Page 93 of Fae Crown

“A spoiled brat in the end, aren’t you? It doesn’t matter whom you risk, you’ll do as you please.”

Edsel stiffened beside me as I boiled inside. That was mighty rich of Dashiell, when all I’d ever been was a tool for his precious king’s will.

I swallowed down my defense. What would it change, anyway?

“Speak,” I ordered, then turned toward Edsel, partly so I wouldn’t have to look at Dashiell anymore, and partly because there was no way I’d be able to dress without the goblin’s help.

At least the past couple of weeks with him had helped me overcome any modesty that had survived a life with the continually shifting—and clothes shedding—dragon protectors. When the goblin stripped me of my nightgown, I didn’t even care that Dashiell was there to see me naked.

Edsel set about hurriedly wrapping additional gauze around the worst of my wounds. When I glanced up at Dashiell, his face was slack.

“What?” I asked around a scoff. “You thought I was exaggerating? Aspoiled brat, perhaps?” I added with a sneer. That one still rankled.

“I didn’t realize your injuries were quite this severe,” Dashiell admitted, more gently now.

Well,fuck him.

I glanced away, toward the dark of night beyond the windows.

Without my prodding, Dashiell finally began, and it was a fine distraction for how Edsel’s fingers brushed against all my sore spots.

“When it could no longer be concealed that Odelia was succumbing to the sickness of her ancestors and going mad,” Dashiell said, “Erasmus was stricken. At first he ordered her hidden from sight out of hope that she’d recover and all the effort he’d put into guiding her to become his successor would prove worthwhile. But she didn’t recover. She only grew worse. And so she was kept within the palace, but where no one but the royal family and closest advisors, such as myself, were allowed to go.

“Oren was … heartbroken. He visited her every day, at all hours. Unless he was required to perform the duties of the future ruler of Embermere, now as Talisa’s consort, he was at Odelia’s bedside.

“She had moments of lucidity, but they grew farther and farther apart. During one of them”—Dashiell’s stare landed on me, and I faced him as I stepped into my pants—“they consummated the love between them. That was the last time. After that, the madness truly consumed her. Months later it became apparent to Oren that she was with child. He worried you’d be killed so as to prevent the madness frompassing on. He hid the pregnancy as long as he could, but Talisa discovered it. She told their father.”

Dashiell’s stare traveled again from the past to me. “King Erasmus ordered you to be killed as soon as you were free of his daughter’s body. He wouldn’t harm Odelia. At least, not then.

“Erasmus ordered Oren’s visits restricted. Odelia was gone, and Oren was to give his attentions to Talisa, the new crown princess now that Odelia was no longer able to rule.

“So Oren had Zako watch Odelia.”

My breath hitched, and not just because Edsel was strapping my side and breasts with more gauze, trying to keep the gash along my ribs from being strained.

“May the Etherlands bless his essence, Zako didn’t leave Odelia’s side until the birthing pangs began. She didn’t understand what was happening. But Zako didn’t inform anyone, not even Oren, not until he delivered you. Even after he held you in his hands, he didn’t tell anyone.”

I couldn’t decide if my heart still beat as I anticipated more.

“He brought you to me and I hid you away.”

I gasped.

Dashiell only droned on as if lost to the memories. “Zako … procured another fae baby.” He glanced at me, then away again. “Then he placed that stillborn baby in Odelia’s arms and called for King Erasmus. Oren came with him. The dead infant was disposed of. Oren didn’t realize then that you lived, and his devastation was convincing. Erasmus punished him for having visited his daughter when he’d forbidden it, and then Erasmus had Odelia relocated in secret. We never knew where to until…”

He glanced at Edsel and me. “Until we found her, completely by chance. Erasmus told Oren she’d died long ago. King Erasmus has been dead himself for twenty years.”

“And what of me?” I asked softly though I was fully dressed. I ached all over, but nothing could pull me away from Dashiell now. “What happened to me?”

Dashiell sighed. “With my help, Zako hid you away for most of your first year. But Oren didn’t trust that Talisa wouldn’t discover your existence. No matter how secretive we were, she always seemed to find out what we were up to. We’d already been blessed with the fortune of dragons that she hadn’t learned you survived. So I said my farewells to Zako”—his eyes welled with tears so briefly that I wondered if I’d been mistaken as he blinked and they were gone—“and he left with you for Nightguard, where Oren had learned Prince Lohan went. He thought you’d be safe there, beyond the Mirror World.”

“Until Saturn died and he wanted me to become heir,” I said, still bitter about the fact that I’d been nothing but a power play to my father … but maybe just a bit less so now.

Dashiell nodded, absently once more. “To think Odelia has been alive all this time, hidden from us.”

His head snapped up. His lips contorted into a vicious snarl. “With Talisa draining her of her power.”

“I’d bet Talisa’s the one who made her go crazy in the first place,” I said. What harm wasn’t the queen behind?

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