Page 86 of The Forbidden Fae King

“You were going to say something, Aldrin?” I ask in a sickly sweet tone. I am so sick of men and their excuses.

“Yes. About last night—I’m sorry. You were vulnerable, and I took advantage of that. There is no justification for it.” Aldrin peers down into my eyes, his finger lightly tracing my jaw. “I put my own desires and realm first. I should have taken the time to earn your trust instead, and prove to you that any information about your people will always be safe with me. That it would benefit both our races.”

My smile drops. I wasn’t expecting a genuine apology. He makes it so damned hard to hate him. His finger brushes over my lower lip and I almost forget my anger.

“I’m going to become a queen, Aldrin. I better get used to being manipulated and used for the greater good of my people.” My laugh is bitter.

Aldrin tries to grab my hand, but I rip it away from him.

“No,” he says. “A queen should be respected and empowered, not used up as a commodity.”

He stands so close to me. Too close. Electricity seems to crackle between our bodies, as the warmth and scent of him wash over me. I want to reach out and touch his broad chest, to feel the hard planes of him against me in a lover’s embrace.

I shove him backward instead. “You need to focus your efforts on regaining your throne, Aldrin. Prince Finan will take my hand in marriage as soon as I return. It won’t be long before he becomes king,especially in fae years. Then, we can collaborate. This will be best for both our realms.”

A tightness constricts in my chest. My teeth grind and I shiver with restrained passion.

I don’t know what makes me angrier, the fact that Aldrin is so good at weaving a spell around me, of making me almost believe he cares, or that I have to return to Finan and put this beautiful, kind man in my past.

“I don’t want you to be someone else’s queen.”

My body freezes. “What happened between us, the way we touched and kissed, it can’t happen again, Aldrin. I can’t get embroiled with another man.”

My entire world condenses down to this moment, to this man, as his face drops and his eyebrows knit. Those haunted eyes focus on me intently. His hands reach for my face, to caress the lines of it, then fall as he realizes his mistake.

“Did you not like it?” He asks softly.

“You know I did.” Passion rises the pitch of my voice.

“Then what is the problem? He will never know?—”

“ButIwill know.” I toss my head away from him, but his gravity drags me. “It will be a thing I carry with me. I don’t think it could ever be casual for me. I can’t - I can’t get attached to you like that. Not when I have to go back tohim.Please don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

Aldrin goes to open his mouth, to say something sultry and sexy, or maybe to tell me not to go back, but I cannot hear it. He may convince me.

“No, Aldrin. No more.” I place two fingers to his lips to stop him.

We stare at each other, and his shoulders deflate as though I took the very life out of him. Pain radiates from my chest, shooting through my limbs and I may combust from the heartache I hold in.

It is absolute insanity, the intensity of these emotions. I have known this man for little over a week, but more has blossomed between us than in the years I thought I loved Finan. I only liked theidea of my prince and what I wanted him to be, never the reality of the man.

What a foolish girl I am, to feel this way about a fae, a foreign king, our oldest enemy.

A crash echoes beneath us, and I glance to where Kai and the other kelpies are leaping from the lowest bridge into the frozen river beneath. Their bodies transform midair from pure horse, to an equine covered in blue scales glittering in the early sun and with a long, sleek tail.

They crash into the water below, creating huge rippling waves churning from the site of impact and shattering the thin sheets of ice that float like islands. Their whining calls and loud splashes echo across the morning as they leap through the water like dolphins.

From the corner of my eye, I notice Aldrin examining me, as though he is afraid if he turns away, he might never see me again.

“Where does this leave us?” He finally asks.

I shake my head. “I don’t know. That is something we need to work out. Allies? Friends? Traveling companions?”

“I would like you to join me on my journey back to the capital. We will visit much of the court to see how the lower fae are faring, there will be opportunities for you to find homes for the seed-stones.” Aldrin’s entire body is incredibly stiff as he awaits my answer.

“I would like that,” I reply and he lets out a breath.

He tips his head toward the kelpies. “If they find out you are carrying the seed-stones for the Lake Maiden, they will follow and guard you like you are on a divine quest. To them, Odiane is a queen and goddess. The kelpies are nomads, and when it is time for them to breed, they leave their eggs under the care of a Lake Maiden.”

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