Page 160 of The Forbidden Fae King

I pull away from her lips and place kisses down her neck. “Fuck, I have missed you.” I rumble into the soft, delicate skin.

“While this is a nice reunion and all, some of us in the room don’t care for a show.” Silvan snaps.

“Speak for yourself. I’m bored senseless.” Drake laughs.

I could kill both of them in this moment.

Keira unravels herself from me and turns to them. “Drake! You’re healed!”

“Yeah.” He sits up from his makeshift bed on a long pew and his cloak falls to his waist. “Apparently it takes more than a Belladonna Assassin and their poisons to kill me.”

“Hhhmmm. We couldn’t get rid of you that easily,” Silvan grumbles from the other side of the temple.

My people rise from their beds, and Drake, Klara, Silvan, Hawthorne, Zinnia and the rest crowd around, though keeping their distance from Keira.

It is fair. They do not know if she will support us, or be brainwashed by the other humans.

“You’re all here,” Keira says in shock. “Except Cyprien and Lilly.”

“I couldn’t risk Cyprien getting caught up here,” I utter.

Those large doe eyes turn on me. “And how did you get caught, Aldrin? Surely this temple and its wards can’t truly contain you.”

“Hah!” Drake laughs. “Well,that’sa story.”

I shoot him a dark look, then lead Keira away by the elbow to a private room behind the altar. The last thing I need is an audience.

I look at her nervously and run a hand through my hair. “Are you pleased to see me?”

Her eyebrows raise. “Am I pleased to see you? Can you not tell?” Her hands find their way onto my chest. “I am here because I tried to open the portalon my ownto get back to you, and utterly drainedmyself. Because I was crazy to leave you. I cannot live without you, Aldrin. I can’t deny that any longer.”

Tears prick my eyes at the surge of emotions, but I hold them back.

The gods know it felt like half my soul winked out of existence the moment she left. All I want is take her in my arms, to taste her again and strip the clothes from her, but we don’t have time.

I take Keira’s hands in mine. “Do you still trust me?” When she nods, I quickly continue. “We have little time and there is a lot I have to tell you. You’re right, this temple and their flimsy wards would not hold us, except I made a bargain with the high priestess.”

Her mouth falls open. “My grandmother made a bargain with a high fae?”

“When we arrived here, we were spotted by their scouts.” The words flow out of me quickly. “Our options were to kill the priestess, kidnap her or attempt to evade the forces she would muster. You know my feelings on the former two methods, especially when I want an alliance with the humans, so we remained on the move, setting up camp in a different site each night. There were multiple skirmishes when they caught up with us, but we got away clean without hurting anyone.”

I run a hand across my face. “We made it to Appleshield Castle, infiltrated the outer wall using Silvan and Zinnia’s invisibility wards, but there was no sign of you there, Keira. You had already gone to the palace and we overheard guards speaking of your wedding to that princeling in two weeks. It killed me, Keira.”

My throat tightens as that pain wells up within me. I have to swallow down the lump that forms. “You were in this kingdom’s capital. I considered traveling to Sunbright City and infiltrating the palace itself, just to speak to you, but the risk was too great. I had to bring you to me. So I came here, to the Priestess’ Sanctuary and offered a bargain to the high priestess. She thought I had gone mad. A fae turned possessive and feral for a human woman. I hope you believe me; it is not true.”

I can no longer look Keira in the eye.

I tricked and manipulated her grandmother, and maybe she won’t be able to forgive me. Perhaps I am as bad as our reputation.

Keira takes my face in her hands and forces me to look at her. “What was the bargain you made, Aldrin?” Her voice is so tender, I want to crumple into her lap and tell her everything. How I grieved for her and thought I would never see her again.

“My bargain is that we cannot harm any human until the lord protector himself arrives to give us our sentence for trespassing, with the condition that I would speak to you in private first. Each of my people made the same oaths. We cannot fight to defend ourselves. It was the only way I could see you.”

Keira’s rosebud mouth hangs open. “Do they know that you’re powerful enough to walk out of here, anyway?” She laughs. “You could simply tie them up. A favorite pastime of yours.” She raises an eyebrow at me. Gods, I just want to kiss her again.

“My grandmother must think she can overpower you with Appleshield’s forces, when they arrive.” She pauses for a long moment. “Does she know you are the king of the Spring Court?”

My heart stutters.

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