Page 40 of Crown of Wings and Whispers

“Only the true king!”

“Hail, the true King of the Fae!”

He waved off their attempt at distraction. “Enough of that. Tell me how to bind her to me.”

The green one shook her head. “A DeNoy will bind only to itself.”

“That’s not what I mean. How do I enthrall her to me before she is fettered—"

“She has not yet locked?”

He huffed with frustration but had no choice but to play their games if he wanted any answers from them. “Yes. She has not yet locked. Do you think I would leave her in the Embrace otherwise?”

The four exchanged looks of horror.

“What is it?”

“The DeNoy can traverse the Embrace…and beyond. You may never find her again…”

He rose to his feet. “But unlocked?”

“There is no reason she cannot do so while in the Embrace. Others there might help her…”

He thought of the half-dozen ancients who compose the Tribunal and cursed himself for a fool. “If anyone has helped her, Fairy will know peace no more!”

He gathered the four tiny women to him and whisked off to Hell.

* * *

Lennon…

I woke up dead again.

Awareness seeped into my brain like a slow-breaking dawn. Imaginary or not, I sucked a breath deep into my lungs and was almost grateful for the nap—if it hadn’t been Orion who’d given me the chance to sleep.

I had no idea what time of day it was. Maybe individual days were a thing of the past. My last memory was of morning, a lazy morning in Yarmouth, that had ended with Orion at the door. I prayed he hadn’t found Griffon and Fallon—if he had, would they be here with me now?

Deep down, I didn’t believe the afterlife was supposed to be this…solitary.

A persistent light began from somewhere behind me, so I tried a little swimming move to turn myself in the air. It worked, though not gracefully, and I found Orion standing in a golden aura slightly below me. Bridie’s four little servants stood beside him, their heads reaching only mid-thigh. The one in green, Cré, blinked rapidly. Either she had something in her eye or she was trying to tell me something. She smirked with only half her mouth, then blinked again, before looking pointedly at my breasts.

Hank? She was trying to tell me something about Hank? Did she want me to keep him quiet?

Cré gave her head a tiny shake.

Don’tkeep him quiet?

Cré nodded as if she’d read my mind.

Since I couldn’t completely trust my own thoughts in this crazy place, I decided to trust her. After all, she’d saved me from Orion once before.

I thought very clearly and hoped Hank could hear me too.“Hiss, baby. Go ahead. Knock yourself out.”

I could feel it building in my bones--a rumbling, an anger that wasn’t mine. I was so relieved to feel anything at all, I laughed. Then Hank lashed out with a vicious, prolonged snarl that scared the shite right out of me! I tried to hide my surprise that this noise had come from my own body.

Orion’s jaw dropped. He retreated a step, then two more.

When the snarl finally ended, I improvised and sneered, hoping to keep him off balance. “Why do you disturb me?”

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