Page 59 of Royal Hunt
“What are we going to do now?” I asked.
“I am dragging these two back to my kingdom as proof we were victorious, and taking back my throne.” Viana unsheathed her knife, and stalked toward the two fae who’d started all of this.
“Hold on,” Nessian replied coolly, his eyes narrowing. “Why don’t we split them up? You’re not the only kingdom that would like some physical reassurance for his nobles.”
The three triplets from the Southern Realm fell into an easy formation with each other, muscles tensed.
Great. We’d just defeated our enemies, and it had only taken two minutes until we’d turned on each other again. I decided it wasn’t my problem. I’d done what I swore to do to justify my decision to let the Rowan and Hector die: Ellis had survived. Nothing else mattered. I didn’t give a shit about any other kingdoms and their problems.
“Come on Ellis. Let’s go.”
I started to drag him up toward the palace, which seemed so far away even though it had been in view this entire time. I was starved, malnourished, weak, and so, so tired.
Nessian huffed at us, then gathered his sisters. He approached both of us wearily.
“Crown Prince, may I humbly request shelter until we can return to our lands?”
Ellis dully waved him away. “Of course,” he rasped.
“But what about the fae? Don’t we need them?” Lily protested, her voice rising.
Nessian wiped at a streak of blood on her cheek. “Let Viana have them. I don’t need fae prisoners to bandy about in order to reclaim our throne. Not really.”
Nessian gave me a respectful nod, and we headed up. Victorious whoops and shouts were heard behind us, but I refused to turn my head.
“No! You will let us kill the game master and his pet!”
We all tensed as the blue fae whipped around, rage in his eyes directed at Viana. The other surviving fae nodded. Pari stood between both groups, looking lost.
“You can’t just—” Viana was cut off mid-sentence as the blue fae exploded in white fire. The others shrieked and tried to run, shaking their hands comically as white flames began licking at their extremities.
“Pari!”
I ran to her as she fell to her knees, an odd little smile on her face. All around us the surviving fae slowly burned alive, the strange white magick eating them from the outside in.
“Should have realized the game master would never let us walk away should we ever discover the truth,” Pari joked weakly, staring in wonder at the flames licking her fingers.
“D-does it hurt?” I asked softly. Dimly I registered the other heirs gathering quietly around us in a small circle, bearing witness to Pari while blocking her final moments from everyone else.
“Yeah. But not nearly as bad as it should, you know?”
I wasn’t sure what she meant, but Ellis jerked as if someone had punched him in the solar plexus.
“Happy I could help the underdogs win one,” Pari joked, giving a laugh that quickly turned into a choked gasp.
We were all forced to step back as the flames spread, lighting up her entire body.
“We couldn’t have done it without you,” I insisted.
But Pari’s pained gaze wasn’t on me. It was glued to Ellis.
“I know what you dream. I’ve dreamed of it as well. It’s what started to change my mind about … everything. Believe in the magick, not the dreams.”
Pari’s eyes rolled back in her head as her entire body exploded, then disappeared. Only a few ashes fell gently to the ground to indicate she’d ever been there at all. And in one fell swoop, every fae was dead except Cassus and Ferar.
“Good riddance.” One of the surviving guards spat into the ground. I couldn’t even react to him. There was an aching pain in my heart that throbbed mercilessly. Pari was dead. She’d turned on her kin to help us in the games. We’d likely all be dead without her, and everyone around me was fucking cheering!
I wanted to rage. I wanted to cry. I didn’t have the luxury to do any of it.
