Page 71 of The Fallen Fae King

Yet is it easier if I let her keep thinking that?

If I die the villain…the little monster all grownup…then she won’t need to grieve.

“Freya,” Daire chokes out.

He never takes his gaze from my face like he is daring me to say that a single word Freya said is true.

I should simply walk away from them. Let them hate me, rather than grieve.

I owe them an explanation and a genuine goodbye, however, even though it will never be enough. It is messier than the easy narrative that Freya has spun.

Was it easier before I met my Omega and learned what love meant?

I never knew that feelings could hurt more than any torture from the punishment pits.

Above our heads, the widening tear churns like the eye of a cosmic hurricane. Spirals of shadow rotate around its edges. The heavens groan under the strain.

“I am called the Void Vampire,” I reply, “because I have been trained by the Void Cult to be sacrificed tonight. My blood is the only thing that can close the Void and save the realms. My twin and I were separated as fledglings. Lazarus was taken by the Void Cult because he was the good twin to become the sacrifice. When he went missing three years ago, I was told that I now must throw myself into the Void to save the realms. If I didn’t, then the Void Devils would bring something worse than hell. I was the only one who could restore balance to the chaos. But, dearhearts, I cared nothing about that. I will die tonight only because then you will live.”

Freya sucks in a shocked breath, before she says, brokenly, “Lanlin, I’m sorry…”

“You of everyone I have known in my life have nothing to be sorry for. And I have already met my true family. They are in my nest tonight.”

Suddenly, stronger winds howl from the Void, slicing across my face. I shield my eyes.

Sand rises in towering columns around the pyramids, circling them like worshipers around long-lost gods. The pyramids’ limestone glows with ancient runes hidden beneath their surfaces.

My back slams into the frame of the Eternal Royal Nest. I grunt in pain.

Shadow and Devil are pacing in a circle in the eye of the storm. Their heads are lifted toward the rift.

Their eyes are wide with excitement, and their tails are swinging side to side.

I don’t know whether they are acting as my bodyguards or guarding me.

I never have.

I remember how happy Lazarus was when they’d been given to us as cubs, one each.

We were never gifted anything, apart from our matching beetle pendants.

Lazarus played with the cubs every day, allowing them to sneak onto his bed, despite the scoldings that he received from our nurse for it.

If it had been me who had broken the rule, I would have been beaten.

Lazarus had loved Shadow and Devil with an uncomplicated, unconditional love just like he did me.

He was the kindest, sweetest person I have known. Despite that, our own mother marked him as the Void Vampire, wanting him to kill himself.

Didn’t Isis expect the same from Horus?

Are all parents as unfeeling?

Lazarus loved the demonic lions who had, in fact, been given to us to make sure that we served our kingdom, killing and dying for it.

Damn my fangs, I love them too.

When I sense Shadow and Devil’s joy at returning to the Void, their home, I can’t blame them.