The Wolf Crown (The Wolf Kings #2) (MLM)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE.

                "So you know you have a prophecy waiting for you, and you've just been . . . what, putting it off?"

Jack narrowly avoided a stalagmite, his flashlight combined with Quartz's stars lighting the path for them still not enough to protect them from every ragged piece of rock in the cave.

"I've been ignoring her," Quartz shrugged. "You don't exactly visit the Seer expecting good news, and I had enough to deal with. Guess I can't pretend I don't hear her anymore."

"I still can't believe it," Violet murmured. "You fought against the Shadow Wolf the first time? Why didn't you ever tell anyone?"

"You are seriously underestimating my father's jealousy," Quartz scoffed. "He already hates me for being his heir, you think he wants people to know I fought a battle he refused to?"

Tiberius raised a brow. "And it doesn't help that the people prefer you rule them?"

He huffed and whirled around, dust flying around his bare feet as he fluttered above the rock floor. His eyes sparkled with something far darker and fiercer than mischief.

"Let me put it this way," he said. "For the past few weeks, I've been running from one corner of the Cosmic Grove to another, putting out fires left and right, sometimes healing the fairies unfortunate enough to live closer to our borders and sometimes never being able to do anything but hold their hands as they pass." He grinned. "You think there haven't been any casualties? Well, when your ruler drags the most poisonous creature in existence to your grounds, you're a little less immune to the attacks."

No one said anything, staring in shock. Jack hadn't even thought of that; what the fairies must've suffered if their own king was forcing the Shadow Wolf close to their homes. He'd poisoned waters and roots from barely managing to stay outside the door. He'd poisoned Jack when he'd done nothing more than talk to him. What damage could his very uprising have caused to the people around him?

With a sigh, Quartz fluttered down to stand. "When I realized we were so much worse off than the rest of Crowswood, even though the last war had ended at Crescent Castle, suddenly all the meetings my father missed, all the sleepless nights, the distracted look in his eyes . . . it all made sense. And I still pretended I didn't see the truth."

"Well, yeah," Jack said gently, "he's your father."

"I don't care about that," Quartz said roughly, but he'd said it a little too quickly. "I care about my people. I can deal with anything if I know they're okay, and instead, their own king is putting their lives in danger so that he can swoop in and look like a fucking hero cleaning up his own fucking mess!"

Quartz's anger echoed by something other than the cavern walls, and even through the sharp rocks beneath their feet, sharp, poisonous thorns erupted around them, the stars shining bright enough to burn. Tiberius pulled Jack in protectively by his waist, and Quartz heaved a long sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Calm down, Quartz" Violet said, looking at Quartz strangely. Like she was getting reacquainted with a face she'd once known like the back of her hand.

"Why not just kill him?" Tiberius asked. "If he's the one responsible, then ending his life should end the battle."

Jack expected Quartz to say that he couldn't kill the Fairy King because it was still his father, because he couldn't get himself to confront him. Instead, Quartz hovered above them again and continued through the tunnel.

"Because he never leaves the Cosmic Grove," he said simply. "I can't risk him summoning the Shadow Wolf around the other fairies, they'd never stand a chance."