//Song: Bow Down (Explicit) - Ramsey
I put the mask on again.
The familiar appearance I put on around others when facing them as queen. I was a proper queen of the underworld, I told myself, and I would give no one an inch to question Damien's decision or my abilities.
I risked my life to protect the people that exterminated mine. They owed me at least that much.
I exhaled slowly to steady my nerves when Asmo disappeared.
I could do what was necessary to get the answers I needed.
I would do what was necessary.
I'd make the cult that killed my people tremble at their creation.
I was only powerful because the magic of my people lived in me. Only in me. Otherwise, I would be just like any other fae. Maybe even a low fae.
I could feel my magic ready for revenge. It was chomping at the bit for the opportunity. I closed my eyes and calmed it. I let it settle into my being, embracing the warmth it brought to the ice I felt in my core.
Between what happened in the cabin and the new law I signed, I felt myself slide into a new pit of despair. I couldn't be disappointed at how the events unfolded after I left Skryen. I should have known what would happen. Everyone went about their lives as they should have.
I took a breath to steady my nerves, placing my shaking hands on the arms of the seat. As if sensing my nervousness, I felt the throne beneath me thrum with soothing energy. I absorbed it as it was offered, reveling in the warm, soothing strength it gave me.
A moment later, I felt dark energy again. I smiled, knowing exactly what it meant.
Asmodeus and two men appeared before me. One man, I recognized as belonging to the Guard. The man between the two of them, I didn't recognize but I knew to be the prisoner. He wasn't dressed properly in large clothes that seemed to hang off his frame. His appearance surprised me. I half expected an older man to be in front of me, instead, the dark fae man was young. His blue eyes seemed to pierce through me with dark hair that hung over his eyes. His deeply dark skinned was marred with imperfections. His wrists in front of him were lesioned, wounds lined his arms and neck.
They'd used iron on him, then.
Good.
As soon as the men appeared, Asmo and the Guard knelt down on one knee, showing reverence.
The man did not.
Something stirred inside me, a deep, ancient magic that I knew was not mine. It rolled with anger inside me.
"Hmm," I only said. "A dark fae that does not bow before his queen. How disappointing." I smiled. "Allow me to assist."
At the flick of my finger, he fell on his knees. I watched the pain in his face as the resounding pop of his knees hitting the floor echoed in the large space. He winced in pain, letting air escape through his gritted teeth.
The dark energy in me subsided in satisfaction.
The man in front of me spit towards my feet. "A Light fae is not my queen."
My fingernails dug into the arms of the throne. "Dark magic has recognized me as such and you will respect me for that if nothing else."
I heard Asmo chuckle and I tried to hide my smile.
I failed miserably.
"Please, gentlemen, stand." I eyed the prisoner between them. "But not you. Dark magic wants to teach you a lesson and I won't disappoint it." My power reached out towards him and pressed him down towards the floor. He didn't move from his kneeling position but I knew that he felt the oppressive, dark energy over him like a heavy fog. Somehow I knew that despite him being a dark fae, the magic I was pushing against him would make him squirm uncomfortably.
"I've been told you aren't answering any questions from the guard." I looked at my nails as if bored. "Are you hiding something or do you really not know anything?"
He didn't answer.
I sighed, looking at Asmo. "Asmodeus, please help him in answering my question."
Asmo turned towards the man and reached for his shackled arm with both hands. In the next moment, the man's arm bent in an impossible angle. The man fell face first into the floor, screaming in agony.
I watched the guard next to him move towards him then stop. His frantic eyes searched mine. "Alteaza--" The guard opened his mouth again then closed it, seemingly at a loss for words.
I smiled in his direction. "If you need to leave, I understand. I will not think any less of you. I have him under control."
He nodded once then spectered, immediately disappearing.
Asmo laughed, walking towards me up on the pedestal the thrones sat on. "Some can't stomach this kind of work."
I smiled as the man writhed in pain in front of me. I felt no sympathy for him. "I'm glad one of you can. I don't intend to stop until I get what I want."
The man laughed loudly as his nose rubbed against the floor. "I knew the light fae couldn't be trusted. I knew it! I don't regret anything that I did. I enjoyed killing them!"
The man flew from the floor and was stretched out in the air in front of me. I didn't even have to lift a finger to break one of his legs. I willed it to happen with only a thought and dark and light magic helped me. "You missed one," I hissed with as much hate as I could muster.
I stood from the throne and approached his floating form. He hovered mere inches from my face. "I will get the answers I need. I don't want to kill you to do it but I will." I smiled. "Did you know that when a light fae crushes someone's soul, the person's thoughts and memories are absorbed by the light fae? Whether you tell me on your own volition or I kill you and find out myself, I will get the answers I want."
I saw hesitation flash in his eyes.
I gave a genuine smile, sensing his defeat. "Now, where are the others?" I cooed. "What are your plans now that Robyn is dead? Who was sent to kill the last male light fae this morning?"
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes but said nothing else.
