Kadeesha and her squadron sisters rode atop their kongamatos, circling above the enemy’s campsite. Their presence in the sky was concealed by the zalika bracelets on their wrists; the glamour the bespelled beads cast made Kadeesha, the eleven women she flew alongside, and the great half-avian, half-draconic serpents they’d bonded with invisible. On the forest grounds below were two dozen deliciously oblivious Apollyon fae soldiers squatting on her territory. As archprincess of the Aether Kingdom, Kadeesha would always be testy when bastards sullied her home. And these particular bastards were about to learn that their little scouting parties hadn’t been as stealthy as they’d thought while lurking around the perimeter of the palace and tracking the royal guards’ patrol shifts over the last three days. They’d pay with their trifling lives for the infringement soon.

Zahzah, Kadeesha’s kongamato that shared her trait of im- patience, emitted a quiet chirrup while thwacking Kadeesha’s right knee with a leathery wing. Zahzah’s velvety voice poured into Kadeesha’s mind: Yumm. Tasty prey. Give order. I will feast on fae flesh and marrow this morning!

Seeing as how Kadeesha was the same species as those fae the kongamato was gleeful about devouring, she supposed she should’ve been properly petrified—or at least sickened by the decree. But Zahzah was one of the most precious souls in all the realm to her, and Kadeesha herself was eager to spill Apollyon fae blood today. Anybody that presented a threat to her kingdom needed to die. Period. But first, Kadeesha wanted to figure out—

Less thinking. Let’s eat, Zahzah sniped. The others in volery are ravenous too.