Page 10 of Reveal Me
“Chop-chop.” Niamh made a hurry-up motion with her hand. “Or do the king’s guards not take orders?”
“You call my king a fuck boy, and yet you’re offering to fuck a complete stranger.” Yes, I know how hypocritical that sounded. Hello, Pot. I’m Kettle Black.
Niamh stared, holding my gaze.
Suddenly, I felt self-conscious. Had I gotten it wrong? “Wait. Sex is what you’re offering. Isn’t it?”
She kept staring, impatience in the corner of her eyes like she was expecting me to cave.
Instead, I kept my pants on and crossed my arms over my chest. “Why don’t you want to be mated?”
“None of your business.”
“My best friend recently found his mate. They’re happy together. In love.”
“I don’t believe in love.” She pressed her lips together. Her jaw worked, and I heard her teeth grinding.
“I think I do.”
“So that’s a no to the offer of free pussy.” Niamh gave a put-upon sigh.
Her exhale slid through the air, and it hit me like a fist to the chest. My muscles locked, my heart thundered. I shoved the feeling down, burying it deep where I couldn’t feel it. I couldn’t let it get to me. I turned on my heel, my movements stiff, forced. I kept my gaze ahead, focusing on the horizon like it held the answer. Anything but her.
I could feel her eyes on my back, burning holes into me. I didn’t turn around. I’d faced beasts bigger than me. I’d lunged into fights with monsters twice my size without a second thought. But this? This was the hardest fucking battle I’d ever been in.
Walking away from her felt like I was cutting off a part of myself, like ripping out my own heart and leaving it to bleed outon the ground. And yet I did it. I walked away, one step after another, my body fighting against itself with every step I took. The pain didn’t stop. It followed me, just as she did, until we were out of the Forbidden Forest.
The silence between us wasn’t easy or amicable. The trees hushed, the animals held their breath. The only sound that filled the air was the rhythm of our footsteps—each one falling in sync, even though we weren’t walking together anymore.
The castle came into view ahead. Its stone walls absorbed the sunlight, casting long shadows that stretched over the path. The spires reached toward the sky.
I slowed my pace without meaning to. My feet dragged a little as we came to the gates. She came to a stop beside me, just out of sight of the actual guards. I didn’t want them to see me. I wasn’t ready for her to know.
“He’s not a bad man, King Dion. He had a lot of responsibility placed on his shoulders from a young age. I don’t think anyone should blame him for seeking comfort, and a little fun, where he could.”
She didn’t respond. I don’t know what she could’ve said to make me feel better. I didn’t know what else I could say to erase her opinion of me. So neither of us said anything. I turned away, heading around to another entrance while she walked toward the gates, into my home but completely out of my reach.
Chapter 7
Niamh
It looked like a fairy tale. Even though I was a fairy, I didn’t take to stories about damsels going into opulent castles. It never worked out in the beginning. Or in the end, where some prince would kiss them while they were asleep. Or let every girl in the kingdom put their nasty feet in her shoe.
The palace grounds looked like it was pulled directly out of a kid’s fairy book. Tall, imposing walls of marble rose up, gleaming under the sun, their surfaces etched with ancient symbols. The hum of magic was in the air, crackling on the breeze. In the courtyard, the sounds of footsteps, laughter, and conversations merged with the occasional growl or roar.
Even though they were in their human form, I spotted them easily: shifters, most of them panthers, their sleek forms moving with confidence, their eyes glimmering with predatory focus. There were others, too—leopards and tigers, all of them exuding strength, beauty, and dominance. I even caught a whiff of a few fairies, their magic lingering on the wind, and a couple ofwitches, their aura faint but noticeable. A few humans dotted the scene here and there.
The sun was so bright here, hotter and more intense than the one I was used to. No vampires roamed this land; it would burn them alive. The sunlit air felt heavy with power, as if the very ground beneath my feet hummed with energy.
I stepped inside the palace, the transition from the bright outdoors to the cool, dimmer interior like a shift in atmosphere. The sheer opulence of the place took my breath away. The marble floors gleamed beneath my feet, polished to a high shine, reflecting the light from towering chandeliers that hung like crystal jewels from the ceilings. Rich tapestries adorned the walls, depicting battles, victories, and mythic figures that almost seemed alive in their intricate detail.
Doing a small twirl, I tilted my head back, feeling like Elizabeth Bennett wandering through Pemberley for the first time. Except I hadn’t rejected Mr. Darcy. Yet.
I was going to reject King Dion. Probably.
There was a quiet tug of war between my desire for wealth and comfort and the knowledge that I didn’t want the entrapment that came with the bond. This palace was everything a princess deserved. But I’d read my share of grim fairy tales, and I knew that it would come at a cost.
King Dion’s kingdom was magnificent, filled with everything a fairy like me could ever want. It was everything that had been stripped from me at birth. It was the bitter stories my mother would tell of her life back in the fae realm. I’d been raised to believe I belonged in a place like this, even though no one knew my true identity. No one knew that my parents, both dark fae with the power to control poison, had each been driven out of their realm because their magic was too dangerous for a world that shone too brightly. It made me a misfit, just like them. TheCrossroads had been my haven, the one place where I could be myself, in all my flawed, poisonous glory.
