Tarsus

I cling to Weaver's fur as we lead the army toward the valley outside of Jawbone City. The giant tarantula's strides are even and fluid, making the ride feel more like she's flying than scurrying across the terrain in front of my armies.

Abaddon threatened to attack if I didn't send Aden to them by midnight last night. And instead of throwing Aden in, like the fucking volcano demanded, I'm risking my entire army against a colony of bats.

It's worth it–to keep Aden protected.

Aden stayed home, safely tucked behind the bone walls of the palace. Nobody is touching him—I've made damn sure about that. I'm pretty confident in my army's ability to win this war. The bat colony consists of maybe two-to-three thousand bats. My army has roughly ten-thousand warriors. Sure, the bats can fly, but that's their only advantage. They are a lazy breed who spend most of their time feasting and fucking within their caves. They have not been trained for combat, and their numbers are small. Abaddon is an idiot, leading his colony into practical extinction.

Thank the Great Mother Clavicle is not here, or we would all be fucked. With his powers as the Spine Sovereign, he would be able to wipe us out with one stroke of his hand. I grind my teeth together as the memory of him pinning Aden to the bed yesterday assaults my mind. I'm not a fool. That pinky swear meant nothing to him. He would risk losing a finger if it meant returning to this realm and restoring his immortality and powers.

I should have plunged my dagger into his heart when I had the chance, but Aden was already so distraught, I didn't want to cause further affliction.

The next time I see Clavicle, though, he will be mine to kill.

For now, I have a heartless, stupid bat to fight, and his armies to defeat.

A loud, eerie screeching echoes beyond the mountains, and I can sense my armies tensing as they straighten in their armor.

"Remember what I said!" I shout at my armies. "Show no mercy."

Just then, I see Abaddon soaring in the distance, a thousand bats flying behind him, blocking out the littler light breaking through the churning clouds above. Though they bear no weapons, these bats are vicious. Long teeth, sharp talons, this battle will certainly be a bloody one. Is this really worth it? Risking my warriors for the sake of Aden? That's not even a question—of course it is, but the truth is, this is for all humans. The thousands of years of sacrifices and mistreatment of humans must end.

The bats are soaring closer, and at General Ulna's command, my armies aim their arrows toward the skies. Ulna shouts out another command, and the arrows fly into the skies, piercing their marks. Bats fall to the ground like rain. But Abaddon didn't become king of the bats with no effort. He dodges the arrows with lethal precision. Panic begins hitting as the remaining bats soar closer, too fast for us to ready our arrows, and before we know it, they're pummeling my warriors to the ground. Shouts and screeches fill the air as the cracks of bodies colliding into each other echoes through the valley Beyond the mountain range, another army appears of a thousand more bats.

"Forward, Weaver," I order the tarantula. She is usually the size of my palm, hiding behind my blanket of hair on my shoulders. But with some forest magic, she's able to grow into a monstrous size, allowing me to ride her into battle, and giving her fangs a deadly bite to all who cross her. Her eight black and gold hairy legs move us forward, and I scan the skies for Abaddon, but he's blended in with the swarming bats above. I squint toward the horizon again, trying to gauge our competition, when I notice something far more forbidding coming our way.

A black wyvern. And on its back, a fae warrior wearing black armor. Who the fuck? Not anyone from the Lunar, Terra, or my own Spine Empire. The only fae I can see siding with the bat folk are the Solar Fae, but their armor is golden, not black.

I keep my eye on the warrior as the wyvern soars to the ground, snorting as it lands on its hind feet only twenty feet away. Weaver is running fast now, for a spider as large as a bear, she's quick as we scuttle smoothly across the broad valley. The person on the wyvern is wearing a black helmet, and I'm unable to see their face clearly, but by the way their shoulders hunch and they look around frantically, I can tell they're not seasoned for battle.

Good. Not a sovereign then. Perhaps a rebel of the Spine Empire. Some spy who's been reporting to the bats this whole time. Well, he'll get a good taste of what it means to be a traitor to the Spine Empire.

I grip Weaver's fur, gauging where in the armor it would be easies to kill this fae, but that armor has no openings that I can see, not even the eyes, save for a tiny slit in the helmet. As we near, they shout an order. The wyvern whips back its long neck like a snake about to strike. Fuck.

"Weaver—fire!"

Just as the wyvern blows out a pillar of fire, Weaver jumps to the side, dodging the blazes with ease.

I grip tightly to the fur on Weaver's back, then shout, "Charge!" And we head straight for the wyvern and her warrior, darting in from the side.

