Page 21

He stepped into the air, walking down like it was solid steps, completely ignoring the actual stairs. He descended until, with a flicker of red, the entire basement came to life in a complex tangle of violence and evil.

Slaughter, my protector-master-delusional-multi-personality consort-mate, winced and then his skin burned with the infernal runes, coming to life in the most terrifying way. It was war as he unraveled the bindings one by one, ripping them apart and absorbing the magic until he vibrated with it.

“Did someone say they needed a book contained?” the librarian asked cheerfully and then gasped when she really saw Slaughter-Max in the hole of infernal bindings. She stood on the grass outside where the kitchen had been.

I took a step towards her, but Ruin grabbed me tight, pulling me back.

“Don’t move,” she hissed. “He wasn’t messing around.”

I hesitated and then waved at the librarian, trying to somehow normalize this situation. The way she was looking at Slaughter-Max, like she was watching Armageddon unroll over the land, made my own stomach twist. Yes, things didn’t look very good, what with the mayor bound to the chair and Slaughter-Max Standing above him playing with infernal magic like it was easy.

“I don’t want to disturb him,” I stage whispered, gesturing at Slaughter-Max. “But there’s a book down there that is bubbling blood and infernal magic.”

She looked at me for a long moment, just staring, before frowning down at Slaughter-Max. “What is he doing? It looks like he’s torturing the mayor, but surely you wouldn’t be so calm if that were the case.”

I gurgled a slightly hysterical laugh. “Oh, no! Max is just channeling his lupin sorcerer persona in order to unravel the infernal runes that someone else cast around the mayor. With the book.”

Slaughter-Max threw a hand down with a boom and a rush of hot air came up in hissing steam all around us. The librarian threw herself back from the edge like she was dodging shrapnel. Ruin and I held very still and somehow weren’t melted. Ah. He’d set a shield around us, probably while he’d been kissing me. How annoying that he could think about something else when I was kissing him. And that’s why he’d been so firm about us not moving, and that whole thing about Ruin melting, because she’d literally melt if she moved. How could he put her at risk like that? It was ingrained in her DNA to disobey. He was setting her up to get melted. Why hadn’t she moved?

I looked down at Ruin’s big eyes in her pale face. “Are you okay?” I asked her.

She gave me a tiny nod before refocusing on Slaughter-Max.

He landed on the floor in front of the mayor, walked over to him, picked him up, chair and all, and then walked up the basement steps, which somehow also hadn’t melted. Slaughter-Max’s eyes burned red, like the runes in his dusky blue skin.

“You’ll contain the book,” he ordered the Librarian who was still on the ground, staring at him like he was the biggest monster she’d ever seen. I guess librarians don’t see a lot of monsters. Then again, Slaughter-Max was pretty terrifying.

He thudded the mayor’s chair on the ground and turned to me. He made a come-here gesture, and I spread my wings, floating towards him with Ruin’s hand in mine.

“Consort,” I said as we landed delicately on the solid ground next to the librarian. “You saved the mayor. You are as clever as you are handsome.”

“Saved the mayor?” the librarian asked, slowly climbing to her feet, but crouching like she was about to throw an attack spell at someone. “He looks dead.”

I looked at him in alarm. I didn’t put up with all of this stress for a corpse. I hurried over and put my hands on either side of his head. Slaughter-Max growled and grabbed me, pulling me into his arms and picking me off the ground.

“You don’t touch him,” he hissed in that evil voice that gave me all the goosebumps.

“Let him die!” A vicious fairy cried. Shotglass. Because we needed to look more suspicious to the librarian.

“He worked with the traitor,” another voice agreed.

On the field of grass between the two houses, or rather the half demolished house and the melted house, were thousands of fairies from my court. Terraformers were there, of course, because I’d agreed that they could come and check my grove, but what were all the others doing? My entire court was here. Including Vervain. Hadn’t I given him a direct order to stay in Fairyland? Behind him was a doorway, full-sized, and through it were pouring more and more of my people. I’d healed every single one of them of death-sickness in the last hundred years.

That’s when a dragon showed up, winging through the sky to come and land in a big, blue lump next to the Librarian. In a flurry of shadows, it reformed into a man, actually the vampire I’d met in the laboratory. Ah. They were together. This might be a problem.

“Kill the mayor and everyone who dares threaten our queen!” someone else yelled. Barry?

