A Throne of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales – B&tB Book 2)

I woke before dawn, shivering from the cold. My blankets were still wrapped around me, but the furnace that was Nyfain was absent.

I frowned, glancing at the somewhat lightening sky, black shifting to a bruised purple. He definitely should’ve been back from his rounds by now.

A deep, soul-crushing misery radiated through the bond. Pain, but not of the physical variety. This was of the heart.

I threw back the covers and lit a candle, intending to go to my wardrobe and dress, but before I made it more than a couple of steps, a light knock sounded at the door. I paused, listening.

“It’s just me, milady,” Leala said in a somber voice, not usual for her.

With shaking hands, I turned over the lock and pulled open the door. She held hangers in both hands, additional clothes for me. Her expression was tight with worry.

“Good morning, milady,” she said, waiting for me to get out of the way and let her in as normal.

“What’s happened? What’s going on?”

She set the clothes on the bed and pulled open the wardrobe before starting to rearrange everything.

“We have a new visitor in the castle,” she said in clipped tones. “The demon king has come for an inspection, as he does. The master ran into him last night in the wood.”

Cold dripped down my spine. Suddenly, the emotions through the bond made a lot more sense.

I raised my chin. We couldn’t both go to pieces.

“And what usually happens when he comes?” I asked as she put the new clothes away, leaving out a dress. “And what is this?”

“The master thought it would be best if you tried to blend in with the servants. At least at first. You’ll be subject to more ill treatment from the demon minions, but at least you won’t have the eyes of the demon king on you.”

I contemplated that for a moment. Getting one’s bearings was certainly a good strategy in response to a new threat. But with some things, like hunting wild boar, you could have your bearings and still the fuckers managed to blindside you. I had a feeling the demon king would be very like a wild boar: cunning, ruthless, and dangerous.

“Give me Nyfain’s old clothes.”

Unlike many, I’d never shied away from hunting wild boar, bastards though they were.

She turned around slowly, alarm on her face.

“Nyfain’s old clothes, Leala. The more ill-fitting, the better. I’ll do my own hair, too. I want to feel like myself, and I was always a hot mess before Nyfain polished me up. I’ll wear the dagger, too. The fine one. It works better.”

“I really don’t advise you to start any trouble with him, milady. He isn’t like the normal demons here. He is much more powerful.”

“I’m not the one starting trouble. I’m not the one who showed up uninvited and lorded over someone else’s kingdom, causing death and ruin. Fuck that guy. If he wants to come after me, then he gets what he gets. I’ve never backed down from anyone in my life. I do not intend to start now.”

After breakfast, I made my way to the queen’s garden as the sun crested the horizon. I took my usual route around the grounds, noticing a distinct lack of bird calls. The Forbidden Wood waited in the distance, still and dark and full of monsters.

Nearly at the garden wall, I noticed a shape standing off to the side. A male, judging by the width of his shoulders and slim hips. He stood straight and stoic, his build wiry and height on the shorter side, compared to my six feet, anyway. It didn’t take long for his gaze to swing my way, rooting to me and watching me advance.

I’d never seen him before, but his funky smell gave him away. A demon, quite strong in power. I guessed these bastards weren’t fully contained by the night.

Kill him, my animal snarled.

It would be a fine hello.

He wore a black button-up shirt with the arms buttoned tightly at the wrists and around the neck. His black slacks were pleated beneath the black belt. His black shoes had been polished up to a mirror shine, and his bleach-blond hair in a bowl cut just confused me.

He angled his body so that he was directly facing me now, waiting for me to draw near. As I did, he sidestepped so that he was standing directly in my way.

“What are you doing out here, wandering the grounds?” he asked in a highish voice with a strange lilt.

“Looking for you, actually. I was hoping for some fashion advice. My goal is to confuse everyone while also making them pity me. This is my start…” I flowed my hand down my front. “And I can only assume you’ll be my finish. Nice pleats.”

“You smell…off.”

“You look ridiculous.”

His eyebrows dipped. “Is this your pathetic means of rebelling?” Claws elongated from his fingers, shiny black things. I got the feeling he meant it as a threat.

My animal took it as an invitation.

I drifted my hand toward my dagger, careful to keep her far enough down that my eyes wouldn’t glow. I wanted his death to be a surprise.

