Page 42 of Court of Aether and Shadows

I was nothing like I am today.

Many would deem me “soft” if they could recognize me in this human form.

"Show yourself, trickster,"I demanded, letting my voice rumble with a glimpse of my power. I’m in full-on protective mode, especially with Sparrow in my grasp. I’d die before anyone dared to lay a finger on her flesh. "Or are you too cowardly to face me directly?"

Another laugh erupts around us, this one tinged with genuine amusement.

"Face you?”The immense mockery in their tone made me grit my teeth.“Oh, my dear Fenris, why would I bother?You've made yourself irrelevant in this little game. Nothing but a neutered watchdog, bound by oaths and duty."

The words stung, but I refused to let it show.

"I am her protector,"I snarled."Chosen by powers older than you can comprehend. You have no right to interfere."

"Interfere?"The voice continued to belittle me."I'm merely hastening the inevitable. The girl is meant for greater things than your little human world can offer. She is the key to everything – the bridge between realms, the catalyst for the war that will reshape all of creation."

I held Sparrow tighter, my wolf howling for blood.

"She's not ready," I insisted, allowing my power to seep back in warning. I wasn’t retreating from the obvious threat at hand, but if this conversation continued with such elemental projections laced in our words, the conversation would carry far and wide to those who didn’t deserve to listen to our treasured secrets. "You'll destroy her if you push too hard, too fast."

"Ready or not, the game is in motion," the voice replied, all traces of amusement gone now.

I realize they’ve gotten the message on pulling back the power embedded in their voice, but if they were smart enough to know the air can carry our secrets, it meant they had to be out for something.

Something involving my Sparrow.

"The courts are stirring, the ancient prophecies unfolding. Not even you, mighty Fenris, can stop what's coming," they declare in triumph as if their declaration has been written in destiny.

A shimmering appeared in the air before me, coalescing into the form of a being of impossible beauty and terrible power.

He –for it presented as male, though such concepts meant little to the Fae– stood tall and proud, his skin the color of moonlight on snow. Hair like spun silver framed a face of angular perfection, marred only by eyes that swirled with galaxies.

"You know who she truly is," the Fae said, gesturing to the unconscious woman in my arms. "What she's destined to become. Why fight the inevitable?"

I growled low in my throat but didn't deny his words.

How could I, when the proof was literally in my possession?

The Fae's lips curved into a cruel smile.

"She will be glorious," he said, his voice filled with a terrible joy. "A queen to reshape the very foundations of reality. Princess Lirael of the Twilight Court, the Crowned Monster who will bring chaos and rebirth to all the realms."

There it was.

A revelation that I haven’t heard in many centuries.

The use of her true name –a name she didn't even know herself– sent a shock through me.

"You go too far," I snarled, trying my best to figure out who this Fae was.Why he knew so fucking much.. "She's not ready for this knowledge. You'll break her mind if you force it on her now."

The Fae laughed again, the sound like shattering icicles.

"Oh, Fenris. Still so protective, even when you know she'll never truly be yours.” How those very words ignite a burn of agony through my clenched heart. “How does it feel, I wonder? To be bound to her, to love her with every fiber of your being, knowing that in the end, she's destined for another?"

His words were like knives, cutting deep into wounds I had tried so hard to ignore.

Because he was right.

I had known from the moment I first scented her, first felt the pull of the mate bond, that Sparrow –Lirael – would never truly be mine.

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