Page 133 of The Forbidden Dragon King
“I’ll stop anyone following you down there,” she declared, settling on a stool to join in the game with the guards. “I’ll lose my own breakfast, if I have to watch you and the little fae pulling those lovelorn fucking faces at each other.”
“You trust me alone with Daire.”
“I trust you alone withKit. No Shadow Fae Alpha has ever killed their own soulmate. They may be pretty cocks with wings in many ways but fae are also the mostdevoted cocksto their Omegas in the entire realms.”
I walk faster.
A deep yearning fills me, the closer that I reach the cell at the bottom of the corridor, which is swathed in the deepest shadows.
I was spellbound by Daire from the moment that I first glimpsed him in front of his troops, while I hid on the ledge. His own soldiers were magnetized by his charm and ease. He was adored by the featherglass. He still is.
A villain is a hero to their own people.
Yet I’m beginning to understand that Daire has sacrificed himself a thousand times over for his fellow fae. He’s been fighting for their freedom.
Can that ever make him a villain?
I stare through the bars into the tiny cell. I smile, when I see that for the first time, Daire is covered in a golden, velvet blanket.
My eyes widen in shock.
It’s the same type that Aurelius has in his nest, which are also piled on my bed.
Has Aurelius given Daire one of his own blankets to keep him warm?
Daire is curled on the straw, which is piled in the far corner. My heart aches to see that his skin is still painted in bruises: purple, green, and yellow.
Daire is also pale, and his lips are cracked.
Every time that I see him, he’s grown thinner.
Those knotless sons of raven starvers.
As soon as Aurelius is back, I’m going to insist that Daire is released. Whatever the guards are doing to Daire (the same guards who are laughing and gambling with War, while talking about their kids like they’re suchdecentguys), I can’t bear it any longer, despite Daire insisting that it’s part of his larger scheme.
Daire has curled his iridescent wings around a cat, as if to make sure that she receives as much warmth as possible.
My smile widens. “Who’s your new friend?”
Both Daire’s glowing eyes and the cat’s snap open.
The cat is as striking looking as Daire is, in her own way. She is large and tabby with a powerful tail. One of her eyes appears to have been blinded in a fight, however, and her left ear is ragged. Her fur is a tangled mess.
Holding her close, highlights how Daire’s beauty is battered too. Even his wings are ruffled, looking like they desperately need to be brushed.
Brushing Daire’s wings is one of my favorite tasks, when I’m able to creep early enough into the servant dorms.
He insists on brushing my hair first toserveme.
Watching Daire unraveling beneath my hands, however, as I run the softest of brushes through his feathered wings toserve himis like nothing I’ve experienced before. He throws his long neck back, as close to purring as is possible for an Alpha.
An Alpha fae will only allow their soulmate Omegato be this intimate with their wings. Knowing how special caring for his wings is to him, makes my heart twist.
They’re soft, deadly,mine.
I run my fingers through them, as I brush each feather in turn into place. And every time, Daire moans in ecstasy and comes without being touched.
Anyone who thinks that Omegas don’t hold power over their Alphas, has never held an Alpha’s wings in their hands, whether fae or dragon.
