Page 141 of Court of the Fae Princes

He makes a sound like he’s holding back a sob, and I can’t handle it. I can’t handle seeing him in pain like this.

My crying fills the chamber we’re in.

His body tenses. “No, Cassia, no.” His hand rests on mine around his waist… like he’s trying to comfort… me?

I turn in his arms and lightly touch his face. “I’m okay.”

His hand is there, brushing my tears away. “Never cry. Not with me.”

He shouldn’t be comforting me. Why is he comforting me when he’s the one so badly injured? This man makes no sense to me.

“What happened?” I whisper, bracing myself. “Who hurt you?”

Someone I’m going to kill for doing this to him.

He takes a shaky breath. “The Keeper of Death.”

I don’t know who that is, but I press on. “Why? Why would she do that?”

He seems to struggle for a long moment before his voice comes out soft and weak. “She’s trying to break us. She’s working us day and night, so we can’t protect our kingdom from the iron demons. She craves war and death.” His voice is raspy, and his breathing is labored. He takes a pause, gasping for air. “I’m not strong enough to keep the barrier up.” He tries to hold his head up, but he can’t.

The barrier. The most important thing the royal fae do. “The others can handle it.”

“No.” He seems even more desperate. “We were separated. She’s hurting them too. I can feel them weakening. If we fall, the barrier falls.” He slumps forward.

I hold him closer, gently rubbing my face against his. “Stay strong. I’m going to fix this.”

“It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. You rejected us, the deal was sealed, and now we’re bound to the Keeper of Death forever.” His eyes close.

“Sulien, look at me!” I plead. “I’m going to fix this. I swear I am!”

His bloodied hand trembles as he reaches up to touch my cheek before it falls to the ground with a thud. I grab his hand and hold it tightly, hoping that he keeps fighting. He can’t give up. He has to keep going. We have to be together and figure things out between us.

I think I could love the princes, if they just gave me time.

We lay together, holding hands. As time passes, Sulien’s body relaxes against mine, curling against me. I’m going to get him out of this, I swear I will, no matter what it costs me.

EIGHT

Cassia

“Wake up!”

The words jerk me out of my dream so quickly that I’m left gasping for breath. My eyes open, and I stare at a cloudless sky in confusion. My blankets are warm. The ground is hard, and the day is bright. It’s so different from where I was just moments before that it feels surreal.

There’s a nudge against my arm. “Eat, and get ready to go.”

I roll to my side, my stomach turning from the moment, and watch Lady Nova shuffle around, packing her things and stirring the pot of food that hangs over the fire. It’s jolting going from my dream to this. Almost like even this isn’t real.

I can’t move. My body trembles, and all I can see with every blink of my eye is Sulien, beaten, bloodied, and ready to give up.

Tears sting my eyes. I lift a shaky hand and wipe my cheeks, where I feel the evidence of tracks of tears having run down my face. I must have been crying in my sleep, which is no surprise. Every time I blink my eyes, I see him again, and my entire chest aches.

It felt so real. Just like all the terrible nightmares I’ve been having lately.

Sulien was hurt. He was freezing. Left alone in the dark. It’s like all the other dreams, each involving a different prince, and a slightly different terrible situation.

Part of me thinks that my mind came up with the worst thing imaginable because of my guilt. The princes were gone because of me. They were possibly in a dangerous situation because of me. Of course I feel guilty. Of course that could cause nightmares.

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