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CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

SAM

The Prince had a serious hair kink.

From the moment he’d scooped me up and decided he was going to carry me back to Avolire so he could fly, he’d had his face buried in my hair. I had a lot of questions about this guy. What’s his name? Why does he like to smell my hair? Why is not knowing his name killing me? How does he know where he’s flying with his face in my hair? Why do I get goosebumps every time he sniffs me? Why do I like it? Why did he risk sun exposure to save me? Why is he so cruel to literally everyone except me? Why is he holding me so gentle? Why do I like it? Why do I want him to be rough with me? Why did he let Pierce run away and not even look for him? Why is fighting the urge to snuggle into his chest so difficult?

I cursed my own thoughts. My body reacted to the Unseelie Prince in ways I was not comfortable with, but the discomfort wasn’t because I didn’t like it. The discomfort was due to him being the Unseelie Prince. The Unseelie fae were pure evil. They were cruel monsters. Lilith’s pets. I could understand why he could be drawn to me as Lilith’s granddaughter, but I was not a monster. I’d made my oath to Heaven, and nothing could ever make me betray that oath. And that was why my body’s traitorous reactions to the male in question had me on edge.

What does this say about me?

Am I a little bit evil if I want him? If I intentionally taunt him and try to make him jealous? Because in the Old Lands I enjoyed my little game a bit too much. I adored Pierce, and he honestly had the softest lips I’d ever felt on a guy, but I really, really enjoyed the Prince’s aura going razor-sharp when I kissed Pierce. I liked the way he watched me. It made me want to play with him more. Goddess, maybe I’m more evil than I realized, because that’s exactly what Sweyn does. I wished Everest were around just so I had an anchor in the sea of panic inside of me.

Then again . . . Everest has done questionably evil things in the name of victory.

Perhaps he and I just have to be a little morally gray in order to defeat her. Tegan’s face flashed in my mind. Tegan was definitely morally gray. That girl would do almost anything to defeat our enemies. If my body, and my attraction to the monster holding me, could work to our advantage, then perhaps I needed to embrace that smidge of genetic evil passed through my DNA and see just what I could do with it.

When we finally landed on the front steps of Avolire, I didn’t give him a chance to sit me down. I immediately flung my legs out of his grip. I did, however, take my time unhooking my hands from around his neck. And I made sure to stare at his mouth the whole time. I batted my eyelashes just a little when I met his heated stare. Those cat eyes were actually kind of hot—- or I’d been around this crew too long. It was some form of Stockholm Syndrome, potentially, but if I wanted to beat evil, I would have to play evil.

Instead of saying anything to him, I just looked back to his lips, then back to his eyes and winked. With a little half-smirk, I spun on my toes and somehow managed to have my hair smack into his chest as I turned. I heard the soft hiss he made and my grin widened. I sashayed away from him, swinging my hips left to right as I walked. Those modeling classes I took in high school were really coming in handy. The Prince moved silently. That was one of the creepiest most alien things about him—-he never made a sound unless he was speaking, and even that was sporadic and usually only when furious. So, I couldn’t hear him walking behind me, but I felt his hot stare on me with every step.

His hot breath swept through my hair and over my shoulder. He was right on my heels. I didn’t stop. He reached over my head and pushed the doors open in front of me. I glanced over my shoulder to find his gaze locked on my face. I pointedly looked to his mouth, then slid my gaze down his body before smirking and walking into Sweyn’s throne room. He let out a little rumble and it made me grin.

Which was the exact wrong thing to do as Sweyn stopped her pacing and looked up to us. Those red eyes narrowed. Her upper lip snarled. Normally the ice-queen was perched on her throne like nothing ever ruffled her feathers, yet since Everest left, I wasn’t sure she’d sat down once. No one in her court dared to be within twenty feet of her. They were all huddled near the glass walls—-too afraid to not be here, but too afraid to be near her.

A low, vicious growl echoed around the room. “Where is Pierce?”

My smile dropped instantly. I held my chin high and my shoulders back and stopped in front of her. “The Old Lands.”

