Page 27 of Royal Captive
“You help me infiltrate the den of snakes and identify who the main players are in this rebellion, and I will keep your little princess safe for as long as she lives.”
Tension bled out of my shoulders.
“And—”
Fuck.
“You help me restore the barrier to your world, no matter the cost to you.”
Adrenaline flooded my body at the implications. Helping him restore the barrier meant endangering my people. It meant putting Viana at risk.
Not helping him meant Eve might die.
Or did it? Didn’t he just say his own people wouldn’t stand for her being hurt?
“How do I know you won’t just kill her the moment I die? If I die,” I hurriedly tacked onto the end.
His polished boots clicked on the marble floor in front of me. He paused, and I kept my gaze on the wall ahead of me. I refused to look up at him like a child.
“You don’t,” he whispered viciously.
“No, I don’t think that’s right. If you could kill her, you just would. Instead, you dangle the option in front of me despite knowing it’s not something that would happen, anyway. Renegotiate.” I chanced a glance up at him, only to see rage behind his eyes.
SMACK.
Whiplash left me reeling with the force of his blow, a loud crunch indicating he’d broken my nose.
Feyanna made a sound of irritated disbelief behind me.
I was breathing heavily, but I was also winning, in a way.
“Renegotiate,” I panted out.
The king growled at me, then took a deep breath in, closing his eyes. When he opened them, his gaze collected and in control again. “You are intelligent. Of course you are; we are cousins in a way, aren’t we?”
I didn’t like the crazed smile on his lips, nor the maniac gleam in his eyes.
“I have a large family with many sons and daughters. It proves the gods favor me, and that my way is the right way,” he raved, pacing back and forth. Was he speaking to me now, or himself?
“My wayis the right way!” He pounded his fist into his hand, turning back to me and getting in my face so quickly I flinched.
“You will become part of my family. You will find who these rebels are, and I will squash them. You do this, and you can have the girl as your mate. She will have my protection, and my people will think I am siding with them about humans and theirrights. We all will win, won’t we?”
Feyanna shifted uneasily behind me.
“I uncover the head rebel. You and your family members do nothing that puts Eve in danger,” I clarified, knowing contracts were tricky in general, magickal ones even more so.
“Agreed,” Fennis said, much too quickly in my opinion.
I spit blood on the white marble floor. “Seal it in magick,” I insisted, not trusting him an inch.
For just a moment, I thought the fae king would strike me again. Then he smiled. “Agreed.”
The hot tang of magick filled the air, pushing down on my chest until I couldn’t breathe. Smoke rose from my skin, desperate to escape my body.
It was over before anything more could happen. The pressure released, and the king was back in his throne, smirking like a cat that had caught a particularly juicy mouse.
“Get out.”
