Fae of the South (Court of Crown and Compass Book 3) by E. Hall (libby ebook reader .txt) 📕

“I don’t mind the fae bowing, but I prefer they bow to me. You can bow too before you die.” The woman brandishes a slim blade. “It’s time for this to end.”

Emeric hisses. “I’m no servant. I’m the king of the Southlands and soon this entire realm. I’m going to rule this planet for eternity. In fact, Lea already agreed to render unto me her shadow, making me invincible. Isn’t that so, Lea?”

Up until this point, Lea has remained silent and still. Now, she stalks closer. A kind of confidence I’ve never before seen in her expression, a fury so fierce, pulses from her. I think she could slay demons just by looking at them.

In a swift motion, the bald woman grabs her and angles the knife at her neck.

A swelling, like a great wave, pushes at me from the inside out.

Emeric shrugs dismissively. “Take her life. Whatever. I’ll find the others.”

“I already have,” says the woman who was, but is no longer, the headmistress.

Lea struggles to get free. “Who are you? What did you do with Jurik?”

The bald woman chuckles. She doesn’t have eyebrows, adding to her ghastly look. Scars, tinged green line her face. She’s intimidating, scary even. I recall a flicker of her when Lea and I were put on probation.

“I’m Glandias. Greatest mage to ever exist. I learned a handy little interchange spell and posed as Jurik. You could say that she’s tied up at the office.” Glandias chortles. “She’d been useful, gathering the strongest fae in the Terra realm, locking them up here, the prison, and elsewhere.”

“She was working for me,” Emeric hisses.

“Why are you doing this?” Lea asks.

“Building the Shadow Army,” Glandias replies as if it’s obvious.

Emeric snorts. “And I will be leading the Shadow Army. With the shadow of the strongest warrior, I will be undefeatable.” His eyes land on Lea.

Does he mean he’s going to somehow take her shadow into himself?

I have to act now or else the thing I never told Lea will die on my tongue...and likely so will we. I charge from the trees and lunge for the legs of the woman named Glandias, taking her down. The knife sails onto the ground. I scramble after it. Without hesitating, I pivot and with all my strength, drive it into Emeric’s chest. There’s something poetic about a vampire killing a vampire.

Three pairs of eyes stare at me, not expecting that sudden move.

Emeric grips the handle and pulls it out. Dark liquid spills from the wound and he goes still. Seemingly frozen and then shudders.

Lea steps closer to me.

Glandias watches her son carefully.

The air is still. Not a hair blows. No one exhales. It’s almost like time stops for a click.

A chill runs through Lea. “This isn’t how it goes,” she whispers. “He should have immediately turned to ash.”

A haze hangs in the air surrounding Emeric. From it, forms a somewhat spectral duplicate of the vampire. He’s not quite as solid when contrasted with the original Emeric. The vampire mage hisses, “I learned from the best. Who’s the Supreme Mage now, Mother?”

Glandias frowns with disgust.

The two Emerics lunge. One holds Glandias’s arms behind her back and the other presses the knife into her neck. She releases an explosive blast, throwing them to the ground.

Lea picks up the knife and with perfect aim, lands it in the heart of the second Emeric.

Dark, blood-like substance drips from the blade. It gathers velocity, falling through oxygen and nitrogen and carbon dioxide. There’s an alchemy of matter, air, and evil on this dark night that I wouldn’t believe if I weren’t witnessing it.

A third Emeric takes shape from the blood. The original Emeric’s wicked smile stretches tight across his face while his clones await his command. One lunges at Lea, restraining her. I’m about to go jiu-jitsu master on him when another Emeric tackles me.

In the seconds that have passed, mother and son engage in combat. Several more Emerics appear with every drop of blood spilled. The original one calls to the replicas of himself, “Go, destroy, maim, loot, pillage.”

They obey and disperse.

Are they demons? Some other abominations? A putrid scent hangs in the air.

Still restrained, we struggle against Emeric One and Emeric Two. Lea looks sharply away from the scene and her mysterious blue eyes land on mine as if she’s wondering the same thing.

“You defied me,” Glandias says.

Emeric sneers. “You made it this way. This is your fault. I’m merciful enough not to force you to continue to live with your wrongdoing. Goodbye, Mother.” He raises the blade.

Before it lands, Glandias disappears in a cloud of black smoke.

I blink a few times. I’d pretty much give anything for this to be a long, terrible nightmare.

“She’ll be back.” Emeric stalks over to us. “For now, where were we?”

Emeric One twists Lea’s hair. She tries to wiggle away.

Emeric Two grips mine and tugs my head sharply back.

Where are the CAs when you need them? You’d think with all of this commotion they’d have this situation on lockdown. Unless they were called off.

Emeric clicks his tongue. “Naughty, naughty, fae. You just can’t help yourself, can you? You tried to kill me with a stab to the heart. That would’ve worked if I were an ordinary vampire or an ordinary mage. Soon, I’ll be imbued with fae shadow magic, making me indestructible.”

“Where will that leave me? Shadow fae?” Lea asks.

“Something like that. You’ll always be remembered as my mistress of mayhem.” He chuckles darkly.

“I’ll never be your anything.” She sneers.

“Except the source of my invincibility. I’ll live forever so I can bear witness to the collapse of this dominion. I want to watch it be torn apart and crumble, to see the oceans wash away the cities. Then when the