than the others.” The queen narrowed her bottomless eyes. “She appears almost defiant, as if she has fire inside. Perhaps I should turn her inside out and find out if she is indeed so spirited.”
An invasive, terrible magic clawed its way up my spine, and I had the feeling I was in the presence of evil worse than the demons I’d fought.
How could such obscenity also carry the brilliant dawn light?
If I hadn’t held my breath and braced myself, I might have vomited at the stench. I reined in my rage as I dropped my gaze, staring at the marble floor, my face a blank mask.
This was the bitch who wanted me dead and had put a heavy bounty on my head, according to the kings’ intel, even though they hadn’t any solid evidence.
I wasn’t a fool to draw her attention to me in enemy territory. Showing anger or hatred in front of one’s foe was a weakness. Displaying any vulnerability might get me carted out as a corpse before I could claim victory over my enemies.
I swallowed my humiliation and heartbreak and black fury. I leashed my boiling emotions in the deep shadow. When I was ready, I’d rain down my wrath on my foes and bathe in their blood with a battle song.
My hatred for both the king and queen had never burned so brightly.
“That wench is nobody,” Rowan snorted in biting disdain, pivoting the Dawn Queen to face him. His fingers traced her jaw line with affection. “Merely Fae trash I plan to toss out after I use her. She isn’t even good at sucking my cock.”
I hadn’t sucked his cock, and now I was very thankful that I hadn’t, by the mercy of fates. But I’d let him fuck me for hours and I’d screamed his name when pleasure hit my nerve endings like fireworks.
He’d buried deep inside me. But now that he’d gotten what he wanted from me, he treated me like garbage. He planned to trap me and humiliate me further before tossing me away.
Fae cruelty had no bounds.
Indira’s warnings had never sounded so true, if cutting. “Don’t entangle with him, or any high Fae. If you do, you’ll eventually fall for them, and then the end won’t be pretty for you. Love is regarded as a weakness and they’ll exploit it like a vulture on a corpse…. High Fae move on from one woman to another faster than changing their underwear… the trail of broken hearts they leave behind, and some broken bodies…. You won’t have anything left when he’s done with you.”
The Winter King didn’t plan to just use me. He wanted to break me. A sudden new insight burned a path in my mind. He wanted to ruin the game for his rivals—Baron and Rydstrom.
I’ll survive this, I vowed. I’d pay him back. But first, I needed to get the hell out of here before the queen’s and king’s poisonous claws reached me again. So I let the dark fire of my hatred sink deep in my bones.
“Your little whore hates you, even though she tries to hide it.” The queen giggled, her laughter making even the knights beside me shudder with fear and sick desire before they blinked back to their reality.
The Winter King didn’t bother to spare me a glance. I was but the dirt under his shiny shoes. He now had eyes only for the queen, as they drank in the sight of each other as if they were each other’s whole fucking world.
Even before the Dawn Queen waltzed into the hall, the Winter King’s demeanor had shifted completely. Nothing of the Winter King I’d come to know was left in this hall. There wasn’t the slightest warmth about him anymore. He did not carry icy fire, but shards of frozen steel. If I hadn’t known better, I would have blamed the bitch for bewitching him.
He made his own bed. He chose her.
“Does she hate me now?” He chuckled, and a torrent of rage screamed through my body. “It’ll only entertain me more when I force her to satisfy my every need, and I’m a male of insatiable appetite. After I use her again, I’ll punish her. I assume that you’ve heard how I punish, Queen Brigantia.”
“I’ve heard,” the queen said, gliding closer to the king. The jewelry on her gown rustled like a rattlesnake. “But I’ve never seen it. Show me, my daring king. Start with that worthless whore. I could use some distraction. This century frustrates