"A leftbehind is a child we stole from the mortals but didn’t turn into a pixie like it was supposed to,” The pixie king spat as he struggled. "I sense his magic on you! It was that child we sold to Rurik!”
“So you admit selling him to Rurik,” Ashiyn growled. “Do you have any idea what Rurik did to him?”
“Why would I care what happened to a leftbehind? He was flawed! He should not still be alive,” the fae king started to say then the words cut off abruptly with a loud pop as the pixie exploded. Ashiyn's eyes glowed with magic as he released it. All around him pixies melted as though he'd thrown them into a furnace. Ashiyn growled and turned to storm back down the steps to the town to find Seraphine, melting pixies whenever they crossed his path.
Seraphine sat calmly on the outskirts of town near Illusion and Soryn’s griffin, weaving little effigies out of the long grass blades there and humming.
“Seraphine! I thought you wanted to watch me fight,” Ashiyn said, as he walked up to her.
Seraphine looked up at him, blood covering her delicate fingers and her purple eyes glowing with a weird light. “Oh, I’m sorry, my King. I got distracted with my spell.”
He slowed when he saw the bodies of several maimed pixies lying in a bloodied circle in front of Seraphine. He couldn't tell what magic she had worked with the sacrifice, nor did he care. The pixies were dead, and that was what mattered. He hoped they had eliminated every last pixie on this forsaken planet.
"Time to go home." He snarled as he stalked past her and climbed onto Illusion.
Seraphine didn't seem to hear him at first, continuing her spell. She placed the effigies in the circle. Then everything disappeared in a surge of bright light, and it was like nothing had been there.
Ashiyn watched Seraphine climb on the griffin. He was not sure what the spell was that she had just worked; he had not been aware she could work magic at all. Magic with effigies and the blood of fae creatures was not something he was familiar with either. He considered this newfound knowledge while they took to the skies and returned to his castle as darkness fell over the land.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Seraphine asked permission to wander around Ashiyn's vast library after they returned to his castle. Ashiyn allowed it. The pixies had put him into a foul mood, and he wanted to talk to Soryn alone.
He found Soryn in the kitchen, making them dinner like nothing had happened. Ashiyn watched quietly and took a moment to consider how odd it was to have two people around him who didn't care at all that he killed. His thoughts were interrupted when Soryn noticed him.
"Your Nthir killed a unicorn. Have you ever had unicorn meat? It makes a delicious stew." Soryn said as he chopped slices of meat and threw them into a pot. He raised a brow at Ashiyn's scowl. "Well, it was already dead. There was no sense in letting it go to waste."
"I will have to speak to them about that." Ashiyn moved to the large solid wood table that served as Soryn's cutting board and sat down at the head of it. He enjoyed this dining set; he'd stolen it from a rival country after he'd killed the king.
"Unicorn meat also has magical properties. It's supposed to make you more virile," Soryn said, matter-of-factly, as he continued to fill the bubbling pot.
Ashiyn grimaced at that. He wasn't fond of having offspring. He enjoyed the process, but his children tended to take on his worst qualities. And there was Ember, his firstborn, who continuously tried new ways of killing him. Unfortunately, his children also inherited immortality. He knew of a handful of them throughout the world and he had not meant to create even that many. He decided to change the subject. "You are a magus. You trained with the most powerful magus in the land. Do you know what sort of spell would use blood magic and effigies?"
The knife slipped in Soryn's grip and he nearly cut his finger. With a curse, he set the knife aside and looked at Ashiyn. "Where did you see that?”
Ashiyn leaned back in the chair, hands behind his head. “Seraphine used the pixies to cast such a spell. She mutilated their tiny bodies, drew a circle in their blood, then placed effigies around them and the entire thing vanished with a flash of light.”
Soryn scowled at him. “You need to get rid of her then. She’s not what she seems if she’s doing that kind of magic.”
Ashiyn gave Soryn a dry look. "I knew that the moment I met her. She has powerful enough magic that she could entrance me if I let her. Normal women can't do that. So, what is she? An enchantress?"
"Worse, I think. I think she's a naga, a snake-woman," Soryn said with a grimace as he started to cut up an onion for the stew.
"Well, we are near the coast. And there are rumors that the sea creatures do get bored and come onto land to mingle with the common creatures. I wouldn't be surprised. That could be why she's so happy here. The castle is surrounded by the sea after all." Ashiyn shrugged. He furrowed his brow as another thought came to him, “Do you think Marista’s death summoned her? We met her in the village.”
Soryn looked unsettled. “Marista was carrying your child. It’s possible this creature got a taste of its blood and came looking for the source. Ashiyn, I know you enjoy her company, but she might be more than just a bored naga.”
"How so?" Ashiyn asked. He leaned forward with interest.
"Remember that I told about
