Undying Hate~ Book Three

Sylvie didn’t know how long she’d been asleep, but the thundering bangs from Kerensa’s bedroom door and raised voice of Elias certainly woke her up.

“She’s fine,” Kerensa grumbled, voice thick with sleep. “Shut up before you wake the whole castle.”

Sylvie kept her eyes closed but knew the exact moment Elias entered the room and hovered above her based on the shadows dancing behind her lids.

“I’m fine, babe,” she half-whispered, half-whined as a cool pair of hands slipped underneath her and hoisted her up. “Please just let me sleep.”

She swayed in and out of consciousness until Elias dropped her onto the bed unceremoniously, and she grunted a few cusses, eyes bleary.

“What?”

“This is not a safe place to just disappear in the middle of the night.”

“I didn’t just disappear. I went to see Kerensa.”

Kian walked from the bathroom with crossed arms and a clenched jaw. “He’s right, Princess. Something’s off here.”

Sylvie rubbed her eyes and reached for Elias with outstretched arms. He pulled her to her feet, and she buried her face into his chest, enjoying his scent.

“How did you get passed us?” Kian asked while dressing in a surprisingly colourful outfit. The purple silk shirt and pants were outlined with gold trim and seemed far brighter than the sombre colours Sylvie expected.

She eyed the bed frame she swung from and smirked.

“I flew.”

Elias’ hand dropped from its grip around her waist and spanked her as she giggled and jerked away. “I just tarzaned it okay. I swung from that thing.”

Kian chuckled and adjusted his cufflinks. “I thought I felt the bed dipping last night.”

Elias let go of her and headed for the bathroom while Sylvie took Kian’s hand.

“Promise me no more sneaking off.”

She smiled and raised the back of his hand to her lips. “I promise I’ll try.”

“Are you sure you aren’t full Fae?” he asked, shaking his head. “You’re devious when you want to be.”

He reached his free hand to her hair and ran his hand down its length, pinching a strand between his fingers. He plucked one, turned to his magic wardrobe, and dropped it inside before closing the door.

“What colour?”

She shrugged and nuzzled closer to him, inhaling his sweet cologne. “Whatever you like.”

She smiled at him when he placed an emerald slip dress with matching shoes in her hands. It was beautiful and elegant and matched her skin tone perfectly.

Once the trio were ready, looking far too bright for a funeral, Elias even deviated from his normal black for navy pants and white shirt with golden adornments; they walked to the gardens.

The grounds were bustling with Fae, all multicoloured and beaming like the event was a celebration. Around the crowd were giant tables stacked with steaming foods and fruits of every colour and orientation. Even the hallucinogenic strawberries she had a run-in with on her first visit to Evergreen appeared in the table centrepiece.

Elias took Sylvie’s hand as Kian and Kerensa disappeared into the crowd.

“What’s gonna happen?” she whispered.

“They’ll carry her out and bury her in the garden centre. After she’s in the ground, they will plant a sapling over her and continue celebrating her life until the first flower appears.”

Sylvie’s brows shot up. “Won’t that take a long time?”

“It’s likely.”

The thought of having so many Fae all around the castle made her a tad uneasy. She’d really have to watch what she said then.

A beautiful voice began singing in a Fae dialect, and the others joined in, dropping to a knee. Elias guided her to his knee so she was sitting and could see Kian, Keresa and Kol carrying Katarina’s shrouded body through the Fae.

Everyone close enough reached out to touch the body, and the singing grew louder with each caress. Finally, they crossed to a junction in the rose gardens and knelt, lowering her into a premade hole. Kian’s stoic face brought a tear to Sylvie’s eye, and she wrapped her arms around Elias’s neck for comfort.

“He’s okay, Kitten.”

“I know,” she sniffled, resting her head on her bicep as Elias tightened his hold.

“Let us celebrate the life of our longest-reigning Queen. Katarina of Evergreen and the four courts— Stone, Sun, Ice and Moon.” Kol stood with raised hands, bowing slightly as everyone stood and smiled, surging forward to throw dirt over Katarina’s body.

The whole event felt jovial, and Sylvie didn’t get a sense of grief from anyone. It was the weirdest thing she’d ever watched. Hundreds of years of ruling for her not to be mourned...

“Are you alright?” Kian asked her, appearing suddenly and trailing a finger down her arm. “You disappeared there for a second.”

“I did?”

“Mmm. I couldn’t feel your emotions.”

“Oh. I’m just surprised, I guess. Confused...”

Elias stood, standing her beside him and folded her hand over his forearm. “Fae customs are unusual.”

Kian scoffed and rolled his eyes as they scrutinised the crowd. They carried out a three-foot plant with soft leaves and a smooth bark trunk, planting it over Katarina’s now completely buried body.

“This is my first funeral, too, you know.”

