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I couldn’t identify the emotions swirling in my gut. She was my teammate, and we were connected by the tattoo, but she was also more. “I don’t know,” I whispered. “You can get with women, but I can’t get with men because of some weird, sexist double standard?” She scoffed at me like I was losing my mind. I agreed with her. I was.
I didn’t notice that she somehow looked both ferocious and cute pretending to be a rock star. Nope. I didn’t notice that at all.
“So,” I said conversationally, “how does it feel to be in love with and mated to the prettiest person in all the realms?” Ascher beamed. “Aw, I’ll tell Cobra you said that.”
Cobra glared at me. “You have a substance abuse problem.” I sucked harder, and my esophagus burned delightfully as the two substances mixed. I pointed out smartly, “Is it a problem or the solution?”
“In every species that has fated mates, the body knows before the mind does. I couldn’t take my snake back even if I wanted to. Our shadow snakes recognize our fated mate before we do. It left my flesh forever to live on hers so I’ll always know where she is and if she’s in danger. I’ll always be around to protect her.”
“Aran and I were talking to her, but then she said she was going to quote ‘jump Jax and Xerxes in public because they’re too private and need a little public ravaging.’”
“You’re welcome, Sadie,” I said to no one. Best. Wingwoman. Ever.
“No worries, sun god bless your family.” I gave the stranger a friendly salute. “May you all die young and never know the gods personally.”
I just wanted to give him a little platonic head pat. “Let us serve you sexually,” fake fae man number two said aggressively. We were on two different pages.
I’d found the answer to my problem. I just needed to get drunk to the point of complete incapacitation to enjoy sexual relations. Joy burst in my chest. Finally, a realistic solution.
“You aren’t my friend, father, or captain. Sun god, you’re barely a member of this team. Yet you think you can interfere with my personal life?” He took a step closer. His breath smelled like spice and demon brew as he said, “I never said you couldn’t call me Daddy.” My jaw dropped. Something told me I wasn’t the only drunk one.
A random man who thought he could touch what wasn’t his because she was famous. He thought he could put his dick near a queen. My hands shook with rage.
It should have been weird. It was the most erotic moment of my life. Or maybe I was just drunk?
Malum had kept asking me if I wanted to rest. He’d even offered to let me sit out of the runs so I could heal. Orion kept holding doors open for me, and Scorpius had stopped sneering at me and started sneering at people who bumped into me in the halls.
Across the field, angels smirked as they brandished ice swords,
Black wings spread across his chest, and a serpent trailed down his abs. A key, a skull, a pomegranate, a chariot, a mint plant, the moon, and a three-headed dog were scattered across his torso.
Ever since I’d revealed I was a woman, I’d been getting a lot of disturbing comments thrown my way. I was 99 percent sure that my teammates were sexually harassing me.
Sadie’s ruby eyes glowed against her golden skin. She looked like she was born from the eclipse.
He tackled him to the ground and flung the flame sword to the side, then Jax tore at the man with his claws. A menacing roar erupted from his chest. Jax shredded his skin with a vengeance. “Kill him!” Cobra screamed from the spectator section, and Ascher and Xerxes whistled and yelled in agreement.
“You’re the prettiest, most impressive woman in all the realms,” I whispered as I lost consciousness from blood loss. Sadie held me tightly and said, “I know.”
I was an idiot. Calling a man’s dick a weapon was the type of stupid shit Sadie babbled about happening in her romance books.
Even Sadie’s men were only friendly with me out of an obligation to their mate. I knew that. The twins had no obligation to be kind. Yet that was all they’d ever been.
“I’ve told him I’ve chosen my gynaíka.” John’s voice was full of emotion. “He’s freed me from my obligation.”
That pathetic girl who spoke to you has never had to wield a blade. She’s never taken a life. And yet she judges you for the speed at which you killed your own friend to save her worthless existence.”
Since I was too injured to lift, and Sadie liked to pretend to be a weak woman to get out of any manual labor, the two of us were jogging back and forth across the rocks near where the men trained.
