Page 57 of How Does It Feel?

“When you told me all your theories about the human girl, I had no idea you meant to actually become a traitor with her,” Mendax said, keeping his eyes pinned on the choking wolf.

He hooked his pointer finger toward himself, and slowly the smoke pulled the fighting wolf to the front of his boots. The horrible prince reached down and picked up the wolf by the scruff of his neck. The smoke dissipated as soon as his arm had reached through it, thoroughly commanded by him and only him.

Collecting a whimper from Walter, the prince lifted the large wolf as if he were a piece of paper. He moved swiftly against the pelting rain, lifting the lupine until he was high over the roof’s edge. High above the empty precipice below.

Lightning flashed, silhouetting their bodies against the gray sky.

He was going to drop him.

“Please! No! Stop!” I tried desperately to tug Mendax backward from the edge.

“Finish him or I will,” stated a familiar cold voice.

The queen stood in the center of the roof, her black dress shimmering in the shadows of the night. Several of the Fae from the ballroom stood behind her as more poured in from the open door.

“Hello, mother dear,” the prince bit out, a hint of irritation in his voice. “Why don’t you go back to your little party and let me handle this,” he said, still holding the wolf over the ledge.

“Well, it is my sister’s child you hold over the portcullis,” she said matter-of-factly. “And had you truly taken care of it, my party wouldn’t have been ruined by a human.”

She crossed her arms. They looked normal again, save for a small bit of black near her pointer finger that had just flared. “As a matter of fact, had you truly taken care of it, my love, there would have been no more humans,” she sang, her voice dripping with hate.

The hulking prince rolled his eyes. “Get back inside, now.”

The air rumbled with his words as raw power pulsed from him. Even the scary Fae in the back shrank away with his words.

The queen flinched.

Holy shit, was she afraid of him?

“Not until you finish the traitor off. You see, my friends missed out on their dinner”—she looked me over briefly—“and I feel I owe them some entertainment now to make up for it,” she purred.

“I have all kinds of entertainment for you now, mother.” The prince grabbed a handful of my hair again. “You see, I’ve just taken a new pet.” He looked to the wolf with a devilish smirk and a glimmer in his eye. “Don’t worry, brother, I’ll take extra good care of her,” he whispered darkly as he looked back to me, and his eyes devoured my body as the rain continued to pelt us.

He opened his hand and dropped Walter.

“Nooo!” I screamed as I watched Walter, still in his wolf form, fall from the roof. Down, down, down until there was nothing left to see but darkness; his shape grew smaller and smaller until there was nothing.

I looked up in horror to see the dark prince staring at me, his smile now gone. His eyes traced every horrified line of my face.

“Move her cage to my room,” he said loudly, his eyes still holding mine.

I gripped his arm in panic and tried to pull it free from my hair.

“Disgusting. I’d rather you throw her over the ledge too,” said the queen, standing like she was bored at a BBQ. “Have your fun, but make certain she’s dead before next week, or I will handle it,” she bit out, each word laced with venom.

She turned and walked through the doors as the guards and the other Fae followed close behind.

Mendax loosened his grip on my hair slightly, staring into my eyes as if he would find a secret hidden behind my pupils.

“You have turned my best men against me. First Alistair, now Walter. Somehow my men have failed to kill you now three times. I will not.”

Chapter 17

The Snare is Set

Mendax

I leaned against the wall as rain pelted me, hidden by shadows and smoke. They would walk through that door any minute now. Unless they didn’t make it past my mother.