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But I was not afraid, and I was not repulsed.

It was another dimension of her unlocked. My beast wanted every facet Veyka had to offer, as well as all the ones she’d rather keep hidden.

Veyka raked her eyes over the human, still flat on the ground before her, and drew a dagger from her waist. She didn’t lower it to him, but rather lifted it level with her face, tilting it to catch the scarce light.

“Why did the humans kill King Arthur?”

The human’s shoulders twitched. “I don’t know.”

Veyka slid her finger down the length of the blade, then pulled the pad away. Not a drip of blood to be seen. A performance, that’s what she was doing. “Wrong answer.”

In less than a blink, she’d flipped the dagger in her hand so the blade pointed straight down. She released it, letting it fall straight for the human’s exposed neck.

Only to catch it an inch from piercing his paper-thin skin. “Why did the humans kill my brother?”

She may not have ever interrogated someone before, but she was damn good at it anyway.

The human’s shoulders were shaking now.

“We heard about the death of the golden king,” the man said quietly. “You have my condolences, Majesty. There were many of us who hoped… hoped that he might hear our petition.”

“I do not want your condolences.” She spat on the dirty ground at his feet. “I want to know who ordered my brother’s murder.”

The human was wise enough to say nothing. Veyka drew herself back up to her full height, towering over him. She was losing control. I could see it in every line of that magnificent body. Her knuckles, whiter even than her pale skin, were nearly shining with the force of gripping that dagger. Her legs, exposed from hip to ankle, were quivering ever-so-slightly. She was a predator about to pounce.

My beast wanted to watch her tear the man apart. Ancestors, so did I.

But we needed information. It was the only reason I’d allowed this.

I touched her arm. The briefest, lightest touch I could manage when what I really wanted was to yank her back.

The look she shot me would have melted a lesser male on the spot. But I glared back at her, letting the darkness swallow my eyes, letting my body shift forward into the stance that had intimidated and massacred thousands of lesser males and females. Veyka didn’t cower, not a bit. But that burning desire to kill in her eyes softened, just enough.

“You are not a citizen of Annwyn. You have no standing to present a petition to the High King or Queen,” I said, dropping my gaze to the quivering human.

He struggled to his knees, a feat with his hands fettered behind him. But the feral gleam in his eyes, the fear that drenched his scent, propelled him upward.

He thought I was the bigger threat.

A mistake.

One I could subvert.

“I have nowhere else to go,” the man said through chapped lips.

“There are human courts. You have your own kings and queens.” I knew little about the human realm. It was of trifling interest compared to the threats here in the fae realm. But I did remember that.

The man nodded jerkily, the irons clanging. “There is nothing they can do. The threat is magical.”

Veyka laughed, spinning on her heel, the vicious sound echoing through the close corridor. “There is no magic in the human realm! You expect us to believe a word from your wretched mouth, and you feed us this trash.” She spun again, dagger ready. “I think I will kill you now and be done with it.”

“Please, Majesty,” he cried, eyes rocketing to me. “Highness, please. I speak the truth. Magic has come to the human lands. There is a darkness, it creeps through the night, stealing the men—”

“Sounds damn helpful, to me,” Veyka sniped. “Why should I care? Less humans to sneak through the rifts and wreak havoc upon my kingdom.”

My stomach lurched. Or maybe it was my chest.Her kingdom.

But the human stammered on. “It steals the men, and leaves something else in their place. Something not of our world. Somethingother.”