Page 22 of King of Fire and Flames

I spun on my heel.

A tall male braced his booted feet wide on the dais’s bottom step. He pushed his hood back, revealing dark gold hair and a ferocious silver gaze that pierced through my skull before lowering to my ribcage and setting the pieces of my shattered heart aflame.

The ability to form words left me. My heart reassembled itself only to hammer and flail about my chest like a dying fish with a hook in its mouth.

I couldn’t move as the fae’s sensual lips parted. I dug my nails into my outer thigh, every muscle shaking.

“Well done, Princess Zali,” he said in that familiar honeyed rumble. “Unfortunately, I arrived too late to see you fight, but courtiers have informed me that you remain as formidable an opponent as ever.”

My fists clenched as I locked my jaw at the terrible sight of Arrowyn fucking Ramiel, flashing a lopsided smirk at me.

I thought I was prepared. Believed I was ready to face him.

But I wasn’t. Far from it.

A rage-filled scream lashed against my lips, demanding release.

But I wouldn’t yell, swear, moan, or show a single flinch of emotion.

I would never let that asshole see my pain.

Chapter 7

Leaf

The first stupid thing I did was wonder if the Storm King had ever called me Princess Zali before, and the second was allow a flash of longing to flow through my veins.

Why did the mere sight of Arrowyn Ramiel make my body betray my mind?

My nerve endings foolishly recalled every sigh of pleasure his touch had wrung from me. My bones, flesh, and skin didn’t care that the male with his eyes locked on mine was the realms’ greatest liar. A brazen deceiver, who’d turned out to be as despicable as I’d predicted when I first laid eyes on him from inside the slaver’s cage at Farron Gilt Market.

In some cruel twist of fate, he appeared even more beautiful since I saw him in Mydorian a few weeks ago, and that made me furious. How dare a monster look so good.

A cold expression adorned his face, a pitiless smirk on his lips. An aura of supreme confidence surrounded him, like a trap, a forcefield of shimmering corruption, and my Aldara mark thrummed in blind, ridiculous appreciation.

Tonight, tight dark leathers hugged his long legs, shining metal caps strapped over his knees. As was his habit, he had left the ridged muscles of his stomach bare, his chest covered by the lethal plate of gold feathers. Other than his favorite feather ear cuffs, his head bore no crown or other kingly adornment.

I hated him, but adored every inch of his appearance. If a breathtaking, winged god rose from the hell realms to destroy Taln, it would no doubt look exactly like him.

He pushed the dark material of his cloak behind his broad shoulders, so it hung between the purple-black wings tucked close to his body, the thick hem falling against his calves.

The garment’s glinting feathers seemed to mock me, reminding me it was an exact match for the one he’d covered me in after he stripped me naked and threw me in the river on the day we met. The one he gave me before leaving me alone in Mydorian. Before betraying me.

“Promise you’ll take care of yourself,” he’d said, wrapping it around my shoulders in the forest. “Keep this, then I’ll always be able to keep you warm.”

Fucking liar. As if he gave a shit about my comfort. His love was a cruel pretense. An elaborate ruse to make me compliant, so he could use me as leverage with the Sun Realm.

Memories tumbled over me of the many times I’d pleaded for his touch, his bite, his love. But no more. Never again would I sink so low as to beg for scraps of attention from my abuser.

“Arrow,” the king’s ghostly sister cried out, excitement thrumming in her airy voice. “You came.”

The Storm King smiled at Ruhh, his skin paling slightly. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss the festivities for all the gold in my realm.”

The other sister, Marcella, guided Ruhh back to her seat, soothing her into silence as they went.

Two fae stepped out of the crowd and joined Arrow—Raiden and a younger male I’d never seen before. Wait… Raiden? How was that possible? Only a moment ago, he’d been standing on the left side of the royal family.

My gaze shot to the dais. There he was, standing straight-backed and dressed in Sun Realm armor, just like before. I blinked, and in his place, stood a fire fae with short black hair and a neatly clipped beard.

---