Page 37 of The Forbidden Dragon King
If no one else would love us, then as War put it,fuck them, we’d love each other.
“You know that golden threads linked Lanlin and me,” I say in a rush, allowing my mask down. It’s a relief, cathartic. It’s also dangerous, as it always is. I can only risk it with my Golden Family. “We share an Omega, Freya. When I saw her, in pain and bleeding on that mountainside, golden threads sparked out and connected us. It was heady, euphoric, and as if every part of my life finally made sense. Every moment that I have spent with her since, caring for her and smelling her intoxicating rose scent, has bound me closer, until I am entangled, painfully and inexplicably.”
For a moment, I allow myself this weakness.
To feel the sensation of the golden threads that bind me to Freya.
My Omega.
I can’t allow her to see how much I am already chained by her.
Freya may have only just woken up, but I have been searching and dreaming about her for three years. I have spent a week tending to her and terrified that she wouldn’t wake up.
I have watched her sleep, stroking her hair back from her face and daring to lean closer and breathe in deeply from her scent glands.
It’s forbidden.
Wrong.
Taboo.
I want her, however, and this is why I mustn’t allow my Little Wolf to discover this truth. My pet already rules me. She could have a king on his knees.
I will never let her find out.
“Relius…” Lucius grabs my hand and squeezes. “I’m sorry. You don’t need to?—”
I wrench my hand from his grasp. “Fate binds us. But fate also forbids us from bonding. I haven’t forgotten the prophecy.”
“If you try to claim her,” War’s eyes are wary, “your uncle will make sure that the Council execute her. The wizened cock suckers will also use it as a way to further undermine your hold on the throne. They’ll say that it’s more evidence you need to be leashed.”
“And we all know who’ll be the one holding that leash,” Lucius mutters.
I shutter my expression, despite my skin crawling.
Secrets lead to torn out throats and sitting in a pool of congealing blood, while holding onto the cooling body of the person who means the most in the world to you, until you feel as dead inside as they are.
Yet secrets are also all that have kept me alive in the Shadow Court after I was thrown alone into it.
How can even my best friends understand what it feels like to be denied ruts? They have each other.
How can they understand what it feels like to finallyfind your fated Omega, only to know that you can never claim them?
How much my heart is breaking, but I can never show it?
Because this is war, and my heart, soul, mind, and body belong to my kingdom.
Has any part of myself ever belonged tome?
I straighten my shoulders, dropping my hand to the hilt of my dagger. “The Omega is nothing more than a pawn. I will keep her close to hurt Lanlin, and ultimately, destroy him. But now, let’s burn King Daire’s world around his fucking fae ears.”
CHAPTER SIX
Rune Forest
Daire, Alpha Shadow Fae King
“To hellwith holding your position, fucking dive!” I yell over the din of the clash of weapons, roar of flames, and screams.
