Page 145 of The Forbidden Fae King

I broke down and cried then, falling to my knees and pulling at my own hair.

My scream echoed off the trees.

If it hadn’t been for Cyprien, Silvan and Klara dragging me back, I would have given up right then and there. The assassins would have found me on my knees a broken man and finished the job of my utter destruction.

I run my hands across my face, then place them on the desk. I riffle through the papers and find a letter to finish writing while Iwait, but my hands shake too violently. A tightness forms within my chest that squeezes and squeezes until it is unbearable and I cannot breathe.

The moonstone pendant zaps charges through me again, sparking and freezing the skin of my chest, as the emotions intensify.

Keira’s face appears in my mind. Those doe eyes are huge as she stares at me with awe, as she did when I taught her new magic. They glitter with green swirls within hazel.

The image changes to parted rosebud lips with ragged breaths and moans escaping them as I take her again and again.

Then to those curls of her long hair fluttering in the wind as she gazes out from a balcony in a Watchtower Tree, the sunlight causing the colors of red, orange and gold to shimmer vibrantly.

The gods know I miss her more than I have missed anything or anyone in my life. I would give everything to touch her one more time. To the hells with regaining my crown, if I could have her.

The moonstone pendant hums with increasing power. The connection between our souls broadens, and the link of my pendant to her bracelet snaps into place again. On her world, Keira cries for me.

A sudden wave of agonizing torment and hopelessness crashes over my entire existence, the ripples of it so intense that nothing else exists. They mirror my own feelings, amplifying them tenfold.

I am dragged down and down until my thoughts are filled with nothing but churning darkness. Sobs burn up my throat and fight to break free, and I fear I will choke from the intensity of them. I grip the edge of my desk and try to slow my breathing, but I have no control over the turmoil crashing within me.

Aldrin. Oh, Aldrin.

My heart stops dead as the words flow through my mind in Keira’s voice. It feels so real, like she is wailing right next to me. But I can’t put my arms around her and wipe away her tears.

Aldrin, find your way back to me. I need you more than I have needed anything.

There is such desperation in her siren’s call, but I cannot get toher. I take the moonstone pendant in my fist and grip it tightly, despite how it burns my flesh.

This is real.

It has to be.

I am not going insane or imagining this. I know because if I let go of the piece of moonstone, her calls and her emotions will disappear. It connects us somehow, my pendant and the bead on her bracelet. It allows me this tiny piece of her, and I will greedily take whatever I can.

I grit my teeth through wave after wave of pain, riding it in solidarity with her, letting my own emotions run free alongside it, until the connection ebbs and wanes and winks out.

Part of me wants to tug Keira back, pain and all, just to feel something from her. I collapse backward in my seat, utterly wrung out but still craving the sound of her voice.

I glance down at the pages beneath my hands. The ink is smudged and the parchment wrinkled from water. It takes a long moment for me to realize that the moisture is from my own tears.

Precious minutes I don’t have are spent on pulling myself together, then I rise and dress myself in my battle armor. I pull on the brown leathers first, with disks of metal plate sewn into it. Next, I strap on the bronze, segmented shoulder and arm guards, with spikes gutting from the corners of my shoulders. I fit my chest plate last, not stopping to inspect the swirls of runes engraved into it.

I am finishing up as Cyprien ducks his head into the study. “They have arrived, but are holding back. I expect they will attack when full dark falls.”

I don’t need to ask who. The Assassins of Belladonna have fought us every single night we have been at this fortress, except for that first one.

Cyprien looks me up and down, his eyes lingering on my face. “Did it happen again?”

I stare at him for a long moment, contemplating how much to reveal. “It happened again. Shespeaksto me, Cyprien.”

He frowns deeply as he takes a step closer to me. “None of us haveslept much in days. Weeks. You have had blow after blow in that time. Countless attempts on your life. Betrayal and abandonment by your people yet again. Keira leaving. The emotional toil is expected. It would bring a lesser man to breaking point. Your strength is still needed, Aldrin, and not only for your survival. Let’s not jump to rash conclusions.”

“I am not imagining this,” I snap at him.

He takes in a long breath, as though he is mustering his patience. “Let me inspect the moonstone shard.”

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