Tory took her mind whip-quick, her Fae side leaking out. Dirty Gerty stared dumbly at the Reds from only a few feet away. Yahn calmly walked up, formed a glass fist the size of a bowling ball, and punched her between the eyes.

Then Tory, the tiny Beast Master, smiled. Gertrude’s eyes went wild, flicking back and forth as she choked and gagged, unable to flee as the air was shut off from her throat. Tory didn’t end it. She just watched as Gertrude slowly died. She held it for another minute before letting the body drop to the ground.

Then she looked at Chu and Malik and they began to choke to death, too. Their eyes were wide, but they didn’t try to run. Couldn’t try to run. Because Tory held their minds and throats with her power. Enya looked both grateful and horrified. Grateful that she wasn’t choking beside them, and horrified that whatever she imagined coming for her afterwards might be even worse.

Raego cleared his throat politely. Tory glanced back, but the two dragons kept struggling for air. Her look wasn’t subservient, but acknowledging his position. “Yes, Obsidian Son?” she asked. “I was hired as an impartial judge. I don’t work for you, but for the dragons as a whole. These two betrayed your people.” Enya blinked her eyes in relief, glad that Tory hadn’t said three dragons. “I’m just doing my job. Although I won’t deny enjoying it.”

He nodded neutrally. “Do as you will, but this actually leads into an idea I’ve been having. I wouldn’t mind if your position became more permanent – the police of this city. You’d have my vote, and I don’t think anyone else would challenge it. But we’ll talk of that after you… deliver your justice.”

She nodded, the dragons still choking. “We are on Temple’s property…” she said slowly, as if just thinking of it.

Raego turned to me. “She has a point, my brother. Do you want to decide their fate? At this juncture, I think you’re the only salvation left to them…” he said with an easy shrug. “I think everyone else would rather just kill them. But we’ll take care of it if you have no opinion on the matter.”

Tory growled territorially, and Raego smiled. “Well, Tory will take care of it.”

Everyone waited. I heard someone munching on popcorn, the only sound over the choking dragons before me. I considered everything I had heard. The betrayal, the backstabbing, the infighting. And I thought fondly of Hell. The torture, the anguish, the misery. And I thought of what I had let escape. Mordred.

A shudder crawled up my spine at that. He was powerful. Too powerful. He’d taken down an army of shades with one wave of his hand. And now he had taken the Nine Souls… whatever they were.

And he was encroaching on my interests whether he knew it or not. Camelot.

And I remembered Barbie. Her… enthusiastic healing, but more so her advice. Thunder rumbled in the almost setting sun, but it wasn’t from me. Just regular old weather. But I let them think what they would.

I walked up to the two choking dragons, glancing at Tory, who nodded for me to proceed. “You want salvation?” I whispered in a cold tone.

They nodded hurriedly. They gasped as air suddenly filled their lungs. Tory kept her eyes on them, watching as they struggled to regain their composure. They slowly turned to look at me, and there was none of the previous disinterest, disdain, or hatred. Just… terror.

The last of the setting sun struck their obedient eyes. We were only minutes from darkness, and I realized I had made my final decision.

“Take this city,” I said in a voice as cold as wind over a frozen pond. Like a Fae King. “Announce it far and wide that I claim St. Louis as mine. Don’t kill, but let them know you are serious. And that they should expect a summons from their new king soon.”

The resulting silence was palpable as I turned and walked back to my leather chair. Callie leaned against the side of it now, watching me thoughtfully.

Gunnar and Ashley were the first to kneel before me. In my mooseknuckle throne.

Then Achilles and Leonidas.

Then Raego and Baron. Then the rest of the dragons.

Death didn’t kneel, but he did look amused. Callie continued to watch me.

Alex walked up and handed me the fedora he had stolen from my closet. “I don’t have a crown handy, but thought this would work in a pinch.”

Callie took it from my hands and stood, inspecting. She set it on my head, and straightened it minutely. “There. It does look rather dashing,” she finally smiled and gave me a curtsy.

I rolled my eyes at her.

Four of the oldest dragons in the world snorted steam from their ancient nostrils, and then began snarling, lining up their followers with short, harsh commands. And as darkness finally fell, dragons took to the skies of St. Louis to let my subjects hear the name of their new king.

It was catchier than Master Temple.