nasty douche ever appeared in my house again, he’d be served with an iron bullet from the legendary rifle Dad had left behind.
And I wouldn’t allow myself to fall apart in front of the fucker and his Fae subjects, even though I felt my heart beginning to shatter to pieces.
I wouldn’t hand over my last shred of dignity to my enemy.
Before I made a step, two knights appeared on either side of me, blocking me.
“It’s too late for you to leave now, Lady Evelina,” one of them said. “Don’t draw any attention to yourself.”
I sneered and went for the hidden dagger in my boot. I was glad that I kept it with me wherever I went. If violence was the only way to get out of here, so be it. I was ready to stab anyone who got in my way.
I should probably stick my blade into the cold bastard’s back first and bleed him like the Fae pig he was.
But my hand came up empty. My boots, tank top, and jeans disappeared from my body. A blue gown that flaunted half my breasts adorned me instead, and a pair of dress shoes wrapped around my feet, their strings laced around my ankles. My new outfit was only a little less revealing than that of the erotic dancers on the floor.
This was how the Winter King wanted to play?
Furiously, I summoned my magic. I’d demolish this ice castle with whatever power was granted to me. But to my despair, my useless, spineless power didn’t answer my call.
The singer’s voice turned high-pitched, taunting my failure and mocking how trapped I was. To add insult to injury, the dancers rolled onto their knees, thrusting their groins toward their king, enticing him to get off his high seat to fuck any of them or all of them right on the floor.
The coffee and donuts I’d had at my house before Rowan picked me up threatened to come right up. But I made only a dry heave. With every ounce of will, I ordered myself not to double over, not to show my pain.
A flash of cutting white light with an inky outline sliced the air before a peal of laughter, evil and sensual, vibrated in the hall.
A female in a glowing gown swirled in like a blast of brilliant dawn light, yet I could smell her vileness. In an instant, she’d appeared between Rowan and his erotic dancers.
A company of her giant guards stalked in from the entry and spread through the hall. I recognized the symbol of the Dawn Court—a rising red sun above blades—engraved on their armor.
So, this redheaded Fae was the notorious Dawn Queen.
I stared at her, momentarily forgetting my determination to fight my way out.
The unmatched beauty had brilliant green eyes like mine. But in a blink, I saw through her glamour. Her coal-black, cat-like eyes fixed on Rowan with possessive lust. Her small nose wrinkled, and red lips stretched thin. She was somehow deformed with scar tissue patched on her left cheek. The next moment, her glamour of striking beauty was in place, covering her defect.
I froze, confused by the shifting of her glamour and her true face. I stole a glance at the others to see if they saw what I did. Ensnared by her radiant, pulsing power, they all gazed at her with utter worship, awe, and fear as if she were a major goddess.
Was I the only one who could see through her disguise?
Rydstrom once mentioned that the Dawn Queen was all bright light and great dawn power, yet I noticed that she carried both light and darkness, as if she was a creature of both worlds. Her inky smoke hid and coiled beneath her brilliant light like a lethal serpent waiting to strike her victims.
And judging by how Rowan gazed at her with puppy-like adoration, I wouldn’t be surprised that he was under the spell of her glamour.
“Queen Brigantia,” the Winter King said in a honeyed, baritone voice he’d never used with me. He rudely nudged the half-naked Fae girls off his lap and rose to greet the queen, shiny frost coating him, making him bigger than life. “What a delightful surprise!”
He meant every word of it.
My heart once again sank into ice and sickness twisted in my stomach.
Chapter 11
For the first time, I felt the burning of the Winter King’s icy fire in my veins, yet I didn’t fold as I endured the agony caused by his betrayal.
Queen Brigantia swept her viperous gaze