Page 66 of Blackwarden
Diving into the books I skimmed quickly, finding most of them were in Old Fae. I’d have to give these to Keres when he was well enough to read through them himself. I set them aside and focused on the ones I could read instead, trying to find something on wards or hexes that might keep certain people away. I worried that if we didn’t do something, onceBevgyah managed to find someone to open the portal she’d come for him.
I couldn’t lose him. Not again. I had almost lost him forever, in the cruelest way possible. I shivered realizing he had been forced to see me every day, unable to call me by my real name, unable to speak with me without risking the Hag Queen’s punishments. And now that I knew what those punishments were, I shuddered to think of how often he might have had to endure them.
I squeezed tears back with a deep breath and set the book aside, an overwhelming need to make sure he was alright washing over me. I slipped out into the hall but stopped short.
The mural was gone.
I was frozen in place, staring at a blank wall. I ran my fingers along where I was certain it had been, but there was nothing. Just the textured black walls. No dragons, monsters, or naked humans. No trees or landscapes. I traced the length of it all the way to Keres’ suite where therewassomething.
It was small. Two silhouettes with their backs to the outside world. One of them had horns, the other leaned against him, her brown hair obscuring much of her details. It was rushed. Each brush stroke was intentional but rough.
When had this been painted? I looked up at the brazier, my mind reeling.
“Did you paint this?” The brazier dimmed. But I knew in my heart who painted the mural. It made sense. He painted the portraits with such pristine detail, why wouldn’t he be capable of painting this mural as well. I had vague memories of the same type of mural on the walls of Bevgyah’s palace, the only other place he spent significant time.
I touched the silhouettes, certainty blooming in my chest. Something about them helped ease my fears that I wasn’t just another human passing through Keres’ long life. Maybe he cared for me as much as I had come to care for him.
“Can I stay here?”
I don’t know why I asked out loud. The brazier outside Keres’ door flared brighter in response. I smiled at the ceiling before I turned and slipped into his room.
Chapter 34 ~ For the First Time
Keres
––––––––
I woke to Rosalin reading in a chair beside my bed. My throat tightened. I had almost lost her forever, and I still wasn’t sure I deserved her at all. The fact that my actions over five hundred years ago had been the catalyst of all her pain was overwhelming.
Her soft pink cheeks glowed with more life than they had in the Unseelie Court. Her green eyes shining much more intensely. Perhaps I saw her through a different lens, but she was achingly beautiful—human and imperfectly perfect. I smirked at how her lips moved as she read. Those fucking lips. Heat simmered deep in my core at the thought of them on my skin. Why had I waited so long to kiss them? Why had I pushed her away?
But I knew why. I’d been forbidden. My heart had been locked in Bevgyah’s clutches for centuries. I’d lost hope that I could give it to anyone ever again, knowing what the Hag would do when she inevitably found out. This wasn’t the only reason, though. I worried no one could see past my face to the person beneath. And even if they did, I was terrified of what they’d find.
I’d been a true monster once. The purest, most dangerous beast, hidden beneath a beautiful face. I’d betrayed people—manipulatedthem. I’d done vile things to get what I wanted. My arrogance had gotten me to this place and in all honesty, I deserved every moment I spent chained to Bevgyah’s side. I deserved her torture, her sadism, her hatred. She’d been a young queen, easily wooed by a handsome Dark Fae, and I’d taken advantage of my status as her lover. I’d found all the ways to lie without words. I’d made her what she was with every manipulation, every traitorous act.
I knew one thing for sure. My punishment had changed me, and I never wanted to go back to being the Keres Blackwarden I’d been all those centuries ago. I shivered at the thought of the things I’d done; the people I’d destroyed to get what I wanted. Even now, I wasn’t sure I deserved the second chance I’d been given. Especially since that second chance included the rare creature beside me. A human who’d been able to see past her own hatred of my kind, past the monster I tried to be in an effort to push her away, to see the me that hid in the shadows. I swallowed hard, unsure if I deserved the happiness she brought me just by staying by my side while I recovered from using too much of my magic.
I don’t know how long I lay there watching Rosalin read. I would have watched her longer, but she glanced up, her eyes brightening when she met my gaze, a smile melting onto her lips.
“Hello, dark stranger,” she said, reaching a hand over and resting it on my arm. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I brought twenty people through the portal.”
She smirked. “Well, you only brought two people through, but one of them had these massive wings.”
I rolled my eyes and reached for her. She giggled as she snuggled in next to me, fingers tracing over my bare shoulder and sending goosebumps over my flesh.
She pulled back suddenly, eyes going wide.
“Something the matter, Ms. Greene?”
“The mark...” She pulled her hair away from her shoulder so I could see.
I wasn’t sure what I was looking at, at first. A tiny serpent with wings twisted around itself into the shape of a very familiar symbol.
“It hasn’t always looked like that has it?” I asked as I ran my fingertips over her skin.
She shook her head. “It changed. I think when we came back through the portal.”
