Page 157 of The Forbidden Fae King

She doesn’t know that my heart has already been shattered to pieces.

I pull myself to my feet and my grandmother stalks over to me, her old body still having all the graces of a cat. Her bony fingers clutch my chin and twist my face both ways, as though inspecting cattle.

“You look far better than the sorry state we found you in. I take it you did not enjoy your time in the palace? That you have not been adjusting to life in this realm?” She asks.

“It didn’t go well. Finan doesn’t like that I have a brain and a spine.” I clench my fists until my fingernails bite into the soft flesh.

“Foolish man. I never liked that spoiled brat. He did this to you?” My grandmother brushes her fingers across my throat and I nod. Her lips twist in a flash of rage. “I will make him pay, don’t you worry about that, and I will enjoy every moment of it. Do you feel up to walking to the temple?”

“Yes, thanks to…” I turn to the priestess with the almond eyes.

“Clivia,” my grandmother says and the woman nods an acknowledgment to me.

“While we walk, tell me about this fae man you were trying to get back to.” Her tone is carefully neutral. That alone, in this woman who has strong opinions about everything, is enough to make me weary. Along with the fact that her first question wasn’t about how I got here.

My stomach rolls in nervous anticipation.

Shame should flood me at being caught trying to abandon my realm for the fae world, but my need for him is too strong to feel anything else.

I think for a long while, as we take a paved path that cuts through the slate hills and leads away from the portal interchange, deeper into the forest.

“Aldrin wasn’t anything like you warned me, grandmother,” I say. “I tried to be so careful, to anticipate his betrayal at every turn, but it never came. He treated me with respect, like an equal. When I told him I was leaving his realm, he personally escorted me to the portal. He let me go, even though it broke him. Never once did he try to hold me against my will, or manipulate or control me.”

My grandmother’s fingers dig deeper and deeper into the flesh of my elbow as she guides me along the path, her features twisting downwards in a snarl.

I bite my lower lip. “He has the kindest heart of anyone I have met. I fell for him, and in the end, it was I who betrayed him when he was at his most vulnerable.” A sickness fills me at the admission. Once born of bitterness and self-loathing.

“You came to love him. To trust him and his intentions.” She states. The tendons in her neck stand out and a muscle feathers in her jaw.

“Yes,” I say simply.

A flash of violence ripples through her. Ineedher to believe me. Tohelpme.

I turn wide eyes on her. “He seeks to bring peace and open trade between our people, and I believe he can achieve it.”

My grandmother is silent for a long time, her teeth audibly grinding. “I am sorry Keira, I truly am. Please understand that everything I do is in your best interests. That I have to make hard decisions that will protect our family and our kingdom.”

“What do you mean?” A chill runs down my spine.

“No high fae is kind or acts selfless, only for their own interests. They are ruthless, brutal and manipulative. The needs or desires of a human is nothing to them. We are objects to be used. It pains me that yet another man has taken advantage of your gentle heart.”

“No.” I freeze in the middle of the path, right where it opens up to the Priestess’ Sanctuary. “No. The old prejudices were wrong. I met so many high fae and they were not like that.”

“Not like that?” My grandmother grips my arm tightly. “Don’t forget that I made a pilgrimage too, Keira. I hoped you would be spared the rude awakening I had on mine, but it cannot be helped.” I shake my head but she cuts me off. “And don’t tell me that Aldrin is different, because he is not.”

“Aldrin would never—” My voice rises.

“Hedidchild!” She grits her teeth. “He became a crazed, possessive high fae and traveled to this realm to hunt you down. To claim what he believed is his and drag you back to the Otherworld, no matter what you want. He would force you to be his consort.”

The whole world seems to stop as the blood drains from my head. “I don’t believe it.”

“Well, you better believe it, because he is here, as our prisoner,” she barks, anger rippling through her taut muscles as she points a finger at the temple before us.

The pounding of blood in my ears is all I can hear.

Aldrin came for me. He heard me. Every night I cried for himwhile gripping my moonstone bracelet and called for him to find his way to me. He heard me.

I don’t believe he has transformed into a monster since I last saw him. That he would do anything against my will, the very least that he would drag me away if I didn’t want it.

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