Page 84 of Filthy Fae

A knock came at the door, and Titania pivoted. “Enter.”

A man with long dark hair burst through in full armor. He held up a fantasy sword, and this time I was positive it was one from the mall, as it had a distinctive leaf pummel. His expression looked increasingly alarmed as he surveyed the room until his gaze fell on Queen Titania. “Your Highness—the princess.”

“Mab tried to kill me again. Just leave her here for now.” Titania stepped over her daughter’s body and strolled to the door. “Was there something you wanted from me, Barney?”

Barney’s gaze darted from me, down to Prince Summer who was still sleeping, and then back to his queen. “Twenty-two werewolves and your son Macklin have surrendered, Your Highness.”

Titania spun to face me, her eyes sparking with a cruel brand of mischief. “That would be your rescue team.” She clasped her hands in front of her, looking truly delighted. “Barney, bind and gag the prisoner.”

“Fuck no,” I growled.

Titania smiled. “Disarm yourself, Barney. That way, if she kills you, she’s killing an unarmed fae who was only doing his duty and was specifically ordered not to harm the alpha.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Mack

A long line of werewolves stood in the clearing before my mother’s tree. A few had volunteered to risk their lives because she was the alpha of Six Rivers, but most of us were here because of our love for Scarlet.

Fae guards surrounded us on all sides. Sun reflected off their helms and breastplates and the silver-tipped arrows they aimed at the line of werewolves. No arrows aimed at me. From the looks on the archer’s faces, they had resigned themselves to firing the moment the queen ordered it. And if my mother was alive, she would order it. That’s what we’d planned for. If she was dead, we’d have to enact the scorched earth plan B—the one that truly would make me a traitor to the Spring Court forever.

Beside me stood the three Knight brothers, Scarlet’s parents, and her sister, their expressions stone-faced as they waited for the great door to open. This was the moment of truth. Had Mab’s plans finally succeeded? After everything my mother and Mab had done, it should’ve been easy to hate them. They were the most selfish and treacherous people I knew.

Did I want their toxicity out of my life?

Yes.

Did I want either of them to die?

I felt almost ashamed to admit that I didn’t. They were poisonous people.

But Mab was the one who’d read me bedtime stories over televideo when the queen had no interest in children. She was the one who’d defended me no matter what I’d done to piss off our mother. My mother was the one who’d laughed at my jokes, and more than once she’d killed a perceived threat to me.

Had they done it out of love? Probably not. But it had felt like love to me at the time, and unwise as it was, I loved them in return. It was strange how family could be both the worst and the most essential part of your life.

But if they had murdered Scarlet...

If my mother and sister had killed the love of my life, they would no longer be my family in any sense of the word. I would turn my back and let them die.

As the door slid open with painful slowness, all along the line, the archers tensed. The werewolves themselves remained vigilant and calm.

Queen Titania stepped out first, and my jaw dropped at the sight of her. After a night with the incubus, the Queen of Spring looked healthier than I’d ever seen her, as if she’d been sucking life energy from the demon rather than the other way around.

She crooked a finger over her shoulder, and a moment later, Barney pulled Scarlet through the door.

Anger bloomed behind my temples as I scanned my soul mate, now bound and gagged. Scarlet wore a robe that matched my mothers, and her exposed skin had long angry red wounds that twisted up her legs like a python. Her hands were tied before her, and another thin strand of silver wrapped around the outside of those ropes. Obviously, my mother wasn’t taking any chances when it came to Scarlet escaping.

The skin ringing Scarlet’s eyes looked puffy and red, but otherwise her face showed no sign of injury. Her green eyes fixed on mine, and her eyelids widened as if she wanted to communicate something. My mother had obviously anticipated this, as a silver chain bound Scarlet’s gag on the outside. It wasn’t touching her skin, but my guess was that it was preventing Scarlet from changing into a wolf and biting through the gag.

My mother’s expression was unreadable when she wanted it to be, and right now, I couldn’t glean a single idea from it. “Macklin, you’re home.”

I forced myself to speak levelly, as she did. “I thought you said this wasn’t my home anymore.”

She shook her head. “I never said that.”

“You exiled me.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I did not.”