"He won't speak, Alteaza," Asmo said behind me.
When I turned, I found him sitting on the smaller of the two thrones, the one for the Consort, I learned.
He crossed his ankle over his knee and tilted his head watching me work. His comfortable pose set me at ease. I felt my heart flutter sightly watching him with a smile. His elbow rested on the armrest, his fist placed under his cheek casually.
I licked my lips, turning back to the man. "Tell me what I want to know."
When he again didn't answer, I placed my hand in front of me, palm up. Slowly, my magic reached out to his life force. It was as easy as breathing and I didn't have to struggle to find it. It was before me like a heavy dark cloud of absolute corruption. I grabbed hold of it and when I looked back at his eyes, I knew he felt it too.
I only watched as he struggled against my grip. I tugged slightly and he gasped, convulsing as he hovered over the ground.
I smiled again. "Will you, please, tell me what I want to know?"
"What the hell is this?"
A sudden banging turned my attention to the large doors of the throne room.
I sighed, annoyed, letting the man go. He dropped so suddenly on the floor he cried out from the impact.
I looked at Damien as he all but ran down the aisle towards me.
"An interrogation, cousin, obviously."
I shook my head. "I'm just asking him questions, Damien, that's all."
Damien's eyes were full of fury. "This is not an interrogation. I saw what you were doing Em. Were you about to kill him?"
"Yes," Asmo said as he stood. "You're ruining the fun, Damien--"
I interrupted him. "No, I wasn't going to kill him. I know what I'm doing."
He wasn't convinced. The fury in his eyes almost burned through me.
Almost.
I hadn't seen Damien that mad in, well, ever. "The hell you do. Thank the gods one of you had the sense to come to me."
I looked behind him and found the young guard from before and Oren stand next to the man as he cried on the floor.
Oren watched me as he helped pick the man up and what I saw struck me. Oren looked...disappointed?
He was disappointed in me?
I looked back at Damien. "They were getting nowhere with him. I only wanted to know if he knew something about the man in the cabin."
Damien's nostrils flared. "This is not you, Em. I don't know what kind of bullshit this one-" he nodded towards Asmo "-has been feeding you but you are above this."
I scoffed. "Are you sure that it's all Asmo? This man and his stupid cult killed my people, Damien. I am alone. Alone. I won't know anything about my culture, about my real family, nothing!" I pointed towards the man. "And they are responsible." My anger turned towards the man in full. "It's his fault! It's all their fault!"
I exploded. The ground beneath my feet shook. The ceiling above cracked and the structure moaned from the pressure. The pent-up anger, the disappointment, the loss washed over me in full and I directed everything towards the man. I screamed as I hurled blasts of power towards him.
Damien appeared in front of the man immediately. He steepled his hands in front of himself and redirected the power to either side of him. White and black lightning streaked the air as it hit two different targets.
When I looked at Damien again, his eyes were that familiar onyx, they were no longer violet.
Unlike the last time, I wasn't afraid. "Don't you dare protect him," I growled.
Damien didn't pay me any attention, he turned to the guard and Oren behind him. "Get him out of here."
My heart instantly broke. After what he did, after what he had taken away from me, he'd still protect him?
My hands balled into fists at my sides and the power that had soothed me previously came back in full. All I could see was red, it washed over me and took over everything inside me. Including reason. Without a second thought, I hurled as many attacks as I could in his direction.
Damien evaded, stepping out of the way of the attack. He directed the other and pushed back on the last.
I could feel his power building, I felt it in the air around him. But he was struggling, I could see the sweat on his brow. I could see him strain to stop and deflect my power.
I shook my head, my anger clouding every thought in my head. I trusted in the magic in me and let it take over. I stepped forward, throwing a bolt of power in his direction. He again moved with ease, directing to the back of the room behind him and out of sight. The room buckled and groaned at the action. I was sure it would come down.
I moved again, this time the magic in me doubling my attack before I could stop it. While he moved on one and diverted it, he caught the other in his hand. I watched a streak of light run up his arm, across his chest and down the other arm. As it reached his fingertips, he clapped his hands together dispersing the power around us.
The pulse of energy filled the space and exploded, leaving deep cracks in the foundation where Damien stood. It spiderwebbed around him and ran up the walls in a spectacular show of lights.
I froze. I'd never seen anyone do anything like that. I wasn't sure anyone could.
He took a deep breath, settling something within him.
I swallowed as I watched him. "I need answers, Damien. I thought you would understand that."
He shook his head, finally opening his eyes to reveal their obsidian color. The veins around his absorbed the ichor and, for a moment, I was afraid he had exerted himself too much.
I left the throne room without another word preferring not to continue the fight with the person that was not my enemy.
As I left, going up the stairs to the main halls, I glanced up toward one of the hall mirrors and froze.
I tried to glamour my hair but nothing happened. It didn't change to the color I wanted.
My hair changed on its own somehow. It was no longer the silver color I'd slowly come to accept.
It was black.