Page 5 of Fae Crown

“It’s a hypothesis, obviously,” he replied, “but yes. Mostly because I don’t know what else it could be. It looked like a map.”

Once I’d regained enough of my strength to focus, I’d studied the drawing intently, for so long that I eventually gave up and allowed Rush to lead me to the bath. He’d insisted that I needed the time to recover before the start of the next stage of the Fae Heir Trials—and how right he’d been.

“I’ve been wondering why the lines showed up when they did,” I said.

“Me too.”

“I think … you know how my magic was bound when I was a baby?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And how after we had sex the first time?—”

“Wemade love, El. Even that first time, it was already love.”

“Yeah, we did.” A smug grin snuck up on me. “After we began bonding or whatever you’d call it, it was like the spell that bound my magic loosened its hold on me.”

“I imagine something as powerful as mate magic would do that.”

“And then when I was in the Sorumbra, and I linked with the land, even my ears grew pointy, like nothing was holding me back from my true fae self anymore.”

“You connected to the land in the Gladius Probatio too. It probably all added up to break the binding. Even though it must’ve been a very powerful one to keep you concealed fromherfor twenty-twoyears.”

“Well, Iwasin Nightguard. You can’t even get there without a portal. No one’s even supposed to know where the last stronghold of the dragons is. It’s a secret we practically swear an oath to die guarding.”

“Still.”

I gulped at the unwelcome reminder that the queen was a fucking badass of wicked efficiency and evil cunning.

When I got stuck examining how unfair the playing field was, Rush prompted, “And you think that your verbal confirmation that I’m your mate while we made love is what caused the map to surge across your beautiful, gorgeous, fucking amazing and incredible body—which is entirely mine to please now, by the way?”

“You’ll get no complaints from me there,drake. And yeah, that’s what I was thinking. You’d already said it to me.”

“I couldn’t help myself.”

“But you were waiting for me to say it back.”

“Was I that pathetically obvious?”

“Yup,” I chirped delightedly. The most stunning man in all of Embermere, probably the entire Mirror World, was somehow in love with me. Withme. I still could scarcely believe it sometimes.

“So you think that could be why the map appeared all of a sudden?” I pressed. “I mean, with you inside me and all right then, it’s about as connected as we get.”

His responding growl was part animal, part man. My core tightened until I recalled the map once more.

The eerie red lines diverged and meandered all over the damn place, over my torso, all my bits, up and down my every appendage, but never looped over themselves. As if they were perhaps roads or trails.

Like the branches on a tree, most eventually tapered to finer lines, then pointed tips. But several of the thicker branches ended in a distinguishable, solid circle—as if it marked a spot of importance.

The image was identical on my front as on my back—only mirrored.

This next question I barely dared whisper, even when none of the queen’s spies eavesdropped: “You think it could really be an answer to how to defeat her?”

“Yes.”

“And are you saying that just ‘cause you hope that’s the case as much as I do?”

“Absolutely.”

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