The warrior shouts another order, but the wyvern doesn't have time to respond before Weaver is crawling onto its back, keeping it from taking to the skies. I leap off the giant tarantula, landing on the warrior's back with ease. I wrap my arms around their neck and yank them off the saddle as we tumble to the ground.

They're smaller than I expected, I realize, as I wrap my arm around their chest, pinning their back to me. This warrior has no muscle to speak of and not a fighting bone in their body. Their dagger hangs limp from their belt, even though they could easily grab it. I don't exactly have their hands tied behind their back. What the fuck are they doing out here?

Weaver already has the wyvern half wrapped in her silky web, like a fly she plans to eat. The wyvern struggles to free itself, but the spider sinks her fangs into the creature's side and the reptile goes limp. Weaver won't eat it, though. When she returns to her normal size, I'll feed her a fat, juicy mouse for her help today. For now, she's just getting the beast out of my way as I fight its rider.

I turn back to the weak-ass warrior, and while I can't see their eyes beneath the helmet, I notice their body language, how their back is tense, their fingers digging into the dirt as they watch in horror while Weaver continues spinning a web around the wyvern. I almost feel the need to console the kid, tell them that Weaver is just putting the wyvern to sleep temporarily, but then I remember that this is the enemy. No matter how young or inexperienced they are, they chose to ride into battle with the bat folk. Which means they marched out here to take my precious Aden from me and throw him into the throat of the volcano.

Fueled by renewed hatred, I release them, and stand. I don't like unfair advantages. I want to give this kid a chance to fight, so I can kill them with a clear conscience. But they're not even looking at me, they're so distracted by Weaver.

I lift my sword, making sure it catches the light and glints in his eyes. Finally, the movement catches their attention. They turn toward me and begin inching back in terror. They finally have the fucking brains to reach for their dagger, clumsily pulling it from their belt, but their oversized gloves seem to be getting in the way.

I don't know why I stand in stupid fascination as the kid tears off the glove and once again reaches for their dagger. I guess I want to give them a fair chance. But as I watch their hand wrap around the hilt—I notice the pinky missing from their right hand. Not only that, I realize that the dagger they're reaching for is made of obsidian.

No.

No fucking way.

This isn't some clumsy kid, this is the Prince of Ruin, the one meant to end me, and they've just pulled the wool over my eyes. I gave them a fucking advantage, completely fooled by their act.

Both terror and fury flood through me, rage clutching my throat in its skeletal fingers. Now. Now is my opportunity to do what I should have done twenty-three years ago.

I take one more step forward, reach out, and yank the helmet off the wyvern rider, revealing hot pink hair and a pair of gray eyes staring at me from behind black-rimmed glasses that are so out of place in this realm.

A laugh of shock escapes me.

"You again," I seethe as my eyes meet Clavicle's. I tilt my head and offer my coldest smile, hoping he doesn't sense the utter terror in my voice. "You swore you wouldn't return."

Dropping his dagger like the fucking idiot he is, he clumsily scrambles to his feet while shoving his glasses up the bridge of his nose. God, he's like a colt with oversized feet. A fae prince trapped in a human body, still unsure how to use it even after twenty years. I have to say, this act of his is almost convincing, but I know the real Clavicle is in there, just waiting for me to turn my back so he can drive that obsidian dagger through it.

"I see you lost your pinky," I sneer. "Lying bastard."

"I…I…"

Gods, just the sound of his voice makes my heart palpitate in my chest. Before yesterday, it'd been too long since I'd seen him, heard his voice, felt his lips pressed against mine—

"No," I snap. "No excuses." I lift my sword. "I swore that if you returned, I'd kill you." I offer a lethal grin. "I regretted letting you go at the faire, but now I'll finally get what's mine."

He stumbles back from me, once again landing on his ass. Is he trying to look vulnerable so I'll feel sorry for him, or is his human body truly that weak? Even Aden is able to fight in his human body. Clavicle…isn't even putting up a fight. He scoots away from me like a coward, one hand blocking his face in surrender, his other hand searching the grass for—

Whack. Something hard hits my head, momentarily stunning me. I take a startled step back. Fucking bastard! He threw a rock at my goddamn head!

"You sneaky little rat!" I take three swift steps toward him. "Let's finish this once and for all."

Reaching down, I wrap my hand around his slender throat and lift him to his feet. He winces as I squeeze his air pipe. I can feel his pulse throbbing in his carotid as I assess where to slice his throat, and whether I want his death to be swift, or if I want him to bleed out slowly.