I raised my hand. “Actually, we’re just here for pizza. And to make sure the juvenile delinquents are safe during the pack war. Also, the bed was a draw. I was going to shrink it and take it back to Fairyland with me.”

Vervain smiled at me from across the field, but it was a smug smirk, like every time he got me to do what he’d been badgering me to do for centuries. Why wasn’t he in Fairyland? I’d given him a direct… Ah. I’d told him to stay with my court. And now my court was here. Hopefully Slaughter-Max didn’t kill him. Then again, maybe that would be a perk.

“You definitely need a lawyer,” a newcomer said, frowning at the mayor like he didn’t mind if he died. Did I know him?

“Who are you?” I demanded.

He smiled. “I’m the lawyer that Max requested.” He gave my consort-mate a squinty look. “That is Max, isn’t it?”

Just then, Mirabel the music master pushed through the fairies, her ogre prince close behind. “You’re invading Singsong City?” she demanded, scowling at me. She sounded pretty upset. Looked it, too, like I’d betrayed her, tricked her into thinking I wasn’t really a death-fairy before I unleashed my consort-mate on the world.

I sighed heavily and leaned against said monster, wrapping my arms around his waist. They barely fit. “When are you going to wash my hair? I don’t want to go to war today. I’m not wearing the right shoes.”

He chuckled, dark and evil and then pulled the green statue the owl had coughed up out of thin air. “Only a moment, my mate. The mayor is saved. But there is still the pack war, the fight for dominance that must be resolved.” He shattered the statue into pale green shards that hung in the air, glittering like poison and then the werewolves started howling.

The sounds of their howls got closer and closer until they were filling in all the spaces the fairies weren’t in, more and more and more until the fairies were surrounded. They didn’t seem to mind, not with the way they were smiling with their claws out. Particularly Shotglass.

I sighed heavily. “If resolution means war, I’d have to heal everyone’s death sickness again. I hate doing that.” I looked up at Slaughter-Max. “What’s the plan?”

“The plan, my precious poison flower, is to reveal Malamech’s mate.” He made a fist and then someone fell from the sky, a writhing figure wrapped in red infernal lines.

It was Dominia, the mean girl who hated me so much.

She glared at me, ignoring Slaughter-Max like he didn’t exist. She tossed her fabulous hair and raised her chin. “Fine. Kill me. Show the world what you really are.”

“The gargoyles are on their way,” the lawyer said, his voice carrying surprisingly well considering how he kept his distance from Slaughter-Max, like he understood the danger better than I did.

“We can defeat them,” my consort-mate said, smiling at Dominia in a very unpleasant way. I didn’t like him smiling at someone else, even if it was the smile of rage and cruelty.

I grabbed his chin and pulled it down so he was forced to look at me. “Hey. Why doesn’t Dominia have any power? She did all of those things to the mayor, but it’s like she’s just a regular person. Was she not the villain after all?”

“I stripped her power,” he said easily. “What do you think took so long? Not breaking through the infernal wards.”

Oh. Of course not. My Consort-mate was far too capable to do something like that slowly.

“Also the sorcerer guild is on their way,” the lawyer said, examining his nails.

The wolves howled louder, more hungry, raging as they shifted into beasts, each with a slight flare of red in their eyes. Oh no. No, no, no. I knew those eyes.

Max was right to be afraid of the Lupin Sorcerer who was him. Because he knew exactly what a creature like that would do with power. Conquer, obviously. He’d let the mayor die, which would please the fairies, and piss off the rest of the city. Everyone would come for us, the vampires, goblins, angels, gargoyles… Except weren’t the goblins our allies? Goblins didn’t mind war and death, particularly if it was at no expense to themselves.

I felt small, caught in a trap of death and war, when I was just starting to get used to not being miserable from death sickness. Max knew Singsong City. He’d been there for ages, learning all the habits of all the occupants. He was well-liked, even if people thought he was crazy. That crazy is what kept his lupin sorcerer at bay. Offering him to wash my hair wasn’t going to work. He was Slaughter. I couldn’t shock him with love when he was already braced for it. What else could I do?

My fairies were so loud, in the air and in my head, chanting for the mayor’s death. They’d need something to really get them upset enough to go to war against the city. What piece would the heartless Lupin Sorcerer be willing to sacrifice in order to inspire them and unite them? Me? Would they care if I was slaughtered?

