Fae Monarchs Spin Off Story

Chapter Four

In a room near the royal chambers, my father slammed his fist down onto the stretched table where he planned his wars. Each monarch before him had used this private library for such delectable purposes. In one day, it would be mine.

All of it will be mine, I smirked.

There were maps spread out in the center of the table. Endless shelves of musty books circled the wall, rising high into the spiral ceiling.

"Why are you so pleased?" He shouted, his gravel filled voice swelled in the massive room.

"What would you rather me do? Plan a war this instant?" I lurched forward, palms banging the golden wood.

"I'd rather you not fuck the Summer Prince into oblivion where a servant can see you. Your mother didn't raise a whore."

He expected a reaction from me, his onyx eyes hardening. The Winter humming in my veins begged me to spear his chest. But instead, I straightened my posture and fixed him with a steel gaze that promised violence.

"You'd do well to mind your tongue, father. Otherwise, you will find yourself without one when I am Queen." The venomous words dripped from glazed lips. A thin sheet of ice glossed over them.

My mother hovering at one of the book shelves, perusing the ancient texts, inclined her head. A light of humor danced in her eyes.

The King gnashed his teeth.

"You fear I will become weak allowing him to entertain my bed. Did you ever stop to consider this to be a tactic? My body belongs to Winter. Not the Summer Prince."

Sleeping with Keegan wasn't a war strategy, but he didn't need to know that little detail.

"I don't take you for weak, Renata. Just naive. Women lead with their hearts, not their heads."

My mother snapped her book shut. Fury draped around her in a dark cloud.

"Let me make this clear, I will do whatever I feel is best for our people. If you don't like my decisions, you are more than welcome to petition Ash to join the Shadow Court. I have no doubt he'd be most pleased to welcome a former Winter King into his court." With that sharp insult, I flung the long train of my impressive gown behind me and strutted haughtily from his presence. My hips sashayed with purpose.

He would not shake me. Not today. Keegan's coronation was in a few hours and I was eager to travel to the Summer lands to support him.

Weeks had passed since our fight. Both he and Remi were recalled back to their court right after that day. We had nothing but private courier letters to connect us. Keegan's were short, but passionate. Remi's long letters in curved, elegant handwriting read like poetry as he wrote of his days like I was his personal diary. I didn't feel like I was home without them at my side.

On the other side of the door, Taerlissyss' sheepish face greeted me. I sighed in relief, taking her arm and fleeing down the hall. The female dradrikiin, dragon kin, was one of the few people I trusted. Her shockingly bright magenta hair danced upon her dark sunkissed skin as she kept up with my pace.

"How much did you hear?"

"Enough." She winked a yellow repitilian eye. Patches of iridescent scales glimmered on her face and arms. Purple feathers were layered underneath her magenta hair.

"Petravina Hedda!" We slid to a stop at the sound of Dahlia's violence loving voice. I would know it anywhere.

Lissyss let out a supernatural growl. "I'll meet you in the keep." She disappeared before my eyes. Teleportation must be nice.