“Rebelling?” I said nonchalantly. “Kind of like what you’re doing with that hair? The demon king must have a sense of humor.”

“Your kind are to remain in the castle until the king can assess who is left.”

Who is left…

My animal tried to rise to the surface on my sudden blaze of fury, but I held her down. He hadn’t made a move on me yet. I would kill in self-defense, and only then. For now…

“Why does he care?” I asked, flexing the hand near my dagger.

The demon tilted his head. “My patience is wearing thin, girl. His prolonged absence does not mean he has become any more merciful. Take note, or become one less member of this castle.”

That was definitely a threat.

Kill him! my animal roared. She struggled against my hold.

Not until he attacks!

“Be a lamb and let him know that I’m in the garden, would you? I couldn’t be bothered to send a note.”

I walked past him at an angle, giving off an air of arrogance carefully calculated to incite him. My distance away accounted for my height, and therefore my arm span, putting him at a disadvantage. The second my shoulder was even with his, he struck out, just as I’d known he would.

He was fast, but I’d been training with Nyfain for months. This demon didn’t have anything on the dragon prince.

I stepped to the side at an angle, grabbing for his reaching hand, and yanked him to me. Wrapping my arms around his neck in a sideways hug, I grabbed his chin and near his temple, and wrenched at an angle. His neck cracked, and his arms went limp.

“Yeah. I became a master at neck snapping, fucker. Now what?”

Pulling my animal closer to the surface so I could use her strength, I draped the dead demon over my shoulder and jogged toward the wood not infested by demons.

I’d read just about every book on shifters in the library by this point, and had pieced together some very interesting takeaways. Once a person could properly shift and establish a working bond with their animal, they always had access to the animal’s primal attributes. They’d always be strong and agile, have a great sense of smell, and see in the dark (in a black, white, and yellow color spectrum). That was why Nyfain didn’t have to pull and push as much with his dragon. He could use some of the dragon’s abilities without asking.

I still hadn’t shifted, though. The books referred to me as a “restrained shifter”—a person who could feel their animal, even establish a sort of working relationship with them, but still could not shift. Some people, for whatever reason, were never able to shift, although it was rare as a natural occurrence.

Of course, it was even less common for a shifter to be utterly suppressed…which cast a stark light on the kingdom’s situation. Most of the people around us couldn’t even feel their animals, let alone speak with them.

It was possible for a strong alpha to pull a suppressed animal from a person. Once that animal was pulled free, it should remain accessible. That didn’t mean the person could shift, especially if it was a genetic issue, but they could try. Often, it worked.

Nyfain and I could pull animals from the shifters around us, and often did by accident when we riled each other up. But we couldn’t get their animals to stay. The magic of the curse punched them back into suppression.

Another interesting tidbit—the demon king was known for his ability to suppress shifters’ animals. Yes, I’d read up on him, too. It was amazing the things a person could learn in a well-stocked library. The demon king was a wily cunt, apparently.

By himself, he had a certain level of power, like anyone. Quite a lot, obviously, since he was a king, but not unstoppable. His true power, though, came from making deals. When he made a deal, he could combine his and the other party’s power to bring that deal to fruition. It was why he was able to trap an entire kingdom—he used his power plus that of the mad king, who had a lot of power in his own right, to lay down the deal, or curse, in this case.

Being a wily cunt, the demon king excelled at trickery within those deals. The mad king likely asked for one thing, but through the negotiation period, the demon king twisted the terms, worked on the king’s confusion and apparent health issues, and created a final deal that worked heavily in his favor. The mad king had been outmaneuvered. Horribly.

I got the impression that was a demon king’s claim to fame. They might not be the most powerful king in the world, but they were often the most cunning. We were up against a strategist.

I suddenly wondered what happened to the kingdoms that had disappeared over time. Was it just the natural evolution of their kingdoms, or had they been trapped in the same way we were? Were some of them still out there, struggling to hang on?

In our case, and in the case of any shifters, here was the kicker. Breaking the curse wouldn’t automatically un-suppress all the animals. Once the curse was broken, the alpha would have to visit each person and pull their animal free. And while that wasn’t the end of the world, things got dire when the demon king planned to invade the second the curse was lifted. There would be no time to free the animals before war was upon the kingdom.

Definitely a wily cunt. It would not only take courage to take him on, but a damn good long-term plan.

