Queen of the Underworld | Book 3

• two •

I watched the man that cowered on the floor of the room swarmed by half a dozen guards with their swords drawn. He had a thick collar around his neck with chains attached to it. The chains, I realized, were attached to the floor.

The Magister moved slightly, and he flinched when the collar grazed an untouched part of his skin.

He was being held by iron.

I wondered if the shackles on his wrists over his long sleeves in front of him were iron too.

It didn't need to touch his skin directly to have an impact on magic, I learned.

The Guard around him was unnecessary. He was harmless as he was now.

The eccentric old man from the Tower that I first met was gone.

He was replaced by a shell of a man. He looked much older than before with bags under his eyes and scars along his jaw and neck. He had been cleaned up. His face was clean. I could see his high cheekbones and sunken cheeks. His hair was groomed and his beard trimmed. He wasn't wearing the dirty clothes from before, instead, he wore a plain shirt and trousers.

Despite knowing he couldn't move from the shackles or fight the guards around him or even break through Asmo's magic which I felt around him weighing him down, I was shaking.

I was shaking from fear watching him.

It held me in place as I watched him. It made my heart pump and adrenaline push through me.

He had unbound me.

He orchestrated it with Robyn. Robyn, the man that tortured me and Damien. The man that executed the Light Fae leaving me as the last known one alive.

Panic gripped me and rooted me to the spot.

In my mind, I was back in that room at that party, where Azazeal killed fae at Robyn's command.

Something fast moved in the corner of my eye. When I turned, a large lioness appeared next to me and stalked to my front. She was full grown with a lithe, muscular frame, reaching my hip. The deep gold fur rippled in the filtering sunlight of the room as she paced in front of me. Her golden eyes caught mine quickly and I realized who she was.

Mehnit transformed into the large, regal lioness Rai, the Summer Queen, promised. She wasn't the small cat that would curl up on the bed next to me at night.

The guards around me didn't even flinch as Mehnit's growls emanated from deep in her throat and rolled through the room. Her small growls reverberated through me and, amazingly, relaxed me.

The only person that did flinch was the Magister.

He met my eyes briefly but lowered them immediately. He placed both of his shackled hands on the floor in front of him and moved to place his forehead between the two hands. He stopped immediately as he tugged by the short chains around his neck. He settled back on his folded legs as he sat on the floor.

I licked my dry lips. "We need to talk about your definition of a present, Asmo."

I felt him chuckle more than heard him.

I took my hand back from him and walked towards Mehnit, placing a hand on her back. The fur felt rough under my fingers. Mehnit didn't relax her posture and didn't stop glaring at the Magister as he knelt on the floor.

Mehnit moved closer to him, teeth bared.

Asmo spoke. "Alteaza, please ask Mehnit to stand down. I would hate for her to destroy your present before he speaks."

"No," I turned to Asmo. "If Mehnit feels the need to do this, I will not stop her."

He sighed in frustration. "If she rips him apart before he gets to speak, all my hard work will be for nothing. "