, brushing off their praise. “It wasn’t one of my finer moments.”

“I disagree,” Merc said, stopping before me. “I’d never seen anything like it before.”

“Yeah, well, Piper is pretty stellar at putting on a show,” Knox agreed.

“Yes, yes, I know how to cause a scene. Glad we all agree on that. Now, about those witches…”

“This way,” Merc said, leading us toward the basement. With every step down to the dungeon, I could feel my chest tighten. Liam was already being held down there. Now the witches. I wondered how many more wayward supernaturals we’d have to take in by the time we figured out how to destroy the fey king. Who else we’d be forced to shelter until our enemies in Faerie were neutralized.

I’d soon learn the answer.

I’d soon wish for almost any other fate.

Chapter Seven

I followed Merc and Knox to the stairwell but stopped short when a familiar set of heavy footsteps walked up behind me. I turned to find Grizz there, in human form; the look on his face told me everything I needed to know. His hard-set jaw spoke to his anger at being left behind, and the fire in his brown eyes let me know it wouldn’t be happening again.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” I told Merc and Knox. They looked at the man-bear and nodded before disappearing down the stairs to speak with the witches about what had happened. I hoped that, by the time they finished, the truce would still exist.

“Hey Grizz,” I said, turning back to him. “What’s up?” He looked unimpressed by my casual question, probably because he knew I knew why