Page 136 of The Fallen Fae King

I tilt my head.

Then the door is pushed wider open, and Freya crouches low in the shadows.

“Undercover,” she mouths.

Daire points at me significantly with his wing.

My eyes widen.

They want me to go along with this for the sake of taking Maximinus down.

Yet I don’t know if I can.

This coronation and knowing that I would finally have my King and Queen at my side are what have been keeping me going.

“I won’t sit on that throne as Emperor without Freya and Daire by my side,” I insist.

To my surprise, it is Liviana who slips her arm through mine. “Don’t worry, my Emperor. I can be your Dragon Empress, while they can be…your King and Queen Consorts. I’m not the jealous sort of Omega. I understand that you love them, and I know that a dragon has needs. It’s convenient that the fae has already been trained as a courtesan. The only courting gift that I desire is that they be moved out of the palace for decorum’s sake and into the Consort House.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Guild of Assassins, Shadow Court

Lanlin

I claw another mark onto the stone wall, fourteen in total now.

“Halfway,” I murmur, clawing deeper. My throat is dry. “Fourteen more before I will return to our forever life, my dearhearts.”

Will I have atoned for my crimes in Aurelius’ eyes by then? This kingdom’s?

I should have realized that Aurelius never doubted his brother. He wasn’t raised on betrayal and lies like I was. After all, I understand love for a sibling. My own kingdom has controlled me through mine for my twin.

I shift around on the dank stone, reaching in the dark for the warped crown. I trace over the jagged metal, imagining that it’s my King and Queen’s faces.

My fangs ache. My wrists pulse with agony beneath the silver shackles.

By the Void, the dragons are fools.

What do they think will happen if they push someone like me into a mindless feral state?

Then no cursed magic will be able to stop me tearing this kingdom apart.

Luckily, my stomach doesn’t cramp with hunger any longer.

I had hoped that Freya or Aurelius would visit me again, as much as I hoped that they wouldn’t, knowing that it put them at risk.

Instead, the small, pretty male Omega who rides the brutal War has slipped every couple of days down the steps outside my cell.

He smelled of intoxicating narcissus and Aurelius like he belongs to him, as much as he does to War.

Each time he has brought a goblet of Daire’s blood, which he spills through the bars for me like Freya did.

The first time that he visited, I said, “Thank you. But why would you help me?”

The Omega’s expression was hard and unreadable. “You killed my friend. Don’t mistake me for soft because I’m an Omega. I’m helping Freya.”

Now, in a secret signal to one of my spies, I drag my claw across the wall slowly three times.