I snapped my fangs at him. “We hold our own.”
“Barely.”
“So light it up for me. Convince me to at leastentertainthe idea of trusting you. Why did you kill my grandfather?” I adjusted my position so that I stood directly in front of him. He was easily a foot and a half taller than me, so I had to tilt my head back. “You were his faithful general, no? If you betrayed him, it wouldn’t seem that out of character for you to do the same to me once you get what you want—whatever that is.”
He pondered me for a long moment. “I want to go home.”
“Home,” I repeated and thought about the murals here and in all the Fae fortresses left behind.
“Yes.” He flashed his teeth at me. “The one your grandfather cost us because he refused to listen to me and allied himself with those traitorous Unseelie Princes. He’s the reason we ended up here in this fucking prison.”
Prison. That’s why this place was like one of the hells the Fae poetry sometimes alluded to. It was a punishment—for the Fae.
“Why were the humans brought here? Were they part of the rebellion?”
It was Erendriel’s turn to scoff. “We were hardly going to grow our own crops or scrub our own floors.”
“Of course not.” I gave him a flat look.
His gaze hardened. “Don’t think your grandfather was some hero to the humans. His father had been a good and strong king; he was the only reason I served Lachlan for as long as I did, but Eirac would have been disgusted to learn his only son made a bargain with the Unseelie and lost everything because of it. I did your family a favor by removing Lachlan from the throne.”
“Sure,” I said smoothly. “Absolutely nothing about it was self-serving at all,KingErendriel.”
His mouth tightened. “You have no idea what it was like where we came from. How the Fae were treated. We were fighting for a better world—I still am fighting for a better world.”
I really wanted to know more about the world outside Lunaria, but I was sitting on a treasure trove of information. Sure, it might be biased, but so was Erendriel, and he’d already given me quite a bit of information in the last ten minutes.
Amateur.
“And whose neck will you step on for your better world?” I drawled. “Or were you planning on taking all of the Moon Blessed with you?”
A faint sneer that he tried and failed to hide trembled across his lips.
I shook my head with a laugh. “Chil muréd.” Get fucked.
The last of Erendriel’s control snapped as he slammed his palms against the stone, and even through the ward, I felt the power of his magic ripple forth as the ground shifted slightly beneath my feet.
“You’ve only survived this long because my attention has been elsewhere.” He snarled. “When I leave this place—and I will leave Lunaria—I will take you with me as my queen.” His fingers danced across the invisible boundary. “If you ask me nicely, I might even let you bring my ungrateful son and whatever other lovers you want to slum it with. I’m only interested in your bloodline, not your cunt.”
I rolled my eyes. Did he think crude insults were going to get a rise out of me? Vail and Alaric had already had that covered for the lastdecade. Maybe I should suggest he take lessons from them too?
“As fun as this chat has been”—I tapped my claws against the stone—“I’m starting to feel a bit bored. What specifically are you proposing? I’m not any more interested in your cock than you are in my cunt. My lovers have been keeping meverysatisfied, and I’ll definitely be adding a few more mate bonds in the future.”
“You should be begging to be my queen.” Erendriel’s mouth twisted in distaste.
“The only thing I beg for is Kieran’s co?—”
“There are more hidden spaces like this throughout Lunaria,” he cut me off, clearly annoyed that I did dirty talk way better than he. “If we form a mating bond, I’m confident it will give me access to them.”
“To do what exactly?” I arched a brow. “The knowledge within these walls is useful to me, but you likely know all of it already.”
He went still for a moment. “Agree to work with me, and I’ll tell you.”
“I’ll think about it.” I blew him a kiss and turned to walk back down the stairs.
“My patience only goes so far, Samara,” he warned. “You don’t want to find out what happens if I set my sights on you as an enemy.”
“Likewise, usurper.” I glanced over my shoulder, pulling on my bloodlust hard enough to let my eyes bleed black. “You asked me if the moon calls to me? She does.Weare her beloved monsters. Lunaria might be the prison you were forced into, but it’s the fire that forged us.”
