Page 183 of The Fallen Fae King

I don’t even look around at him.

My shadows swirl out of me. Embers spray from my horns.

Ignatius points his blade at me with shaking hands. “Step away from my Omega.”

“I told you not to command me,” I reply. “Or are you a traitor as well?”

“Put the sword down,” Aquila says with a coolness that impresses me, considering he’s sprawled in a bruised, naked heap at my feet and must know what I am about to do to him by the defeated slump of his shoulders. “You’re not involved in this, Iggy. I won’t have you suffer as well. You’ve been a better Alpha to me than I deserve. I’m not worth you being hurt anymore. I shall not thank you if you fight your own cousin for me.”

Behind me, I hear the sword clanking to the ground.

“You are worth it,” Ignatius whispers.

“Doubtful.” I fix the Omega with a steely glare. “Tell me everything, or you’ll die on my fangs in front of your Alpha.”

My dominant pheromones surge through the room. Aquila sways, overwhelmed by them. His eyes become glassy.

After a moment, I relent.

Aquila painfully pushes himself up onto his knees.

He straightens his shoulders with military precision. “Then I’ll die.”

Ignatius makes a choked sound. “Idiot. Relius isn’t bluffing. What our parents ask of us isn’t fair. I understand because mine spent their lives pressuring me to come to the Shadow Court and risk my life in the academy just to become close to Relius. My family’s entire fortunes rest on my shoulders, so don’t you think that I understand the pressure that you’re under? Forgive it? I’ve met your brutal father, remember? It’s why you’ve been so tense. You’re his puppet. No one, let alone an Omega, could resist. But I can’t cover for you anymore.”

I don’t know whether Aquila is more shocked, or I am.

Ignatius knew about his dragon rider’s treachery all along but still protected his Omega by hiding the secret.

Could I forgive that type of betrayal?

Aquila pales.

He looks like he may hurl.

“I’m sorry.” Aquila’s eyes glisten with tears. “I didn’t want to hurt you. But my father trained me to believe that my bonding would always be political. I would become his pawn to play in the most beneficial way possible to him. He’s in a faction with Maximinus, and he taught me to despise the King.” He casts me a nervous glance. “I learned once I was bonded to you that everything I knew was wrong. I learned to love you.”

Ignatius moves as if to rush to his Omega, but I hold him back with my hand.

“Love?” I arch my brow. “Is that what you call hitting him?”

Aquila wrings his hands on his lap. “I have never seen love within my family, nor experienced it. I was furious to be matched with Iggy once I knew that it would mean I’d be forced to spy on the royal household. By our dragons matching, I’d have to risk my life as a traitor. By my wings, I am a fool because I had always dreamed that finding my Alpha would finally lead to freedom from the control of my family and not yet another cage. I shouldn’t have blamed Iggy, but it was hard not to.”

“I should never have allowed you to go and see your father,” Ignatius snarls.

“But you knew.” I turn to Ignatius, and he becomes ashen. I prowl toward him, backing him against the wall. “You kept him in your bed, when you knew that he was a spy and traitor, who had orders to…”

“Assassinate me.” Ignatius turns his head away. “But I’m still alive.”

“I never thought that you were such an optimist or this reckless. Maybe I shouldn’t allow you to hang around Daire so much. He’s a bad influence.”

Ignatius’ expression hardens. “Daire has been the best influence in my life. I was an insecure brat before Daire taught me to have courage and rebellion in my heart, rather than conformity. I would have betrayed my Omega, tossing my only chance at lifelong love away, if I had not seen his example of devotion to his Omega.”

I wince.

I hadn’t realized just how close Ignatius had grown to Daire.

Somehow, my fae is able to inspire a level of worship in his friends and lovers that bewilders me.