Page 74 of Fae Reckoning

I rose onto my hands, urgently asking, “What is it?” I peered into the darkness beyond the range of my lumoons. A copse of trees enclosed the small glade, and beyond them all I heard were the usual creatures to be expected in the woodlands.

“Can something attack us while we’re, you know,distracted?” Elowyn asked, still searching our surroundings for threats. “These cuts on my face are from a freakingflowerthat was trying to eat me. Didn’t noticeteethon the damn thing till it was doing its best to have me for lunch.”

A low growl rumbled deep in my chest. I leaned lower, my body covering hers protectively.

She laughed bitterly. “I think I’m safe. That’s probably my first mistake, right?” Another dark laugh. “Then something comes to life to try to kill me.”

I pressed a tender kiss to each of the scabbing slices across her cheeks. “Nothing comes to life. Everything’s already alive. Even the grass beneath us is alive.”

She yelped and went to rise. But I shook my head and gently guided her back down.

“You’re safe now.” I scowled. “Well, safe enough, anyway.” By the Ethers, how was I supposed to keep her truly secured when Her Evil Cuntness was more powerful than any of us? When she wasimmortal, for fuck’s sake?

When my frown only deepened, she prodded, “You were saying?”

“All of the Mirror World is alive. Ether—life force energy—parsed out by the Ethers itself, courses through every part of nature. The elements are alive too. The air, water, earth, fire, all of it, is as alive as you and I are. Our magic also. We just come in different shapes, sizes, and abilities. The trees above us might not speak the way we do, but they’re equally alive in their own particular way.”

She swallowed in apprehension, a reaction I didn’t understand until she scoffed and said, “So I’ll never be safe so long as I’m here. Got it.” She thumped her head back against the ground. “Ow.” Shetskedand sighed. “So basically I always have to assume a flower wants to take a chunk out of me, or an arbosaurus wants to yank me off my feet and fling me into the air to slam my body into who knows what, or?—”

“No, El.” I kissed the tip of her nose. “Never again. You’re the queen of Embermere and the Mirror World now. It doesn’t matter thatshedoesn’t know it yet or that she still wears the crown. All that matters is that the land has selected you as its steward. That makes you the ruler of these lands. Everything from coast to coast, including the Sorumbra.”

Her breathing deepened, as if all the ways her life was changing hadn’t occurred to her yet. “What about a ceremony? Surely some sort of ceremony’s supposed to take place before the land officially chooses me.”

“No, no ceremony.”

“But since I first got here everything’s been about one event or another. By sunshine, the Magicus Probatio was supposed to be the final event in the Fae Heir Trials. It was supposed to be a whole grand thing, the winner the one selected by the land.”

“That pomp was all Talisa. Nature doesn’t work that way.”

“When you put it that way, seems obvious. But why the Magicus Probatio, then? Why did the queen bother?”

“Again, not ‘the queen.’ And you know the answer already.”

She sighed. “I do. She’s always been about pretenses and lies, hasn’t she? She probably never intended on choosing new heirs, or if she did, it was only to control them forever as the crown prince and princess, padding around after her everywhere she went to do her bidding like simpletons. With all her stealing of power, no heir would’ve ever grown stronger than she is. The throne would never have passed on from her.”

“Right.” When she put it that way, it was so obvious I couldn’t believe I hadn’t identified Talisa’s ruse for what it was at the start. Why had I even bothered with the Fae Heir Trials in the first place?Because I believed even Talisa must share in the sense of honor we fae hold inviolable.

I dropped another kiss to her nose. “And as much as you’re queen of the fae and magical creatures of the Mirror World, you also are of the elements of nature. No flower would dare hurt you anymore.”

“Seriously?” she asked. “‘Cause I’d really,reallylove not to be eaten alive by flora. Or the fauna either, for that matter.”

I smiled at her, not because there was anything funny about her fear of being wounded at every turn, but because she was my mate and she was spectacular. Every quirk made her that much more unique and special.

“The land’s power runs through all of nature,” Ielaborated so she could finally be at ease at least in this. “The moment the land chose you, the plants and animals knew it. Even if they’re rudimentary and don’t think the same way we do, they still recognize your essence as that of their steward.”

Her next smile was tremulous. “If only the queen were willing to fall into line so easily, huh?”

I shook my head sharply. “Like I said, she’s not the ‘queen’ anymore, my love. You are.” Tenderly, I pressed my lips to hers. “My queen.”

Her chest arced toward me as, breathily, huskily, she rasped, “My king.”

My loins stirred as I licked the title from her lips, claiming it as mine.

25.I WANT TO EAT YOU

RUSH

El’s legs spread for me automatically as if we’d been doing this all our lives. I kissed her again, and this time my kiss lingered, deepened. Her tongue swept out, searching for mine. I responded instantly, and we both moaned as the heat of our tongues met. I pulled back just enough to murmur against those deliciously plump, wet lips of hers.

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