Page 91 of The Stolen Crown

Her words were broken, like she already knew. Her grip tightened around my fingers. Gods, it was as though once the tainted truths began, I could not stop them from spilling out.

“The dark fae, he…he told Harald the more wretched of our nobles needed to be given something in return for their pledges to fight.”

Mira’s palm covered her mouth.

“They gave them me.” The words were hardly more than a whisper, as if to speak the shame all over again might bring it back.

Mira shook her head, hand still clasped over her mouth, and let out a muffled “No.”

“I don’t know exactly what your mother suffered as a consort, but the moment I turned sixteen, I was branded”—I gestured to a small burn hidden beneath the tattoo on my chest—“and offered to folk in return for their allegiance. For months leading up to the actual battle, I was bartered across the noble houses.”

Mira let her hand fall away. New tears lined her cheeks, and I despised that I was the one responsible for putting them there. Gods, I wanted nothing more than for her to see me, a man who’d defend her, protect her, a man who’d know how to touch her, even love her.

But it wasn’t pity in her eyes. There was only the feral brutality she kept buried behind those smiles.

“How many are still living? I want to know their names, their houses. I want to take each of their eyes for daring to look at you. Then their fingers for daring to touch you.”

Bleeding gods. I went to her, one palm on her cheek. “There’s the vicious princess I first met.”

She covered my hand with hers. “I’m not jesting, Tait.”

“I know. But you needn’t bloody your pretty hands. Erik already did.”

“Erik knows?”

“We’ve never discussed it, and I don’t know how he found out. It took me some time to catch on to what he was doing after the war, but by the third noble he slaughtered, I began piecing his movements together. The final one was killed the day the Chasm opened and he went for Livia.”

Murdo, a brutal lord. I still felt the sting of his fingernails when I thought on him too long. Erik convinced one of Murdo’s sons to betray the lord, all to give the king a reason to kill him.

In a sense, Murdo was framed. The Ever King used the silver swallow charm Livia had given him as young ones as the reason the Ever Ship attacked Rusa, Murdo’s territory.

Erik made certain a charlatan spell caster stole the swallow, then saw to it that Murdo agreed to pay for the charm to aid in removing the darkening curse that once plagued our lands.

It was an elaborate farce, and I wasn’t certain if Erik did it because he enjoyed the game of torture as much as me or if he needed to distract me enough that I never saw the deeper purpose.

Little did the king know I’d figured his moves out long before.

Not only had my cousin slaughtered Harald for my sake, but he sent the rest of my demons to the hells.

I used one knuckle to tilt Mira’s chin. “Most folk would tell me it is pitiful to let such a thing ruin pleasure now. Believe me when I say, I want you, Vicious. So damn badly.”

Mira let her brow press to mine. “You were sold to monsters, Tait. Never allow yourself to believe I’d think less of you for surviving his depravity. Such a thing is not something one merely forgets.” She hesitated. “The dark fae did much the same to my mother.”

A cinch of pain for the glamour queen needled into my chest. If the bastard was not already dead, I would revel in watching his head be taken again and again.

“My father told me Davorin craved sadistic dominance,” Mira went on. “He thrived on breaking the spirits of others. Somehow he always found sick souls to join him. You are the strongest man I know, Tait. But understand, if I see the Ever King again, I plan to embrace him fully for being a bloodthirsty sod in the shadows.”

I laughed softly. “Erik will likely take affection as warmly as me.”

“I should hope not. I’ve experienced your affection, and I think it would be rather awkward for Livia if I started falling for her mate.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t make me kill my cousin.”

“Please. It is you I must chaperone, lest you play a hero and take a blade for Bloodsinger.”

I grinned and pressed a kiss to the center of her palm. “Mira, you must know I’ve never desired someone more than I desire you. For a long time, I didn’t think I ever would, and I didn’t mind. But it’s all changed.”

“I will do whatever you want. Whatever pace you want.”