Page 49 of The Crown of a Fallen Queen
“I’m amazed you couldn’t,” I say with a fake, contrite pout.
“My Light magic dimmed when I left the Sun Court—you know that.” He ushers me to the door where Seth and the other royals just exited and holds it open for me. Lori is still trying to settle the crowd in the ballroom, but her eyes dart over, wide with worry, just before we cross into the hallway.
A twinge of guilt stirs in my stomach. “Your wife assumed we were lovers. You should tell her the truth.”
“I can’t. Not while Iris hears everything I’m saying.” He lowers his voice. “Dark souls destroy the bodies they borrow. I need to rid Lori of Iris for good. Mabel said only the King of Light could pull her soul out without harming Lori.”
I blink, gobsmacked that Mabel already knew about Iris and Lori, and didn’t tell me. “She’s probably right.”
“Willow is hell-bent on killing Ethan. If she succeeds, Helios will have to name a new king, and whoever is chosen will determine whether my wife lives or dies.”
Helios, the God of Light, is fond of hereditary monarchies and almost always marks one of the children of the dead king as his new heir.
“It couldn’t be you, you’re already King,” I assure him.
“Could it be you?” he deadpans.
My hand flies to my ribs to graze the Mark of the Gods tattooed on my stomach. “I don’t think so. I’m not...free of Spring, really. I still bear Eros’s mark.”
Elio exhales loudly, rubbing his neck back and forth. “Last time you were here, you hinted that Ezra was not only alive, but that you knew where he was hiding… If you have a way of communicating with him, tell him now would be a good time for him to get his head out of his ass and return to Faerie. If he shows up as the new King of Light without a word beforehand, I’ll assume he wants war.”
A heavy sigh quakes my chest. “Don’t fret. Ezra is not coming back to Faerie, and he’s not going to be the next king of the Solar Cliffs.” I hide a wince behind my palm, unwilling to open that particular can of wiggly, fucked-up worms. “That’s all I can say.”
Elio walks away with a nod but pauses at the foot of the staircase heading up to the towers. “What about Seth?”
“What about him?”
“You’re not really going to marry him, are you?” He says on a pleading, childish pout.
I grab the skirt of my dress and walk backward toward the ballroom, never breaking eye contact, feeling as lawless and mischievous as the first time I shot him with a love arrow. “Why not? Seth’s sexy as fuck.”
Elio turns green. I simplyloveto tease him. For all the horror of my birth and the secrets that plague my bloodline, I’m happy he’s my baby brother.
Chapter 15
Six of Crowns
SETH
Elio confronts me as we climb toward the shortest of the three towers. “I told you to leave Devi alone. How did you strong-arm her into an engagement?”
“She’s a grown woman, and I’m hot for her,” I say. “Marrying me makes us the next in line for the Spring throne—even if my mother hates it. And it puts Devi under my protection. Why are you so upset?”
Why is he being such a prick about it? Even if he and Devi were lovers, he’s happily married now. Why does he care so much?
The Red Queen glances over her shoulder, and Elio lowers his voice. “You must’ve blackmailed her into it. Like you did with Lori when she joined the Yule pageant.”
“I didn’t.”
He growls under his breath. “We’ll talk about this later.”
I don’t care how much he scowls. Devi will be mine. I want her bare, breathless, stripped of every little defense. I want her to beg—for pleasure, for mercy, foratonement. Because no onegets to toy with men the way she does, no one leaves that many wrecked hearts in their wake, without consequence.
She kissed me back, and not for the crowd. She wanted it. I felt it in the way her mouth parted, in the way her fingers clutched my coat like she was holding herself back from ripping it open. Saw it in the way she sipped her wine afterwards, carefully inching away, trying to hide the pounding of her heart, the heat rising in her cheeks, and the spicy edge of the desire leaking between her legs.
I drag a hand down my face to get my head back on track, willing my cock to soften the hell down. The last thing I need right now is to mix violent politics with raging erections.
The Winter King’s private library has been rearranged in a hurry. Seven chairs of different colors form a circle around a round table in a rough replica of the Hall of Eternity that was destroyed. Light pours through the turret windows, cold and bright. It’s not meant to impress, but rather to allow seven people who detest each other to put aside their differences and save the Fae Continent.
