Page 226 of The Fallen Fae King

There was no way to keep any of the children away from danger or the dragons’ attacks.

Shadow Dragons will kill any fae, young or old.

Teaching Bai how to fight was the best way to protect him. Yet he would either shadow me during battles or sometimes, Elatha.

I have never been so relieved that he was working as Elatha’s personal attendant on the night that my army was ambushed and I was captured in Rune Forest.

“Can you see a little ladybug fae? How is he doing?” I ask Lanlin, trying to sound casual. Then I listen hard. “Huh, he may be singing.”

Lanlin tilts his head. “Is he important to you?”

I hesitate. “I raised him.”

“Then he is family to me as well, dearheart. I look forward to meeting the new member of my pack. I give my oath that I shall protect and cherish him as I do you.”

Joy swells in my heart. “Thanks, Bat.”

“I can tell that you have been teaching him your ways. Amidst the brutal fighting, the child is singing, fluttering around the room, and slashing the dragons in the guts with his dagger.”

I glow with pride. “He does take after me.”

“I believe that this new pack is going to be trouble.”

“How did you think that it wouldn’t be with me in it?”

When I hear the sound of heavy footfalls outside in the corridor, I stiffen.

More guards must be streaming through into the study from the corridor, despite our attempts to barricade the room, but only the four of us remain to hold them back from the North Tower.

Can we take them all, and clear out these bastards before Freya returns with Aurelius?

Wren won’t be able to keep the portal open for much longer.

It takes immense amounts of magical energy for him to create a portal between kingdoms, even amplified by the dark magic in the North Tower.

Only a mage as skilled as Wren could attempt it. He’s my true secret weapon.

Yet I know him well enough to know what he wasn’t telling me, when I visited him in the barracks — creating this portal could kill him.

Even attempting this shouldn’t be possible. I downplayed Wren’s magical strength to Freya.

Even the Druids didn’t understand where Wren gained his level of magic. They treated him as harshly as they did, I have come to think, because the arseholes feared him.

What he was.

And that they wouldn’t be able to control him as he became older.

Isn’t that why both Aurelius and Lanlin have been mistreated?

Because of their power? Because people have wanted to control them?

“Are you ready to take out these bastards?” I mutter to Lanlin, as the room crowds with new dragons, trampling over the corpses. “We must protect Bai and have each other’s back, aye?”

Lanlin’s unflinching gaze meets mine. “Forever, my dear.”

My chest warms.

I haven’t fought this closely with anyone since my Frost Clan with Ciara.