“ WHY? WHERE IS HE? ” She turned her furious gaze to the Prince. “ You. What did you do to him?”

The Prince rolled his yellow cat eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. He stood so close to me I felt the pulse of his aura on my skin. “He was weak. Useless. So I released him into the wild of the Old Lands?—”

“ WHY? YOU HAD NO RIGHT!”

Wait, what? It took every ounce of self-control to not look at the Prince in shock. I had set Pierce free. A cold chill slid down my spine. The only reason for the Prince to claim he had released Pierce was if he was covering for me. That would be dangerous for me if it were true. It would give him power over me.

“There is no room in this war for weakness, for toys meant only for playing with.” The Prince’s voice was void of any worry or concern. “The Old Lands will either break him or make him stronger.”

Sweyn’s fangs lowered into her bottom lip. She balled her hands into fists at her side. “How dare you?—”

“By all means, go rescue your little pet if he means that much to you.”

Unless . . . I schooled my face to show no emotion even as my thoughts were swirling like a tornado. The Prince loathed Sweyn, Everest had told me that much before leaving, so there was a chance he saw Pierce had left and didn’t hunt him down just to piss Sweyn off when we returned. That was a very, very real possibility.

“ I am Queen here, Brother,” Sweyn snarled, “not you.”

“And what a weak Queen you are, Sister. ” He gestured around. “I can start listing your failures if you’re that ignorant of your inadequacy.”

AH. That’s it. I slowly let out a deep breath while the two of them bickered back and forth. There was no way the Prince was delusional enough to think he had released Pierce because I remembered the expression on his face when he realized it was just the two of us. He’d glanced around and simply smirked before scooping me up and flying off. Okay. Relax, Sam. He isn’t on to you. This is about Sweyn. As if she knew my train of thoughts, she stormed over to the nearest chair one of her courtiers was sitting in and ripped it in half. She threw the pieces across the room, shattering the glass windows.

Red light flashed in my eyes. I hissed between clenched teeth and straightened. Lilith was calling. Not only did my vision turn red when she called, but it felt like claws down my back. I shivered and then glanced to the now broken window to pretend it was the ice-cold air that bothered me. I waved my hand, letting my green magic spill from my palm. When it hit the ground, the marble parted and the pedestal holding Lilith’s orb lifted into the room. My stomach rolled. My mouth watered like I was going to throw up. I needed to get better control of myself around Lilith or I was dead.

Worse than dead, actually.

I tried not to think about Everest’s warning for what his mother would do if she got her hands on us. I wonder if I can get to Everest for some advice? I need a little more help with dealing with her.

“I have a plan, mistress?—”

“ Handle it, child, ” Lilith’s voice was a gravelly growl through the orb. “ I expect movement when I next return.”

And then she was gone. The orb went cold and black again. My breaths evened.

“By all means, wow us with your expertise,” the Prince spoke softly yet still with a punch.

Sweyn strolled over to her throne and sat down, dramatically crossing one leg over the other, though I wasn’t sure who this show was for at this point. She rested her thin hands on the armrests and leaned back, arching her eyebrow at him. “The Coven needs rest to rejuvenate their magic. We’re going to prevent them from doing so by having the angels attack.”

My eyes widened. Oh no.

“Asmodeus and his demons will start. He’ll lure them to somewhere far away and relentlessly unleash hell upon them until their bodies and magic are near spent.” She grinned. “Just when they can take no more, the other angels will cause mayhem elsewhere. They will have to go. We will keep them in battle until the sun sets and then your knights can sweep in and capture Frankie Proctor.”

“Yes, catch their little witchling that got away from you.” The Prince sighed but it was laced with annoyance. “That has proved a worthy cause.”

Sweyn narrowed her red eyes at him. “Everest is going to love watching what I do to her. I want him to hurt.”

I took a step forward. “My lady, shouldn’t we be capturing Everest? Is he not our biggest threat? Lilith?—”

“Lilith wants to punish her son for eternity, and she’ll get her chance. First, I want him to watch me break everything he has tried to protect . . . starting with the witchling.”