Fever Fae - Meg Xuemei X Page 0,49
Brigantia has only Elfame’s best interest at heart. She also wants to remind you that as the King of the Night Court, you have an obligation to the realm of Fae as well. You must fulfill the agreement between all four courts and diligently hunt the dark ones—”
“I am not playing your sick hunting games,” Rydstrom said, his voice sharper than cold blades, and everyone on the ground floor flinched. I pressed closer to him. “I don’t give a fuck whom you hunt outside my club, but you should not come in to my territory and fuck with me. Claws, Fangs, and Fiends holds its own uncontested rules outside any jurisdiction of any court, be it mortals’ or immortals’.”
The white-haired Fae opened his mouth to argue, but Rydstrom’s voice thundered over his protest.
“You chose to violate its rules, and now you’ll suffer the consequences. My sentence is this: only one of you will get out of here alive and report to your queen, so no misunderstanding will come to pass between her and me. And unfortunately for you, Commander Devyn of the Dawn Court, the one who will crawl out of my club won’t be you.”
“You dare not, King of Night and Nightmares,” said the Dawn commander as apprehension flicked in his eyes. “My Queen will retaliate greatly if you harm me. Her Majesty still holds hostage your beloved—”
Rydstrom removed his arm from around me, and a wave of starlight lashed out from him. It morphed into a shapeless nightmare and tore into the Dawn Fae ranks. Devyn raised his sword and shield to fend off Rydstrom’s magic, a sheet of intense white light rising toward us.
Rydstrom’s darkness and starlight swallowed the white light.
Devyn didn’t stand a chance.
Screams of horror and agony burst from the dance floor as the hunters were all shredded to pieces, except for a Dawn Fae who looked like the youngest among his group—the one Rydstrom had promised to be left alive. The Fae dropped to one knee and shook like a tealeaf in the storm.
I shook for a few seconds, too, since it was the first time I’d ever seen such a brutal slaughter. Yet I wasn’t afraid of the male standing beside me, despite his displaying a nightmarish power that could shred any beings to bits, despite the chill coating my skin. Instead, strange and deep respect for him brewed inside me.
He’d risked a war defending a helpless girl and holding onto his rules.
When I went hunting with Dad at five, he’d shown me that I was a predator in my essence. And now when I met another ruthless predator, instead of fear, I felt a kinship.
“You’re free to go today, knight of the Dawn Court,” Rydstrom said to the last remaining Dawn Fae in his voice of steel. “Take care never to come back.”
He flicked a wrist, and a stream of starlight shattered the purple orb that encaged the girl. She scrambled to her feet, bowed deeply to Rydstrom, straightened her back, and gazed up at him like he was her superhero and she’d do anything for him.
I didn’t mean to, but I laid a hand on his forearm as if to stake my claim.
Rydstrom glanced at my fingers on him, and a faint, amused smile ghosted his lips for a fleeting second. Then he turned to his men. “Knights of the Night Court, take out the trash. Take care of that girl as well. She shall find shelter with Claws, Fangs, and Fiends should she seek it again.”
“Yes, my king,” the knights answered.
“Thank you, Night King. I’m forever in your debt,” the girl said, stars in her bright hazel eyes.
The club resumed its bustling activities. The patrons still inside shrugged, filed toward the bar to order more drinks, and laughed with their companions on the way, as if they’d just had a good, normal day. The dancers came back on stage, and other patrons who had fled the fight started trickling back in.
Was this how the supernaturals lived their lives, from one moment to the next?
Rydstrom peeked down at me. “Didn’t I tell you to stay behind?”
“I’m sorry to break it down to you,” I said, “but I’m not that kind of girl.”
“Yet you tried to hide behind me and use me as a shield.”
“Yet you pulled me upfront, exposed me to danger, and thought the worst of me afterward.”
“Bitching again? Come on. Show me your best side, then.”
His arm sneaking around my waist, he pulled me against his hard chest. I