Page 87 of Calling of the Crown

“You haven’t failed, Bria.” Rune pulled back to look at me and ran his thumbs under my eyes to catch the falling tears. “We can still win. We can come out of this victorious and with some sort of resolution. Just because we have to fight for it doesn’t mean you’ve lost what you set out to do.”

I shook my head, sure that he was wrong. “I told everyone I’d stop the war. I promised I’d end this, but I’m about to lead them right into it.”

“You are ending it. This will be it. The final battle, the final push to the end we’ve been working for. Peace. Just because there’s still a fight to be had doesn’t mean you broke your promise. This is just the way to get there.”

“But—” I stopped and worked to swallow. “But Elias made his terms clear on how the battle has to end. Him or—”

“Don’t,” Rune growled. He gripped my chin and forced me to hold his gaze. “It won’t be you. That I can fucking promise.”

I gripped his wrists. “I can’t kill, Rune. I can’t take a life like that.”

“Bria—”

“And now we have this Nightbloom threat. Something that will make it far easier for Land Fae to kill us. Everything is just … it’s all—”

“Shh,” Rune said, pulling me forward again. He kissed my forehead tenderly and ran his hands down my arms. “We can do this. You can do this. We still have time to train and prepare.”

Prepare.

We needed a lot of that. The first thing I needed to prepare for was telling all my people that they’d have to fight one last time. Risk losing loved ones a final time. And all for a cause that I wasn’t sure they truly wanted or believed in.

Sniffling, I averted my eyes. “You’ll have to face your mom now.”

Rune sighed, and when I looked at him again, resolve had hardened his features. “I’ve been coming to terms with the fact that she’s not my mother anymore. After everything that happened while we stayed with her and everything she said that day we met with Elias, I realize that my mother is already dead inside. If I have to face her, I think there will be some comfort in the idea that I’m finally setting her free, ending her pain and sending her where she really wants to be. With my dad.”

My chest constricted, because while Rune seemed sure about his decision, it shouldn’t be a decision he had to make. No son should have to face his murderous mother and “come to terms with” potentially killing her.

“Hey,” Rune said, making me look at him. “I can see all the worries swarming those pretty blue eyes. You’re thinking about everything that can go wrong.”

“More like all the things that have already gone wrong.”

“Try to think past that. Past the war. Past the troubles. Think about what Ambrolia will look like once we’ve done it. Think about how amazing the world will be when all Fae live alongside each other.”

“It’s hard to—”

Rune placed a finger over my lips, and I instantly quieted. The pad of his forefinger lightly traced the seam of my mouth. “Try.”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I focused on the feel of Rune’s finger as it traveled across my jaw and down my throat. The flutter that sprang to life in my gut as his digit roamed along my cleavage made it harder to focus on the task he’d given me, but it also brought a momentary respite from the chaos in my head.

“What does your Ambrolia look like, my Queen?” he asked softly, his touch coasting over my stomach and moving lower.

I kept my eyes closed as I thought about it. “It … It’s bright and happy. Fae of every kind fill Morardia and the mainland as neighbors and friends.”

“What else?” His finger slid into the crease between my legs, rubbing and teasing over my clit. “Think harder and deeper.” He punctuated his word by sliding a finger inside of me.

Groaning, I let my head fall back as he added another finger and pushed them in and out at an agonizingly teasing pace. It was just enough to give me a taste of potential pleasure, a sliver of what he could give if he just moved them a little faster and a little harder. It was like he wanted to give me enough to have me wet and panting but not enough so that I couldn’t focus on what we were discussing.

“Fae … Fae don’t have to be afraid,” I gasped. I gripped his biceps in an effort to hold onto something tangible as he tried to coax me to heavenly places. “Fae don’t have to worry about their loved ones dying or their homes being invaded. They can exist freely. Peacefully.”

He curled his fingers inside of me, hitting me in just the right place so that I moaned into the steamy air of the bathroom. He caught the end of the sound in a hungry kiss, sliding his tongue across my own.

“In your world, I’m allowed to do this,” Rune growled, kissing me deeply once more. “And this.” He reached up to squeeze my breast and pinch the puckered tip. “I, a Fox Fae, am allowed to love and be with you, a Water Fae, and it’s as okay as two Fox Fae or two Water Fae being together.”

Nodding, I said, “You and me, Jesiah and Akira, Avana and Imani.”

“Ardley and Khalani,” Rune tossed out, leaning down to nibble on my ear.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back to give him access to pepper kisses on my neck. “You think they’ll actually be together? I still can’t tell what Khalani thinks of him.”

---