Prologue

Shine

I watch the woman I once stupidly called friend pace slowly in front of my cell. The cell she locked me in. The cell, which isn’t very large, nor does it smell all that great, she had specially made just for me. The floors are stone and slightly damp, and the bars are iron and rusted. Of course, there’s nothing comfortable to sit on…I’ll need to look into the kind of magic she’s been using. Once I’m free, that is.

Whatever enchantment she used to control my mate, wasn’t something she was capable of when I met her. She’s just a Fae. She’s found loopholes, clearly.

My daughter’s mate found a way to break the curse this bitch had put on me, and the next day, I’m knocked out by a Phoenix–whom I hired to look after my daughter, no less.

That brute hogtied me and had several Goblins drag me back here. The cell is spelled to contain my body, but it can do nothing to suppress the way my magic naturally works around me. If only I could channel it to release me somehow.

I suppose I would have found my way here eventually.

I can’t save my mate from any other Realm but the Fae Realm, and it won’t be long before my daughter arrives to free me. I’ll allow this bitch to believe she’s got the upper hand for now.

I just need to bide my time. I suspect I won’t be here long before my daughter arrives.

She’s a force like I’ve never seen before with the ability to bring this kingdom to its knees. Specifically this crazy bitch.

“It didn’t have to be like this, you know?” Norma sneers as she flips her long, golden-blonde hair over her shoulder. Dressed head to toe in gold, from her glittering crown to her shoes, she gives the impression of a benevolent deity. The gaudy jewels adorning her arms, the shimmering sheer dress… She's a golden idol. Too bad the soul within her is nothing but tar.

“Really?” I ask, keeping my voice low. Allowing a whimper to escape as a lone tear cascading down my cheek causes a glimmer of satisfaction in her gaze. She’s a classic narcissist, with a pinch of malignant crazy pants. If only I had seen the truth sooner.

“Of course not, Shine!” she says in her best impression of an evil stepmother from the Human Realm storybook. “Oh, Shine, we were so close once! We could be close again!” Wrapping her hands around the bars of my cell, she leans forward to look at me.

“Could we?” I whisper as she peers in at me. Propped against the far wall, one foot braced against the stone and my arms crossed defensively across my chest, I allow my shoulders to hunch to further this self-centered psycho’s delusion. Norma has no intention of releasing me from this hell she’s created to hold me. Everything is a mind game for this woman. She is no doubt about to craft a tale to convince me to betray my child. It seems kismet that her offspring is my daughter’s mate. Does she know? Hmm. “Our children are mates, after all,” I whisper, blinking away another tear as I look up to meet her eyes. The look of pure hatred is impossible for her to veil. I nearly lose my composure and chuckle. So she definitely knew about them.

“Yes, that.” She clears her throat before sniffing with her hand delicately placed upon her chest and adjusts her crown. “So, let us discuss your daughter. When she comes for you, as I’m sure she will, I want you to–”

“Let me stop you there,” I hiss as I break out of character, and in three strides, I’m pressed against the bars, inches from her face. “The only way this ends is with you dead or locked in these cells. I would sooner rip out and eat my toenails than ever conspire with you. When my daughter comes to rescue me, which undoubtedly your son will help with, she will be your fucking ruin.” I snap my teeth at her and then cackle maniacally when she screams.

“You’ll regret that,” she vows as she storms out of the dungeons. As she closes her eyes tonight, I hope she hears my laughter to the soundtrack of her nightmares.

I know Moon will rescue me. If there’s anything in this life that I can be sure of, it’s that my daughter loves and protects fiercely, no thanks to me.

My greatest shame.

I loved her as fully as I could from a distance with my own dysfunctional understanding of love.

She never felt that love, though, and I think that’s the real tragedy.

I’m constantly thinking of other ways I could have shown her that I was always watching over her, and that I loved her, but I was worried she and my mother would try to free me from the curse and put themselves at risk in the process.

In the end, it was Moon who saved me from the hell of my own body.

Then this bitch captured me.

She’ll get hers. I meant what I said. Moon will be her demise.