Page 26 of Fae Crown

It was Elowyn. Her face was tight and determined, fierce and strong, like any warrior I’d ever seen preparing to go into battle. But her lips were pressed into a line so hard the color drained from them. And her eyes shone with unshed tears.

A pair of orbs sped to hover above her to better illuminate what must be her … pain?

The queen laughed heartily and said, “Malina, come help too.”

Elowyn keened for several seconds before biting her lip so fiercely it bled.

And then Natania and Malina were there, their hands ripping at my clothes, trailing over my skin, tugging down my pants.

All I could do to stand it was to close my eyes and lean into the numbness of the umbrac poison.

Into the memories I’d only just collected of Elowyn’s face and body. I imagined the touch as hers and not that of these other females.

By the Ethers, deliver me far away from here.

7.AN ACCOMPLISHED DEVOURER OF MEN

RUSH

Natania and Malina were two of the queen’s most constant ladies. They’d arrived at court around the time I had, a presence at every party and gathering I’d been forced to attend.

By the calculated and controlling insistence of her mother, Dayana, Natania pretended to be refined and sophisticated—and at court appearances were all that mattered. Dayana had been offering up her daughter to me on a shiny dinner platter since I first met the pair. But Natania had feigned timid flirtation anyway, trying to get me to believe some redeemable qualities had survived her mother’s continuous meddling.

Malina, however, had come to court unaccompanied. She was openly brash and loud about her sexual exploits when she shouldn’t have been. Unmarried as she was, I couldn’t imagine a potential suitor would be thrilled by how many men she claimed to have bedded. Actually, I couldn’t fathom any potential suitorwould be thrilled aboutanythingabout the woman, who was currently ogling my body, her grin hungry and feral, as if she were an accomplished devourer of men.

I warred with the urge to pull away from her greedy, groping fingers across my skin, but there was nowhere to go to escape her. Or any of them.

Despite their differences, neither of the women stepped away now that their task was complete. Not a single stitch of clothing concealed me from my audience: twenty-two women; the queen, who scarcely counted as a woman with her brutal bestial nature; Ivar and Braque; and who knew how many servants and slaves who observed from the shadows.

So I busied myself with cataloging inane details to distract from my terrible reality. I was drake to a noble fae clan that had been around since the origins of the Mirror World. For thousands of years, my ancestors had cared for its fae and the land entrusted to them. They’d been honor bound. Of course, none of them had been perfect, and Amarantos had its own history of violence and avoidable deaths. But overall, I’d been proud to become leader of our clan. I’d been hopeful, even, that I’d find a way to lead my subjects out from the darkness that infected our world.

Here, now, I felt neither proud nor hopeful. I feared I might never experience either again. I simultaneously felt too much and too little.

My tattoos, ordinarily betraying my true emotions when I least wanted them to, were strangely muted. I guessed that was an effect of the umbrac poison. Forthat reason alone, I no longer regretted taking it. There was no stopping the queen from using my body the way she wished. But at least how much I hated the experience would remain mine alone. If even just my hate could be my secret, it would be something.

It was one thing to anticipate how the violation would feel. How being so exposed, vulnerable, and defenseless would cut worse than a physical pain. But it was quite another to live through it. Already, I wasn’t sure I’d survive it the same man I was now. And the queen hadn’t even touched me yet.

Should I drink more of the umbrac poison? If I left the vial where it was, hidden against the base of my skull, it would remain intact so long as I didn’t press my neck into the bed the wrong way.

The bed.

With a gaze that felt unseeing even as it registered every single horrid detail of my surroundings, I stared at that bed—large enough to accommodate several of the females—even as Malina dipped her head in front of mine in an attempt to draw my attention.

“That’s enough,” the queen told Malina and Natania as she spread out upon the coverlet of black silk.

Silk was soft, but also strong enough to strangle her with it. If she weren’t so unreasonably fast, I could have looped it around her neck before she, Ivar, or Braque could stop me. It wouldn’t kill her, not with the land’s magic protecting her, but it would bring me a smallmeasure of satisfaction in a place I already foresaw would haunt my future nightmares.

Obediently, Malina and Natania stepped away from me. If the females were smart, they’d have sensed that something about the queen was wrong—more so than usual. They’d be treading carefully.

When Natania and Malina lingered around the bed, the queen clucked her tongue and flicked a hand toward the chairs.

The women hurried to take their seats. Even the ever-eager Malina didn’t tarry.

“Come closer.”

For a moment, I debated the merits of pretending I didn’t realize the queen was addressing me. But what would that achieve?

Keeping my stare fixed firmly ahead so as not to glance at exactly how much flesh I had on display, I stalked forward.

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