Chapter 24

TWENTY-FOUR

COLLINS

Shit. Imma die. Imma die in this hell killed by a psycho Queen and her devil spawn . I ducked under Tephine’s vines and rolled to the side as they shot over my head. Their razor-sharp thorns ripped at my coat. Aryk leapt up in the air and brought her sword down toward my neck. I gasped and dove to the right. Aryk threw her neon-orange hair back and cackled. I scrambled to my feet and ran in the opposite direction.

“Run, run, little rabbit.” Venus sat on the stone in the middle of the circle. She crossed her legs and leaned back with one leg bouncing. She tilted her head to the side and chuckled. “I like this game.”

They were toying with me. I knew I was no match for any of them. But I had to survive this long enough to get away. I ran toward the pink crystal that looked like the one in Venus’ chest and ducked down next to it. When I pressed my hands to it, I let the power seep into my veins. I knew it wouldn’t be enough to get me out of this. I was surrounded and outnumbered by fae that were ancient, and I was not ready. The little magic I knew I’d learned from Queen Tephine. That was not going to save me now. She’d make sure to keep me weak enough to kill.

Panic rushed through my body. Do something, Collins. Anything. Aquamarine glittered around my fingers, so I shot it into the ground. Shards of crystals splintered up around me. I flicked my wrist and sent them flying in all different directions, praying it’d give me enough time to get away. I pumped my arms and ran for it.

Before I was even a step out of the circle of Crystal-henge, Tephine was in front of me, blocking my path. “Going somewhere?”

I backed away from her and right into Aryk. She wrapped her hand in my hair and jerked my head to the side, straining the muscles in my neck. She spun me around, then threw me against the end of the alter stone in the middle of the circle. My ribs smacked against it and air rushed from my lung. I hunched over, gasping for breath and feeling like I needed to vomit.

Venus looked down at me from her perch. “Ouch.” She giggled.

I growled and flicked my wrist, forcing the stone to throw her ass like a teeter totter, hoping to see her smash into one of the stones and flatten like a pancake. She shot straight up into the air, but her pink wings sprang from her back and she hovered there. Aryk sprinted to me and cracked the hilt of her sword across my cheek. It happened so fast that I barely tracked her movements. Pain exploded on the side of my face, and my mouth filled with the tangy taste of my own blood. Black dots swarmed my vision. My legs wobbled and felt like jelly beneath me. I forced myself to my feet and spit a mouth full of blood on the ground at her feet.

“You hit like a toddler.”

Her purple eyes flared, and she took a step toward me.

Tephine grabbed her arm, stopping her from moving closer. She stepped in front of Aryk, then strolled around me in a slow circle. “All this can end if you just tell me where the Stone is.”

I ran my arm over my lip and a streak of blood coated the sleeve. “I don’t know where it is. And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Ew. At least make this a little interesting for me.” She watched me with that calculating look in her pale eyes. “I hate being bored.”

“Did we miss the fun?” A woman with bright-red hair stepped from in between two stones and pouted. “Aryk, you were supposed to wait for us.”

“That will cost you, baby sister.” Another woman with dark-purple hair and swirling green eyes walked in behind her. She was stunningly beautiful. But then those green eyes locked on me. “On your knees, dog.”

My legs buckled and my knees slammed into the snow before I could even think about what she just said, which meant she made me do it. My heart sank. The chill from the snow seeped into my bones.

Venus threw her head back and laughed.

Queen Tephine strolled in front of me. As she passed, she gave me a wink. “ Woof. ”

“Araqiel should’ve spayed you eons ago.” I pressed my hand to my ribs and winced.

“Helena and Marigold, meet our guest.” The Queen paused by her daughter with the purple hair and then motioned to the one with bright-red hair. “She has many things to tell us. Or you can make her bark.”

“Or sleep.” The one with red hair and purple eyes gave me an evil grin. “I can have a lot of fun while you’re asleep.”

“Do your worst,” I growled. They wouldn’t get to me.

“ I’d be careful saying that to Bloody Mary ,” Venus hissed and wagged her eyebrows. She was enjoying this too much.

“Oh, Bastien.” The Queen looked up and sent a beaming smile over my shoulder.

Oh, God, he’s here? I froze. Don’t look up. Don’t look at him. He has some kind of power over you. You need your brain right now. Don’t look.

Tephine’s eyes flashed, and I knew some devious idea had popped into her twisted mind. “I’m so glad you’re here, Son. Maybe she needs some time alone to think about what she’s done.”

That spicy smell of vanilla swept over me. My pulse quickened. My gaze snapped up and our eyes met. Heat filled my bones, rushing through my body like a rapid river. Butterflies danced in my stomach. I groaned and squirmed in the heat from his stare. Electricity passed between us so strong I could actually see it—it looked like little silver waves flowing back and forth between us.