I looked down at the blood dress I was wearing. No. Malamech had put part of his soul into my protection. It would be next to impossible for anything to harm me when wearing the fabric of his love. Ruin then. I would inspire them with my love for her. Maybe I was wrong. No, or the mayor would be healed by now.

What could I do about it? A glance in Vervain’s mind showed a fairy who was eager to expand our world into this one until the darkness was vanquished and my reign was even greater than my mother’s. Fairyland would bring peace and stability to a messy existence.

What an idiot. He hadn’t been in this world for very long, or he’d be a little less certain about our inherent superiority. Just because I could terraform a cavern and save poisoned people. And I guess I did rehabilitate a lot of fairies, although mostly by accident.

The terraformers were all here, filled with rage that my consort-mate was subtly fuelling. First thing first, I had to save the mayor’s miserable life, or it would be impossible for the people of Singsong, starting with their music master, to believe that Mega Max hadn’t been the one to kill him.

I shrunk to the size of a beetle and flew as fast as I could, dodging bodies until I got to the mayor.

Slaughter’s snarl went through me like someone ripped out my spine, but I ignored it. As soon as I got to the mayor, I climbed inside his ear and pressed my hands on the delicate skin, pressing my strength into him. He smelled like eggnog and demons. Not the best combination, but not the worst. Probably.

He was very still, drained, his energy going into my consort. How annoying. I’d specifically wanted him to save the mayor. How convenient that I was bound to Slaughter and could take his strength from him the way he’d done to Malamech’s mate and the mayor.

I drew on those bindings and filled the mayor with strength while cutting all of his ties to Slaughter. I simply took him as one of my subjects, bound his fairy blood to my queenship, and then it was done.

I focused on healing the mayor, bringing him back from almost death with an order of my supreme will. My subjects weren’t allowed to die without my consent, and I would not give it to the mayor.

I poured my energy into the mayor, binding him to life and my will until he was unconscious rather than dead. Good enough. I didn’t want him to be conscious, or he’d probably say something that made it necessary for me to kill him. He wasn’t going to be happy about his house, or about his failure to properly demolish Max’s mansion.

Wait a minute. The mayor was mine, and everything he owned was also mine.

I smiled as I flew out of his ear and hovered over the center of the mayor’s mansion. I was going to play a different game.

“Mate,” Slaughter growled, crouched on the edge of the pit, his terrifying wings flexed, showing his powerful muscles.

He could smell me, sense me, but he didn’t know exactly where I was.

I started growing a proper castle for me and my court. Max was going to be the alpha of Song in his house and the caverns, and I was taking over the mayor’s house. Mine. Like Slaughter was mine.

I unshrunk myself and faced my love, my home, my enemy, while I fished in the minds of all those extremely competent terraformers. We were going to do a fun project in the time it took to straighten out our relationship.

The fairies filled my mind with all the things I’d need while my wings unfurled and I hovered in the moonlight, looking ethereal and glorious. The fairy queen is in the house. That is, he melted the house, but I’d make a new one. My house. Right next door to his. It would be perfect for a dual rulership like we were going to have, if Slaughter didn’t decide it was more important to destroy than to love. Then I’d rule alone. Because if there was one thing I knew how to do, it was to carry the burden of the world on my shoulders alone.

He spread his wings and flew to me, quick as a swallow, circling me before he came to a stop in front of me, massive, deadly, powerful. He didn’t notice one of my fairies subtly cutting the mayor out of his chair.

“Mate. You are glorious beyond description. Why did you disappear?” he growled, while his eyes burned.

It’s almost like he didn’t trust me. I gestured carelessly to the right and a wall of pale purple granite speared the air, rising high and then curving over our heads. “Dual rulership requires a proper court for both parties. The grove is between the two houses, so it will operate as a protected domain where both races can mingle.”

I gestured to the left and another granite wall rose from the ground to curve above until it met the other wall, but curved around so there was a large circle like the full moon above us.

He grabbed my wrist. “Did you not hear? The great forces of Singsong City are uniting against us, my heart. We can build courts after they’re defeated.”

I really loved the feel of his skin against mine. But if touching me wasn’t going to distract him from his bloodthirsty urge to conquer, then I couldn’t let it distract me from my goal.

I smiled at him. Wings made us at eye level no matter how short I was. “Knowing me as well as you do, surely you understand that it’s always a good time to terraform. There’s a threat of poisoning? Time to terraform a cavern. It’s who I am as much as my ability to do whatever is necessary to conquer the enemy.”

