She stepped onto the snow, using whatever magical passage she’d been granted. She studied her daughter, a gleaming smile transforming her face as she stared at Fallon. It wasn’t the affection I’d have expected from any normal mother, but ownership at having property returned to her finally.
She leveled a stare at me next, glancing up and down my body and grinning maliciously when her focus narrowed on the Fae Mark that matched my mate’s.
“You’ve been a very naughty boy, Caldris. You never told me you had a mate,” Mab said, tilting her head to the side as she stared down at me. I backed into Caldris’s legs, letting him place his hands beneath my arms and haul me to my feet. “I’m not certain what you’ve brought home,” she said, stepping forward until she stood just before us. She reached out with a hand, the black talon-tipped finger brushing the collar of my tunic aside. My skin throbbed where her nail touched me, an ache spreading through my body as everything in me seemed to revolt against her touch. “But I’m most interested in finding out.”
She twisted her hand, and I watched in horror as a lash struck against my mother’s cheek. “No!” I screamed, rushing forward and putting my body between Mab’s and hers.
The Goddess’s eyes were so dark they were black as she studied me. They gleamed with satisfaction as she snapped her fingers. An army of armed Fae soldiers appeared behind her, their armor gleaming in black with red leather surrounding it.
Caldris stepped forward, pushing my mother and I behind him and standing between us and Mab. “I brought you your daughter. I did as you required. According to the Accords, you cannot touch my human mate.”
“Interestingly enough, she doesn’t look human at all. Whatever she was moments ago hardly matters now. You know I do not suffer secrets, my sweet. Kneel,” she said, a cruel smile lighting her face with absolute glee. She turned to the male who stepped up beside her. “Take the girl and have your men remind Caldris what happens when he displeases his Queen.”
“Yes, my Queen,” the male said, wrapping an arm around my bicep as Caldris fell to his knees. His grimaced, a roar erupting from his chest as he tried to force himself to his feet. But each time, his legs stopped working, even as the other male pulled me away from him, yanking me despite my struggles.
“Caelum!” I screamed, trying to pry the male’s fingers off of me as the army stepped up to my mate where he knelt. Mab spoke to one of her other males, sending him after Fallon. Imelda cried as the male took her ward off the ground and lifted her into his arms, but something in me settled seeing the gentle way he carried her.
As if she mattered to him.
I kicked the male holding me between the legs, finding satisfaction when he crumpled forward. His face twisted with pain, the great and terrible beauty of the Fae evident in every line stamped on his features. Stomping on his foot, I bolted away from him and made my way back to Caldris.
He knelt on the ground, his face already battered as Mab’s men took turns pummeling into the features I loved so dearly. Grabbing one of the Fae bastards by the hair, I yanked back until he had no choice but to bend his neck backward to alleviate some of the pressure. Slamming the side of my hand down onto the cord of his throat, I reveled in the way he sputtered for breath under his crushed windpipe.
He wouldn’t die, but it would hurt like a bitch anyway.
I swiped the dagger from his sheath as he fell to the ground beside me, spinning to the side and swiping for the male next to him. The blade planted into his chest, stabbing him through the heart, and I wished for once that the blade had been iron.
“Enough,” Mab said, demanding I turn my attention back to her. She raised a single hand, turning it so that her palm faced up. With a look of pure disdain on her face, she curled her fingers into her palm and squeezed.
It was Caldris who groaned, his face twisting as he dropped forward to his hands. “One good pull, and you will find yourself as mateless as you were with the Veil between you, girl. Except this time the situation will be permanent.”
“Stop,” I said, curling my fingers tighter around the knife.
“Greater women than you have tried,” Mab said, arching her brow as she studied me with an amused smile, making me want to challenge her. I released the knife where it protruded from the Fae male’s chest, dropping my arm to my side. “I’m going to enjoy breaking you,” she murmured, that cruel twist of her lips coming before the blow to the side of my head.
“No!” Caldris yelled, but there was no movement in his body.
The male I’d hit in the balls stepped up, grabbing my swaying body even as I fought to shove his touch off. “Be a good girl and hold still,” he said, his voice as condescending as his words. He draped me over his shoulder, leaving me with one last glimpse of Caldris bleeding on the snow before everything went black.
There was only one thought spinning in my mind as I was lost to the nothingness within me. If Fallon was Mab’s daughter…
What was I?