He looked back up, brows knitted as his focus moved from Alexei to Envy.
“Is this some new kink, Your Highness?” he asked, sounding annoyed. “I despise chains.”
Air whooshed out of Envy. He wanted to grab the demon by the lapels and plant a kiss on him but refrained. Lord Alden was properly aggravated. A personality trait he’d had for the last six centuries.
“How do you feel?” Envy asked instead.
Lord Alden’s gaze flattened. “Like House Wrath is looking appealing, Your Highness. Unless I’m being held for treason, untie me.”
Alexei snorted. “Same old prick.”
It had worked. Envy expelled another breath, relief barreling through him. The Chalice of Memoria would stop the memory blight. After years of turmoil, that dark, unending descent… the nightmare was finally ending. Part of him couldn’t believe it.
Alexei began untying Alden, then directed him to the Gallery of Dreamscapes, where Envy had set up refreshments in hopes the newly saved demons would need a safe space to wait until they’d restored everyone’s memories.
Once Alexei returned with the next demon, they started all over again. After the second successful restoration, they brought in more chairs and restraints.
Days passed, Envy staying right there with his court, even though plenty of volunteers had come together from the healed, helping their fellow demons.
Once it was clear the tide had turned, days later, Alexei cleared his throat.
“You haven’t said a word about her.”
Envy stiffened, then carried on as if he had no idea what the vampire meant. Alexei gave him a look that said he knew better.
“There is nothing to say. She’s Unseelie royalty.”
“You don’t honestly give a shit about that,” Alexei said. Envy’s attention snapped to his second. The vampire’s smile was all fang. “Your Highness.”
Envy assisted the next demon in line, then strode to the other end of the room, swiping an icy glass of water from a tray. His cursed second trailed after him.
“Everything is under control here. You can go back to the Wild Court. Talk.”
Envy’s jaw strained. “Talk. Yes, open and honest communication worked so well for us before. There is nothing left for us to say.”
“You knew she had secrets. You’re just angry that she outplayed you. I didn’t take you to have so much… pride.”
Alexei was pushing Envy too far. Envy’s eyes flashed and Alexei held his hands up, slowly backing away.
“You like her. Enough to consider breaking your rule. Don’t let another sin get in the way. Do you think Wolf is sitting back? If you’re all right with him taking her to his bed, his cock pounding all memories of you out, then fine. Leave her to it. She’ll be better off.”
Envy stood in one of his favorite galleries—where a statue of a fallen angel was proudly displayed. All the years his wings had been trapped, he’d come here, sipping a drink as he was doing now, plotting. With his court almost fully restored, his power was growing stronger, hour by hour. He summoned his wings now, allowing them to spread wide.
It felt good. The muscles between his shoulders straining as he moved them, testing the weight. His thoughts turned to Lennox, to the final battle.
Camilla hadn’t been the one to deal the killing blow, Envy had made sure of that. He’d seen something in her face just before he drove his dagger through the Unseelie King. She did not like her father, but it would have cost something precious for her to murder him.
Camilla was good. Lennox had seen it. Hated it.
He tucked his wings in close, then leaned against the wall, his Dark and Sinful going down easy. A detail flickered across his memory. In the cavern where the Twin Pillars were, Camilla had been about to confess something to him.
Envy sipped his cocktail, turning that conversation over in his mind. Looking back, it was easy to see she’d been about to tell him who she really was. She’d known, the moment they entered the Wild Court, that he’d figure it out.
He had, though. Already known.
He scratched the back of his neck.
Truth be told, Envy had started suspecting much earlier. It was easier for him to blame her for betraying him; otherwise, he’d have to consider facing the truth. He’d recently been able to lie to others, but Envy had been lying to himself far longer.
Did his one-night rule truly protect his court, or did it prevent him from ever feeling heartbreak?
He finished his drink, staring into the glass. Camilla might not want to see him. She might be perfectly happy in the Wild Court. With Wolf.
That meddling prick Alexei, now Envy couldn’t unsee Camilla and Wolf rekindling their flame.
Envy squeezed his eyes shut. That gods-damned Fae had truly gotten under his skin too. He knew the Unseelie would be attempting to win Camilla back. Maybe he already had.
Perhaps Wolf was holding her right now.
Jealousy froze the glass in his hand, until it began to crack, drops of bourbon leaking into his palm.
Envy glared at the physical proof of his displeasure.
“Gods’ blood.”
Miss Camilla Elise Antonius, lover, betrayer, Unseelie princess, drove him absolutely fucking mad, even here, realms away from Faerie.
The question now was, what Envy was going to do about it.
He sensed one of his spies a moment before he materialized, partially corporeal.
“I have news from the Wild Court, Your Highness.”
His tone made Envy’s skin crawl. “And?”
The spy handed him a folded piece of parchment.
Envy scanned the report, then crumpled it in his fist.
“Fucking hell.”
SIXTY-SEVEN
“ARE YOU READY?” Wolf’s voice carried through Camilla’s bedchamber.
She stepped out from behind the ornate dressing screen, her silk floor-length gown a beautiful lavender gray.
Camilla looked every inch an Unseelie princess as she situated a flower crown on her head. She twisted to the side, admiring the silver cuff she wore on one of her elongated ears. Little moons and stars were carved along the metal, an ode to her heritage.
She’d stopped wearing hunter green days ago, when the Prince of Envy made no attempt to contact her. When he’d left without uttering a single word, not even a curse.
She’d been foolishly hopeful. Those first few nights. Thinking he’d returned to his court, save them, then he’d be back.
Fighting with her.
Kissing her.
Playing games they both loved.
Surely he had something to say after… everything they’d been through. Camilla thought his freeing her from her father’s cruel games meant he’d forgiven her. Or would at least allow her the chance to explain. To admit how terrible she’d felt, keeping this secret.
But she’d been so afraid. Scared that he’d react exactly this way.
His silence spoke loud and clear. The Prince of Envy was never coming back. And Camilla needed to move on with her life, help her brother Ayden establish his temporary rule, then return home, to Wisteria Way. She missed her gallery, her cat, and Kitty.
Wolf gave her a long once-over, momentarily snapping his mouth shut.
The gown was indecent by Waverly Green standards—clinging to every curve like a dream. In the Wild Court it was rather tame. But she was not interested in playing courtly games. At least not here. Things might have been different if her mother had never kidnapped her, bound most of her magic, and made her grow up human. Maybe if she’d grown up in Faerie she’d be as abominable as her older brother and sister.