Page 18 of The Fallen Fae King

Suddenly, he becomes very still. “You knew coming here was a death sentence.”

“I’ve faced worse odds.”

Like in the battle against Queen KalaKant, but it’s probably not the best time to mention that.

“Would you still say that,” Lanlin’s voice becomes softly hypnotic, “if I summoned my rats and commanded them to swarm over you? They would nibble into your stomach, eating out your guts slowly from the inside, while you writhed in agony.”

I pull a face. “What is it with you and creative, graphic deaths? Weren’t you hugged enough as a kid?”

Lanlin grabs me by the throat, smearing my blood. “Do you wish to die?”

“I wish to support Freya,” I rasp. “It’s why I traveled to an enemy court where an unhinged Blood who hated me more than anyone else reigned. I would do anything to protect my soulmate. Wouldn’t you die for her? I’ve seen you kill for her, but dying is harder, aye?”

“It is.” Lanlin’s voice is surprisingly soft. “Your devotion to our Omega is the only reason that you’re still breathing.”

I wish that he’d just stabbed me.

“I’m touched,” I grit out.

Suddenly, anger surges through me.

I may not be good but I’m not the only fucking villain here either.

“Do you want to know the truth?” I snarl.

Lanlin’s fingers bite into my throat. “I can both feel and hear your pulse. I will know if you’re lying.”

“I don’t lie.”

“Except, you do.”

“Bite me.” I catch his gaze with mine. “Feel the honesty in my blood.”

I am shaking.

“You don’t deserve my bite.”

It feels like he has slapped me.

I flush.

“To hell with you, bat-faced arsehole.” The words burst from me, tear-tinged and furious. I don’t realize how long I have been holding them back behind my submissive Dove act. “Whether you believe it or not, Freya and you are both my pack. Aurelius fucking captured me. He burned my world around me, caged me, then turned me into a pet. I was trained as a courtesan and an assassin. Who do you think gave me the iron poisoning, which is killing me?”

Lanlin wrenches his hand back from my neck in shock. “Relius would never harm a pet like that.”

“But his uncle would. Aurelius doesn’t know about the poisoning…but the rest of it was his plan. He ambushed me during a sacred rite and then took everything from me, including my crown just like you did.”

Lanlin blanches. “But you’re my⁠—”

“Enemy, aye? We’re at war. But why does that justify how you treat me now that I am your prisoner and can’t fight back, but not how I fought your ma during a battle? Are your war crimes lesser than mine? How do you weigh them, you hypocrite? KalaKant was a legendary fighter, and I was only fifteen. You cared about the villagers in White Lotus; I saw it. Well, I felt the bloody same about my army. We were child soldiers, forced onto the battlefield by the dragons. Your ma had killed hundreds of us. That day…the ambush…we only won because Tarquin didn’t show to back her up. She died because of the dragons.”

“But you…” Lanlin’s breathing is ragged.

“Slit her throat…? Aye, and I wish that I had done it sooner, before I watched her kill three of my featherglass in front of me and before she… Look at me. I’m covered in scars. I earned them keeping my people alive. We’ve been hunted our entire lives. Your ma helped the dragons in our genocide. But see the star-shaped scar an inch above my heart?”

Lanlin tentatively traces his thumb over the scar, and I tremble.

He nods.