Page 86 of Filthy Fae

Then the implication of her words penetrated.

“You knew?” I hadn’t considered this, but I wasn’t entirely surprised. If someone told me my mother was omniscient, I wouldn’t be entirely surprised, either.

“Not only did I know...” She held out her hands. “Mab confessed to everything within earshot of me. So, your little trick was for naught, though it was very impressive. Clearly, the werewolves have made some formidable allies during this crisis. I don’t suppose they’ll thank me for it. I’m sure the werewolves teamed up with the mages for this, which is a bit ill-advised, as the mages were complicit in the murders.”

“You don’t get to seek revenge on the mages, Mother.” I handed over Morte’s champion challenge.

As she read it, her placid expression cracked, and seething anger glinted from her eyes. As quickly as her fury came, Titania’s expression smoothed into an unreadable mask. “This proves nothing.”

“The Mage Union will gladly bring you further evidence. The only thing is...” I broke off and held up my hands, palms up.

“What?” the queen snapped.

“You’ll have to answer to them, as your sole heir caused the death of five of their members through fraud, unsafe working conditions, and with no intention of compensating for services rendered.”

Queen Titania touched her chest and laughed. “They have no evidence, sweetheart.”

“Ah.” I nodded as it all clicked. “That’s why you scrubbed the crime scene and salted any trace of demonic energy. You knew Mab arranged the demon summoning, and you were cleaning up before the union found out that their mages died in your house.”

“I was protecting my kingdom.”

“Of course you were. Like always, you’re five steps ahead. Unfortunately, this time the Mage Union has an ace up their sleeve. The problem is, Mother, the mages can commune with their dead.”

She crumpled the paper in her fist. “You can tell your friends that I’m ready to move on from this crisis if they are. But if they seek revenge for their dead, we will retaliate tenfold.”

I nodded. “Don’t worry, Mother. I told them what you’d say. They agree to those terms as long as Mab is punished for her crimes within the Spring Court. I told them it would be your pleasure to do so.”

My mother smirked. “I won’t be providing proof of my actions, but you can assure them it will be done.”

“I already have.” I took a deep breath of the forest air. “So, if you were set to release Scarlet, why the big show? You were obviously going to try to get something out of the werewolves.”

“No, my son.” She stepped closer. “If I wanted something from the werewolves, I wouldn’t have gagged their alpha. I have no interest in the lands of the other alphas.”

“So, you wanted something from me?” I pushed away from the tree as annoyance and a strange bit of hurt pulsed through me. “Doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination to figure out what. Give up. I am not marrying the Autumn Queen.”

A slow smile spread across Titania’s face. “I must be a little sluggish. What I was going to demand was that you move back home. What an opportunity lost.”

My heart squeezed, and some childish part of me wanted to believe that she actually cared if I was in her life. I was a fucking idiot. But there it was. I cared whether my mother loved me.

“You’re manipulating me,” I said.

She sighed. “Believe what you want. But I already delivered the news to the Autumn Queen. I’ll expect her assassins any day now, thanks to your little werewolf lover.”

“Even if I’d never met Scarlet, I wouldn’t want this life. You must know that.”

Her eyes filled with emotion, and her lip quivered for just a fraction of a second before she turned away. “So be it, Macklin.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

Lance

The moment Jane and I slipped through the door of the queen’s chambers, Nancy called over from the bed. “If you’re here to kill the princess, I suggest you turn around and walk the other way.”

We stopped just inside the door. We had all escaped through the portal in Titania’s house. On the forest lane at the other side of the portal, werewolves loaded into the cars and vans we’d left waiting. Since she’d come to, Scarlet had told us what happened between her, Mab, the four fae princes, and the queen. Then she had fallen asleep in Darrel’s arms, her wolf pulling her under to heal the remaining silver burns.

The scene in the queen’s rooms was just as Scarlet described it. The princess lay in the middle of the room in a pool of blood. Silver chains piled next to her hand. A large fae with long black hair slumped in the corner, his face ashen and chest heaving.

But now, salt rings and runes covered every inch of the floor. A chain of salt circles led from within the queen’s bedroom to Mab. Each of the rings overlapped their neighbor by an inch.