I touched his face, silky skin lined with those infernal runes, keeping his attention while the mayor got Ruin and the two of them disappeared. The fairy who’d brought my invisibility cloak appeared in their place.

Slaughter smiled in return, showing his fangs. “My queen is fearless, strong, capable of defeating any foe. With my forces united with yours, no one can stop us.” His eyes glowed bright and freaky.

“That’s true. Together we are unbeatable. But there’s no reason to go to war. I already told you that I’m not wearing the right shoes for war.”

“You decimated the wolves in nothing but your bare skin,” he murmured, smiling, like this was a flirtatious conversation. “But if you’d prefer, I will craft shoes out of the blood of our enemies.”

Mm hm. Super flirty. I nodded and marble slid out of the ground on the sides, growing over the hole in the floor while other soil softened and caved in while stairs formed leading to the terraformed cavern. It would be beautiful, because that’s the kind of terraformers I had. I felt a glow of pride for my people. We were good at being irrational, erratic, beautiful beasts.

I brought out my claws, so they were resting against his skin, the tip of one spiked, poisoned spear resting just beneath his glowing eye. “I don’t want to make enemies. There will be peace. The only question is whether I survive or not.”

For the first time, he recognized the threat of my claws, of my entire position. He pulled away, but I had his face in a vice grip while my skin was burrowing into his.

“If you challenge me, you will fall,” he growled, pride in his own awesomeness coming out to save him.

“That’s right. After I slaughter you, rip your heart from your chest, and devour it, I will fall, desolate without my love and mate. I have your strength, your affinity for death and darkness. There would be no death sickness, because you would carry that burden for me and my people. You choose. Do I live or die? I can’t live without you, but I can kill you.”

Could I? Really? My wingtips pulled back, revealing the blades. This set was glorious, perfect for chopping the head off a lupin Sorcerer like my consort-mate.

The wind rustled around me while the building came to life, growing elaborate mesh walls out of pale lilac marble and gold. Pictures were woven in the design, this moment, the two of us in our stand-off, that is, float-off, because neither of us was standing. Also images of that first meeting in the woods, the bird with its one red feather above us while I tended his wolf. Another wall showed the owl, the egg, and the bearded Max carrying me when I was so weak. Another wall grew in a pattern that showed his beast reading to me while I was tucked on his lap in the blanket.

The last picture formed, of this moment, the fairy queen with wings outstretched, and him with wings, gazing at each other, his claws around my wrist, my claws on his face.

“Will I live or die?” I whispered. “My beautiful beast, my rehabilitation, my poetry. You are my song, but will it be a song of death? There will be peace. The only question is whether it will be a peace sealed by our deaths.”

“We would die together?” he mused, squeezing my wrist like he was considering how he could shatter the slender bones. Fairy bones were much stronger than they looked.

I smiled into those terrifying eyes. “Well, you would die first. I’m something of an expert on killing Lupin Sorcerers.”

He narrowed his eyes while he considered. Slowly, he sank down until his feet were on my beautiful marble floor. Once there, he looked up at me. “You would slaughter Slaughter after you devoured the Devourer? You are too perfectly poetic to destroy. You hid the child along with the mayor. Clever and poetic.” He flashed a bright smile. “You have defeated me. I am your prisoner of war.” He cocked his head and his smile softened. “No, I suppose I’m your prisoner of love. Didn’t you say something about pizza?”

I blinked at him. “Did I?”

He looked around at the building with interest. “You can build more quickly than I can destroy. And so beautifully. You are more than my match in every way, my Queen.”

I narrowed my eyes at him as I slowly floated down to his eye level. “Now what diabolical scheme are you hatching?”

He pulled me into his arms and held me close. “How to keep a fairy’s heart without distracting her with external forces to contend with. If you don’t want me to feed you the blood of your enemies, I suppose pizza will have to do.”

He melted into his beast and then started licking me with all the drool the lupin sorcerer didn’t have. “After I wash your hair with my kisses,” he growled, massive maw startlingly dangerous, even if I wasn’t afraid of him exactly. So many teeth.

I held still and let him lick my hair while he cuddled me against his warm chest. Finally, he transformed into Max, warm eyes soft, worried about me.

“Are you all right?” he asked, holding me so carefully, like I might shatter if he touched me wrong.

