City of Fae

“I will take them all,” she hissed and plunged her poisoned fangs into his shoulder. A shudder rippled through her. She groaned, upper body arching with pleasure. His screams died almost immediately. She tore her fangs free, passed the body beneath her, and worked her back legs to cocoon her victim in silk while her hunter’s gaze scanned the fleeing crowd. “More … Yes.”


On my feet, palms itching around the dagger handles, I had to stop her. “Don’t do this.”

“Why ever not? I’ve waited long enough for my time in the light.” She laughed and scuttled forward. I veered ahead of her, blocking her path before she could drop off the stage into the thousands. Her monstrous body reared up, legs clicking. “Silly thing, you cannot stop me. You are a part of me. Get out of my way.”

“No.”

Disappointment showed on her hard face. “I did everything right, created every facet of you, and still you fail me.”

“Happy to disappoint, Mom.” I shoved off my back foot, denied fear its purchase, and ran right at her, where her horrible legs couldn’t sweep me back. She screamed, more from anger than fear I think, and scurried back, but not far enough. I slammed a dagger through her toughened outer carapace, cracking her shell, and plunged it deep inside. A slippery creamy substance spilled from the wound and loosened my grip. She screamed, jerked back, snatched the blade free of my hand, and roared. The sideswipe from her legs knocked mine out from under me. I fell; head, shoulder, and hip slamming into the stage. Her limb craned back over my head. I blinked, and rolled. She punched her leg through the stage where my head had been moments before, and screamed her rage as I scrambled away.

I still had one dagger remaining. I could do this. It wasn’t over yet. Do it for Reign. For Shay. For London.

Soft taps landed on my head, my shoulders. Spiders rained from above, and not just on the stage. The crowd, still trapped, surged and screamed as one. Spiders flowed from their webs and dangled like stalactites from the lighting gantry. People collapsed, trampled by the surging crowd. They were dying. Lives lost. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair.

“Stop this. Please,” I begged.

“They are food. Just food.” She tugged her leg free of the hole in the stage floor and hunched down, reaching for the dagger protruding from her underside. “We are superior. I did not deserve to be forgotten in this place. I am glorious.”

“You’re insane.”

A hideous maniacal grin cut into her face. She spilled off the stage, into the crowd. People scattered, desperate to get away. They clawed over one another, eyes wild. She rushed them, knocked some aside, snatched others to her chest, and tore into them.

I’d failed. They were all going to die. What had I expected? I’d failed everything since the moment she’d created me. Failed her, failed myself, failed Reign.

His body lay near the front of the stage. I scrambled down, over the fallen barriers, and dropped to my knees beside him. “Reign … No.” Scooping his head into my lap, I tried to ignore how pale he was, how his lips had grayed. Blood marred his face and matted his hair. His torn clothes hung awkwardly on his twisted body. If I ignored all that, he could have been sleeping. He couldn’t be dead. It wasn’t meant to be like this. I was the one running on borrowed time. I knew I was going to die, but Reign … He had tried to do the right thing. Surely that counted for something?

I wiped my thumb across his lips, sweeping off the blood. “She’s going to kill them all … She’s too strong. We didn’t stand a chance.” I pressed my hand to his cheek. The cool, clammy, touch of his skin told me it was too late, but I didn’t want to accept it. “I thought … I thought I could do something, make a difference, but Warren was right. I’m nothing. I’m not like you. I’m not even real. I can’t beat her.”

Tingles wormed beneath my palm, where I touched his face, and crept up my arm. The numbness I’d experienced during our brief touches wrapped pressure around my upper arm. My stomach rolled and every instinct screamed at me to let go. Dropping the dagger, I leaned over him, both hands clasped on his face, and let the numbness have me. “Take it, Reign. Use it … I give it freely, just please, please wake up. I can’t do this alone.”





Chapter Thirty


Screams volleyed around the arena, but their numbers waned. Broken bodies lay scattered among empty seats. Webs trailed and glided over doors, chairs, barriers. The queen fed somewhere. I could hear her legs clicking, weaving webs. And the rivers of spiders flowed.