Kerensa stalked through the bustling Fae and huffed as she reached them. “Someone get me a fucking drink.”

Placing a hand on her shoulder, Sylvie unravelled herself from Elias and smiled. “I can.”

“No-”

“I’ll be fine. Just watch me.” She winked, and Kerensa groaned as Kian’s brows rose and Elias’ lips twisted into a smirk. Then, with an extra swish of her hips, she walked towards the nearest table, searching for a flute of some liquid.

“Champagne, Bonded of the Prince?” A tall, dark-haired Fae dressed in deep navy held a large flat platter stacked with glasses filled to the brim with pink liquid.

“Oh yes, th-” she bit her tongue hard to stop the thank you and nodded with a tight smile. “I would love two, please.” Taking one for her and one for Kerensa, she turned away, offering one last glance to the waiter and doing a double take at his dark eyes. Beneath his mop of hair, she could’ve sworn a redness tinged the iris, but he turned away and continued serving Fae until he disappeared.

Oh well, down the hatch. She took a long swig of her glass before pausing for breath and for the expressive and expectant face of an unfamiliar face.

“Are you the crown prince’s bonded one?”

“Yes, I-”

Her silver eyes twinkled, and she flicked a mountain of honey-coloured hair over her tan shoulder. “Well, I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Mhmm. Well, I should probably return to him now.”

“Oh, of course. After all his hard work, I suppose he needs the comfort of his,” she paused on the title a bit before settling on, ‘bonded’ again.

“I guess.” Sylvie turned to go but paused with a frown. Then, turning back to the woman, she asked. “What did you mean by that?”

“Oh, think nothing of it-”

“No, no. Tell me. What did you mean?”

Her perfectly olive cheeks turned a faint purple. “Oh. I was referring to his gallant rescue of our King. After braving the dead realm for days, surely he’d need some rejuvenation from his bonded one.”

Rejuvenation? Ew.

“Who told you Kian saved Kol?”

A subtle annoyance wormed into Sylvie’s gut as she anticipated the answer. Of course, he wouldn’t give her any credit for his salvation. She was just Kian’s whore, after all.

“King Kol, of course.”

Sylvie laughed. It came out far more bitter than she intended, and the Fae shrunk back a fraction.

“Oh, you don’t need to do that.” Sylvie carefully placed the two glasses in one hand and patted the fae’s arm in a motherly way. “I just think it’s funny that he missed out on the best part.”

She downed another mouthful of the sweet nectar wine and smiled. The Fae swallowed, but her curiosity seemed to get the better of her as she leaned in.

“You see, I was kidnapped by the big bad vampire King, but I escaped with some other good vampires.” She hiccuped and sipped her wine as a crowd gathered. She blinked as they all blurred into one, and Elias was nowhere to be seen in the mass of bodies, but she pressed on. “They took me to their ‘portal’, and you wouldn’t believe my surprise when I saw him! I thought he was Kian at first, but on closer inspection and after hearing him talk, I’d never make that mistake again.”

“What do you mean?” a soft voice asked from the undulating crowd. Her stomach flipped, and her head throbbed, but she giggled.

“He disapproved of me, you see. Guess he wanted better for his son than some slut.” She hiccuped and swallowed a burp as Fae gasped around her. “But I still made sure to tell Kian so we could rescue him. Aren’t I a good daughter-in-law?”

“Princess?” Kian took her by the arm and towed her away from the gawking crowd, their tittering gossip following her to the tree line of the gardens.

Elias appeared, grabbing her bicep to stop her swaying. “Sylvie, what the fuck happened? You disappeared again.”

“Did not,” she slurred.

Kerensa snatched the glasses from her hand and sniffed, dipping her pinky to taste it before dumping it in the grass with a hiss. “Verferum.”

“Who gave you that drink, Sylvie?”

She blinked, fighting the distortion her eyes were making of her mates and grabbed Elias’ arm to steady herself.

“It was a tall Fae with dark hair. Brown eyes- maybe a little red.”

“Red?”

Kerensa swore and searched the crowd. “Why would they drug her? I can’t sense them.”

“Neither can I,” Kian said.

“What’s happening?” Sylvie asked, accepting a tiny dark blue vial from Kerensa and downing it without a second thought.

“Testing the waters, perhaps,” Elias growled, lifting Sylvie into his arms like a child. She flopped into him as her body took on a mind of its own.

“Cloaked?”

“Probably.”

“But by who?”

Her mate’s voices strung together until everything sounded like the humming of bees in her ears, and her gaze fell on Kol’s impassive face. The deadness in his eyes made goosebumps erupt on her skin. She tried to explain away his expression of grief, but the only vibe she could feel across the crowd between them was disgust. Her face fell into a frown until her anger bubbled into a tidal wave.

Someone was shaking her shoulder, their concerned face appearing in front of hers, but all she could whisper was, “Get me out of here.”

And they did.