I shook my head and closed my eyes. “We can’t. I have to stay in proximity to the kings.” Silence. My eyes shot open as I realized what I’d inadvertently revealed. Sadie’s catlike features seemed sharper as she asked softly, “Why can’t you leave their proximity, Aran?” I sighed. Pulled my pipe from my pocket and pressed it between my lips. I held both hands up in the air in the universal “calm down” gesture. “No need to freak out.” Sadie smiled. “Oh, I’m calm.”
That was the thing about my best friend. She was my opposite—sunshine and happiness, full of jokes and laughter. Until she wasn’t. Then she was death incarnate.
No one had broken Sadie’s weird blood mind control before. I was slightly worried that she was all-powerful. I mean, she was forged by the moon goddess herself for war.
“Really, are we sure we want to cover…” The future dead cunt named Sadie gestured with her hands toward my crotch. “All that?” Had she not disrespected me enough? Had she no mercy?
“Did she hurt you?” Scorpius sneered cruelly, and I blinked with confusion. Was he really asking me if Sadie had hurt me? My best friend.
Sadie made a heart with her hands and blew me a kiss as she disappeared back into the crowd of students. I watched her go for a long moment. Fear made my heart thump painfully in my chest. Steel eyes widened at the expression on my face. Malum made a strangled noise as he looked down at me. “I know I overreacted, but I don’t like how she—” I cut him off and said roughly, “My loyalties will always be to her.” I turned away from the kings and threw myself into the crowd.
“You’re a queen, Aran, and from what I’ve seen, you’re going to make a great one. You must learn to expect people to serve you. Own it. Don’t apologize.”
I saw stars from the pain. Ever been best friends with a dumbass? Same. A very humbling experience.
“Why,” Malum said roughly. “The fuck.” His teeth clashed together. “Is ‘WHORE’ carved into your back?” Crack. I opened my mouth and whispered my darkest secret aloud, “Mother did it. The night before I killed her.”
“She used to light me on fire. For fun. Just like you, Malum.”
We’d called her a slut. I ripped harder at my scalp because I couldn’t remember. Had we called her a whore? The bathroom door burst into flames as my Ignis ripped it off its hinges. Corvus lit her on fire, and we watched him do it.
We’d called her a whore. Shamed her for killing her mother. Made fun of her for being a prude and changing in the bathroom.
Suddenly it made so much sense why she’d disguised herself as a boy and hidden from her queendom. She didn’t kill for power; she’d killed for revenge. She wasn’t a pampered despot; she was an abused woman on the run. We’d never been so wrong about someone.
I smiled at her. “My name is Aran Alis Egan, and you’ve probably heard that I’m the Queen of the Fae Realm.” I paused. “That is false.” There were murmurs of confusion. The man on his knees before me whimpered, and I choked him harder to shut him up. “I’m not a queen.” I smiled. “I’m a dictator.”
No one moved. Everyone waited. I dug my spoon into a pile of mashed potatoes and brought it to my lips. After a couple bites, everyone started to eat, like they’d been waiting for my permission.
She delicately stuck out her hind leg and licked her privates. No one ever accused her of being classy.
If he was fire, then she was kerosene.
Just three days ago, he’d whispered to me at night a plan to kill every person in the fae palace who’d allowed her mother to hurt her. He’d told me he was starting to care for her. Now we were talking about staking her? He’d lost his mind.
“I don’t want to go to war.” I held her tighter. “Same, bitch.” “I’m too pretty for war,” she whined.
“People think we’re your mothers. Me and Aran?” Sadie asked incredulously. “They actually think the two of us created you?” If looks could kill, Jinx would have annihilated her on the spot.
Malum growled, “Why is she touching…” He trailed off as I arched my brow.
“She’s pretending to shoot you with a finger gun,” Orion whispered, and Scorpius snapped back, “I don’t need to know that.” I pretended to shoot him faster, with both hands as quickly as I could. “Now she’s shooting you rapidly,” Orion said. Scorpius’s eye twitched.
For once in my life, I wanted to be someone’s first choice. I was tired of fighting against people. I wanted people standing by my side.
“I’ll be your wife.”
Suddenly Sadie was squealing like a lunatic and hugging the three of us. “We’re all going to be one big family,” she wailed. John and Luka stiffened. “Don’t touch her. She’s ours, not yours,” John warned. Sadie and I laughed together.
