Warrior King New Worlds (Crystal Kingdom #6) - Milly Taiden Page 0,59

on the fae, not knowing if they even had one. Feeling nothing, she focused on the voices from inside the room and quickly peeked in. Inside, she saw Silvo—bruised and battered—arguing with the king outside the entrance to his chambers. Luckily, Silvo’s back was to her. The king was saying something about the “three females” and capturing them.

Of course, that was why the Kappies were attacking. They knew she and her cousins were here. That scout they saw when first climbing the mountain path must have seen them. Shit. All this was because of her and the portal rocks.

Those two could fight out whatever they want. She needed to get down to the mine. As she turned, she heard the word dragon, and the king started screaming. They had to be talking about Ferrus. What other dragon was there?

She leaned to the side just enough for her eyes to see past the door’s edge. The king had gotten in Silvo’s face and was yelling about respecting royalty. Silvo slowly slid his hand around to his backside, fingers grabbing something at his waistband. A flash reflected off the item, and she knew what it was, one of the female’s knives.

Before she could shout a warning to the king, Silvo swung his arm around and slashed the king’s throat. If that wasn’t enough, he stabbed the king in the chest. When his hand raised for another slice, she was unable to stop the gasp from the horrific scene.

Silvo looked over his shoulder and locked eyes with hers. Panic taking over, Lilah sprinted back toward the cavern. How the hell had Silvo survived that fall from the walkway? Apparently, the fae were harder to kill than humans. For the king’s sake, she hoped they were very hard to kill.

Slapping footsteps gaining on her, she put more speed on, her thigh muscles responding to the demand. As she ran, she half expected a piercing burn in her back where the kitchen knife would sink into her. Instead, she jerked to a stop when the asshole grabbed the back of her shirt.

He slammed her against the wall, and her body throbbed as she plunged to the floor. As he dragged her, he laughed. “I believe we’ve done this before.”

She tried to rip the skin from his arm like she had when he attacked her the first time, but he was wise to that stunt and held her at a different angle. Stopping in the cavern, Silvo pulled her up and placed the edge of the bloody knife on her throat.

“Listen and obey me, and you might live.” She doubted that at this point but kept her mouth shut. Yay for her. “We are going down another tunnel, and I want you to walk in front of me. If you do anything besides walk, this knife will take your head off.”

He shoved her down the passage that led to the holding cells. He was going to lock her up. That was fine. He didn’t know she could bend the bars like they were spaghetti noodles. Then she could escape out the secret door at the end of the tunnel. The same exit the women used when sneaking out before the strike.

“I can’t believe you killed your own father,” she said. “Such a good son, you are.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not the king’s worthless son. He’ll be next to fall by my hand very soon.”

Wait, what? Who was the prince then? Could it be… Now it made sense that the mating call was right. Oh god. She was so stupid. How did she not see it? Love was truly blind and dumb.

When reaching the opening for the prison, Silvo growled. “Keep going.”

Her optimism vanished. They were going someplace else. Possibly out the same secret opening? When they reached the dead-end wall, Silvo kept her in front of him as he pulled apart the rock. Once again, at the mountain’s base, she saw the enemy among the trees. There were even more of these little shits. God help them.

Silvo pushed her out, wrapping his large hand around her neck. His fingers rested on her windpipe, which he could no doubt crush.

He yelled a name she’d never heard. “Luzzeh. Luzzeh Full. I’m here to make a bargain that you’ll want.” They waited until a guy wearing animal fur around his body stepped out and came to them.

“I am Luzzeh, King of the trolls in the Crystal Kingdom, now the ruler of the Kappie population. What deal would