Page 100 of Bride of the Fae Prince

Or perhaps . . .no.Rahk wouldn’t betray me. He wouldn’t.

But if he did, then there’s only one person he can be bringing in.

Stella.

The doors open, and there’s Rahk. Standing tall and still, his face the hard, disinterested mask of a warrior. And in his fists, he holds her arms pinned behind her back. Not Stella.

Hylath.

I fight the wave of sorrow, offurythat nearly explodes from me. She’s nothing but a handmaiden. She’s done nothing deserving of death. Just like all the rest.

I hate Faradir.

I hate him so much I barely keep myself from snapping and running to her defense. It’s possible—not likely, but possible—that I could kill him in cold blood. Right here. Right now.

But that would nullify my claim to the throne. Everything I’ve fought for would be gone.

Hylath doesn’t make a sound, her belly expanding with each breath. It’s so unlike her to be still and quiet.

“Last chance,” says the High King, smirking now. “Take my armies. Raze Aursailles. Slaughter the humans. Finish by Lulythinar.”

Last chance to bend, to bow. To destroy my wife’s homelands, the very people she sacrificed herself to save. To leave her unprotected here in the High King’s palace while she recovers.

This is my last chance to show the High King that I am affected by his murder of my loyal staff. My last chance to prove it’s an effective tool.

To leave Stella in a tyrant’s bloody hands.

I meet Hylath’s five bobbling, blinking eyes. She’s the only one of my servants to whom I owe no vow. She said my rescue of her was payment enough. Right now, it doesn’t seem like anywhere near enough.

“Of course not,” I reply. “I told you I am busyuntil Lulythinar.”

The High King leans back in his throne. “Prince Rahk. Remove this creature’s eyes.”

Rahk doesn’t look at me. But Hylath does, her five eyes whirling to me, wide. I meet that gaze, hating that my cold, cruel expression will be the last thing she sees.

Then Rahk shoves her to her knees, presses her face into the floor, the connective tissue supporting her eyes laid out like a bare neck on a chopping block.

It happens so fast I can’t even blink before Rahk’s sword is out, before it’s sliced a clean line straight through flesh. A scream cuts through the air, straight into my chest. Blue blood drips as Rahk pulls my blinded servant to her knees. Her eyes roll like marbles, one coming to stop near my foot.

It’s crueler than just killing her.

“Take her away,” says the High King.

Rahk moves to obey.

“But first . . .”

Rahk stops, glancing back at the High King with that same impenetrable mask.

“Ready my armies, will you, Prince Rahk? I want Aursailles by Lulythinar.”

Of course. Ofcourse. He’ll try to turn me against Rahk by making him his pawn. He’ll give him distinguished tasks like leading his armies, tasks that should be mine, that will show his favoritism. The King and Queen of Nothril won’t be able to argue.

And it’ll be an effective punishment, that I wouldn’t have anticipated.

Thisis why I told him to stay away from Valehaven for a few days! If only that cursed invitation hadn’t arrived for his sisters, if only he hadn’t come to protect me.

But then he wouldn’t have saved Stella two nights ago.

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