Underneath a Dark Moon (Twisted Dark #3)

Chapter Twenty-One: The Queen: Part Two

I darted down the street, following the sound of fire roaring and the heavy scent of smoke. I came to a skidding stop near the main office buildings. My mouth dropped open as I spotted Lacey. Fire encased her, it snapped and crackled, licking at the air around her as she stalked towards the King of the Covens. He looked like he had been scorched and his eyes were wide as he watched her. I didn't blame him, runes of light danced an angry red on her skin as the fire swirled around her. She looked like rage personified.

"You dare use me for your own gain?" Lacey's voice was a shaking sound of rage as she snapped her hand out, the fire cracked through the air like a whip and where it struck, the spot exploded with that heavy boom, fire and debris exploding outwards. I watched as Mercutio rolled out of the way, getting up to his feet as he held out his hands.

"Calm down." His ring flashed and Lacey laughed. It was a dangerous sound that had the hair on the back of my neck standing up on end even as I moved closer to her.

"Why? Am I not burning like you wanted?" She moved towards him, snapping out her hand, sending another lash of fire at him that cracked against his hand. He gave a howl of pain, cradling his burned hand to his chest. "Burn the witch!" Her hair lifted into the air as the fire burned brighter. "Think of your judgment as a blessing, isn't that what you said? That I was unfit to wear a crown?" She sent out a hand and it cracked against the ground beside him, causing him to skitter out of the way to avoid being singed. "There is more than one way to become Queen, Mercutio. Or did you forget that it is also power that begets the royal line? If you were smart you should have put a ring on me instead of a judgment." She sent out her hand and I watched as his ring slid from his finger and landed on her palm before she slid it on.

"Now burn for your threats." She threw her hands out towards him, the ring flashed and the fire flew at him, encasing him in a steady stream of fire. I covered my nose with my hand, hating the scent of burning flesh as the King of the Covens screamed and writhed as he was burned alive by my female. His screams and the roar of the fire were all that was heard and I became aware that all the witches had stopped their frantic running and were staring at Lacey as she burned their King. His screams stopped and the fire around Lacey diminished. She shook out her hands, little sparks escaping her finger tips as the fire stopped completely. The King of the Covens was reduced to a pile of ash that vaguely resembled a person and a strange sort of pride filled me as I looked at it.

I moved closer to her, a bit more wary after seeing her display of power. "Lacey." At the name she whirled around. For a moment she looked excited and relieved as she saw me before her expression shuttered and she narrowed her eyes at me.

"You are sick and I want nothing to do with you." She hissed the words at me and I frowned, confusion filling me.

"What do you mean?" I didn't understand where this change was coming from. My instinct urged me to get closer to her, to wrap her in my arms to keep her safe but the look on her face left me a little leery of doing just that.

"You know exactly what I mean, Abraham Noxerius." She spat my name at me and I flinched underneath it.

"I was going to tell you-"

"Tell me? Tell me that you ordered a brutality on a child? Fuck you, Abe." Her eyes sparked and runes flashed along her skin in a deep red. She shook with anger but I started towards her anyway.

"What ever he said was not true." I didn't know what she was talking about and I had no clue what lie Mercutio had planted in her head but it was just that, a lie.

She shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of parchment. "This is not a lie and I want you to stay away from me!" She flicked the paper at me and spun away. When I tried to take the advantage given to me and grab her she was gone with a clap of magick. I could hear the witches muttering about the display of teleportation magick but all I was focused on was the parchment she had thrown at me.

I picked it up from the ground and unfolded it. I scanned the entirety of it, a sick feeling rising up in my stomach as I read what the order was. I snarled when I saw my name written and signed off. I had never seen this before in my life and I had left my kingdom with only one person in charge. "My uncle's house." I snapped the word out and the portal magick slid off of the back of my hand and swirled open. I stalked through it and flicked my hand to close the portal. "Uncle!" The wood boomed out of me and echoed off the main entrance of his house. "Get out here!" Anger surged up and through me as I nearly crumpled the signed parchment up in my hand. There was only one person who was capable of signing off on an order other than me and that was him. He needed to explain to me why he believed the brutalization of one of our females was acceptable.

He came in to the foyer with a casual ease. He smiled at me when he caught sight of me. "Abraha-"

"What the fuck is this?" I stalked towards him, shoving the parchment out in his direction. I narrowed my eyes as he took it, looking it over.

"It seems to be an order written out with the intention of trying to cure our species using a rather barbaric treatment to one of our young werefemales." He looked up at me. "I can understand why you are upset but why at me?" He raised an eyebrow and I snapped my teeth together, a growl of rage rumbling out of my chest.

"I didn't sign that and that means you did." I pointed at him in accusation. I would never have allowed such a brutality be brought down on one of our rare females, let alone a child.

"I have never signed off on anything with your name but I did know about this." He lifted it up and I snarled at him, unable to silence the vocalization even if I had tried.

"And you allowed it?" My jaw ached and my mouth felt full as my beast shoved at me. With his actions he had driven my female from me and that could not stand.

"Yes I did but it was for the sake of driving the Betrayer's lineage out of hiding. Someone forged your signature off on this document and I have been told it was the Betrayer. By allowing it to move forward and gather more information I have been attempting to pinpoint just who is in that line to bring them to justice." He smoothed the parchment out before refolding it. He saluted me with it. "This was just the piece of evidence I was looking for. Thank you for bringing it to me." He looked unconcerned and I pointed at him with one claw.

"If you are lying I will kill you. You better make sure the Betrayer is found before I get back. I will deal with them myself." I whirled around waved my hand, the portal opening back up.

"Where are you going, Abe?" My uncle sounded exasperated but I didn't care.

"To find my Queen." With that I stepped through the portal and let it close with a snap behind me. Lacey could run and she could hide but I had spent too many years tracking down targets to allow her to slip from my grasp.