His gray eyes dart to the sword as I press the blade against his throat. "No—no—please—"

I hesitate. Because even as I hold this traitor before me, I can't stand the thought of losing him forever. For good. At least when he was a human, there was always a chance of seeing him. I could sneak to the human realms and watch him from afar. I still had access to him. But the truth is, I already lost him. That day he nearly threw me into the lava pit with the humans, I knew he was gone.

"Goodbye, Brother." I press the blade of my sword to his throat. He clenches his eyes shut, not even putting up a fight as I pierce his skin.

"STOP!" The only voice that could ever command me to do anything echoes through the valley, standing out among the shouts of war. Aden is stepping through the seam that's opened up behind me, Ash following close behind.

Gods-dammit. Ash knows better than to bring him to the battlefield. My heart sinks into my gut as my eyes dart around to the bats, hoping to every god in the world that they don't notice him. He can't be here. This entire battle is because the bats want him. As soon as the enemy notices him, he's dead. They'll grab him and fly off.

"Go home!" The scream rips from my throat, desperate and choking on a sob before I cast a glare at Ash. She sizes me up with those bright red eyes and folds her slender arms over her chest.

"Clavicle is the only one who can stop this madness, ," Aden snaps, his fiery green eyes blazing. "And you know it."

My heart is palpitating in my chest as I tear my eyes from Aden and glare at the Prince of Ruin struggling before me, uselessly trying to pry my fingers off his throat.

"We need to rid ourselves of him, Aden."

"If you get rid of the one person who could talk to Mother Terra, then I will have no choice but to throw myself into the volcano to spare this world."

My back tenses, my chest tightening until it's getting hard to breathe, and I look at Aden. "You wouldn't."

"It's why I came." His eyes are pleading, tears blurring that stark green against the brown landscape. "I was going to turn myself over to the bats before there could be anymore bloodshed." His eyes dart to Clavicle. "But…he's here. And since he broke his swear, we can take him as a prisoner until he agrees to be compliant."

I shouldn't hesitate to kill the one person who could destroy everything we've fought for—for two decades—but I also know Aden is right. If there's anyone who could stop the volcano from ending us, apart from Aden being thrown into the volcano, it's this poor excuse of a king before me.

"What do you suggest we do?" I snap, not taking my eyes off Clavicle.

"Make him surrender," Aden says. "And take him captive."

I release Clavicle, and he falls to the ground, dragging air into his lungs as he scoots away from me like a dog that's been kicked one too many times. His wide eyes are glued on Ash now, as if he's never seen a vampire with ruby eyes and white fangs and a black tail switching behind her.

"Tell your bats to fall back," I snap, holding my sword to his throat.

A laugh of ridicule chokes out of him, and the look in his eyes tells me he's bordering on the line of insanity. "Like they'd listen to me!"

There it is. The sound of his voice threatening to make my legs melt beneath me, commanding I pull him into my arms. But I remind myself of what he did before I cursed him. What he will do if I let him go. I've played this fucking game before, and lost. I press the blade harder into his throat, and the sharp edge makes a bead of blood appear.

"Fine," he says, his voice deceptively shaky. Still sitting helplessly on the ground, he looks toward the skies where a third army of a thousand bats appears. "I don't know how they're going to hear me."

"By using your voice, idiot."

His chest expands as he takes a deep breath, then shouts, "Bats, surrender! Retreat to the caves!"

The ground trembles beneath us, catching the attention of the armies. As I expected, the bats hear the voice of their master. Their caves are located in the Spine Empire, and they'll always heed the Spine Sovereign over their own bat king, even if the sovereign's soul is trapped in a mortal body.

When he notices the colony flocking above, following his orders, his mouth drops open. "Holy shit."

Abaddon soars closer and hovers above. My heart rate spikes at the mere sight of him, of his cold, black eyes and sharp fangs. "Why fall back, Sovereign Clavicle?" The bat king's deep voice sends goosebumps across my skin. "We've got this."

"I will handle this…in a more civil manner." Clavicle glares at me with those last two words, as if I were the barbarian here. As if he wasn't the one who started this whole war two decades ago.

The colony swarms above and flies back over the mountaintops toward the Heart of Faerie. Except Abaddon. He hangs back, a cruel glint in his eyes as he hovers above us, bat-wings flapping.

"Civil manner, my ass," Abaddon sneers as he narrows his eyes at my blade pointed at Clavicle's throat. "Give me back our Sovereign, you unwashed cum stain!" he roars in a deep voice. "And hand Aden over while you're at it."

