18
ADDIE
Holy shit.
We were standing off against Queen Beryl, the unseelie queen of Lakesedge’s fae court.
Cerri’s lips shook as she exhaled. Her eyes widened. When I looked between her and Beryl, I could see the fae similarities between them. While one was clearly unseelie, the other seemed more seelie.
At least, that’s what I thought.
What had Beryl said?
I thought I wiped out your entire family.
“Oh, it seems the little changeling has a bit of bite.” Beryl laughed, but there was an edge to it.
She’d tried to dispel our dragon, but not even Beryl’s power could bring it down. Together, Cerri and I were light and dark. We were life and death. We made a whole.
The flower and bone dragon stood to Cerri’s left while Maddox stood to my right. I should have told Maddox to leave, to chase after the killer that’d gotten away while Beryl made a scene, but I couldn’t bear to let him out of my sight.
I didn’t trust the killer. There was a chance that he would be able to take control of Maddox, meaning that I could never let the two face each other without me.
“We were just leaving,” Cerri said with a flick of her head.
Droplets from Cerri’s wet hair flew in every direction. Beryl didn’t flinch when the spray hit her cheek; however, she did blink in annoyance. She wiped the water away with her long fingers.
If the killer had chosen anywhere else, we would have had him cornered. All the same, he was a fool for choosing Beryl’s territory. That meant he knew little about the supernatural world, or at least about Lakesedge.
Beryl tilted her head and looked Cerri up and down and sneered. Then her attention flicked to me. It was as if Beryl had noticed me for the first time. Her lips parted ever so slightly. Recognition dawned in her dark eyes, making me wonder what she’d realized.
“What is it?” I asked brazenly. “You know something. Tell me.”
Oh, boy. Who was I to talk to a queen like that? I needed to watch my mouth before Beryl closed it for me. However, I was still riding the high of using my power. Arcana spilled out of me like an unending fountain right out of the river Styx.
The corner of Beryl’s mouth quirked in a smirk. Maddox pressed himself to my hip and growled at Beryl. I yanked the fur at the back of his neck to warn him to stay here. He might be a beast unlike any other, but I didn’t want to see him take on a fae queen.
“The little seelie princess has a Reaper at her beck and call. What an interesting pair. Two halves of the natural cycle. Like strawberries and balsamic vinegar, I wouldn’t have thought of putting the two of you together, but you make a wonderful pairing nonetheless.”
There it was again.Reaper.
I still had no idea what it meant. I wasn’t a skeleton with a big scythe. This body was made of bone, but there was flesh and spirit, too. How could I be a reaper?
“S-seelie p-p-princess?” Cerri fumbled through her question.
It seemed we were both at a loss. Cerri had been raised by shifters. She and Ness told stories about how they’d waited for Cerri’s first shift to come, but it never had. Instead, Cerri had to turn her attention elsewhere, which is how she found power in potions.
I reached and took Cerri’s hand in my own. The gesture seemed to bother Beryl because she stiffened. Her expression never changed, but queens with thousands of years of experience had to be good at hiding their emotions behind a mask.
“We didn’t come here to bother you,” I said. “If you don’t mind, we’ll be on our way.”
I took a step back, and Beryl snarled. An animal fury overcame her features for a second. I froze, heart thumping.
“What did we do to piss her off?” I whispered to Cerri.
“Fuck if I know,” Cerri hissed back. “I feel like I should be the one who’s angry right now.”
“Let’s split up.” I gripped Maddox tight.
He could leap through the portals. It might be a risk to ask him to take me with him, but it was better than staying here with Beryl. The queen was coming undone by Cerri’s presence. If we stayed much longer, we would be in even more trouble.
Cerri could take the dragon. I wasn’t sure if the bone beast could fly, but magic surprised us all the time. Cerri seemed to understand what I meant. Her vines tightened around the beast and pulled it into motion. It didn’t need me to make the bones move, not when the vines acted as muscle and ligament.
“You’re not leaving here, princess. You’re a threat to me and my court. I hope you understand why I have to kill you now.” Beryl extended a hand forward.
My heart lurched. I moved to throw myself in front of my friend, but Maddox caught the back of my shirt. With a toss of his head, he threw me onto his back. He leapt away from Cerri and Beryl.
I saw a flash of garnet-colored light right before the cold portal to the afterlife opened. Cerri’s name ripped from my lips when Maddox flung himself into it. I twisted to look back and saw a burst of green and a rain of leaves and petals.
Heart in my throat, I feared the worst until I saw the silhouette of our bone and flower dragon in the air. A small, human silhouette was outlined by the bright sky. I let out a sigh of relief and watched the portal close around us.