Page 106 of To Scale the Emerald Mountain

Several heads scattered throughout the cafe patio turn as I stalk over to the woman.

Her eyes have gone wide with alarm.

Grabbing her fork, I stab it straight into the table beside her hand, barely scraping against her flesh to create a small, jagged cut. She jumps, yelping in pain and surprise.

“If you look at my fucking mate one more time, I will rip your throat out with my teeth,” I snarl in her face.

She doesn’t say anything and runs away, tripping over her chair in her haste to leave.

My body swivels back towards Alec; his expression is alive and hungry as he drinks in my show of possession.

It fuels me further.

Euphoria and fury course through me as I follow the woman onto the crowded sidewalk, determined to slay my prey. My skin is crackling with power, increasing with each step forward.

A crowd of people have stopped to watch the scene unfolding.

“Hey!” I scream, and she looks back.

Pure, undiluted terror is painted across her lovely face. I give her a feral grin and place my hand on the sidewalk, pulling loose my spool of power and sending an electric shock of white-gold veins from the ground, straight through her core. Raw power and satisfaction rips through my being when I see the realization in her eyes—knowing that her life is about to end.

My wild smile grows as my beam of electric light exits the top of her head in a plume of smoke and her blood and innards splat on the sidewalk through the hole I created before her lifeless body crumples to theground.

Alec is beside me, yanking me up by my elbow.

Most everyone on the street has stopped to witness the gruesome exchange. I tilt my head up at Alec as his eyes dart to the people around us. A mixture of amusement and disbelief—but mostly shock and horror—ripples through the crowd who just watched their future queen slaughter an innocent woman in the street.

Alec reads the energy of the onlookers and wraps his arms protectively around me, pulling me close to his body. His concern is noxious when he finally screams at the top of his lungs, “STOP!”

The bustling street freezes before my eyes. Everyone is as still and silent as statues while Alec holds their minds, the sudden silence buzzing around me.

Chancing a glance at Alec, I expect to see anger or disappointment, but his face shows nothing but a crazed joy that matches exactly what I’m experiencing, a drop of blood running from his nose with his exertion of power. He pulls me in tight to his side, tucking me possessively under his arm. He repeatedly kisses my temple as his siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins start appearing before us, preparing to erase the crowd’s memories.

Pulling free from the memory, I find Cescily eyeing me curiously. “You really are my favorite person, Elly.”

I gulp, trying to swallow down my sudden giddiness with that memory; the crashing heaviness of how drastically everything has changed.

“Maybe I once was, but I’m not that person anymore.” My voice is shaky.

Cescily puts an arm around my shoulder and kisses my cheek. “You may have evolved into something a little different, but you are still my favorite person. Now, let’s go find you a new wardrobe to match.”

A spontaneous idea pops into my head. “I want to do something else, first.”

When I relay to Cescily what I want to do, she jumps to her feet clapping and exclaiming, “I know just the person!”

Cescily’s friend Makhoi welcomes her with open arms and sits me down swiftly when I explain what I want. He turns the chair to face away from the mirror and drapes a long golden cape over my front.

“Alright, lovely. Let’s get rid of this dull mess and bring you back to life.” Makhoi smiles. His dark eyes, lined with winged gold, crinkle happily. I think I like him. And Cescily was right, I immediately liked her too.

Cescily sits on a cushion in the salon’s bay window, smoking the same black cigarettes as Alec. “Your brother smokes those.”

She looks down at the burning ember and smiles. “Only recently. He woke me up to ask me for one the first time you threw him on his ass out of your room.” Cescily takes a deep drag and smiles at me, waggling her eyebrows. “Clove.”

Makhoi laughs while he rubs a sweet-smelling oil in my hair and Cescily lets out a lilting chime with him.

“And Alec’s now got vases of jasmine sitting around everywhere.” Cescily grimaces at me. “It’s kind of sad, Elly.”

“Trouble with the king?” Makhoi asks, running shears through the first section of hair, cutting off a long rope that flutters to the floor.