Page 10 of The Maleficent Faerie
But the Princess has discarded her branch and kicked my staff out of my reach. She drags a knife from my boot, flips it expertly with one hand, then sinks down at my side, her knees crushing my feathers.
She sets the edge of the blade against my throat.
5
The goddess has smiled upon me today.
I have the Void King himself at my mercy. He’s on his back, arms lying limp against the ebony-and-purple sheen of his wings. His skin is filmed with glistening sweat, and his abdomen contracts desperately with each quick, shallow breath. His eyes are closed, black lashes fringing his cheekbones. Behind his head swirls his long black hair, dark as his shadows.
Steadily I hold the knife against his neck, watching a bead of sweat travel the shining slope of his throat and slip into the notch between his collarbones.
He’s panting, his lips parted and his black brows bent slightly inward, as if he’s struggling to fight the sickness gripping his body.
Why haven’t I already finished him?
I can do this. I’ve killed three people in my lifetime and wounded several more. Not all the attackers were sent by the Void King; he has always wanted tocaptureDawn, not kill her. According to the terms of the curse, pricking her finger on any spindle would send Dawn into a hundred-year sleep; but the Void King plans to prick her finger on his particular Spindle and use her blood for his foul magic. She would fall asleep immediately afterward.
When her birthday passes, Dawn will become the new Conduit, sleeping or not. When a new Conduit comes of age, the previous ones begin to wane. The King and Queen will lose the ability to conduct Eonnula’s power at all. And Dawn can’t be part of a Surge while she’s unconscious.
Without the help of a Conduit to enhance the Surge during our worship gatherings, the Fae of Caennith won’t have the power they need to hold back the Edge. Our kingdom will begin to collapse. Not to mention that without the Surge, the humans of Caennith will lose their joy and hope.
For that reason, some of Dawn’s attackers have been Caennith—zealots who believed that by ending her life, they could preserve the Royals as the Conduits and keep our kingdom safe.
Twenty-five years of keeping Dawn away from spindles and assassins, away from the Void King and his servants. And now I have the chance to end it all.
Perhaps this act would not end the conflict entirely—after all, the Daenalla and the Caennith have been at war for centuries. There was a short time of peace when the Void King first took the Daenallan throne, but since Dawn’s birth and the reescalation of the conflict, more people have died on both sides. And I hold him responsible—this malignant monster who insists that we should embrace the Void and corrupt ourselves with its dark magic.
Without him, this realm would be a better, safer place.
I need to kill him.
Protect Dawn, protect my people.
The Fae can heal, but not from everything, and not in this weakened state. A good deep slash of the throat should do it. I need to act quickly, before his knights answer his call and return to this spot. They will be here any moment.
But as I begin to press the knife in, I glance at the Void King’s mouth.
There’s something charmingly sensual about the arch of his narrow upper lip and the soft curve of the lower one. Something lovely about the sharp angle of his jaw, the vulnerable hollow of his throat. Something about the quiver of the dark lashes against his cheeks.
He’s beautiful.
My mothers would tell me I’m being insufferably silly right now. They would tell me to kill him.
Do it, Aura. Do it now,Sayrin would urge.
Kill him, kill him, you foolish child, you idiot, you imbecile…Genla can be cruel when she’s angry.
Elsamel wouldn’t yell at me for my hesitation, but she would be sorrowful. Disappointed that I’m not strong enough for this.How could you show mercy to our greatest enemy? Don’t you know what he has done—what he will do?
My hand trembles.
The Void King’s head tilts aside a little, his brow furrowing. “Fucking…do it…” he whispers. “If you must.”
“Will it break the curse?” I ask.
He winces. “No.”
So Dawn could still prick her finger before her twenty-fifth birthday and sink into sleep. But at leasthewould be gone—this curse-casting, shadow-spinning, heretical creature who claims to follow Eonnula but does so in the most twisted way.
