Night Fae (Dark Fae Kings #3) - Meg Xuemei X. Page 0,16

away. Lady Adele had once projected her astral image in Rydstrom’s office. She had warned him to hide me from Brigantia while I was in the middle of performing a striptease for him—at his coaxing, of course.

“Traitor!” Brigantia hissed. “You were my lady-in-waiting! You serve me! Soon you’ll suffer my wrath.”

Northton moved to stand closer to Adele, meaning to shield her.

“I never truly served you, Brigantia,” Adele said. “I hid my gift of sight from you and waited for my true queen to return.” A look of long suffering and great hope shone in her violet eyes. “I was in the royal nursing chamber when Queen Maeve gave birth to Princess Ileana. We switched the baby and smuggled out the real princess the night you stabbed your own mother to death—because Queen Maeve was about to announce her younger daughter Ileana as heir to the Dawn Court. The good, brave mages hid her well.” She turned to me, her eyes brimming with tears. “I was hoping to bring your true heritage to light after your Turning, so you’d have enough power to challenge your enemy and age to light after your Turning, so you’d have enough power to challenge your enemy and claim your rightful throne, but the fates have intervened.”

I sucked in a cold breath, knowing exactly what Lady Adele meant. The path to the throne would be piled with corpses and bones and would flow with blood. I’d been reluctant to walk down that thorny road, but nothing could stop me now.

That bitch Brigantia must die.

“You’re a bad liar, Adele,” Brigantia said with a chilling smile. “Just a few words from you and the imposter’s stupid parents meant nothing. No nobles in my court will believe your tall tale. This whole farce is but an elaborate scheme concocted by the mages and the corrupt courts.”

“I do not lie, usurper.” Adele’s musical voice carried a harsh tone. She darted a glance at the Fae kings, including the Winter King. “Princess Ileana carries the scent of Hellrose. Haven’t you all smelled it on your mate?”

A realization lit the kings’ gorgeous faces. They were too good-looking for their own good.

Baron wrapped his arm around my waist and inhaled deeply, a satisfied look settling in his bright amber eyes. “The legend says Hellrose, the rarest fairy flower, blooms for only a minute at night every other century in Elfame,” he murmured. “My mate possesses the scent of Hellrose, but I never made the connection before.”

Lady Adele had singled me out as the kings’ mate, and Baron had answered it.

The Winter King watched us silently, breathing out frost, a spark of longing, pain, and bitterness flashing in his ice-blue eyes.

Rydstrom sniffed, his nostrils flaring, then a smile broke out across his perfect face, as if he were drunk on the finest wine. The King of Nightmares didn’t smile much, and he said people trembled in his presence. I saw that they did, but when he was with me, the king was different, and I’d never met any male more doting than him.

“Only the true Fae Queen bears the natural perfume of Hellrose,” he said. “I thought Princess Ileana’s perfume was nectar to me because she’s my mate, but now I know it’s more than that. My mate is the only one who owns the scent of Hellrose because she’s the true faerie queen, once in a millennium, who will unite all the courts in Elfame. Furthermore, she’ll bring back the faded magic.”

“It is so.” Northton nodded his agreement. “And Queen Ileana was raised in the human world. She has a deep human family bond, so she’ll protect the mortal realm as well.”

“I’ll defend both realms against evil in all forms,” I vowed as my heart warmed with gratitude toward all my protectors.

“Shut. Up!” Brigantia pounded the table, rattling the glasses, plates, and mugs on it. “You lured me into a trap! Did you really think you could ambush me? I’m the supreme ruler of all lands!” She threw up her hands, inky hellfire swirling in her eyes. “Tear down the Silver Circle’s ward, Mage Sinn! Call your brethren! Call them to arms!”

She started shouting an incantation, black magic weaving around her like a plume of swirling smoke.

“Join me, my brethren!” Sinn, the dark mage, bellowed. “It’s time to show who we are!”

Five mages of the Silver Circle pushed off from wherever they were lurking and hurried to join Sinn. One dark mage stood guard while the five of them formed a circle and