Page 20 of The Forbidden Fae King

I should run away and cry. To never let them know what I overheard. To gaslight myself into believing that surely I misunderstood.

But I will not be that girl.

Everything fades from my vision except the open doorway of the study and the glow of light that seeps from it. Anger burns red-hot within me, crackling and consuming until no rational thought is left.

“Your girls will do as their king demands!” the king bellows.

I reach the threshold of the study, and the light and heat of multiple blazing fireplaces almost blind me, but I still see enough. Father stands before his chair and leans over his desk, his weight poised on two muscular arms and his face is flushed with rage. The imposing figure of the king sits in an armchair opposite, but my father stares at the prince, slumped in the other couch.

“And what do you say, Finan? Have you not told my Keira that you love her? Have you not promised for years that you will marry her?” My father tosses those barbs at him and makes him flinch.

Prince Finan looks to his father, then shrinks into himself. “I will do my duty. I will marry Caitlin if my kingdom requires it,” he mumbles.

Mumbles! His betraying words break my heart, and he doesn’t even bother to articulate their treachery.

The pain that twists within my chest, that curls out its tentacles and poisons my blood, it immediately fuels the fire that burns within me.

Fury is all I can see. It is all I can taste.

Wind howls through the room, knocking pages to the ground and whipping at clothes. It whirls around me, as its source, and sheets splinter and form a small twister filled with debris.

My hair surges upwards, carried by all that magic, forming a red crown dancing in the air. Sparks crack in the storm around me.

All eyes turn to me, but it is Finan’s gaze that I seek. Fear blooms on his face. He stands and staggers away from me, but slips on a book and lands on his arse.

“Keira! I didn’t mean…” he stammers, hand raised and arm outstretched toward me.

My temper flares at his lies and the scraps of paper encircling me combust into swirling embers. How many lies has he fed me over the years?

“I will make the pilgrimage to the Otherworld.” My voice echoes throughout the room, intensified by my air wield. I turn and point a finger at the king. “And when I return,Iwill decide if I want to marry Prince Finan.”

Chapter 6

Keira

My teeth are bared as I stare at Finan, at the king, towering over both of them. My power still assaults the room, wave after wave of it crashing down on them like a physical force. It brings out the animal in me.

“I will not be threatened by this wisp of a girl!” The king stands and his heavy couch is pushed backyards, groaning against the floor.

“No one is threatening anyone.” My father growls, then looks at me pointedly.

I drop the instinctual magic and my hair crashes down onto my shoulders. Bits of it are smoldering, but the strands remain undamaged by the fire, like it is a part of me. The beast within still simmers, ready to bring out the teeth and claws again.

So much for not making the king feel as weak and pathetic as he is. For being sweet and desirable to lure the prince in with honey.

I am done with that.

“I make my own choices,” I snarl through gritted teeth. “This realm does not tolerate kings who force women into marriage - who deny them their right of a pilgrimage.”

The king shoots a furious stare at my father.

“Whoa. Okay. Everyone is in shock and angry.” My father holdsboth hands up. “Let’s calm things down and talk it through. Keira? Sweetheart? Please, take a seat.”

A couch flies across the room and scoops me up into it, as I am pushed with a fist of air from the other direction.

“I don’t think there is anything else we need to say to each other.” I bite out, turning to the man I thought loved me. “Unless,Prince Finan, you have something to tell me? Maybe more promises about how you will only ever want to marry me? How I am your soulmate? Already your queen?” I blink my lashes at him in a sickly sweet manner.

“I – ah…” Finan glances at his father and swallows. “I want to marryyou. And I do loveyou,Keira. I tried to fight for you but?—”

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