Page 75 of Brutal Fae King
“Perhaps… that’s why I panicked when I met you,” he says like a confession. “I never wanted to be king; I saw what it did to my parents to rule Faevea. I knew that you would return at some point and reclaim the throne, and… at first, when I was younger, I was looking forward to it. But then I took the crown, started ruling, and it became all I knew. Maybe that’s why I was so harsh on you when you first came—I wouldn’t know what I was if I wasn’t king.”
“Do you enjoy it?” I ask. “Being king?”
I feel his head turn, and he looks down at me.
“Doyouenjoy it?” he asks back. “Taking care of your sister?”
I smile weakly.
“Touche,” I answer.
Vicmar smiles weakly at me. His hand runs up and down my back.
“But you can be happy here,” he says determinedly. “In fact, youwillbe. I know you’d rather go home, but since you can’t, anything that’ll make you happy you can have, Ebelor. Your sister is well taken care of, and you don’t have that burden anymore.”
“Thank you…” I say, and then the thought starts pressing down on me until I start folding up. My eyes start stinging, and the tears start flowing down my face.
“Ebelor?” he asks.
“Oh, god, it’s so terrible!” I sob. “She’s a burden! I don’t want to think of her as a burden! But… B-but—”
Vicmar leans up in bed and pulls me into a tighter hug than before.
“I love her,” I weep. “I don’t want to think of her as a burden!”
“I know you love her,” he murmurs. “But you’ve given up so much of yourself to take care of her and you’re exhausted. It’s natural.”
I choke another sob. He kisses my hair and then moves back to my ear.
“Once everything’s over and done with, and everything’s safe again, you will be with your sister,” he promises. “But you will never have the burden of taking care of her all by yourself ever again.”
More tears come from me, but they’re happy tears this time.
“Thank you…” I murmur. “You don’t have to do that.”
“No, I do,” he says. “It’s the least I can do.”
His hand rubs up and down my back. But I wriggle away to look at him in the face.
“And what about me?” I ask. “What can I do?”
“Hm?” Vicmar hums, frowning.
I look him in the eye.
“You’re not happy,” I say quietly. “No happier than I was taking care of Maribelle. What can I do to take the burden offyou?”
This time, it’s him who has to avert my gaze from me.
“I don’t know, Ebelor,” he says. “You are the lost heir, so you have the right to rule, but learninghowto do it is a different beast altogether. I don’t think it’s the type of thing you can just leap in and help with.”
I nod.
“That’s fair.” Then, I crack a small smile. “How about next time you’re in the war room with the counselors and they’re being stupid, you whisper what you want to say to me, and I’ll scream at them for you? It’ll save your voice a little bit.”
Vicmar starts laughing, throwing back his head as he cackles. He looks so beautiful when he smiles, the dour air about his person completely lifting. After his laugh he looks back to me with a large grin.
“I think… just having you here would help ease my burden,” Vicmar answers. “Having just one person with me that I’m not just theCruel Kingto… That would help.”
