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  “You’re right,” I heard Eva say, but her words sounded like they were underwater. They were barely audible. I blocked the entire world out. “We need to have a vote. Gather the leaders and bring everyone who has broken the law with you. We’ll meet in the Capital.”

  I blinked, and tears fell onto the handle of my athame, which was still protruding from my father’s chest. I took the hilt, almost on impulse, barely thinking, and yanked the blade from his chest. My father screamed in pain, but I subdued him with my magic and stemmed the blood flow. He needed to survive long enough to make it to the Capital and sit through his trial.

  Everything hurt. I was so mad I couldn’t think straight. Darcy had left, and here I was holding my own father down ready to end his life. Darcy was right. God, he was always freaking right. This wasn’t the way. I couldn’t kill my father. Especially not when I felt like this, mad at the entire freaking world. I took my athame, got to my feet, and grabbed my father by his cloak and pulled him after me.

  There was another way to deal with this.

  “Emmaline…” My father choked. “What… are you doing?”

  “What is right. Come on. You’re coming with me.” I double-checked that the wards were down around the castle first. I knew they were because I noticed Amber ordering the treasonous female faerie out the door. Everyone else had left. Those that remained were humans and the rest of the supernatural guests, but it wasn’t many. They were being treated by my mother and Emily. My mother healed their wounds, and Emily made them forget. Almost everyone had left. I turned to face those that remained and cleared my throat.

  “Thank you all for coming tonight. I’ll return soon when I’ve sorted out this mess.”

  And then I dragged my father through the border veil into the Capital toward his fate.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I had been to the Capital only once when Darcy locked me up in prison due to my reckless behavior. As I crossed the shimmering magical border into the Capital realm, my father in tow, memories came flooding back. Some were bad. Like Darcy’s betrayal. But some were good. Like when he let me out, and we ran into each other’s arms and kissed each other until neither of us had any breath left in our bodies. I smiled at the latter memory.

  “Why are you smiling?” my father asked as we walked through the pine forest toward the court building. The Capital was situated in the center of the shifter realm, so the climate was the same. The only difference was what this realm contained. It was the headquarters of government, where the business decisions were made, and where Eva worked. It also contained the supernatural court, where treasonous creatures went to trial for their crimes.

  “That is none of your concern,” I snapped, shoving him along. “Keep up.”

  “You’re thinking about your vampire, aren’t you? He makes you happy. But he also keeps hurting you. Why do you let him keep hurting you? That’s abuse, you know.”

  I stopped walking and spun around to him.

  “That’s poetic, coming from you. And hypocritical. You abused Mom. You abused me. So you don’t get to lecture me about abusive relationships. Shut up and keep walking or I’ll kill you like I should have back at the ball.”

  Thankfully, he remained quiet after that. But that didn’t mean he was thinking about my words and all the retorts he could come back with. The sooner he was sentenced, and his fate handed to him, the sooner I could be done with all of this. I could go home… but where was home? When I came here, I was so sure I was returning to reclaim my throne. But I missed Sydney and the human realm. I missed my job at the newspaper. Heaven forbid. I even missed Carl, my annoying boss.

  I shook off the thought. I couldn’t think about that now. I had to get through this trial first.

  ***

  We arrived at the court soon after, and my father was taken off my hands by some of the capital guards. Thank god. If I had to listen to one more word of his… I felt like killing something, but Darcy wouldn’t approve. He was already mad at me, so I didn’t want to push the knife in deeper by doing something else. He would never forgive me.

  After this, I had to find a way to make him forgive me, as well as decide where I was going to go. All I knew was that I loved Darcy, and I wanted him with me wherever I went. I made my way into the courtroom a basket of nervous energy. I shook my hands and wrung them repeatedly. I hated this. I wanted it to be over now.

  The courtroom was set out like a human one, with the judge’s stand at the front on a raised dais and with a witness stand to the judge’s left. The accused would be seated at the table in the front below the dais. I glanced around the room and saw Queen Amber, Henry with his mate, as well as Ash. Even Emily was present, which was a surprise. She’d probably just come for the satisfaction of watching the accused suffer. That siren thrived on drama.

  The room was filling slowly. I didn’t know where to sit, but I would probably be called on to testify when my father took the stand, so I made my way to the center of the room and took a seat in a pew behind Ash. He turned when he sensed me and gave me a reassuring smile. I smiled back and nodded a thank-you. I liked Ash. And I regret trying to harm him a few months back. That was only because people were after him, namely Darcy, and his mate was my descendant. I had to capture them. That was in the past, and I could sense there was no hatred on his part.

  “All rise!”

  Everyone got to their feet, and I followed suit, as a door opened to the right, and the four accused were walked out restrained by guards. They had shackles on their hands and feet and were taken to their seats below the dais.

