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He stops speaking altogether.
“Fox?”
He shudders, shakes his head, and clears his throat. “Long story short, the other dark deities and the Keepers worked together to tame the Wild Hunt. This resulted in queens collaring them, starting with Titania.”
He sits back. Tension rides every ounce of his body. His hands clench, his jaw works, and his muscles are rock hard. He never once said “us” or “we” but it’s clear those first seven were Fox and his hive. I’ve known for a while that Maebh killed their seventh a long time ago in Elphyne. But his reaction when speaking about the Unseelie noble feels like a horrific memory.
“Titania summoned you?” I ask. “That’s why you suddenly left me in Elphyne?”
A quiet nod is my answer. More clenching of the fists. “She’d slumbered for thousands of years, but the queen link passed down from queen to queen. With each reign, we changed.” He gestures at his face. “We took something from each and became what they desired. But we never understood why they wanted us to look this way until... we understood disgust and shame.”
I can’t help myself. I touch the blue, glowing Guardian teardrop beneath his eye. “How did this happen?”
“When Maebh killed our seventh,” he continues, still staring into space, “the Morrigan wept for the loss of her son. And we were tired, so tired of our endless cycle of suffering. So, while her back was turned, we wished for oblivion. Instead, the other deities made us an offer. If we accepted their blessing while the Morrigan’s back was turned, then they would give us a new queen who would treat us as equals. They never explained how the blessing would change us.”
“They tricked you?”
He shrugs. “It didn’t stop us from yearning for freedom.”
“Independence from needing a queen.” I nod solemnly.
“That’s not true freedom for us now, and I think that’s the rub. With our blessing, we understand how dangerous it is for us to roam free. We might have a tiny drop of goodness in us, Willow, but there’s far more of the dark.” He goes quiet. “You saw what I did to Milford. Imagine six of us losing control, acting with one mind, using the Wild Hunt to sate our hunger.”
My heart aches for them.
“So what is it, then?” I ask. “What is true freedom for you?”
His sad eyes collide with mine. “Unconditional love.”
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
WILLOW
The yearning in Fox’s eyes forces me back. I can’t be this person for him. I’m the wrong woman. He misunderstands my retreat. His expression drops, as it always does when I call him a monster.
“I can’t be your queen,” I insist. “I can’t be the one to magically rein you in when I have no magic.”
“Then why do I feel like this?” he asks, rounding on me. “Why do you?”
“I don’t know.” I rub my sternum.
“You have to be,” he insists, taking my hands. “You’re the one. I know it.”
“How?”
“You’re here,” he points out. “You traveled all this way alone, and you’rehere.”
“But I came for revenge.”
“You don’t want that now, right?”
A sigh leaves my lips. “I don’t know. That’s not?—”
“She’s cursed you.” Danger flares in his eyes. “I can smell it on you.”
The air solidifies in my lungs. He knows?
