Bad Fae | romantasy | Bad Fae #1

Chapter Thirty-Four

Much the same way as he'd felt me use my dark power the night I'd died, Feyrith knew I'd used it on Dain at Hollowglen. He knew I'd not only used it on Dain at Hollowglen, but that I'd overpowered Dain with it at Hollowglen. And he didn't seem to care that I couldn't do it on demand. And I'd tried. I'd spent the whole night after we returned to Henmar trying, standing in the middle of Feyrith's throne room in the middle of the gathered delegations, I'd spent all my energy trying to replicate my actions. But the most I'd managed was to swamp the room in shadow.

I'd thought they'd be happy if it looked like my power in Hollowglen was a fluke, or maybe even a misunderstanding. Maybe it hadn't been me after all. I should have known I wasn't going to get off that easily.

"Then her power is even more dangerous than we thought," a Stouze said.

Even an Undying Seas fae agreed. "She is too volatile. Unpredictable."

"The sidhe by their very nature are volatile and unpredictable," Dain pointed out, though I knew he wasn't defending me. It wasn't about me, it was about his rivalry with his uncle.

There had been something so very dark about him since our return from Hollowglen. The shadows licked at his outline, they hovered over him even when he was standing in direct light. The skin under his eyes was shadowed and there wasn't a pinpoint of whites left in those eyes. There was a constant amused snarl on his face, like he was taking exceptional pleasure in everyone and anyone's pain.

"You would do well to keep your mouth shut, Dain of the Voidsworn," the Febren leader hissed.

"And here I thought we'd put our differences behind us, Thessalia," Dain said, dropping his voice low and seductive as he stepped towards her.

Thessalia took a step towards Dain, and I saw her eyes lower. She was flirting with him as well. If Dain and I weren't evidence enough that sidhe kept sex and emotions completely separate, then he and the Febren leader were the perfect models for it. For the most part, I didn't much care if they screwed each other senseless in front of everyone gathered. But there was a small human part of me that cared very much. The abyss reached up to swallow that feeling, along with the last remaining human part of me.

"Your massacre of my people was not so much forgiven as agreed to be forgotten, but nothing could ever lay aside our differences. That you killed a whole fiann for this hybrid bastard without even knowing who she was goes to show how little provocation it takes for you to turn on your own kind."

"Your people–" Alenia started, but Dain took over.

"–entered my lands with ill intent," he snarled. "They trespassed with the gall to enact their justice in my dominion."

"She had our property. It was not a matter for the Shaden."

"As soon as they dared step foot in the Darkrealm, it was a matter for the Shaden."

"And what of any other fae who steps foot into your Darkrealm, Dain?" the fire fae Ysildea asked coldly. "Will you wage war on them as well?"

"Are we pretending the situation would not be the same if I was to step foot on the Burning Isles and conduct any business I saw fit without announcing myself?" Dain asked. "If I came to Stouze, or Febren or the Undying Seas and acted as though there was not a lord to whom I owed explanation."

"You play at king, Dain," the sea fae said carefully, "But no crown sits upon your brow."

"There could be," Alenia said quietly, shooting a warning look to Feyrith.

That warning look rippled through the room. They all knew Dain had a right to the High King's throne and that he could probably take it if he wanted it. It was obvious though that every fae in the room knew the only reason he hadn't was because he didn't want it. Then, they all turned those warning looks on me and I realised what the next fear was; I was the one thing that could make Dain want it. Feyrith had suggested as much to Dain already but, by the way they were looking at me, they all knew it as well.