I kissed his nose. “So cute. One thing’s for certain,” I said, taking his hand and swinging it before I tugged him towards the nearest archway leading out into the garden of the Queen’s court. “We won’t have a boring life together.”

He kissed my fingers. “That’s one way to put it. Channeling all those dark powers brought out my dark side. I’m sorry for that.”

I gave him a look. “I’m the one who asked for your Lupin Sorcerer. And he did save the mayor, so it’s all good. Where is he?”

I stepped out into the court where my people and the wolves were holding very still, like they weren’t sure if they were going to kill each other at any second, or turn on the gathering forces of Singsong City.

“Pizza. We’re having an enormous pizza party,” I informed them. It took two seconds to grow fifty stone pizza ovens, and then it was sifting through minds to find out who could cook pizza. Interestingly, I could read wolf minds of anyone who considered Max their alpha. It seemed like any potential challengers had withdrawn their claim on the pack once they saw his Lupin Sorcerer. Also me.

What can I say? We were a couple of terrifying monsters. But that didn’t mean we couldn’t throw a mad pizza party for our dual court.

I made certain that Vervain invited all the dangerous big baddies to the party. Nothing like cheese and flowers to soften your enemies.

I was sitting on a low wall, a plate of pizza on my lap, and Max standing behind me, one arm wrapped around my waist while he softly sang a song about his true love, the moon. That was me. I was his moon. Was anything more delightful in all the world?

“You stole my house,” the mayor said, coming up to me with a look of puzzlement on his arrogant face.

“No, you gave it to me,” I corrected, giving him a polite smile. “That’s what you do when your queen asks something of you and offers your life in exchange.”

He wrinkled his nose. “I am still the mayor of Singsong City.”

“Congratulations. You are also one of mine. Welcome to the horde of untamable madness.” I took a large bite of my flower pizza and chewed happily. Max felt so good at my back, warmth, comfort, support, but with so many other pieces of him that could take over if we needed to change it up. He really was perfect for me.

“And if I don’t want to be allied with you?”

I lowered my pizza to my plate and let the full weight of my focus fall on him. He felt it and started to sweat glitter after no more than a breath. Not that he was breathing. “An alliance is what we have with the wolves and goblins. What I have with you is absolute obedience on your part and gracious rulership on the other. Congratulations on your position as a loyal subject. It’s either that, or I suppose I could feed you to the wolves.”

“Some do still have a taste for fairy flesh,” Max murmured. “But we’re trying to get away from that.”

The mayor scowled at Max, pointing his sharp finger at him. “You’re a monster. Eventually, she’ll lose control of you, and the world will come together to destroy you both!”

I whipped out my wing and buzzed the top of his head with it, getting purple sparkles all over him in the process along with short strands of his beige hair. The shock on his face, the absolute horror that I’d given him an incredibly bad haircut, made me want to giggle. But this was no laughing matter.

“You don’t threaten my consort-mate. You’re a bit stupid, so I’ll give you a warning this time. Next time, I’ll take off your head. You’re not doing anything interesting with it, anyway. You are excused.”

He blustered and blew for a bit, but then he turned and stalked away, his cute little wings quivering in shocked outrage.

Max nuzzled my cheek and murmured, “You shouldn’t torture him so. That’s my job.”

I turned to smile at him. “You did such a good job of it.” I straightened up and grabbed his face, squishing his cheeks. “But there’s one thing I have to know.”

“How to read? I am at your service. Also my beast. He really likes licking your hair though. I don’t know if you’ll ever be safe from his tongue again.”

“Ooh, scary. No, it’s the matter of your half-demolished house. Do you think your bed survived? I did agree to stay there. I think for the safety of Singsong City, you should stay with me. Do you think it’s okay?”

He picked me up and carried me away from the crowd, into the shadows that flickered with wolves and fairies who helped make up the tapestry of night. “If Princess Sparkles wants me in her bed, then the bed has no choice.”

“The bed has no choice?”

“No.”

“What about you?”

“I chose a long time ago. It was always you. And it always will be.”

My heart soared while we walked, arms wrapped around each other like nothing else mattered. As far as I was concerned, it didn’t. Until his lupin sorcerer got bored and decided we needed to conquer something again. Maybe I could find something useful for him to conquer. Some of my fairies would like that. I’d have to stay a few steps ahead of him and direct his chaos. I knew that no matter what, I would be first in his heart. And he would be mine.

My wolf. My mate. My Max.

The End