Page 148 of Crowned By the Fae King

I started backing up, eyes so wide it hurt, edging along the circle of beasts. That was— But he was—

He had fingernails, not claws. His golden eyes met mine with desperation, his wings and shoulders rising and falling as he panted.

"Lioness," he said, his voice hoarse. "Don't look at me like that. Don't—" He took a harsh breath, his eyes gleaming. "Please don't."

Talien sat there, unmoving, as still as a statue.

"Quyen," he pleaded. He looked at me with heartbreak painted across his beautiful face. "Love. It's me. Please. Let me in."

Opals. I had opals clenched in my fist, had been holding them so hard all this time that the metal fittings were cutting into my hand.

I jerked my hand away from them with a sharp sound of pain. They clattered onto the ground. One shattered, sending little brilliant pieces of stone skittering across the salted earth.

Everything flooded in, all the sensation that had always been mine to claim. Cold biting at bare skin, the weight of wings held mantled, dry earth against uncalloused feet and salt singing across an unpracticed tongue—Don't look at me like that, love, please, I'm not a monster, you promised you'd still see me as a man—want you need you love you, I love you, I love you—

"Cassie?" A hot tear cut down my cheek.

He let out a harsh sob. One hand went to his mouth. Cass nodded, his ears held low and tears gleaming in his eyes.

Talien got to his feet. Every eye in the room – human, fae, and animal – snapped to him.

"Merciful King," he said, his voice harsh. "You're on my land."

Cass growled, the dangerous sound of a predator. Every fanged creature in the room growled with him, Mercy voicing his displeasure.

"King of Flies," Cass said in a low snarl. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't shatter your throne and leave this palace a ruin."

Talien moved with the speed of a striking serpent. He kicked my sword into the air and flung himself at me, catching the blade by the hilt. He had me by the hair with the blade against my throat in a heartbeat, before Cass or I could react. A trickle of blood ran down my throat, the promise of death.

Snarling monsters edged closer. He dragged me back to his throne, defending his tiny patch of land. "Strike a bargain with me," Talien said. His pulse hammered against my back. Cass' heart beat slowly in my chest. "My Court for your Queen."

Don't you dare, I sent Cass, fury chilling my blood.

Cass turned back towards Talien with slow menace, all six-foot-seven of him. He stalked in a slow circle around the pool of bare ground at Talien's feet, the silent animals moving with him. "You truly are an arrogant bastard," Cass said, every word precise.

Talien turned with him, keeping his eyes on my deadly soulmate, breathing hard. The sword bit into my throat.

"You don't even have any metal between my Queen and your skin," Cass continued. His eyes hardened, the cold gaze of a hawk. "She's my balanced soulmate, Talien. I can cast through her as easily as I cast through my Court. As easily as I cast through my own body."

Teeth gleamed. Eyes shone. The softness of the dawn took nothing away from the viciousness of an angry Court.

Through the eyes of wargs and hawks and rats, I watched the blood drain from Talien's face. Watched him realize how well and truly fucked he was—watched him decide to go down fighting.

His fingers tightened in my hair and on the hilt of my sword.

"Wrong choice," Cass said.

He didn't kill Talien. He commanded him. Talien moved like an automaton, lowering my sword from my throat and sheathing it for me. His hand loosened on my hair, still touching me, unable to escape the fate he'd chosen. He stood there, his heartbeat and breath held in regimented calm that I knew far too well.

Cass stalked over to the throne, naked and beautiful. He set one hand on the back of that stone seat with his golden eyes as cold as steel.

CRACK.

Every creature in the palace howled out victory as the Court of Flies fell, its King tamed and throne shattered. Cass bared his teeth in a silent snarl and held out his hand to me.

I stared at him. It was him. I knew it was him. I could feel him in my blood and my bones. All I had to do was lean into the bond between us, and I could hear his thoughts and wear his emotions, every gate of my soulmate's heart unbarred for me.

But he was dead. He'd been dead. He'd died in my lap, died right in front of me—

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