stupidity and accident. I’m not going to open it again and give the demons another free ride. I might be many things, but I’m not a ten-fold fool who loves to court disasters. And I’m not even sure if I can open the Veil again. I don’t feel it in me anymore.”
I lied. I still heard the fiery song from the Veil flowing in my blood.
“The war had been waging between the courts of Winter, Summer, Dawn, and Night since Elfame came to existence,” Rowan said. “We only called the truce twenty years ago after the prophecy circulated again.”
They had a prophecy now? Another hot mess I needed. I rubbed my temples, feeling the throbbing headache with my fatigue.
“The prophecy said the one queen would save us from destroying each other,” Baron said, a golden light glinting in his eyes, which made me think of his lion form. “She’ll bind us all to her and unite the four courts. She’s fairer than all the queens before her and never cruel. She’ll bring prosper and strong magic back to Elfame.”
I peeked around over their shoulders and didn’t see anyone.
“I don’t envy her, you know,” I murmured, “with all the burdens and unrealistic expectations falling on her slender shoulders, if there’s ever such a queen coming.”
“The Dawn bitch thought she was the one,” Rydstrom said, throwing his head back and laughing viciously. “She no longer has power over me. Her curse on me has broken. But I’m not sure if I’m glad or upset that you two also haven’t surrendered to her. What’s stopped you?”
“She wants you to bend the knees first,” Baron hissed. “She wants you to be the first to warm her bed to fulfill the prophecy. She wants to fuck your ass more than anyone else’s.”
I narrowed my eyes, a murderous rage and jealousy stabbing my middle.
“I never thought the prophecy would come true,” Rowan said, his eyes shifting to ocean blue. “I never expected to find my true mate after two centuries of a lonely existence. We need to guard our future queen.”
They were still nuts. And more infuriating now that they also held dark secrets.
I started to shove them away, needing breathing room and a cool head. Their body heat radiated to me. Their intoxicating scent of powerful males, magic, night, flame, ice, and lust addled my mind and made my pussy clench with raw need even on the battlefield littered with piles of demon corpses.
“Listen,” I said. “This is getting all confusing. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting out of here.”
“Shall we all go?” Rydstrom glanced at Rowan and Baron, but he forgot to ask my opinion. That was how the Fae kings operated. No surprise there. Baron and Rowan glowered at him out of habit, then nodded, less hostile toward their sire’s slayer.
White wind, shadow, and golden light swirled around us, and then I was in the whirlwind where stars in the night sky zoomed away. The next, I landed on solid ground, brisk, chilly air slamming into my face. I blinked away the wind and found myself standing in the courtyard of a picturesque cabin atop a snowy mountain, still surrounded by the three formidable Fae kings.
“Where are we?” I asked, stunned by the otherworldly beauty of this place.
“It’s one of my most secured safe houses in the Court of Night,” Rydstrom said. “No one can breach the ward and no one can spy on us here.”
Rowan and Baron nodded grumpily. They wouldn’t get over a century-old feud in a day, but they were accepting the probably first true peace gesture the Night King had offered them. I wondered what had transpired since I didn’t get their Fae guy code.
“Lady Evelina.” Rowan sank to one knee. “I’d like to use this opportunity to formally propose to you—our one true mate whom we’ve been waiting for and seeking out for centuries—and pledge my fealty to you.”
Then Baron and Rydstrom also dropped to one knee, and since Rydstrom clasped my left hand in his large one, so Baron and Rowan each grabbed a few of my fingers from my right hand. With my arms spread eagle-style, the four of us looked ridiculous in this posture.
And the whole thing was crazy. One moment, we’d been battling the demons. The next, they were all proposing to me. How could their mood shift from a brutal killing to romantic in a blink of an eye? I could never switch on and off like that, especially when I