When I was good and deep in the wood, I just chucked the body. I doubted they’d comb the wood that wasn’t already festering with their magic. And if they caught his scent and followed it here? Well…he started it.

The guys didn’t turn up in the garden as they usually did. When the morning started to wane, I felt a blast of panic through the bond. Nyfain was not having a very good day. Not long afterward, I heard the sliding glass door open behind me. Relief washed through the bond, and then I was in Nyfain’s arms, squeezed within an inch of my life. He breathed me in, and then tensed.

“Why do you smell like a demon, Finley?” he asked slowly.

Possessiveness rang through his tone. I grinned, closing my eyes within his embrace.

“I hugged one, that’s why. Well…I danced with him first, then I hugged him. Then we went for a walk in the woods. Oh, and I adjusted his neck. He had an awful kink in it. Or at least he did when I was finished.”

He pulled me away and searched my eyes. His snort of annoyance dusted my face before he pulled me in closely again.

“Don’t antagonize them, princess. They’ll kill you for it.”

“I didn’t antagonize him. I killed him. Well…yes, okay, I did antagonize him first, but you should’ve seen his whole setup.”

He blew out a breath and kissed my forehead. “I see you decided to stand out rather than fit in.”

“I decided to be me, and I’m weird. Ask anyone from my village. It’s one thing to play dress-up while roaming the castle and working in the villages, but it’s another when I need to think on my feet and stay alive. I can’t focus when I have you for protection. I need to remember what it’s like to stand on my own.”

He looked down at me as he ran his thumb along my jaw. “For some fucking reason, the dragon approves of that speech.”

“And you don’t.”

“No. It is my job to protect you. It’s my entire duty as your—”

He cut off.

I patted his chest. “Exactly. You’re not my mate, and you haven’t claimed me. I’ve given you plenty of opportunities, but you’ve held back because you were preparing for this moment. So let me have my moment.”

I turned back to the garden. In a moment, he followed me to the rosebushes.

“What are you doing?” I asked, startled.

“Helping you. We need to stay away from the everlass while the demon king is here. If he knows how we’re making the elixir, he’ll torch all the fields.”

“What does he get out of controlling our kingdom, anyway?”

“When I die, he’ll have access to our gold reserves, our gold mine, and the extensive crown jewels. He’ll be able to take what he wants. People, too, I guess. It’s been said that he makes prizes of the people who got the short end of the stick on one of his deals.”

“What did the mad king give him to lay the curse?”

“Coin, I think. He was a damned fool. He paid the demon king to essentially set us up. My father was proud, though. We were a wealthy kingdom with desirable commodities to trade. In my father’s heyday, he was heralded as a shrewd trader. He would always walk away with the better end of any deal. I’m sure he brought that arrogance into his negotiations with the demon king. He was clearly thinking like a man in his prime, when in fact he was a man teetering on the edge. He was already unhinged, but then I’d severely disappointed him, and his wife died. Given his health, he probably realized his ability to produce a new heir was fleeting. Without an heir, he feared losing control of his kingdom. Of his status and his legacy. It clearly made him desperate. He was not in his right mind, and not just because of the possible brain fever. The demon king obviously preyed upon that.”

“But he can’t kill you until the curse is lifted.”

“Correct. He can’t. Others can. His beasts could, if they were able. But he personally cannot.”

“And you realize the shifters’ animals won’t automatically be unsuppressed once the curse is lifted?”

“Give a smart woman a library and then stand back,” he said softly, and pride glowed through the bond. “I do know that, yes. And I knew you’d figure it out when I saw that book in your room. I can’t say more. I’m toeing the line as it is. With your help, I’ve been able to access more power, but it won’t be enough to save me from the full brunt of the magical gag.”

That was why the demon king would try to kill him immediately. If he managed it before Nyfain helped the other shifters, their animals would stay suppressed, and our people wouldn’t be able to fight back when he swooped in to steal our riches.

I let out a breath and refused to let my confidence wobble. I refused to let the prickle of tears in my eyes manifest. The future did look bleak, but it always had, hadn’t it? The sickness had been bleak, but I’d set out to cure my father, and ended up curing the kingdom. My will was strong. It was stronger than anything the demon king could throw at me. I would see this kingdom saved—I just had to figure out how.