  My father was the last to be brought out. When he met my gaze, my blood turned cold, and I looked away. Could this be over, like now? Last to walk out was Eva, and she made her way to her seat on the dais, and a guard was stationed on each side of her. She remained standing for a moment and looked around. I suddenly remembered Darcy and realized I hadn’t seen him yet. I looked around and found him on the left side of the room seated beside Queen Amber and the rest of the leaders. He would probably need to testify against the accused too. As if sensing me staring at him, he turned and fixed me with a gaze so heavy it pinned me in place. I couldn’t breathe, and the world started to heat up. I couldn’t do anything except stare back. I felt like a bug pinned to a board as part of some human science experiment. His gaze said a million things. It was hot and seductive, and at that moment, all I felt like doing was running across the room and flinging myself in his arms and kissing the crap out of him until we both couldn’t breathe like we did in the prison cell.

  I looked away instead, letting out a shaky breath. I just had to get through this trial first. Holy hell.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I’d like to call our next witness to the stand,” said Eva. “King Darcy of the Vampires.”

  I must have been in a trance throughout the sentencing of the Fae woman. I blinked and sat up straighter in my seat as Darcy made his way to the witness stand to testify against the wolf shifter who had attacked innocent humans.

  “Your Majesty, do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?” asked Eva.

  “I swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, in accordance with the laws of the supernatural realm.”

  The court process and laws worked a little differently here compared to the human realm. I liked it. It was more straightforward. I found the whole process easier to understand, too.

  There were no attorneys. There were no bailiffs. The president did all the questioning and the sentencing. And after each accused was questioned, they were handed their sentence straight away. There was no reconvening to another day just to hear the sentencing. No rigmarole. The human justice system could learn a thing or two from the supernatural one.

  “Your Majesty,” Eva began.

  “Darcy, please,” said Darcy as he nodded his head toward her. I smirked. He may be old fashioned sometimes, but he was never one for sticking to tradition. He was a rebel like me.

&nb
sp; “Sorry. Darcy. We have already heard both sides of the story about what this man did.” She gestured toward the shifter seated before her. “I just want you to answer me one thing: do you believe this man, James, was coerced into attacking the humans?”

  Darcy nodded. “Yes. I do.”

  “Do you believe James wanted to harm the humans?”

  “No. I believe he is genuinely remorseful for his actions and was acting out of fear of being killed.”

  Eva nodded. “And who do you believe coerced James into attacking the humans and forced him to shift into someone else?”

  Darcy turned his attention to my father, who was chained and seated separately from the other accused. “King Edward of the Dragon Realm.”

  “Thank you, Darcy. You may go back to your seat.” As Darcy left the witness stand and made his way back to his seat, he winked at me. My cheeks heated, and I smiled at him. Maybe he didn’t hate me after all. Eva then turned her attention to James, the shifter who could become any species.

  “James, I hereby sentence you to one year of good behavior in the supernatural realm. You are not to venture into the human realm within that time. You must not harm another creature, human or supernatural within that time, either. I know most of your actions were not your own, but it is my duty as leader of this realm to protect my people and the humans.”

  “Oh, thank you! Thank you, President Eva.” James began groveling again, which made Eva smile and gesture to her guards to lead James out of the courthouse.

  “I’d like to call the next witness to the stand. Princess Emmaline of the Dragon Realm.”

  I froze. I must have spaced out again because a warm hand on mine made me jump. I looked up and was met with Ash’s kind face. He smiled reassuringly.

  “Are you okay, Emma?” he asked.

  “Oh. Yes. Thanks.”

  I got to my feet and slowly and robotically made my way to the witness stand, knowing what was coming.

  I was about to testify against my father. Nervousness took over my body, and I began to sweat and shake. Darcy must have sensed my feelings because he sped to my side.

  “Emma? Are you okay?” I nodded. I couldn’t speak. Even though I knew this day would come, and I knew I wanted revenge for all the pain and torment my father had caused over the years, I still felt ill. I wanted it all to end now. I wanted to get out of here. I felt Darcy’s hand on my lower back.

  “I’m right here,” he whispered before kissing my cheek. He waited at the base of the dais. I looked back at him and climbed the few stairs to the witness stand. “You’ve got this.” He made his way back to his seat and left me alone. This was it. I took a deep breath and looked out over the crowded courtroom.

  Since my father was the last to be tried and sentenced, and the other accused had left, he was moved to the seat directly in front of Eva and closer to me. I locked eyes with him, reminding myself why I was doing this. He met my gaze and looked down after two seconds. Coward. He knew he was done.

  “Emmaline, do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth in accordance with the laws of this realm?”

  I cleared my throat. “Yes. I promise to tell the truth and nothing but the truth in accordance with the laws of the supernatural realm.”

  Eva nodded. “Will you tell the court your story? Why you are testifying against this man, King Edward of the Dragon Realm, your father.”

  I glanced over at Darcy one more time, and he nodded, giving me the reassurance I needed to continue. I cleared my throat again and told my story.

  “When I was a young girl, I thought to live in a castle and being a princess was wonderful. I would run through the castle on my pretend dragon. I used to pretend I was a Keeper, a protector of dragons, even though I have dragon blood. But I wasn’t allowed outside the castle walls. My father forbade that. So I grew up never seeing the village in person and experiencing the ambiance and all it had to offer. I wasn’t allowed to venture into the surrounding forests to pick wildflowers or talk to the other creatures who lived there. I had to listen to stories told by the young kitchenhands. I was punished if I snuck a cookie from the kitchen or refused to take my lessons, or even if I refused to wear a dress. I hated dresses. I would sometimes borrow clothes from the stable boy. Pants were far easier to play in. But it made my father furious.

