cock, human. Once I make you my prince, it will be even more glorious—heavy and thick like a bull's dick. I will suck it for you then. Pleasure you every night after you spew your poison all across Stalana.”
“No,” I whimpered.
Gremara had been telling me for days—or had it been weeks?—how she would curse me and transform me into a creature that would spread her evil over the world and destroy all the humans and the Fae. Every day she taunted me with my dark destiny. She wove her tales of slaughter as she rode my cock until it gave up its seed. Gremara sliced me with her nails and lapped up my blood as she tried to hypnotize me with her hatred. She thought she could make me want it. That if she pleasured me as she poisoned my ears with her venomous stories, I would somehow turn into her monster even before she cast her curse.
But I wouldn't let the Queen monster destroy me. And I wouldn't let her destroy my world. As Gremara moaned her way into another climax, I vowed to myself that I would die before becoming her weapon. I would find a way to end my existence and then she could go fuck herself.
Maybe it was madness coming for me at last, but I started to smile.
Chapter Two
It was the day of my death. I knew it the moment a pair of Farungal men came to hose me down that morning. They chittered—their eerie version of laughter—as I fumbled with the soap they'd tossed at me, trying to scrub the filth off my body as they pelted me with water. There was only one reason the monster Queen would want me bathed; it was time to cast her curse.
They gave me a fresh tunic and a pair of pants, but when they came for me later that night, I had panicked and fought them, tearing my new clothes in the process. I knew what I'd have to do and as much as I was resigned to taking my own life, I still didn't want to die. So, I had fought them and it was pathetic. I've never been a strong man, preferring to spend my energy on reading books than physical labor, and my captivity in the Farungal fortress had weakened me further. Still, I landed a few good blows as they dragged me off.
Then I saw her. Queen Gremara of the Farungal. My tormentor.
Her hideous face twisted with glee when she spotted me. “Ah, my sweet Prince. The hour of your birth draws nigh.”
I went calm with her words. Utterly docile. My compliance had nothing to do with magic—the Farungal need spells to work magic, unlike the Fae who could summon natural forces with a thought. No, my calm was of my own making. Gremara said it was time for my birth, but I knew it was the opposite. And there was comfort in that. It would all be over soon.
Despite the comfort of impending death and my resolve to meet it, my shoulders hunched as she turned around, and the men had to drag me after her. Life hadn't been the kindest to me, but it hadn't been as bad as it could have been either. As I said, I'd been happy. Content. I didn't want to die.
The great doors of the keep opened, and I heard a resounding cacophony as if thousands of people waited outside. I blinked in the torchlight as I was taken into the courtyard and then up a set of stairs to the battlements. Night had fallen but fires burned around the fortress, illuminating the rolling hills in a golden glow. My jaw dropped and I stumbled. The monsters dragged me on as I stared down from the high, stone walls at what waited below.
There, surrounding Gremara's fortress, were indeed thousands of people. Humans and faeries of all kinds. Not just the shapeshifting Sidhe, but also the Unsidhe—the deadly creatures of Varalorre. I'd never seen a faerie up close, not even a Sidhe, so to be faced with an army of nearly every kind of fae in existence was startling, to say the least. No, wait. It wasn't simply one army, but all of them.
Overhead, giant birds circled, screeching. Further out, enormous beasts prowled—tigers, lions, wolves, and more, all too large to be normal animals. They cried out in warning to each other when they spotted Gremara, and she grinned viciously. I saw the bottle in her