“Well, fuck.” I stood back and looked at my handiwork. The last of the roses had been restored to loveliness. It was a mistake to call them docile, though. Or tamed. As pretty as they were, those barbs could still draw blood.

“So if we can’t work the everlass, or cure people, or fight…what do we do?” I asked.

“Take a day off, I guess. None of his creatures will be in the wood while he is here.”

“In that case, which would you rather do? Dance or read?”

“You shouldn’t be seen with me, Finley.”

“Nyfain, give me a break. He’s going to smell you on me. He’s going to hear about me from the demons in the castle. I’m sure the demons in the villages have heard about me, too. How long do you suspect I’ll remain a mystery? I’m wearing your clothes, for fuck’s sake.”

He was silent for a moment. “Well, in that case, dance and then read?”

In the late afternoon, Nyfain and I lay on the lounger in the library. I was between his legs and curled up on his chest with a book, and he had his arms wrapped around me, reading with his cheek pressed to my head. It had actually been an incredibly lovely, restful day. For the first time since I’d come to the castle, we didn’t need to worry about doing nothing at all. We’d danced, I’d listened to him play the piano and sing, and for the last couple hours we’d cuddled and read.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t totally relax. His dragon was apparently going absolutely crazy. The threat to his territory, and to me, had riled him up something awful. The only thing that seemed to soothe him was my presence and touch. I was happy to provide it.

“What do you think, should we go find something to eat?” Nyfain asked, dropping his book to his chest while he wrapped his other hand around me.

I held up a finger. I was almost done with the chapter.

He waited patiently and softly kissed my head.

When I finished, I looked up at him and smiled. “Go and get it, or have Leala or Urien bring it to us?”

Urien was his valet. He was mostly a ghost until he was needed. I literally never saw him until the second Nyfain had a need. It was eerie. He was hiding from the demons, of course, trying to stay alive. It must’ve been a long sixteen years for him, more so than anyone else.

“I’ll need to show my face around the castle, but I can do that tomorrow. We can have it brought to the tower.”

“Who do you need to show your face to, your people or the demons?”

“The demons. They get haughty and destructive if I don’t put them in their place. It helps my people.” He murmured, “What’s left of them.”

I tilted my face up so he could kiss my lips.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” we heard. The voice was flat and bland, even in its attempt to be musical.

Nyfain tensed, and power created a vicious cloud of intent around us. His fingers dug into me for a second, but then he rose beneath me, getting me to sit up.

“You stay here,” he whispered, standing and pulling his leg from the other side of the lounger. “Don’t speak.”

He kept his book in hand and exited from around the tapestry. I scooted up so I could see, looking between the tapestry and the plant, all but a bit of me hidden.

A…man-thing waited just inside the double doors of the library. Two horns lightly curved into the sky from his forehead, about one foot tall. Their color gradually changed from sky-blue to an indigo that matched his skin. His ears stuck out a bit to the sides, changing from the blue of his face to a chartreuse at the painted tips. His thin face ended in a pointy chin, and his nose took up a bit too much real estate. His long hair draped down his shoulders, over the high-collared black duster he wore. He had on a black button-up underneath, tucked into pleated pants, just like the guy acting as fertilizer in the woods.

“Ah. There you are,” he said, turning toward an approaching Nyfain.

Nyfain cut through the library like a predator sizing up his prey. His sleek, graceful movements screamed his fighting prowess, and his height and broad shoulders absolutely dwarfed the much smaller demon. Despite wearing a worn-in white T-shirt and old jeans, he radiated power, prestige, and authority. It was clear who owned this library and the soil beneath it, regardless of who currently managed it.

“Nyfain.” The creature clasped his fingers in front of his body. “I’ve missed you today. I haven’t seen you skulking around, trying to intimidate my people with your presence.”

“There’ll be plenty of time tomorrow,” Nyfain said, his deep, rough voice crackling with menace.

“So there will.” The man-thing leaned forward just a bit, but I could tell it was for show. It was all too evident that he didn’t want to close the distance separating them. “What is that horrible smell draping you, Nyfain?”

Fear and frustration rolled through the bond. Followed by rage. That smell was obviously me. What a dick.

“And…look at this…” The man-thing must’ve forgotten himself, because he reached forward to pluck something off Nyfain’s chest. Possibly one of my hairs.

