She had a family—a real family.
We both did.
And it was everything.
When Sadie and her mates finished speaking, Cobra’s eyes had transformed, and snakes crawled across his skin and hers.
The sun set in shades of fuchsia and magenta as the ceremony ended.
With teary eyes, we meandered as a group over toward my favorite tree, which was covered in little twinkling fairy lights. Tables of food were spread out and overflowing.
There were chairs to sit in, but everyone chose to eat on the blankets spread out across the lawn.
When the stars twinkled brightly in the sky, the enchanted speaker switched from soft music to a pounding beat.
Vegar grinned as he passed around bottles of expensive demon brew.
A few minutes later, everyone at the party was heavily intoxicated. We sang under the stars and ate the moist lemon cake with our fingers.
At one point, Cobra and Scorpius got into a fight to see who could handle the most pain. An hour later, Cobra was in a chokehold with his eyes popping out of his sockets, and he refused to call it quits.
Jax had to pull them apart, and they were forbidden from talking to each other the rest of the night.
It didn’t work.
Later that night, Cobra pulled Scorpius behind the tree and stabbed him in the thigh with a carving knife. They both smiled at each other and watched blood drip.
I rolled my eyes at their antics and turned back to the party.
I was too drunk to judge.
The best part of the night was when John tried to fight Sadie because she kept boxing him out on the dance floor. Luka stepped in before his twin could get his ass beat.
It was a messy, chaotic night.
It was perfect.
At one point, in the early hours of dawn, I sat tiredly at a table to catch my breath from the dancing and sipped water while I watched everyone else frolic.
A tongue licked up my leg slowly, and I jolted.
The lemon-meringue-patterned tablecloth hid him from view completely, and I tipped my head back and closed my eyes as Scorpius made good on his promise.
When the sun crested over the rolling hills, the men took my hand and RJE’d me to a surprise location. I was convinced they were taking me to a beach somewhere.
I was wrong.
It was even better.
We arrived at the fae palace, and I gasped in shock.
“Surprise.” Corvus smirked.
The men explained how they’d put in an announcement the week prior that I’d be returning to face my challengers; as a result, the palace halls were filled with fae who wanted my throne.
Corvus’s expression became serious. “I trust you will eviscerate the competition. It is—hard for me to put you in danger like this. But I know what you can do.”
There had been a restlessness among all of us the past few weeks. A small itch that needed scratching.
I smirked up at him evilly and patted his arm. “Don’t worry, sweet cheeks.”
He looked worried.
But Orion opened his mouth before he could argue, and together we unleashed our powers.
A blizzard rolled in.
Fae charged forward but ice spread through the halls and froze them in their tracks. Their eyes widened with surprise then went blank as I tapped my staff and ice cut them to pieces.
Word spread and the fae stopped running toward me, but away from me when they saw me coming down the hall.
I chucked my head back and laughed.
The power intoxicating as I tapped my staff and eviscerated them.
Five men walked behind me with knives drawn like avenging angels ready to protect their woman if I needed their help.
I didn’t.
Forty minutes later, I walked through the ice-coated atrium and collapsed onto the seat of death with a smirk.
I raised my staff and slotted it in the arm holder.
The skull on top matched the black skulls that covered the throne.
It was a perfect fit.
I exhaled as I took in the body parts of the slain challengers that covered the floor of the throne room.
I didn’t feel bad for them.
Okay, I felt a little bad, but I was really not trying to think about it.
Instead, I focused on the high of victory.
My mates kicked the downed bodies with vicious satisfaction as they walked toward me with proud smirks on their faces.
Palace aides filtered back inside the castle, staring at me in awe as they took in the carnage. An enchanted broadcast stone floated overhead.
The fae realm got the first glimpse at their new leader.
Days later, I found out that the broadcast had record turnout, and afterward they’d held a realm-wide poll. My approval rating was above one hundred percent because some people had voted multiple times.
The realm was delighted to see their favorite fae princess as a powerful queen. The pundits were quick to claim that they’d been the first to recognize my strength as a child. They wrote that I was the strongest water fae the realm had ever known. They speculated my half-angel heritage made me invincible.