Page 63 of The Fallen Fae King

Yet it was intoxicating.

I wince, when I notice how savagely Daire’s neck is torn. It will likely scar.

Yet a small part of me is proud of that.

It is a claiming mark from our wedding night. It feels right.

No matter if he chooses to become the Blood Lover for another vampire in the future, which sparks a possessive pain through me, that vampire will always have to see the mark I left on him.

He was mine first.

Daire’s ravens are settled on the cedar frame of the nest, watching me with sharp eyes and sharper beaks. I sense that they will peck out my soft parts if I make a wrong move.

I admire them for their protectiveness as much as I admire my Omega.

I turn my attention back to Freya. “You mean like the secrets Daire and you kept from me? The ones that you wish me to simply forgive?”

Freya flinches, before squirming in my hold. “Ehm, we’re having that conversation now, are we? Okay, I’ve had a rough few hours…weeks…months…lifetime. I have thought about how I would talk about this with you so many times in my head. Also, talked about it with Daire. If it doesn’t come out right, however, blame it on the shit you just put me through.”

“And I beg you to blame my sharpness or rough edges on the ritual that is making me feel like a wolf transformed into a puppy.”

“A puppy?” Freya glances at me through her eyelashes, and her lips twitch. “Still, one with fangs.”

“Even a puppy can bite.” I trace my finger over a bloodstain on her dress.

“It’s not mine,” Freya mumbles. “I used it to stem the bleeding from Daire’s neck.”

I stiffen.

Did I truly bite him that hard?

I barely remember.

Freya nuzzles my throat. “Look, we lied, and I’m sorry. The Council were going to execute us. Aurelius gifted us to you to save our lives. It hurts him to be parted from us. I was trained to spy on you. Daire was devastated to have to hide his identity. He has already lost so fucking much. The dragons stripped him of his Crown, title, and name. He’s lost his family, friends, and land. They burned…everything. Then humiliated and paraded him through their streets in a cage. He may once have been your enemy but now, the dragons turned him into their pet, courtesan, and assassin. And when we first came here, we were told that you were a…”

When she trails off, my lips thin.

“A monster?” I supply. “A beast? The terrifying Shadow Vampire King who would likely rip out your throats?”

My eyes blaze with rage before I can control myself, and I hate that Freya flinches.

“Why would you not think that?” I push her away with the little strength that I have, and she sits up with a startled expression. “When you are the Queen of Fang Kingdom?”

Freya blanches, clutching a velvet cushion to her chest like a shield.

“You knew,” she says so quietly that if I were not a vampire, I would not hear the words.

I sprawl in the rich linen, staring up at the ancient stars above me.

The moon is still.

I concentrate, summoning my bats who remained amongst the pyramids and so survived being burned by the dragons. The bats stream across the moon, which is starting to become tinged red at the edges like blood dropped into water.

It won’t be long until the Blood Moon is here.

I don’t look at the pyramids.

If I don’t look at them, then I can pretend that the howling Void won’t open at any moment.