What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone, #3)(113)

“Can anyone else confirm this?” Mab asked, looking at her brother now.

He smiled, shrugging his shoulders as he looked about the room. “Only the entirety of the Summer Court Fae who have joined us for the Tithe. All of us were working tirelessly to meet your demand on such short notice.”

Mab grimaced, her face twisting into a full scowl as she waved a hand. Davorin emerged from behind the column, the body of a woman hoisted over his shoulder. He dropped her upon the stone at the top of the dais, her hand falling to reveal a missing pinky. Her flesh had been carved—the crisscross pattern of torture cut into every bit of her skin.

Across her chest, her assailant had carved a word.

Vengeance.

I forced myself not to look at Estrella as the corpse turned toward us, the face far too familiar. Those eyes had stared up at me far too many times as Mab forced my body to move, to react to the touch of the woman I hated more than nearly anyone. They’d looked down at me in triumph when she’d settled herself on my cock…

I clenched my jaw, trying to stop the smile that spread my lips at the sight of her dead, mangled corpse.

I tossed my head back and laughed, disbelief striking me in the gut. I’d thought I’d never be rid of her, rid of her touch or the way she’d force me to watch as she violated another in my stead.

“How dare you?” Mab seethed, her voice dropping into a low command as she squeezed around my heart. “I know you had something to do with this.”

I chuckled again. “I know nothing of who might have done this, but they have my eternal gratitude,” I said, the words torn from my throat as Mab refused to release her grip on me. The words were true, because my mate had made sure of it.

How she had come to know of my deal with Mab, I didn’t know. But there was no doubt in me that she had somehow, and that she’d put an end to what she could.

“You,” Mab said, turning her attention to where my mate knelt.

She descended the steps, skirting the body of her friend in her haste to reach my mate. Power rushed through the room as she stopped in front of Estrella, reaching down with clawed fingers to grasp her by the chin and jerk that calm, blank face up to look at her.

“Where were you last night?”

“I was in my room. Malachi delivered me there himself after dinner,” Estrella said, staring up at Mab. The faintest hint of a coy smile played about her mouth, and Rheaghan’s gaze was intent upon her smile.

Watching her toy with his sister.

He squeezed his lips together to suppress his smile, shoving his hands into the pockets of his trousers. He knew, I realized, suspicion rising in me. He’d conspired with my mate and made sure there wasn’t a single doubt of my innocence.

Malachi shifted, drawing Mab’s attention to him where he stood behind Estrella. “She didn’t leave her room all night, my Queen. I’m sure of it.”

“That’s impossible!” Mab shrieked at him, lashing out at him with her power and driving him to his knees. “You must have fallen asleep, you incompetent fool! Tell me the truth!”

“I did not,” he said, the words ringing true. With his inability to lie, there wasn’t a chance the words were false. “Perhaps your shields—”

“They are intact. She did not shadow walk out of that room, and I sincerely doubt the bitch even knows how,” Mab snarled, turning her attention back down to my mate’s calm face. Calm, because she knew, for all purposes, walking out of her room was an impossibility.

Estrella excelled at the impossible.

A grin spread across Estrella’s mouth at Mab’s frustration.

“I know you killed her,” the Queen of Air and Darkness said, staring down into the smiling face of my mate.

“I assure you, I had nothing to do with her death, but I can’t say I’m sad someone got rid of the cunt,” Estrella said, the words loud and clear in the throne room. Everyone heard them, heard what had to have been the truth fall free.

Except it wasn’t.

The lie tumbled from her lips so easily, even I questioned if it was true. Until the realization settled over me, sending a shock through my chest at the confirmation of what Mab had already suspected.

Estrella wasn’t Fae.

“You’re lying,” Mab hissed, squeezing her nails tighter until blood welled beneath the claws.

“How? The Fae cannot lie,” Estrella said, maneuvering Mab right into the trap she had so skillfully set.

Mab either had to admit her suspicions of what Estrella was to the gathered crowd of allies and enemies alike, or she had to relent that Estrella couldn’t have done it.

As if they realized it too, whispers broke out through the throne room as they looked at my mate with new questions.

Mab released Estrella, spinning back toward her throne. She ran her hands through her hair as she ascended the dais, stepping over the body of her friend. She twisted to look at Estrella over her shoulder, snarling a quiet “Get out”.

Nobody moved.

“I said, GET OUT!” she screamed, leaning forward with the force of the words.

Estrella stood smoothly under the weight of Mab’s gaze, her eyes drifting to the side so that she could smirk at Rheaghan and me in turn. She was the first to leave the throne room, Malachi trailing at her heels as she walked through the crowd of gathered Fae with her head held high.