Don’t react. Don’t react. He was one of them. He’d been sent to get me and now he was just ordered to rob me of my senses so they could all kill me. Oh my God. I’m attracted to a murderer. What does that say about me? The connection between us sizzled like the desert sun in the summer, yet somehow no one else had noticed.

I wasn’t even sure he noticed. Those pale moonstone eyes were locked on my face, but his own face was an emotionless mask. His features were smooth and passive, like I was the morning weather report. He looked exactly the same as the last time I saw him. The whole damn family was beautiful, but Prince Bastien was fiercely gorgeous in a way I never thought a man could be. I didn’t know how to handle the affect he had on me. And he still hadn’t spoken, hadn’t made any sounds at all. His silent act made no sense. It took brooding to an absurd level. I wanted to know what he was thinking, what his story was— he’s a villain, COLLINS. Just stop.

“Come now, Collins. Tell us what we want to know, and we’ll let you live.”

“ The fuck you will ,” I mumbled before I could stop myself.

Aryk chuckled deep in her throat. “Well, that’ll make this easier. Right, Bloody Mary?”

I didn’t like that nickname one bit.

Marigold rubbed her palms together and leaned into Aryk’s shoulder. “This will be fun.”

I was screwed. Not just screwed, I was going to die, or they would torture me to the point that I wished I was dead. The time for an escape plan had come and gone. Five fae Royals stood in a row in front of me, each of them absolutely lethal. Each of them had freaking wings. This was the equivalent of bringing a squirt gun to a gun fight.

No, don’t give up yet. You’re smart. They’re overconfident and are underestimating you. I took a deep breath, then lifted my eyes to face them head on. My stomach fluttered and balled into knots. They stood in a row, and it reminded me of playing red rover on the playground as a kid. The Queen was on the far right, looking like the guy at the dog track that sets the dogs loose for the race.

She ran her fingers through Bastien’s hair beside her, and my traitorous fingers itched with jealousy. This is how I’ll die, while swooning over Mr. Moonstone. Maybe that was his role in this terror cult. Beside him, Marigold and Aryk were leaning into each other and whispering. Or perhaps conspiring was the better word. Venus was still sitting on the stone slab, just having the time of her life.

The prettiest of her daughters, Helena, narrowed her green eyes on me and strolled over to the far left. She craned her neck, then stood up straight. “Wingless Stone Keeper? That’s odd. Mother, I thought you said she had abilities?”

Tephine shrugged. “She does. She’s merely too incompetent.”

Blood filled my mouth again, so I spit it onto the white snow.

Prince Bastien’s eyes tracked the motion, but he didn’t react.

“Bastien, darling . . .” Tephine wiggled her fingers in my direction. “Take her senses. I’m done playing now. I want that Stone.”

Bastien nodded and stepped away from his mother. He lifted his right arm and the tip of a silver blade poked out from under the material. No one else seemed to watch him. Their eyes were all on me. I sucked in a breath and held it. Oh, God, this is it. The love of my life is about to murder me.

I braced myself. Sorry, Mom. Sorry, Tallulah.

Bastien took one step and then leapt forward and thrust his right arm straight forward. The silver blade emerged from inside his coat sleeve as it pierced right into Helena’s throat. Her green eyes widened. A strangled gasp rocked through her body. Blood gushed like a broken dam from around the blade. Rivers of blood ran from her mouth and nose. It was a waterfall of red flowing over her body and soaking into her clothing. Blood splattered over the rest of us in little drops, sprinkling the snow. He twisted the sword and swung his arm outward with a quick sharp jerk—and sliced her head right off her body.

Everyone gasped.

Helena’s body collapsed like I just had, with her knees hitting the blood-stained snow first before the rest of her crashed chest-first to the ground. The head sank into the snow with a plop, her long, purple hair flaring out, her pretty, pretty face wearing a mask of horror.

Queen Tephine let out an ear-splitting scream. Venus fell to her knees and scooped up Helena’s severed head. Marigold dove for her body. Aryk turned toward him with her sword at the ready and lunged.

I was frozen. This was my moment to flee, and I was frozen. It all happened too fast.

Prince Bastien turned to me, and our eyes met. He winked and then everything went black.

No, wait, not everything.

I saw him.

I saw nothing except him . I had no idea what just happened or what that meant of Bastien. My mind was reeling. He jumped toward me, and his pale-blue wings sprang from his back. He dropped low, wrapped his weaponless arm around my waist, and shot straight up into the sky. My arms went around his neck of their own accord, but I didn’t fight it as his spicy vanilla scent sent my pulse skyrocketing. The Queen’s screams echoed below us, but in that moment there was nothing else but him.