Page 49 of Destined for the Fae King

The moment she hurries off, the air around me grows thick and tense. I’d swear the temperature rises too—and this is the Court of Fire, so maybe it does. It wouldn’t surprise me if Lysandir’s presence alone could affect that. Or maybe he only has that effect on me.

Tension coils around my chest, leaving it tight and hollow all at once as he steps to my side. In his hand, he holds the thick green stems of two massive, red flowers. A sweet, heady scent wafts fromthem, only addling my senses further. If you could drug someone with a whiff of a flower, this one would do it.

“Take these.” Lysandir holds them out to me.

They might as well be snakes for how terrifying the offer is.

“You’re giving me flowers? Here?”In front of everyone?I stare at him wide-eyed. My God, he really does want to paint a scarlet letter on me.

“Hurry and give one to your friend.” He practically shoves the stalks at me. “Fae sense of smell is much greater than a human’s. These are pungent and will help cover the scent.”

“The scent of what?”

Lysandir stares at me hard, his face impassive and still save for a blink of his eyes. The answer hits me square in the chest.

“She—They weren’t—” I blurt.

But he knows.

Damn it all, he knows exactly what they were doing, despite my attempted distraction.

“Please.” I reach for him, dropping my hand just before I grab his sleeve. His gaze snaps to it, eyes widening as he follows the path of my hand as it drops. “I promised. You can’t tell.”

His gaze snaps back to my face, his form still cold and impassive like the fae royal he is, other than his eyes which swirl with emotion.

“Please.” The readiness with which I’d drop to my knees and beg him shocks me. “Don’t give her—them—away. For me. Please.”

His throat bobs, the only sign of emotion in his features. Finally, his impassive façade cracks, and his shoulders droop on a sigh. “I won’t.”

The single phrase releases the noose of panic from my neck.

“No one will hear of it from me.” His stance loosens, and he rubs the back of his neck. “But she has to be more careful. Keep her distance for now, disguise the scent.”

I nod. The advice is for her, but I can’t help feel like it’s more for me than anything. And with that, all the emotions of moments ago rush back, flooding me with a fire that makes me want to char to ash right there.

“What I did, back there in the hedges… I—” I want to say I’m sorry, that I regret it, that it was a trick, but the words don’t come out, almost like the magic that binds the fae to truth is trying to hold me to it as well.

“You wanted to keep me from seeing whatever you saw.”

My lips wrinkle themselves up then flatten out. It’s true. I did, but hearing him say it sounds so callous. And what I felt in that moment was anything but that.

He steps closer, and I suck in a breath, but there’s almost no air to inhale.

“I won’t tell anyone about that either.” His hand closes over mine where I clutch the stems.

The touch has me nearly jumping out of my skin, and from the way he stiffens and his hand tightens on mine, I know he feels something too. But any hesitation is there and gone in a flash. He guides the flowers up until the soft petals brush against my cheek then across my lips.

The party disappears as I stare into his eyes of molten gold, the crimson blooms a slow blur of movement at the bottom of my vision.

“To cover the scent.” He releases my hand, and I let the blooms drop down to my chest.

Because I can’t have his scent on me. Because someone might know, might suspect. I don’t have the heart to tell him Vasiliuscould already smell him on me, had already commented on it earlier. At least he didn’t have reason to suspect it anything other than innocent assistance in a yard game.

But what we did in the maze… It might have been impulsive, a tool to distract, but the lingering effects are anything but innocent.

“Thank you.” It’s all I can come up with before I turn and hurry after Adeline.

Staying with Lysandir a moment longer, the strange blooms flooding my senses, would have led to disaster. Because there’s one thing I know with certainty as I search for my friend.

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