Page 22 of Fae Champion

The ground became inexplicably warm as I lay upon it, but I was stuck to it, unable to move beyond some mild twitching. I could breathe and blink, but not even my lips would coordinate sufficiently for me to curse my executioner.

I refused to beg for my life.

Not when it was the queen who ultimately held it in her hands.

I wouldn’t waste my final breaths to give her the satisfaction of seeing me plead.

May dragon fire burn her until she’s nothing but ashes. May she spend her afterlife in the Etherlands paying for her sins. It would take an eternity for her essence to come back into balance after all the cruelty she’d unleashed on the fae who depended on her.

Boots prowled into my view … and then Selwin’s boxy face as he crouched low so I could make out his wickedly pleased grin.

In my mind, I thrashed and broke free of his hold on me, smacked the smug smile right off his ugly mug.

In reality, I grunted a few times and tensed as if I were having a seizure.

He laughed, the blunt sound instantly making my list of least favorite things to hear.

“Don’t bother trying to move,” he said, entirely too pleased with himself. “My stuns last a good ten minutes, and by then … well … you won’t be around to count anymore.” He laughed as he fingered the pommel of his sword.

When he glanced up to the viewing stand above us, his smile widened—two hideous worms for lips—and I knew the queen had officially sealed my fate.

I’d die without learning who my mother was. Without ever knowing love or what it felt like to have a man inside me, connecting to me in a way that was transcendent.

I’d never know the defense of a father.

The king of Embermere would stand by and watch my execution. I was no longer a threat to my opponent. Yet I’d still die as if I were.

I’d leave this world without saving Xeno or Saffron, without fulfilling my promises to Pru and Reed to become their friends.

Without kissing those lips of Rush’s again…

The telltaleshliiingof metal against its sheath rangout into the noisy background that no longer separated itself into distinct sounds.

I closed my eyes and recalled what it felt like when that soft, full mouth met mine. The man kissed me as if he intended to consume me. As if we’d come together until we’d lose sight of where we each started and ended.

Selwin couldn’t force open my eyes, and so I’d die in a lover’s embrace … even if it was only in my imagination. At least my time here had gifted me a small taste of what it might feel like to be loved.

Rush Vega, drake of Amarantos.

I loved him.

It made no sense, and there surely hadn’t been enough time to fall for the man who’d betray me in a heartbeat.

But my heart seemed sure regardless, so I’d take that sense with me out of this miserable existence. The queen could keep her world of tyranny, torment, and suffering. I surely didn’t want it.

Perhaps I’d meet up with Zako in the Etherlands. He had some major explaining to do.

Damn, I missed him.

My hearing was trained to pick up on the slightest movement of weapons. I registered the swing of Selwin’s blade up into the air behind him and still refused to look.

Perhaps it would be bolder to stare my killer head-on.

But Rush slipped his tongue into my mouth, and Irecalled what it was like to pull his body flush against mine.

As far as final thoughts went, it was a great one?—

Arms with a brutal strength grasped me by the underarms and yanked me across the ground—and also from my reminiscence—rock and dirt scratching at my waist as my useless armor slid out of place. Fingers clenched my muscles too hard as I opened my eyes.

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