Nyfain snatched the man-thing’s wrist out of the air and wrenched it wide, bending him to the side as if he were nothing. The man-thing tensed, and the air crackled with electricity and magic, sputtering and spitting between them. Pain rolled through the bond, and my animal roiled within me, desperate to help Nyfain. She shoved power to his dragon, drawing and readying more, and the pain lessened.

The two men held each other’s gazes.

“If you kill me, the deal is forfeit and your kingdom will die with me,” the man-thing gritted out, clearly under pressure.

I pushed a little closer to the plant. This was the demon king!

Nyfain just stared for one more beat before releasing the demon king’s wrist. The last of the pain cut off.

“You know better than to touch me, Dolion,” Nyfain said, and the violence in his tone made my small hairs stand on end. He was a scary fucking bastard when he wanted to be. I doubted Dolion had known what he was getting himself into, tying a chain around that big dragon’s ankle.

“Where is she?” Dolion asked, adjusting his duster. Although he was trying to pretend otherwise, their little standoff had rattled him.

Nyfain didn’t answer.

“I can make you tell me,” Dolion said, electricity crackling again.

Agony throbbed through the bond, but if I hadn’t felt it myself, I would’ve never known Nyfain was under strain. He stood straight and tall, his shoulders squared and his arms loose, ready to grapple or just walk away. There was no telling.

His pain intensified, blasting through the bond. His fists clenched, pushing back. Refusing to yield. At this rate, he’d black out. Clearly he’d rather do that than give me away, as if a standoff today would somehow protect me tomorrow.

I rose from the lounger and walked around the tapestry as though I didn’t have the first idea what was going on. I held my book with my thumb stuck within the pages to hold my place.

“Oh, hello,” I said, closing the distance. Nyfain’s physical pain lessened somewhat, but his emotional pain more than compensated for it. I ignored it. He was the one who’d always encouraged me to hitch a ride out of here with the demon king. It was time to face the music. “I didn’t realize the circus was in town. Which clown are you supposed to be?”

Dolion took me in, his gaze lingering on my face, drifting over my body, and my clothes.

“My goodness, Nyfain. You certainly found yourself a pretty one. I’d have her draped all over me as well—”

Nyfain moved so fast that Dolion and I both jumped. He wrapped his fingers around the demon king’s throat and bared his teeth, his rage blistering through the bond. He squeezed and lifted, forcing Dolion to grab his wrist and hold on for dear life.

“Whoopsie.” I placed my hand on Nyfain’s forearm. “Dolion, is it?” I patted Nyfain. “You shouldn’t rile up a dragon. Now you know. Nyfain, put him down before he pisses himself all over the floor.”

Nyfain shook, pain blasting through him from the magical hold the demon king had on him. He opened his hand and let the bastard fall to the floor.

Dolion picked himself up and snapped down his duster, angry and probably embarrassed. “For a dragon who usually claims to love his servants, you’re not too worried about seeing a few go tonight, are you?”

“You kill his, I’ll kill yours,” I said without thinking.

His red-tinged eyes flicked my way.

“You really are hard to look at,” I said, squinting at him. “Can’t you change form? It would really help everyone else out if you would. I’m not kidding.”

“And what a mouth she has on her,” Dolion said.

I held up a finger. “Don’t make a face-fucking joke. I can already see the bruises forming from the last little slip of the tongue.”

His eyes narrowed slightly. “Hmm. Maybe you won’t be so bold when you don’t have your bodyguard to protect you.”

I shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“I’ve heard Nyfain has kept you to himself these last months. Locked in a tower? How cliché.”

“Certainly not as cliché as that stupid duster you’re wearing. It does not help the situation with those pleats in the least.”

“Be careful, little girl…” His eyes flicked to Nyfain, then back to me. “I am not one to be trifled with. You will walk the castle tonight, without your dragon by your side. You will wear something slinky and revealing.”

Nyfain tensed up, and I could tell he was holding his breath, trying not to explode.

Dolion continued, “And when the time inevitably comes for you to succumb to the erotic magic circling you, you will moan with pleasure like a whore.”

I laughed. “You had me, and then you lost me. Moan with pleasure like a whore? Do you honestly think sex workers feel any sort of pleasure from deadbeat Johns rutting at them like some pig? No, they are bored as fuck and just waiting for him to finish. Probably like all the people you bang. Get your insults straight, you slack-jawed cumgoblin. But sure, I’ll show up tonight without Nyfain. I’ll choose my own outfit, but I’ll show up. How about a little wager? I hear you’re into that sort of thing.”