"Not in a million years, you decades-old overused piss bowl," I snap back.

Abaddon doesn't even flinch at the insult. "If you kill him, there will be no one around to stop my colony from destroying you next time."

I grit my teeth in annoyance. I hate how right Abaddon is. If I kill Clavicle, the title of sovereign falls to some distant cousin and may very well toss Aden into the volcano in order to save the continent from destruction.

"Don't be a fool, ," Abaddon hisses. "Give him back."

"I'll never release him!" I shout. "Not until he agrees to my terms."

"What terms?" Clavicle finally says.

I'm surprised he's kept his mouth shut this long. He's usually doling out orders and making everyone around him shut up. Right now, he's watching Abaddon and I toss insults to one another as if we were performing some show for him. Aden, too, stands beside me, a silent wall of support. But I'm used to him being quiet. He's the type to say something that really matters when it matters, instead of babbling on like the rest of us.

"Someone explain what these terms are," Clavicle says again.

"Stop acting stupid, Clavicle." Gods, I want to kick him for thinking I'd fall for his act.

"He's not acting," Abaddon hisses.

"Oh, he's just that stupid. Okay." I glare at Abaddon.

The bat's upturned nostrils flare. "Careful."

"Fuck off, you overgrown, coagulated blood-clot."

"Where he goes, I go, puke bag."

"Both of you SHUT UP." Clavicle leaps to his feet, scowling at us both, his jaw clenching visibly in the dusky morning light. The scared-human-with-amnesia act is finally gone, replaced with that all-too familiar glare of annoyance. I grin, despite myself. There he is. I was slightly afraid we'd lost him. It'd be so much harder to kill him if we had.

"Abaddon," Clavicle says, looking at the bat king. "I'll go with and Aden to listen to their terms."

"What?" Abaddon finally lands on the ground and tucks his wings in, his fangs flashing. "They will torture you."

Clavicle looks at me in question. "Will you torture me?"

I cross my arms. "I sure as hell am not going to serve you hog meat soaked in broth and give you your own room." I narrow my eyes at him. "There is a price for everything you've done, Sovereign." I look pointedly at his missing finger. "Starting with the lie you told me last night."

He tucks his hand behind his back, as if he could hide his deceit.

"You're coming with us either way," I snap. "Even if I have to have my warriors kill your little bat-toy." I jerk my chin behind Clavicle, and he spins around to find my entire army standing at the ready, arrows prepared to fly into their target, which is Abaddon.

"I can fight them," Abaddon promises. "I'm a fast flyer. Come with me, Clavicle."

The way Abaddon is willing to risk his life for Clavicle is almost sentimental. Too bad I want them both dead.

Clavicle looks like he really wants to go with Abaddon. The way he's looking at the bat king, as if they had something special, something Clavicle and I used to share, shreds my heart in two.

"Go back to the caves," he tells Abaddon. "If you don't hear from me in three days," he looks at me, "Then you have my permission to attack."

I smirk. "What a grand show of selflessness. I don't buy it for a second." Lifting my sword, I strike Clavicle in the side of the head with just enough force to knock him out.

"You bastard!" Abaddon shouts, but he doesn't make a move for his precious sovereign. Not with my armies prepared to shoot him down. Not with his Spine Sovereign's last orders to return home without him.

Aden winces beside me. "That's going to hurt when Clavicle wakes up."

I grin wickedly at my little human. "He deserves it after the way he treated you." Crooking my finger under Aden's chin, I tilt it up and kiss him full on the mouth.

Abaddon gives a disgusted snort. "You really have stooped that low, huh?" He sneers. "Kissing humans."

I glare at him. "You better be on your way, flying rodent, before I order my armies to end you."

"Three days, bone-head, and I'll be back to check on the true sovereign." He spits on the ground at my feet, then takes flight and soars back toward the mountains. A wave of relief washes over me at the sight of the armies retreating. There weren't any fatalities on either of our parts, just injuries.

Even now, the bat warriors help those who had fallen from the arrows and carry them back to the skies as they fly off toward the mountains. I told my warriors not to aim to kill, just to harm, to prevent them from flying. And now I'm wondering if Abaddon had the same orders for my armies, judging by the wounds. Our two clans used to be close back in the day. Maybe they just wanted to scare us into cooperation.

"So, what's the plan with this guy?" Aden asks, nudging Clavicle with the toe of his boot.

"We attempted to approach him peacefully like you wanted, Aden," I say, crossing my arms as I stare down at the unconscious sovereign. "Now we're going to do things my way."