  “Over the years, I witnessed a slow decline in my mother’s health. She was born a witch, and her magic grew weaker each day. It wasn’t until my fifteenth birthday that I realized my father was draining her of her magic. Some nights, I watched through a crack in the door to my parent’s bedroom as my mother healed my father of his everyday aches and pains. They were pains typical of growing older, sore joints and sore back. When she would say she was tired, he would yell at her to start over. And she would until she was physically drained of magic.

  “On the night of my fifteenth birthday, I had been reading a history book about the vampires when I heard someone crying. I crept down the hall to my parent’s room and found my mother crying beside the window. The moonlight streamed across her pale features, and I caught sight of a nasty bruise on her right eye socket. That was when I realized my father had been hitting my mother as well as forcing her to drain her magic every day so she would be weaker than he was.

  “My father stormed into the room, and I confronted him. I threw all the magic I had at him in rage. He hadn’t known about my powers, of course. My mother had told me to keep them hidden. We had been practicing in secret over the past year, and I was strong. When I threw my magic at him, he was so mad he pulled out his longsword and tried to kill me. He called me an abomination.”

  A sob escaped my mouth, and I paused. Tears rolled down my face. Ash handed me a handkerchief.

  “Thank you,” I choked out. He nodded and returned to his seat. After I wiped my face and cleared my eyes of tears, I continued.

  “That was the night I fled the castle and never returned. Until now. My father told me if I didn’t leave, he would kill my mother and me. I wanted to stay for my mother to protect her, but she told me to run. I wanted to take her with me. But she begged me to flee and save myself.” I turned to Darcy and smiled.

  “As I had been reading about the Vampire Realm and its King, that’s where I ran. I didn’t know where else to go. As a teenager raised in isolation behind castle walls and forbidden to leave, I was incredibly naïve about the world. That was the night I met Darcy. And the rest, they say, is history.” Darcy winked.

  “Tell us about the recent events, the events which caused King Edward to coerce three supernatural creatures to commit crimes against the treaty and the laws of this realm,” said Eva.

  “Well, it all started when my father appeared in Darcy’s nightclub. It has been three years since I fled the castle, and I hadn’t seen him since. All the old feelings I had toward him returned. We fought. He pulled out his longsword and went to kill me, but I threw up a protective barrier around Darcy and myself. My father got mad and made my mother place a spell on me.”

  “Tell us about the spell.”

  “He told me the spell was a curse of mortality. That it would take away my immortality and turn me human. But what he didn’t know was that my mother had secretly played him. She placed a temporary spell on me to turn off my powers to make it appear I was human to him.” I turned to look at my father as my chair was facing sideways toward Eva. He was visibly shaking with rage. So I pushed the dagger in further and rubbed salt in the wound.

  “Yeah, that’s right. We have been playing the player for years,” I told him. “Mum and I practiced our magic together in secret for years so that one day we would both be strong enough to take you down. I would have done it back there at the ball, but I didn’t want to frighten my people. Besides, I am not that kind of Queen.” I looked up to Eva, and she nodded for me to continue.

  “Eva and I had a little talk before this. We agreed that things needed to change around here. Starting with the trans-realm treaty. But more on that later
. Let’s talk about your punishment. We both agreed that the sentencing should be left up to me. And personally, I cannot wait for the pleasure of watching you suffer for once.” I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest smugly. All the blood drained from my father’s face. Good. He was afraid.

  Then Eva said, “I sentence the accused, the former King of the Dragon Realm, to death by beheading. Take the accused out into the town square!”

  As the guards hauled my father out of the courtroom, and everyone followed, I pushed through the crowd and found Darcy. I placed my hands upon his chest and gazed into his eyes.

  “Am I doing the right thing?” I asked.

  He placed a kiss on my forehead and then looked down at me. “I’m sorry about before. I stand beside you with whatever choice you make. You were right. Your story, it made me realize he needs to pay for what he did. It needs to be more than prison. I’m sorry you were subjected to that.”

  I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “I love you,” I mumbled into his chest. “And don’t be sorry for what he did. I’m stronger for it. I am who I am because of him.”

  “I love you too, Emma. Let’s get this over and done with. I’d love to go home and snuggle in bed with my favorite witch slash dragon and possibly make love to her.” He added a wink.

  I flinched and pulled back a little so I could look at him. “But where is home?”

  He took my face in his cold, delicate hands and stroked my cheeks with his thumbs, tracing gentle circles over my earlobes. The sensation was heavenly. I almost moaned.

  “Home is wherever you are for me,” he whispered, and then he kissed me.

  And I was satisfied with that.

  Chapter Fifteen

  We followed everyone outside to the town square. I wiped my palms on my dress as I walked.

  “It’s going to be fine,” Darcy reassured.

  “I don’t know. What if people start rioting or threaten to kill me or something? What if they think I’ll be a terrible queen?”