Page 111 of The Forbidden Fae King

I shoot a single glance back through the open doors of the Senate house. At the mess I left in my wake. Every member is on their feet and yelling. Papers scatter everywhere as tempers fly. My smile falters as my eyes fall upon the armed guard in their midst. I do not recognize their faces, or the foreign uniform.

The high chancellor has taken far too many liberties.

Chapter 29

Keira

Aldrin paces across the royal bedroom in nothing but a white bathrobe, the hem swishing against his powerful thighs. It is tied loosely across his waist, exposing the tanned skin of his ripped chest. I bite my lip as I hungrily take in the sight of him, my stomach tightening with need.

I sit on the edge of his four-poster bed, the pale curtains pulled back. Behind him immense, arched windows give a floor-to-ceiling view of a blue sky and fluffy clouds. Thick rays of sunlight pierce through, making the gold veins of the marble of the floor glitter.

This single room is massive, with a roaring fireplace, sitting couches and a writing desk, with large amounts of empty space around them. Potted trees fill the corners, giving the space an almost wild feel.

“They are utterly spineless!” Aldrin runs a hand through his loose, damp hair. “I have given the Senate everything they need to start an inquiry. The evidence is laid out for them, but still some refuse to see what is right before their eyes. Some are terrified of the truth and make themselves willfully blind. Others don’t want the inconvenience of correcting the issue. There are those who believe me, but are too incompetent and afraid of Titania to do anything about it.”

I get up and take Aldrin’s hands, then lead him to the bed, pushing his chest to force him to sit down and stop pacing. He grunts in response. That bathrobe rides further up his thighs, almost,almost,giving me a glimpse of that manhood beneath.

I blink and force myself to focus. “It has been three weeks, Aldrin, and the Senate are nowhere near setting up an inquiry.”

Three glorious weeks of exploring every inch of each other’s bodies and joining them in every way imaginable.

He turns those amber eyes on me, a flash of panic within them.

I squeeze his hand. “You said it yourself. Titania has hamstrung the council with cowards. All they know how to do is spiral into useless debate. Look for other allies in the people, the soldiers, and the lords that have been ostracized.”

“I will not start a civil war,” he grumbles. “I will not do that to these people.”

“No,” I say gently. “But this palace seems like a great place to lay a siege. Sometimes we can’t achieve what we need to with diplomacy alone. If a battle were fought in this palace, and the blood of Titania’s guards were spilt, but the citizens of the city spared, would that be such a bad thing?”

“I had hoped to regain my power in the same way I lost it.” Aldrin’s eyebrows furrow and shadows dance in his eyes.

“You’re an idealist. I respect that.” I straighten the sides of his bathrobe, then gaze up at him. “You once said history is written by the victors of war. Inciting the lords and mob to your cause is still winning the popular vote. The high chancellor will not walk away peacefully like you did.”

Many fae have visited Aldrin over the weeks, meeting him in the sitting rooms or study of this apartment. Lords, senators, heads of merchant guilds and chiefs of low fae tribes, all to suss out his ambitions and to hear from his own mouth the disaster that will befall this realm.

Sometimes, they come just to speak to Caitlin and myself. To hear our claims of what we can do to open the portals between realms again. We make no promises, only speak the truth. There are high faewho are prejudiced against humans. Who fear that we will flood their realm in droves and dilute their bloodlines until there are no fae left.

It is a stretch of the imagination and they are few.

Of all these purists, Titania is the worst. Strange, considering there is so much human blood in her lineage that her family has only a drop of magic and many are born with rounded ears. Or maybe it is because of this fact. Her own inadequacies and frustrations fuel her hatred for us.

“I like it when you speak politics with me, Keira. You are better schooled than the fools in the Senate.” A heat burns in Aldrin’s eyes.

I lean into him. “I’m not sure if that is a compliment.”

“You’re smarter than me, though I’m not sure if that is a compliment either.” Aldrin grabs me by the waist, and swings me into his lap as though I weigh nothing.

I immediately straddle him, the silk of my skirts shifting up my thighs. “Don’t depreciate yourself.” I laugh, slapping his hard chest lightly.

He buries his head in between my breasts and grumbles an incoherent reply. I draw in a ragged breath as his fingers brush strokes across the bare skin of my legs, bunching the fabric of my skirts and dragging it up my thighs.

A thought occurs to me, and I pull back from him. “If you leave the city to pursue other avenues for supporters, your push for an inquiry by the Senate will die, am I right?”

“Yes. And Titania will do everything she can to make sure I can never enter the city again,” he replies.

“Then summon your supporters here.” I place my hands on either side of his face as I stare into his eyes. “Call back the ex-senators and lords and ladies and anyone else who supported you the first time. We need them.”

“It would be seen as a threat. A gathering of my forces,” Aldrin counters. “I’m not prepared for that yet.”

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