Defy The Alpha(s) novel Chapter 742

Chapter 742: Ally Or Not

"Ahh, your husband," Annequin said. "You mean the one seated beside you on the dais because you obviously didn’t introduce him to me."

"Don’t play games with me," Seraphira warned.

The air in the room tightened instantly, pulsing with power.

"Fine," Annequin said, leaning in as well. Her tone shifted, losing its teasing edge. "I’ve had no direct interaction with your husband. But I have heard of him. He’s been trying to meet me and has already managed to reach the other court kings. That’s how you found members of the Summer Court on your lands. Those Fae have always been a little too ambitious for their own good."

"You expect me to believe that?" Queen Seraphira asked carefully, her gaze narrowing.

Annequin shrugged. "I don’t know much about the free Fae, but our kind?" She smiled. "We’re incapable of lying."

Then she added almost at once, amused, "Though we are very good at twisting the truth to our advantage. And omission, last I checked, is not a lie."

Queen Seraphira stared at the Fae with a small frown creasing her brow. Usually, she

read people’s aura, and the pulse of magic that revealed their intent and nature. But there was nothing on Queen Annequin. It was as if she stood there soulless.

Which was impossible. Everyone had a soul. There was something off and unsettling about the Fae. She just couldn’t tell.

Seraphira rose from her seat and walked slowly toward the shelves lining the wall, her fingers brushing along the carved wood as she spoke. "I’m sure you’ve heard the story of how the free Fae came to be. How we were separated from the others."

"All I’ve heard are fables," Annequin replied unapologetically. "Different versions told by different mouths." she tilted her head slightly. "But perhaps I might hear the truth from an authentic source."

"Every Fae child knows the story before they can even speak," Seraphira said. "It was a rhyme we grew up with. Repeated until it shaped our minds, and became the only truth we believed. The tale of the five primordial Fae gods. How the four sought to bind every Fae to a court and its respective magic. But the fifth refused."

She paused. "And to protect us, the fifth enclosed us behind barriers for thousands of years. Until the magic weakened and it finally fell."

Seraphira pulled a book from the shelf, its spine worn with age, and turned back to Annequin. "Because of that isolation, you could say we’re a little outdated."

She held Annequin’s gaze. "Of all the queens who ruled the free Fae, Queen Iskava was the only one curious enough to look outward. She kept records, preparing for a future no one else believed would come. The others?" Her lips pressed thin. "They planned only for extermination. Any outsider who stepped onto our sacred land was meant to die."

"And you, Queen Seraphira?" Annequin asked calmly. "Which are you? Remember the stranger, or reject them?"

Seraphira’s expression hardened. "I’m a rebel. The first of the free Fae to run from the cage we called home. As for strangers... that depends on the stranger." Her voice lowered. "I’ve been burned too many times to trust freely anymore."

Annequin was not offended by her words. The Fae Queen looked patient. Distrust was expected after all.

Queen Seraphira turned back to the book in her hands and began to flip through its yellowed pages. "Queen Iskava did her best to catalogue every known Fae court that she could."

She paused on a page and read aloud, her finger trailing the lines. "The Summer Fae—bright, volatile, creatures of heat. The Autumn Fae—clever, patient Fae. The Winter Fae—cold-blooded in both magic and temperament. And the Spring Fae, ever-renewing, beautiful, and deceptively cruel. The Day Court and the Night Court. Dawn and Dusk. The Sea Fae. The Mountain Fae. Even the Shadow courts that refuse sunlight entirely." Seraphira lifted her gaze to Annequin, eyes sharp. "They are all here."

Then she closed the book. "But there is nothing at all about Astaria. So pray tell me, Queen Annequin," she said coolly, "about your beloved Astaria."

"That’s only because your records are outdated," Annequin said lightly. "If your kind stepped outside those borders you guard so fiercely, you would have known about us. Astaria isn’t hidden. It’s simply ignored."

"Some already do know," Annequin went on, "Your husband, for instance. I think it’s just you—and those like you—who choose to keep a blind eye to what’s happening beyond your forests."

"You—" Queen Seraphira snapped. Power stirred in the room as the air tightened, reacting instinctively to her temper.

Annequin lifted a hand, unfazed. "I thought you wanted to hear about Astaria," she gestured towards the empty seat across from her. "So why don’t you sit because the Free Fae aren’t the only ones with fables, your majesty."

For a long moment, it looked as though Seraphira might order her thrown out, then with visible restraint, she closed the book and placed it on the table.

Slowly, Queen Seraphira sat. Then she clapped her hands once.

The doors opened immediately, and servant Fae glided into the room, dressed in flowing white gowns. They moved in silence, setting goblets and a decanter between the two queens.

"I thought you might be thirsty," Seraphira said.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify