Page 57 of Fae Exile

His wings rose and fell slightly, as if on a sigh.

I might not love him the way he wished, but I loved him with an intensity that was bubbling up my body like vomit I wouldn’t be able to stop.

Fear, I realized. Undiluted fear, was what it was.

I couldn’t lose this man.

Wouldn’t.

Without so much as a steeling inhale, I ducked beneath his outstretched wings, ignored the jerking twitch in his muscles and the quiet gasps of the others, and spread both arms out in front of him while Saffron held on.

“Please,” I uttered up to the other dragon, though it was perhaps the last thing logic would dictate I say. “Let there be peace between us.”

Obeying only the intuition that spoke more loudly than my friends’ desperate pleas for reason, I bowed my head toward the dragon, exposing the vulnerable back of my head to his gigantic maw.

For several long, ragged breaths that pumped through my chest, nothing happened.

Then several stunned huffs circled through the brush.

When more seconds drew out, I finally peeked upward—and glimpsed the dragon, his body bent low over his front legs, his head lowered?—

Also bowed ... toward me.

20.THE SOONER WE GET TO IT, THE SOONER WE’RE DONE

~ RUSH ~

With a smug and haughtyhmmphthat made my simmering blood heat to an instant boil, Millicent turned in a whoosh of skirts and began walking away with those annoyingly short, simpering steps of hers—presumably off to find the queen. I lunged for her before I’d decided what to do with her beyond killing her. That instinct was immediate.

Gripping her arm, I spun her around to face me while my friends stepped up to flank me—not because I’d need the assist, obviously not. Despite how despicable this girl was, with her desire to play trivial games when lives were at stake—when the fate of theentire realmhung in the balance—there was nothing she could do to hurt me beyond further entangling me with the queen. No, my brothers grew nearer because I had no doubt they too were warring with their desire to strangle her right then and there and be done with it.

“Let me go right this second,” she hissed.

“I will not,” I snarled, attempting to control my anger. With what I’d just witnessed in the dungeons, it wasn’t that easy. “You threatened us.”

“That was a stupid thing to do,” Ryder added, moving closer.

As reckless as this girl had been in alone cornering four of the most formidable warriors in the mirror world, she wasn’t entirely idiotic. Though I held her by both arms, she was careful to look everywhere but at my eyes.

Millicent snapped her stare to Ryder’s. “It was not stupid. I’m a servant of the queen, just as you are. It’s our duty to look out for her at all times.”

West harrumphed, his disbelief thick. “Give us a break. Like it’s really necessary that the queen know the ins and outs of our sex lives. That information doesn’t affect her in the least.”

Millicent looked to him, that bold greed to get to be the one to offer up a dark secret on a platter to the queen again dancing across her face, plain but for the ambition that curled her mouth and eyes.

“Oh, it’ll affect her all right.”

My hold on her arms automatically tightened before I made myself lighten my touch as I worked to control my ire.

She winced but didn’t comment, instead saying, “You should be grateful she desires you. Rush, especially. It’s the greatest of honors.”

West snorted. “Yeah, it’s an honor, all right.” But beyond his sarcasm, he didn’t offer more of his true thoughts.

If the queen wasn’t already listening, assuming we let Millicent live, the girl would report everything.

“The queen will reward me?—”

I cut her off. “Our business is not your business. Do you understand me?”

---