Page 79 of Filthy Fae

The young man’s face paled, and the cloying scent of urine seeped into the air.

It was enough to make me want to let go. An alpha wolf didn’t waste his time challenging peacocks. But this man had conspired to take my mate. Worse than that, he’d had a demon impersonate me to do it. The demon had used my face to get close to Scarlet.

The man’s eyes darted about the room, moving from one of us to the next. “Are you talking about the werewolf in the strip club? I thought her name was Zeezee? She was part of my first challenge.”

“What the fuck is a challenge?” I growled into his face.

“Please, let go of my neck. I’ll show you,” he begged. “They’re delivered with room service. You see, I did everything on my card, but one of the other mages screwed up on the first challenge. They were eliminated. It’s just me and one other contestant now.”

I forced my fingers away from his throat, though they ached to return. But I didn’t trust myself, and this man might very well be guilty of nothing more than being a fucking idiot.

Morte grabbed his neck, smearing fresh blood there. His big brown eyes rose to meet mine. “I think this is all a misunderstanding.”

“Twenty-six people are dead in this misunderstanding,” I growled. “A war has been declared over this misunderstanding.”

“People are dead?” Morte’s eyes widened, and he rubbed his chest, smearing his protection runes. “No. This is a TV show. Prime time. It’s controlled. There are celebrities on this show.”

“One celebrity,” Mack said in a low voice. “My sister, Princess Mab. She set all of this up to use you and five other mages to assassinate our mother, Queen Titania. We need to know where the demon is now, Morte. He’s taken the alpha of Six Rivers.”

“The queen—no.” Morte’s hands rose to this throat. “No. Queen Titania is part of this. She’s doing a celebrity cameo on the last challenge.” The boy stumbled back, shaking his head. He was a boy. I couldn’t think of him as an adult, even if he was in his twenties.

“Morte,” Jane said, her tone far gentler than I could manage. “There is no television show called Mage of the Ages. You’ve been conned into raising a demon for a political assassination. One that failed, taking the lives of twenty-two innocent fae and three other union mages, the same mages who also believed they were part of this competitive show.”

His whole body started to shake, and the man stumbled back, slipping in a pool of his own urine and falling to the floor.

“You don’t have Scarlet Riley, alpha of the Six Rivers pack here?” Jane asked.

“I don’t even know who that is.” He curled up, sitting in his own puddle of piss, hugging his legs. “No one has come to check on me in three days. I just get the challenges from room service, and... I’ve been deep in filming.” He gestured to the fallen cameras. “It’s almost over. Only me and one other contestant left. I’ll be the Mage of the Ages...” He trailed off, his voice going hoarse.

Aaron crouched down. “There are no contestants left, Morte. The demon got them all a week ago. Your sister’s looking for you. She’s risking her life to find you.”

Morte’s head lifted. “Nancy? They told me not to call anyone on the outside.”

Jane crouched down as well, going eye to eye with the kid. “What are the challenges they delivered them to you? Were they in print?”

“Yes, but...” His voice dropped. “I burned them. That’s what they told me to do. I haven’t burned the last one. I’m still using it. It’s next to the TV in my bedroom.” His head lifted, and realization lit in his big brown eyes. “The recordings. They’ll all be on the recordings. Everything is on there.”

While Jane headed to the bedroom, I strode to the line of cameras. When I pressed on the tape release button, nothing happened. Grabbing the camera between my fists, I cracked the thick plastic, finding only a hollow shell inside with one wire running to a red light beside the lens. I turned the broken prop camera toward the kid and watched his expression fall.

He’d still been holding out hope, but this finally drove the message home. He wasn’t the champion of a television contest. He was the weapon used in a mass murder.

Princess Mab deserved to have her fucking head ripped off for this alone. She had turned a man with the naivety of a child into a killer, and he hadn’t even known it.

The whole thing made me fucking sick. There was nothing that I hated more than a person who stole innocence for their own gain. That bitch was the worst kind of monster.

“I want to call my sister, please,” Morte whispered. “Twenty-six people... Are you sure they’re dead?”

“You can call your sister from my phone, Morte,” Jane said as she crossed into the center of the room. “But I really need you to answer a few more questions first.”

As she spoke, Jane handed Lance a piece of paper. Lance read it and handed it to me.

Looking down, I read the message once before scanning it a second time.

Congratulations, exalted mage! You have made it to the final round. You’re one step closer to becoming the Mage of the Ages and winning your own reality TV show, starring you!

For this challenge, we’re testing your endurance and grit. Your demon has brought the queen what she desires most and spent one steamy night with his mistress, but the queen wants more.

Our team of necromancer experts are there to ensure her safety, so why not? Can you give your demon one more message before the game is decided, or will you be the one eliminated? This test will be the hardest yet. Are you up to the challenge?