Page 45 of Crowned By the Fae King

I told Cadeo to finally get a new skateboard, and to put a holographic gemstone sticker on there for me. For Bà to take the watercolor class she'd always wanted to take so when I looked up at the sky I could think of her painting the clouds. Promised Auntie that I would remember to meditate as long as she took a vacation every year. Told Tuân where to find the fancy SLR camera I'd picked up at the pawnshop for his Christmas present, and asked him to include a photo of an iris in his first art show.

To my whole family, I closed with,

Please know that I'm safe and well taken care of. I hope I'm making you proud. I never wanted to be parted from you, but I know this is the best thing for the world, and for us. I will love and remember you forever.

I couldn't write any more than that. If I did, I would weep and never stop. It was so hard to imagine my life permanently without them.

Without Cass in front of me, an anchor for the future I was choosing, there was no balm to the agony. It was like cutting off my own hand, knowing I could stop at any time and yet making myself rake the saw through my flesh over and over again.

The thought of him drew my attention to him and away from the pain. For a moment, I lost track of my sorrows in the strength of his body. His steady heart, the warmth of his skin, the balance of his wings…

Cass leaned back with a relaxed sigh, his eyes closing. His right fingertip ran against the bare skin of his left forearm, tracing shapes, one after another: I-F-E-E-L-Y-O-U-?

My blush hit me like a freight train. I went absolutely crimson, my cheeks so hot my skin felt tight. I caught the sensation of his grin before I yanked my consciousness away from my soulmate. He'd signed off with a fucking heart?! Fuck, he was a cheeky bastard. It did make my mouth tilt up in a reckless grin, though, getting a wary look from one of the fae working on my demands. I liked getting played with. If Cass thought he'd teach me not to look by being cute about it, he'd be sorely disappointed.

Once we finished, I made my way back to the monarchal suite via magic door, startling my assistant, who jumped in a way more akin to a cat accidentally popping a balloon than a human woman suddenly having unexpected company.

"Oh, Kat, I, uh, didn't mean to startle you?" I said, not sure how to apologize in a world where apologies were an automatic admission of guilt and debt. "Shit. Uh, can I call you Kat? Do you like nicknames?"

She swept her hands over her hair, settling it back into place. "Your majesty may call me whatever your majesty likes," she said, with only the slightest quaver in her voice.

"I'll take that as a no," I said drily. "Do you prefer Katerina? Or, like, miss or ma'am? Ms. Your-Last-Name?"

Her eyes widened. "I… Kat would do?" she said in a bewildered tone. "It's a family nickname, but…"

"Well, you could call me Quyen instead of all the majesty stuff, then. Seems fair." I shrugged and started stripping out of my morning clothes in preparation for whatever I was getting put into for fancy lunch.

The door opened as I was yanking off my shirt, clad only in panties and a bra. I freed my head to find Cass standing in the doorway with a look on his face like a deer in the headlights. Smirking, I wiggled my fingers at him in a hello.

He turned around and walked back out the door without a single word. A moment later, I heard him rustling around in the body-servant's room, having apparently taken a palace-made door instead of the normal one. If the tension in my shoulders was anything to go off of, Cass was somewhat troubled by the sight of me in my underwear. Given that he'd admitted to being a visual guy, I found that quite satisfying. Point to Quyen.

Kat got me dolled up, and by the time Vad came wandering into the monarchal suite to do Cass' hair, I was fully clad and getting my makeup done.

I was going to have to have a conversation with someone about bedroom access if people kept waltzing in here while I was living in it. If Cass walked in on me naked or masturbating or whatever, it would be delicious ammunition, but Vaduin? He was hot, sure, but he was so taken—and, besides, I had my own soulmate to figure out. No need to shoot my shot for someone who was literally unattainable, especially when I had a sexy fae King as my roommate.

There was always the consort's room, I supposed, but the idea of downgrading from Queen to Queen-Consort rankled. The thrones were equal because soulmates were equal. Giving up my position because Cass was cramming himself into a too-small bed felt like conceding ground, somehow.

The three of us took the long way to lunch, walking through the halls instead of taking a palace door. Cass and Vad chatted together about the shifting flying conditions as autumn started to bite down on the mountains. Both of their sets of wings shifted as they talked, as if they were reliving what it felt like to be in the skies, the outer edge of Vad's membranous wings closing and opening by fractions and Cass' feathers alternately rousing and slicking down.

I didn't have anything to contribute to the conversation, of course, but I enjoyed the cadence of their voices. The two of them were obviously old friends. I liked that Cass had someone to be comfortable around.

He paused at an ornate door with a pair of guards flanking it, his ears turning like a watchful animal. "No Dani?" he asked with a glance down the hall.

Vad shrugged one shoulder. "You've got Quyen as backup, now. It seemed churlish to go four-on-three when you're trying to play nice, and the dukes do better with me than her."

"Because you're fae?" I asked, before Cass could let us in.

The Archangel barked a laugh, baring sharp white fangs. "That, and I used to be their crown prince, once upon a time. Cass here deposed me, thank the gods."

Cass lifted his lip with a low growl. "Your thrice-be-damned father deposed you, snake-eyes. Don't put that on me." His hand wrapped around the doorknob like it was the throat of the former King, wringing its neck with a twist and shoving the door open.

Light poured through the doorway, the pale early-autumn sunlight blinding after the relative dimness of the inner palace. Sheer stone walls rose up on four sides, surrounding a large courtyard garden of maybe thirty by sixty feet. Water trickled down from the mossy maws of carved gargoyles, following a lattice of grooves that led to wall-mounted gardens of ferns and other dark green plants. A single tall evergreen speared into the sky, leaving the ground beneath covered in a thick shroud of dead needles; humped plantings surrounded a stone patio and curved along a deep pool of water covered in lily pads.

The other three dukes waited for us within. Two were standing near a set of delicate wooden tables; Ace was seated on a stone bench, his damaged leg stretched out and cane held casually. He moved to rise, but Cass waved him off, stalking over to a backless throne and taking a sprawling seat.

Vaduin and I followed at a more sedate pace. The lion of the trio, the Duke of Flies, sauntered towards me and gave me a deep bow with one hand held out to me. I set my hand in his and got a flash of white teeth before he pressed his lips to my knuckles.

Tension shot through me, my shoulders going tight and a faint trembling starting beneath my breastbone. I didn't look at Cass, even though I knew that reaction had to be his. I didn't want to bring any attention to my soulmate's obvious dislike for Talien, nor did I want to play up the soulmate possessiveness. These men were powerful. I needed to seem powerful, too—collected and serene, as if I belonged in this garden with a duke kissing my hand.

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