The Brutal Fae's Life

The Brutal Fae’s Life Wild Hunt 3 Lola Glass Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Epilogue Bonus Epilogue Afterthoughts Please Review All Series by Lola Glass Stay in Touch About the Author Copyright © 2023 Lola Glass authorlolaglass.com All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination. Cover by Francesca Michelon https://www.merrybookround.com/ To the books and people that don’t make you cry. One I stared out at the lake, watching Vevol’s sun rise slowly over the water. It stretched as far as I could see in every direction, large enough that I had assumed it was an ocean the first time I saw it. A man stepped into place beside me. I didn’t have to turn my head to know who. The group of hellhounds that thought they were my protectors never came this close to me. The only unmated man who did was a certain possessive, confusing-as-hell phoenix. And on top of that, he smelled way too good for me to mistake him for anyone else. “You should remain here while the others go,” he said to me, his voice even. His voice was always so neutral, unless he was cutting someone’s head off. I fought the horrified shiver that threatened to roll down my spine with the memories that accompanied that thought. The way the head had fallen… The cold, unfeeling look in Ervo’s eyes as he removed it from the hellhound’s body… My stomach’s contents threatened to make a reappearance. It wouldn’t be the first time I vomited at the memory. Nor would it likely be the last. “Why would I stay here?” I tried to keep my voice as level as his. Maybe if I refused to let him see what I was feeling, his possessiveness would fade, and my confusing emotions would too. He had made it very clear that despite his constant reminders about me belonging to him, he thought I belonged to him as nothing more than a family member. A female brother, he had said. My lips twisted at the unpleasantness of the memory. That conversation had left me so confused. “You’ll be safer here,” he said. I stared out at the water for a few minutes before replying, “I stopped caring about my safety a long time ago.” How many years had I spent hoping for a second chance to be someone bigger, and stronger, and better? My whole life. I wanted to matter, dammit. And this was my chance. Hopefully, the first of many. Ervo said, “Precisely why you should remain here. The group doesn’t need someone who won’t watch their own back.” I scowled at him. “My back doesn’t need watching. North’s does; she’s the important one.” His eyes pierced mine. “Every female is important.” “Which is exactly why I’m going with the group, to retrieve the ones in hiding.” I turned back to the lake, trying to calm my furiously-beating heart. There was a long, tense moment of silence between us before Ervo spoke again. This time, his voice was so low I barely heard it at all. “Should something happen, my full name is Viervo.” My eyes widened. Giving someone your full name, in Vevol, gave them power over you. No one gave out their full name. “Vee-air-vo?” I quietly pronounced the name, trying to embed it in my memory. Admittedly, I was terrible at remembering the fae’s strange names, and the pronunciations were even more difficult. “Yes.” I swallowed roughly, still staring out at the lake. “Thanks. I’m not going to need help, though.” There was another brief moment of silence. I felt more than saw Ervo’s body slowly tensing. “Should something happen to you, I would burn this whole fucking world down to get you back,” he finally said. The unevenness in his voice surprised me, but I tried not to show him that. “Like a brother, right?” I asked. He blinked. “Of course.” I shook my head, turning and striding away before I could overthink our relationship even more than I already had. It was time for me to move on. Life in Vevol might not have been short, but it definitely wasn’t long enough to continue mooning over a man who loved me like a sister. “Ready?” North called from across the beach. “You have no idea,” I called back. She grinned, and I shifted forms. My body grew and elongated until I was in my slim, sapphire dragon form. I was much smaller than any of the other dragons I’d seen, which Ervo had said was because I was female. When I compared the size of him in his phoenix form to the size of January in hers, it made sense. And I didn’t hate that he was larger than me, regardless of our form. But I wasn’t allowed to think that about him. Or to feel that about him. It was time to focus. Time to change the damn world… even if said world was small, and full of people I didn’t particularly like. North and Sunny climbed up onto my back, both of them still in their human forms. North was a hellhound and Sunny was a basilisk, so they needed a ride across the lake, to the supposed hiding place of a group of fae women. Dots and January were both phoenixes, so they could fly themselves, but they were constantly on fire given the nature of their forms. I knew phoenixes could put out their flames because Ervo had done so for me