Page 81 of The Fae Lord

“I don’t know.” Eldrion braces his hands on the edge of the roof. He kicks the wall in a movement that’s slightly comical, like a stroppy teenager who’s not getting their way.

“So, I’m supposed to wait in this castle with you until it happens, and then what?”

“I don’t know,” he bites back. “Why are you so annoying?” He spins around and stares at me, and suddenly, I laugh. “Why are you laughing?” he asks, stalking towards me.

He grabs me by the waist and pulls, the robe falling open so that my naked chest is pressed against his.

“Because you called me annoying, and it’s ridiculous,” I tell him. “We are talking about the survival of an entire kingdom, and you think I’m annoying.”

“You are annoying,” he growls.

“You should probably shut me up, then, shouldn’t you?” How do I even pretend I don’t want him to kiss me?

Our lips collide, and his tongue enters my mouth as his hands roam my body, his wings enveloping me.

They feel the way they did last night. And somehow, wrapped inside them, as much as I hate him, I feel safe with him.

But then, something in the air changes. I push him away and stumble backwards.

Something is happening. Something is coming closer.

I try to latch onto it. The sensation is familiar.

I race to the edge of the roof and look down, and then I know what it was that I felt.

It was Finn.

I call his name three times, and finally, he looks up. He’s with Briony and three other figures who I don’t recognise.

“Alana,” he calls, “whatever you’re about to do, don’t do it.”

Eldrion is at my side now. He presses his hand firmly on mine. “Leave, jester,” he calls. “You are not wanted here. Leave and I will let you live.”

My heart freezes in my chest. I turn to Eldrion, but I remember what happened the last time I pleaded with him to spare someone dear to me, and stop before the words have passed my lips.

Below, Finn is not heeding Eldon’s warning.

Ignoring him completely, he calls up to me, “I’m coming to get you, Alana. Don’t worry, I’m coming.”

THIRTY-FOUR

Maura

TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS AGO

Phillipe has only been gone a week, but it feels like forever. I have been trying to remember a time before we met, and before I loved him. But it is impossible. Five hundred years, I’ve lived, and he has been by my side for nearly all of them.

Had been.

He is no more.

It’s funny, I always thought he would live longer. My father reached six hundred and fifty. My mother a little more.

But the sickness sweeping through the village claimed him, and even the best healers couldn’t stop him fading away.

In the end, I was glad for an end to his suffering. I welcomed it for him. But I am sad for me, now, not for him.

I am sad that the reason I’m becoming an elder is because his position on the council became free. And I’m sad that he won’t see me at the ceremony, receiving my bracelet of leaves and my staff.

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