Click here to watch the full interview with Catalina Acrux and her sons Darius and Xavier Acrux.
（All statements have been verified by reputable Cyclops and former FIB agent Blane Moonbead.）
- By Tyler Corbin
I threw my Atlas so hard that it smashed to pieces against the wall, scattering along the hall as I roared my utter fury into the palace, the whole place shuddering around me.
“Daddy, what’s the matter?!” Lavinia cried and I strode toward her voice with my hands curling into fists, about to head through the door ahead of me when it slammed into my face so hard it broke my fucking nose.
“Argh!” I shouted, clutching my face and healing the wound before throwing my fist into the door.
The fucking palace was shutting me out of more and more rooms, and I pummelled the door with my knuckles as I fought to get through it.
“JENKINS?!” I yelled for my manservant, needing him to bring me my stardust.
I was going to head to the press and make sure every single piece of that article was undermined. I’d have every upstanding Fae in the kingdom speak on my behalf to besmirch every one of that filthy Pegasus’s words.
I gave up on the door which had closed itself to me and turned down the next corridor, taking the long way round towards Lavinia’s voice, wanting to throttle her to shut her up.
My eyes fell to a trail of blood along the floor as though someone had been dragged down it and a frown gripped my features as I quickened my pace and followed it.
“Jenkins!” I shouted. “Who left this fucking mess here?!”
My foot slipped in the blood and I spat a snarl as I nearly fell on my fucking ass before using air magic to keep me upright and hurrying along after the blood trail. “JENKINS!”
The blood swerved left into a room and I threw the door open, smoke seeping between my teeth as rage clouded every thought in my head. And there stood Lavinia in a mist of shadow with Jenkins held above her head, her hand buried in his chest as he jerked and thrashed, unable to scream around the shadows pouring into his mouth. His arms were missing and I spotted them on the floor, half eaten like raw meat.
No, he was my best man. My most loyal servant. “Wait!” I ordered, but Lavinia just smiled like a witch and ripped his heart clean from his chest, letting him fall to the floor, his legs snapping on impact.
She tossed his heart away and dropped over his body, taking a bloody bite out of his side as I stumbled a step back, my spine hitting the open door as she pinned those wild eyes on me.
“I’m going to eat him bite by bite,” she said, laughing manically and I raised a hand, fire blazing at my fingertips as I prepared to defend myself.
“Why?” I gasped. “Why him?” Of all the people in this world, Jenkins was the one I would likely miss the most. He was relentless in his attention to detail, unwavering in his worship of me, as perfectly enraptured with my power and violence as a man could be, a devoted fan of the brutality of Pitball, the most flawless shoe shiner I’d ever known, and there was no Fae in the whole of Solaria who could rival his calligraphy skills. To put it simply, he was irreplaceable. And of all the worthless Fae in this fucking palace set to serve us, this bitch had chosen him to play out her vile games on. Why did the stars curse me so?
“I should kill you for this!” I bellowed, my rage exploding from me as I took a step towards her, intent on putting her back in her fucking place and punishing her for stealing my best man from me.
But then that traitorous shadow hand of mine slammed down hard between my thighs and I wheezed out a cough, falling to my knees and extinguishing the flames in my palm as I cupped my crotch.
Lavinia jerked her chin and the door was slammed shut behind me by a tendril of shadow, two more taking hold of me and dragging me across the floor towards her.
“Stop,” I snapped, throwing out my hand again and blasting her with fire. She deflected it easily, her shadows swallowing up the flames as she stalked toward me, her face and body wet with blood.
“You forget who I am, My King,” she sneered, blood running down her chin as she prowled closer, her eyes a roiling storm of shadows. “I am the Shadow Princess, ruler of my realm and soon to be your queen. I am done waiting for my crown and I won’t suffer the pain of my shadows being ripped from me without being allowed to drown my grief in blood.”
Panic welled as she latched whips of shadows all around my body, binding my arms to my sides as I fought to blast her with my magic. But she was an unstoppable force, a creature so powerful I was suddenly at her mercy and I wasn’t sure what she was going to do.