Page 127 of A Deal with the Shadow King

Something dark and dangerous clouds his features—the kind of look I’d expect to see on Two’s face. He catches me in his arms, holding me close. “I was dumb, and you were right. Is that enough?”

“No, but it’s a start. You can make it up to me, later.”

He leans down, his breath hot on my ear. “Oh, I intend to grovel.” His gruff tone reeks of sex, and the dark promise shivers through me. He runs his nose along the slope of my neck. “But Morheim is only just beginning. There’s much to do if I want to keep my crown. Vicious royals to appease…”

Right. The first night of Morheim is the kick-off of a realm-wide hunt that lasts a little more than a week. The Shadow King is supposed to lead his hunters through the different Fae lands and slay the nightmares that escaped the sceawere, but all I want to do is crawl into bed with him, barricade the door, and never come out.

I pick the golden circlet from his head and hold it in front of his face. “This crown?”

“Burn that one. It’s just metal. When I make you my queen, we’ll use the real ones.”

My stomach flip-flops at the certainty in his voice. “Real ones?”

His enigmatic smile quickens my pulse, and his brief mention of a proposal dispenses a fresh boost of adrenaline in my blood. I didn’t have enough time to iron out all his revelations—not completely. I used to be so worried that the Shadow king would force my hand…

I could kick and scream and blame him for everything, but I love him without question. How I wish I’d been the one standing on that altar with him earlier, and spared us all this trauma.

I skim the lapels of his evening coat. “You lost the bet with my father.”

“Yes, but I don’t need Demeter’s magic to survive anymore. Morrigan’s curse is broken.”

I search his gaze, trying to see past the Shadow King to the men I’ve come to love. “What was the deal exactly? Can you tell me now?”

Now that I know his secret, I have trouble believing he ever wanted to destroy my people. I graze his cheek, and he pecks my palm with his lips.

“In exchange for healing your mother, I asked your father to allow mirrors into your country, but he refused. By connecting your people to the sceawere, I hoped to recruit all the shadow seeds from your world. It would have brought me so much magic… So instead, I proposed a gamble. You were to come and live with me and decide your own people’s fate. I was supposed to convince you to stay here permanently to win.”

“What— That’s all?”

His lips quirk. “If I’d told you on your first day that I intended to pepper mirrors across your kingdom and keep you in Faerie with me for good, you wouldn’t have found it so innocuous.”

I force myself to consider the bet through the lens of my old beliefs. Mirrors would have been perceived as a threat for our entire way of life. A shortcut to ruin.

Damian holds me close to him, his hands hard at my waist. “If I’d been able to reach my seeds, so would the other Fae courts. It would have opened the doors to a different future for Demeter. A future your father didn’t want. But I was running out of time and toyed with the idea of treating you so badly that you would flee. It would have triggered an early victory.”

“I bet Two came up with that plan,” I grumble.

“Well… Yes.” His lips twitch, and he taps the space over his heart. “He’s in here, you know. We’re all here… It’s a complex feeling.”

I kiss the back of his knuckles. “You’re all exactly where you’re supposed to be.”

My eyes settle on Cece, Lori, and Baka near the entrance of the tunnels; the sprite is already tending to Lori’s bite. While Baka works, my sister observes her wrinkled skin and flapping wings with her bottom lip tucked between her teeth. A bottomless curiosity burns in her gaze.

“We have to find a way to break the spell that links Morrigan to Cece.”

Damian’s throat bobs. “The only way to break a blood bond is for one half of the bounded duo to stab the other straight through the heart.”

“But that means—” A quiet sob quakes my body.

“I’m sorry, kitten.” He places a soothing kiss at the base of my ear. “But your sister will have to kill the phantom queen, or she’ll live and die with her.”

Chapter 45

At the Beginning

The lanterns cast a warm, colorful glow upon the reading nook I share with Cece. The closely-knit fabric of her jacket brushes my naked arm when she curls into me. “I can’t believe that a few days ago, I was betrothed to a foreign prince, and now I’m living in Faerie with you… It’s surreal.”

I shift around to look at her eyes and tuck a strand of brown hair behind her ear. “I know the feeling.”

---