Page 36 of The Crown of a Fallen Queen
Breakfast Club
SETH
Iawake to sweaty, rumpled sheets and unfulfilled fantasies, but the cold doesn’t bite the way it used to as I make my way to the castle’s private sitting room.
Every other time I stayed here, it was as a sponsor for the Yule pageant. I wasn’t important enough for the guest wing, and definitely not breakfast-with-the-Winter-King material.
The parlor is quieter than the ballroom and warmer than the dining hall. A few windows are open to the courtyard, letting in air that smells of loosened earth and fresh sap. Beyond the stone arches, Wintermere’s sacred Hawthorn stands tall, its bone-white branches no longer locked in frost. Red buds freckle the tips, defiant and tender. The tree is waking up from a long slumber.
The crust of snow that blanketed these grounds for fifty years is finally giving way. Melting in uneven patches, it reveals slivers of vibrant emerald-green grass. Moss campions peak out from underneath the thinning snow, pink and bright.
All because of Lori.
“Good morning, Wintermere,” I say, startling Sara as she serves herself coffee.
She reaches for a cloth napkin and wipes up the spilled drink. “Morning, Seth.”
Sara is more of a friend than an employee, a fact made clear by her permanent residence in the guest wing. As the daughter of the previous Winter King, it was generous of Elio not to run her out of her childhood home.
I’m surprised to see Devi already here. I expected her to be asleep, and with good reason. She suffered through hell last night, and the memory of her squeezing my hand as though I was her last tether to this life is still raw. In the brief time we were apart, I thought of nothing else.
Lori and Elio greet me, but Devi just stares over the rim of her ceramic mug, glaring. Not exactly the warm welcome I was hoping for, but alright.
I walk to the buffet and grab a plate. "How’s the arm?"
“Good. Fine.”
I sit beside her and squint at her dismissive behavior, trying to see past the fallen queen persona to the woman beneath. How much of it is really her, and how much is bravado?
The Queen of Hearts, holy and ruined all at once.
My cock tingles from the erotic dream I had while I was sleeping. In the dream, she tasted of wildfire honey, sweet and searing. I can still taste her skin under my tongue.
The line of her jaw where I placed so many imaginary kisses taunts me. Her mouth is parted, like she’s halfway between biting back a thought and speaking her mind. Her lashes cast thin shadows on her cheeks as she looks down at her hands.
The flex of her fingers on the handle of her coffee mug fascinates me. The curve of her spine when she shifts in her chair.
I can’t look away. The dream still lingers behind my eyes, rushing through my blood, hot and vivid. I shouldn’t be thinking about it, but in the span of one night, I made love to her. Revelled in the beauty of her smile at the altar. Felt her tremble in ecstasy beneath me. Built an imaginary life with her that shattered in the blink of an eye.
What I suffered through this night should be outlawed, because now that I’ve gotten a taste, I crave it.
I want all of that andmore.
Zeus help me, Devi Eros was never meant to be anyone’s. Yet, I want her to be mine. If this is the power of dreams, then the Shadow King is the most powerful king there is.
“I…dreamed,” I say, stabbing my fork into a sausage. “I’d forgotten what it was like.”
The threads of the Dreaming aren’t supposed to allow visitors from Faerie, but the destruction of the Eternal Chalice has changed the continent’s magic in ways we don’t yet understand.
Devi shifts in her seat, hugging her knees to her chest. “It’s nothing special to me.”
“Not a morning person, are we?” I crack.
“Just a fact. I’ve been living in the new world for decades.”
I grab the pitcher of water and pour myself a glass. “You’ve been having sex dreams for decades? That must be distracting.”
She narrows her eyes but keeps her tone light, as if she knows how much I like to rattle her and is working overtime not to give me what I want. “There are other kinds of dreams.”