Nothing in his expression changed, but his eyes lit up. He did love a wager.

“If any of your minions touch me without consent,” I said, “I get to kill them. No questions asked, no risk of punishment.”

“What if you can’t kill them?”

“Right, fine. If any of your minions touch me without consent, I get to try to kill them. No questions asked, no risk of punishment.”

“You can try to kill them. For tonight only.”

“As part of our wager, yes, for tonight only. Which is not to say I won’t continue to target them as an ongoing joy of my life.”

He studied me again. “And what do I get?”

“What do you want?”

Nyfain stiffened.

“Compliance from the dragon,” Dolion replied.

“Yeah, right. Like I have that sort of power. Not to mention it’s much too broad. Try again.”

I’d been burned a time or two in my life, and when a girl with nothing gets burned, the lesson sinks in deep.

Dolion’s lips curled at the corners. Sharp teeth peeked out. “The dragon doesn’t physically touch me during my stay.”

Wow, he was wary of Nyfain, that was for sure. Imagine if Nyfain had been allowed to assume a throne on his own terms? He would’ve easily dominated the demon king—and his own father. His father had to have known it, which was why he’d gone to extreme measures to ensure he had an heir and not a rival. Now here Nyfain sat on a throne of ruin. What a shitty thing his father had done to him.

“Are you thick?” I spat. “Do you only do deals with mad kings? I don’t have any sort of power over the dragon. None. Zero.”

“But I think you do. He hasn’t spoken once since you walked up. He is deferring to you, which means he greatly respects you and honors your place at his side. Dragons are incredibly loyal.”

“You’re going to stand in a ruined kingdom and claim the guy who got us into this mess was loyal? You’re a fucking idiot, and you’re wasting my time.”

I moved to walk around him and toward the door.

The mad king might’ve thought he was good at bartering, but he was the same sort of shrewd and cunning as the demon king. They spoke the same language. That sort of competition was not about playing the game—it was about playing the man.

Enter me. I was a shit barterer. Absolute crap. I didn’t like to cheat people. It wasn’t a game to me. I wanted everyone to walk away feeling like they got a fair trade. It was why I’d gotten the short end of the stick a few too many times. I was also common. I had no wealth, no power, no social standing, and no knowledge of how people who did have those things got by. People like me were staff to people like the demon king. Or prisoners. He and I might as well speak different languages. He didn’t know what rules people like me lived by, so he had no basis for sizing me up.

That was my biggest asset. My only asset, actually. It was important that I stayed an anomaly. The second he learned my quirks, I’d be outmatched.

“How about this.” He held out a hand to stop me. “During my stay, you interject if the dragon comes for me.”

“I’ll give you one day, same as you’re giving me,” I replied. “And I’ll only promise to do what I can. I can’t work miracles.”

“Ah, but I am giving you more than a promise. If you cannot guarantee compliance, then I should get longer.”

“Three days, then. No more.”

His grin said he had gotten exactly what he wanted. A shiver crawled over my skin.

“Done,” he said, and an invisible magical line snapped taut between us.

“I’ll be downstairs when it gets dark,” I said, continuing to walk from the room.

Nyfain met me in the hall. “I’m not sure if that was incredibly smart or incredibly stupid.”

“Why smart? Because I can think of a lot of reasons for the stupid one.”

“He wanted to see how much I’d defer to you, but you flipped the script. You’ve clearly intrigued him. He wants a real show of your power. He’ll set his people on you tonight.”

“I figured. It’ll give me something to do. Their magic doesn’t work on me.”

“And it won’t work on anyone else, either. We’ll give everyone the demon-be-gone draught tonight.”

I nodded.

“He was right, though,” Nyfain said softly.

“About what?”

“About you being able to influence my actions. I’d defer to your judgment because I respect and honor your place by my side.”

I reached out in a rush of emotion and grasped his hand. “That’s incredibly sweet of you to say. It’s also incredibly incorrect. When your dragon is riding you hard, you don’t defer to anyone. You’re vicious and wild, and this kingdom is in good hands with you. I can see that. All we need to do is set you loose. That’ll have to be my job. Somehow.”

And it would start with playing a dangerous game that might destroy me forever.