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BLEDDYN
Parchments covered the cold stone floor of my palace quarters. I barely noticed the chill under my feet as I delved deeper into the ancient lore.
“Awakening.Cegid y Bwlch. Everlasting chaos.”
I muttered the words which set my teeth on edge. Despite my agitation, I had to be careful how I handled the crumbling pages.
But I knew I was onto something, that the solution to the dying sun was hidden somewhere in these documents. The more I read, the more my heart pounded against my ribcage.
I kept stumbling over those words. Cegid y Bwlch. It was an old expression, referring to the open mouth of an attacking animal. But the ancient writers were using it as a name to describe something truly heinous. The more I said it out loud, the more I felt the evil within it.
Was it possible they were referring to the mythical monster from the beginning of time? The history books called it the Gaping Maw, but I had always assumed it was an allegory. Not a real entity.
A bead of sweat trickled down my brow, though the room was anything but warm. Every creak of the old building made me jump. I had no reason to be in possession of half the palace library’s scrolls, even though it was not forbidden. Yet I did not want word of it getting back to Prys.
Again and again, I stumbled over the prophecy. Sometimes it was in rhyme, sometimes a few lines, and sometimes covering half a page. My fingers traced the outline of an even longer version of the prophecy I had discovered this morning. The core message was always the same.
A woman would come, not Fae, not human, yet destined to heal both worlds. And if she did not, both realms would perish under the onslaught of the Great Destroyer, the Gaped Maw that would swallow up time and space.
Dramatic, yes. But throughout Gwerin’s history, prophecies had played out, and rarely to the good of the people.
There was a secret compartment behind the third stone on the left from the door. I had discovered it many years ago when King Rhys still had had the queen by his side.
According to his wishes, Beth should be the new queen now. The pain of leaving her in the dungeon many stories below my feet pierced through me, and I pushed it away once again. Now was not the time.
Prys had insisted I join him for the night’s banquet, and it would not do to let the prince wait. I collected the scrolls and stored them in the secret compartment. Then I changed into more suitable clothing.
As I strode toward the hall, the waning sun cast an ominous pall through a window ahead.
“Have you heard?” A maid’s voice drifted around the corner, her words trembling with barely contained terror. “They say it is the end times, and that the Gaped Maw will swallow us all.”
“Hush,” another voice hissed. “You’ll bring the wrath of the prince down upon us.”
I quickened my pace, my mind racing with each footfall. People were stirring, their imagination fired by the failing sun. How long until they would rise up? It was a miracle they had not already.
Prince Prys had once shared why he kept his subjects starved on purpose. “Scared people do not have the stomach to fight. Neither do hungry ones.”
He had laughed uproariously at his own wit, yet had failed to see how few of his courtiers had joined in. It was as if he had forgotten we all had family outside of the palace walls.
I had a feeling he would find out soon enough how many stood with him if Cegid y Bwlch existed.
Chapter five
BETH
Than’swordsunleashedawhirlwind of movement. Hands threading through my hair, he pulled me into a hungry kiss.
My fingers curled into the front of his shirt, clutching the rough fabric. I ground against him, slick heat already pooling between my legs. Fuck, I needed this. Needed the release, the connection. After being trapped in that cell for who knew how long, my body screamed to be touched.
He chuckled softly against my mouth, the rough pads of his fingers tracing pathways of fire across my skin. “Slow down, kitten, or it’ll be over before we start.”
I smiled against his lips. “I can go more than once. Can you?”
Than growled into my mouth, accepting the challenge. I gasped, arching into him as one of his hands slid under my dress, fingers tracing along my inner thigh. My pulse raced, heart pounding against my ribs.
I needed him closer. He needed to touch me where it counted. Now.
