“Welcome to the new Wild Court.” Wolf sipped his drink, attention straying to a nearby fairy whose wings had been set on fire. “Home to the female you refuse to claim.”
Wolf tossed back the rest of his cocktail, then threw the glass against the wall, smiling as a courtier cursed him.
“If you think Lennox will treat her any differently just because he wanted her back, you really are a dumb fuck.” He twisted, dropping a mockery of a bow. “Your Highness.”
“She’s Fae.”
“Do you think he cares?” Wolf asked quietly. “Lennox wanted the necklace first. Camilla second. And only because Prim Róis kidnapped her. Do you think he’ll be kind to the daughter who refused to come home? Look around, Your Highness, does it seem like Lennox likes mortals? Like he would appreciate one of his heirs defying him for them? You were in Waverly Green for a time… notice anything familiar?”
A sick feeling gripped Envy. Lennox had targeted the city Camilla loved.
“How long.” Envy didn’t ask so much as demand.
“The mortals?” Wolf paused. “I thought you would have pieced it together.”
“I’ve had a lot on my mind,” Envy snapped. He still hadn’t fully healed from his torture. His power needed to be replenished and he needed to get the fuck out of this court to save his demons before he couldn’t get out. “Is he only taking from Waverly Green?”
Wolf glanced around, lowering his voice.
“For now.”
“And how is he doing it?”
“Now that he’s brought Camilla back, he’s somehow been able to open a new portal. By uniting her locket with a key.”
“The portal key.”
Envy’s mind spun. The game had never been about him at all.
“What does the portal do?”
Wolf waved at the scene around them. “It lets Lennox come and go in the mortal realm whenever he pleases. Specifically, from the dark market. All these humans?” He scanned the room again. “They’re only the beginning of Lennox’s new nightmare court. This is what he brought tonight, a lesson for Camilla. Imagine a week from now, a month. We are outside the Seven Circles here. Our wards legendary. Even your king cannot breach this territory if Lennox doesn’t will him to.”
“It needs to stop. My brothers won’t let it stand.”
“But you will?” Wolf studied him for a long moment. “Better not keep the king waiting.”
A fight broke out behind Wolf, and Envy saw his mask return. With a look of puckish delight, he howled and flung himself into the fray, biting and snarling and punching his way through the growing madness.
Envy watched impassively, the brawlers giving him a wide berth. Even the most rabid Unseelie sensed the menace radiating from him.
The Wild Court wasn’t Envy’s problem to solve. He had his own court to mend. And yet… these weren’t all strangers. They were humans he’d come to know, even briefly, while he’d been in Waverly Green. They’d come to his estate, danced at his ball.
And this torture was beyond any Fae amusement.
He could not imagine what Camilla would feel when she saw it. Hoped she was somewhere far away.
Envy pushed through the fight that had grown to two dozen Fae, heading toward the throne. Wolf was correct about one thing: Camilla was in many ways more mortal than Fae.
Surely the king would not subject his own daughter to this?
Envy hadn’t even posed the question to himself before he knew the answer.
His steps faltered as he took in the horrific sight next to the throne.
There, dressed in Envy’s colors, hung proof of what Wolf had said about the Unseelie King. Lennox would make Camilla pay for denying him.
Was making her pay.
Envy’s freshly regenerated heart thudded painfully, his need to protect urging him forward. But he had to plot his next move carefully.
This scene might have been designed to prey on Envy’s reaction to seeing Camilla trapped in a cage a dozen feet off the ground.
Or it might just be a punishment the Unseelie King doled out to a defiant child. Maybe this was his way of breaking Camilla’s will.
Nothing would surprise Envy when it came to Lennox and his manipulations. He took in her prison, noting with horror that it was much worse than he’d thought at first glance.
The birdcage was strung up over a fire, the flames licking greedily at the metal floor, heating it to an angry, orange-red hue. Inside, Camilla had been chained by iron handcuffs to the cage’s center pole.
Envy stared at the welts forming on her skin, at the smoke curling around her shoes. The metal floor must be unbearably hot, but Camilla stared out defiantly, silver eyes blazing star-bright, jaw locked. Like she refused to allow one tear to fall, to show one ounce of pain, to spite her father.
Envy went still, the full scope of what Lennox had done sinking in.
Unlike a human who would eventually succumb to the torture, Camilla’s immortality wouldn’t let her die. She would be tortured nightly, over and over until the king eventually tired and found a new game to play.
How many of the friends and acquaintances she’d made over the years would he parade past her during that time? All because she’d chosen a life for herself.
Envy now stood before the throne.
“Lennox.”
The Unseelie King’s head swiveled, his dark eyes glassy and unfocused. The chaos and fighting were fueling his power so much he was drunk on it.
“Shame you didn’t bring any other mortals,” the king slurred. “That last one amused. Greatly. The things she liked to do with her mouth… well, I’m sure you remember.”
Envy kept his attention on Lennox, made sure he didn’t glance in Camilla’s direction. His mask would slip if he did.
“Give me the chalice.”
Lennox sat forward. “That’s not all you want, though, is it? You want my daughter.”
Lennox was prying, testing. Envy threw a wall up around his emotions.
“Already had her. I don’t do repeats.”
One side of Lennox’s mouth curled up. “Interesting.”
He flicked his attention to where Camilla was trapped in the cage; Lennox was trying to force Envy to follow his gaze. He didn’t.
Lennox eyed him again, looking bored. Envy was no longer the most amusing creature in this room.
“Perhaps you and I are more alike than previously thought. I, too, believe in rules. A win is a win. Here’s your prize.”
They were not alike at all.
The king held up the Chalice of Memoria. The gold glinted in the moonlight, the runes stark as tattoos. Magic hummed from it, like sound from a struck tuning fork, almost lost in the cacophony behind them.
Lennox didn’t move from where he sat on his throne, forcing Envy to take the two steps up to him.
He felt Camilla’s gaze on him, would know the feel of it anywhere.
He did not succumb to the temptation to drive his House dagger through the Fae. At least not yet.
Envy gently wrapped his fingers around the chalice, the magic flaring when it recognized its owner. It had taken centuries, but he’d finally be able to save his court. Envy’s grip on it tightened, and the Unseelie King let it go, that mocking smirk still fixed to his face.