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Immortals weren’t adept to adapting. The more ancient they were, the less they could change. But the world didn’t care for our tendencies. It constantly evolved at rapid speed, and time affected everyone, including us.
However, Elvey adapted easily.
I slanted a glance at him. I had tried not to meet his gaze the entire time, but I could feel its heat on me. Blaze growled twice, though he hadn’t wanted to interrupt Daghda’s narrating.
Elvey didn’t seem to care. If he wanted to flirt with me, he didn’t care about the occasion or the audience. That was just how he was.
“King Daghda hid the true message and called for every man he could reach in every realm,” Elvey said, the corner of his lips tugging up in a faint smile. “He never mentioned the part about the true loves but issued that whoever had the heads of the three Furies would inherit his kingdom. He knew your true loves would never behead you and gambled they’d protect youand bring you home.”
“You should have just summoned the three of us in secret and we’d have hurried to meet our mate and get the job done,” Blaze said, then added, “Your Majesty, instead of sending all hunters after her. Those nasty hunters almost got her, and we almost lost our mate!”
The king rolled his eyes. “How could I know you three brats were her true mates? Was I supposed to be a prophet? If I were, my granddaughter wouldn’t have been taken!”
Not three, but four, a voice chimed in my head.
Elvey cleared his throat. “It was the only and best moveKing Daghda could make, while the dark Fae Queen’s spies are everywhere. If she’d learned that the Dragon King had found our Daisy on another planet, she’d have done more damage.”
Blaze growled at Elvey again. He didn’t like him calling me “our Daisy.” He’d agreed to share me with his brothers, but believed I was off-limits to other males, especially to Elvey.
“The Fae bitch has done enough,” Rai hissed. “She sent a ship full of demons to eliminate my mate.”
“She sent a ship packed with only over a hundred demons,” Elvey said, “and with me on board. If King Daghda called for a rescue mission, the Fae Queen would have led an army herself, and I’d be rendered useless when it came to helping Daisy in any way.”
“She’s that powerful?” Iokul’s worry laced his voice.
“She’s one of the most powerful beings onInanna,” the king drawled, black hatred dripping from his voice. “She became that way after she murdered my son and her own sisters and siphoned their powers. She’s gathered dark, evil forces around her and emerged herself in all sorts of foul, forbidden practices. The horror stories about her have no end, and none dared even whisper her name. The rumor says that she can’t be killed. I do not fear the Fae bitch, but since it’s said that saying her name would grant her more power, I forbade the realm to say her true Fae name.”
I remembered how Elvey’s face had paled when I’d pressed him to tell me about the dark Fae Queen. And I remembered the evil presence in the great hall, which was but a part of the queen’s phantom self. She was indeed powerful.
Elvey had been reluctant to bring her name to his lips, for fear she’d find me. But now we’d passed that phase. And no matter whether I was ready or not, he could no longer buy me more time. She’d sent her pawn—the black witch—to poison my grandfather and take my dynasty.
Twice she’d sent armies of demons to hunt me, and this time, in my own realm.
“For those fifteen years while I was in the realm, you treated me like a delicate flower,” I said. “You shouldn’t have done that, Grandfather. I was half-dragon. I was also half-Fae. You should have let me know the truth. I was not a defenseless damsel. If you’d ever seen my beastly forms—” I swallowed the bile. There was no need to bring up my past misery. I should just leave it behind me in that jungle. I needed to secure and protect my future with my mates and the future of the realm.
“What happened to my parents?” I asked. “Is the dark Fae Queen my aunt?”
My thoughts played over the time I had spent wandering between the twilight land of the living and the dead, when my mother had broken through the veil and visited me. She couldn’t linger, and that was the only time she could ever come to me. She’d revealed to me the relationship between her and the dark Fae Queen, but she hadn’t had enough time to break down the details on how she’d been murdered.
I demanded to know the whole truth today.
“Your mother Zuzana was the crown princess of the Unseelie Sihde court,” the king said. “She had two sisters: Aine and Tianna. Zuzana was wild and passionate. Aine was next in line and the sweetest. She loved and worshipped your mother. Tianna, the youngest, was the coldest, cruelest, and most calculating.
The feud between the dark Fae and the dragons can be traced to an eon ago. The war between our two immortal races went on and off. Unfortunately, for both the dragon court and the Fae court, Fate let my son meet your mother. They fell in love at first sight, and their forbidden affair started. When Tianna and her spies found out about the Fae heir’s affair, she exposed her sister. Princess Zuzana couldn’t hide it anymore as she was several months pregnant with you. Zuzana fled the Sihde, knowing her father, the Fae King, wouldn’t just strip her of her title, but punish her to death for tainting the Fae royal bloodline, despite that she was the heir.”
The king paused for a second, his look darkening as the storm whirled in his eyes again. “My son hid her, afraid of the same punishment from me, afraid my hatred for the Fae would take his beloved mate from him. Tianna and her minions discovered their hideout and besieged them. Even though your mother was already banished, Tianna still regarded the former crown princess as a threat. And she coveted your mother’s power. Zuzana went into labor and was about to give birth to you. She was one of the most powerful dark Fae, but when she was pregnant with you, she lost her magic, as it went to you, according to the tale. My son refused to flee for his life, but he alone couldn’t fight off a whole army. They overpowered him and beheaded him while he was in his dragon form defending his mate and their unborn child.”
KingDaghda stared ahead into nothingness, as if he couldn’t bear to relive the nightmare. The muscles of his jaw jumped. He still felt the pain even now, even after nine centuries. I wasn’t the only one who had suffered.
“When Aine heard about the news and arrived with her guards, it was already too late,” Elvey said softly. “Tianna had poisoned your mother, leaving her to a slow, painful death, but you were without harm. The poison didn’t touch you. Your mother begged for your life, and Tianna taunted her. The dark Fae Queen thrived on others’ pain and fed on it. She didn’t take your life immediately but cursed you in front of your mother to make her suffer more, and your mother added her blessing with the last trace of her blood to modify the curse. However, your mother wasn’t strong enough after giving birth to you and being poisoned, so Aine joined her. By doing so, Aine took the slow and painful death curse that was meant for you into herself. And then with all the magic she had, she teleported you out of your birth place and sent you to the Dragon Realm. That day, your parents, your aunt Aine and her guards, all gave their lives for you.”
A horrific realization hit me. “You were there,” I said, looking at Elvey, rage, grief, and hate ready to slam into him. But I clenched my fists, remembering how I had mistaken him and hurt him once. I remembered how the blood had dripped down from the corner of his mouth when I’d hit him in the chest after he’d taken me to the great hall and I’d broken his glamour.
He hadn’t defended himself.
My mates pushed closer to me, two hands on my shoulders and one hand on my arm. Their warmth and devotion washed over me through our mating bond. If we were alone, they would carry me to the bed, take me into their arms, and bury deep inside me.
Elvey didn’t look away from me, though I felt a piece of him die as he continued the story. “I couldn’t do anything to save you or your mother. I was blood-bonded to Tianna. I couldn’t disobey her.” A muscle twisted in his jaw as he told his shame. I knew he would never admit it, but for me, he tore it open in front of everyone, and let me judge him.
