Page 70 of Destined for the Fae King

It’s not a simple thing. More than a partner, a spouse. Some fae think it ordained by the stars, by the spirit of the long-ago queen who blessed the land with her powers. Either way, it’s the soul’s answering echo found in another. Fated? Maybe. But when someone who can see the future is involved, fated is the only explanation.

Lysandir releases my hand, only to place his palm on my thigh, as if he can’t bear to not have the connection or he fears I might vanish. My dress doesn’t lack for fabric. Layers separate us. But his touch almost feels like a brand on my skin nonetheless.

“You know about my visions,” he says at last.

“That you see glimpses of the future.” A very rare talent, even among the magically gifted fae.

“Most come unbidden, some when I least expect them, but every once in a while, when I meditate on a particular thing, I am granted a vision of it as well. A few years ago, I suppose I was feeling particularly lonely.” He glances away and then back at me with a tight, brief smile. “I decided to meditate and ask the fates if there was someone I was destined to love and be loved by in return. I did not expect them to answer. They so rarely do. But just when I was about to give up, they showed me a vision. And I saw you, Mira, looking much as you do now, smiling at me.”

A whole different type of tear burns at the corner of my eyes. My heart tries to lurch straight out of my chest and give itself over to him. When it doesn’t, I place my hand over his and wrap my fingers around his, needing the connection.

His expression changes to something soft, vulnerable, and if I thought my heart was ripping itself out a moment ago, it truly is now. I’ve never known a man to be so open. My uncle isn’t. My brothers certainly aren’t. And if my father was, I can’t remember. But the show of emotion doesn’t weaken Lysandir in my eyes—it strengthens him. He holds such emotion and yet walks through life with such strength and resolve. I force a smile for him, maybe like the one he saw. I can’t know, but I try all the same.

“Seeing you, not knowing who you were but that I had such a woman in my future, gave me such hope, such joy. I thought about you often. It should embarrass me to say that, but it doesn’t. If I had a hard day, when I was lonely, if I was feeling rejected or overshadowed, I would think about the woman fate showed me who awaited me in my future. You were my light, Mira, the fire that beckoned me on when times were dark.”

“Lysandir…” I scoot closer to him. “But you said you gave your heart away long ago.”

“I did.” He caresses my cheek. “To you.”

All this time… It was me. He wanted me. He waited for me.

“But you didn’t know me, not really,” I say.

“I didn’t. But I’ve had the chance to now. There’s so much more I wish to learn and know, but what I have seen, the time I’ve been able to spend with you, it just confirmed all the things I hoped.”

The urge to kiss him, to heal the broken parts he’s showing me, is overwhelming. I reach for him, but this time he’s the one who pulls back.

His eyes close as if he’s pained, and he slowly shakes his head. “But it might have been easier if you hadn’t lived up to my dreams.”

The comment hits like a dagger to the heart. “What?”

“At first, I almost wanted to dislike you. I hoped that my dreams were inflated and wouldn’t hold up because that’s not the only time I saw you in my visions.”

“Tell me.” What could be so horrible for him to wish that? Fingers of dread crawl up my spine.

“When it became clear that my mother was determined for Vasilius to find a queen while she still walks this plane and a Choosing would be the most reasonable method of it since he’d not made a love match, my brother asked me to look into the future and see if my visions would reveal the choice for him.”

No!My mind has already followed the thread to its end and roars against what it finds there. I begin to shake my head side to side, but Lysandir keeps speaking.

“So I asked the fates and I looked.” His hand returns to my thigh in what’s probably meant to be a comforting squeeze but only feels like condemnation. “I saw you, Mira.”

“It’s not possible.”

But the sorrow in his gaze says it is.

“Why would I ever say yes to him? He doesn’t want me, not really. I’m not sure that he wants any of us.” Though that wasn’talways true. Weeks ago, I would have jumped at the chance to be his bride. “Something must have changed. I’ve changed. I came here aiming to be the king’s bride, but that’s no longer what I want. I would never agree to marry him now.”Not now that I’ve gotten to know you. Not now that I know I’m your fated mate.I grasp at his arm. “Surely, you can’t think I’d pick him over you?”

“The fates don’t lie, Mira. What I see comes true.”

I leap to my feet, unable to sit still a moment longer. “There has to be some explanation, something fate hasn’t shown you.” I pace, fighting the urge to cry, to scream all my frustration for the world to hear.

All the while, Lysandir watches me like a hawk, that same stricken expression etched into his features.

“What all did it show you exactly?”

He takes a deep breath and braces his palms on his knees. “I saw you standing before my mother on the dais. She placed a crown upon your head and passed to you the Spear of Shielding, making you Queen of the Court of Fire. It’s exactly what’s planned for whoever my brother chooses.”

I nearly fist my hand in my hair before thinking better of it at the last moment. Fucking hell, that’s pretty damning.I pace again, like I might outrun the truth he’s laid bare.

---