Page 25 of Silent Secrets

“First of all, I’m not a mortal. I’m just as Fae as you are. Second of all, you can go fuck yourself. Do you think I care what you think about me? You mean nothing to me—less than nothing, asshole.”

I spin to take in the other three, smirking. “It’s been fun, guys. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Without waiting for a response, I duck down to grab the book that I’d dropped earlier before heading back to my room. The entire way there, I’m raging. I can’t believe he acted like I was worse than gum on the bottom of his shoe.

Fuck him.

Who does he think he is? He’s no better than me. And so what if his friends want to fuck me—it’s not like that affects him in any way. What business is it of his who I sleep with?

Why does he always have to do everything in his power to piss me off? What did I ever do to him besides exist? It’s not my fault that I was born, or that I was sent to live my life in L’Airid. He acts as if I’m purposefully making his life hard.

He seems to forget that one day soon, I’ll be the queen. One would think that he would want to be on my good side, but he seems to go out of his way to piss me off—to be cruel. I hate him.

Making it to my room, I throw myself onto the couch in my sitting room and lay the book over my face as I try to calm down. I really need to find a way to keep myself from getting so upset with him.

Yes, he’s a douche. Yes, he does make me so angry, but I also think he enjoys getting to me. I need to learn to rise above it, to not let him get to me so badly. Which is, obviously, easier said than done. I don’t understand why he treats me like this when his friends don’t seem to have the same issues.

Thinking of Marcos, Caiden, and Kai brings a smile to my face, my mind flashing back to what we’d just shared. That had been really hot.

Though I know that it’s likely to be awkward with us now, especially since I’d stormed off. But that hadn’t had anything to do with them, but with Hunter. It’s honestly probably best that Hunter had shown up when he did—before I’d made any more rash decisions… like sleeping with one, or all, of them.

One thing is for sure, I won’t be forgetting the sight of Caiden on his knees while he sucked Kai’s cock any time soon. Or the way that Marcos’s fingers had felt inside of me or the way that Kai had looked at me like he wanted to devour me. Talk about spank bank material, am I right?

I lift the book, using it to fan myself before sitting up.

Focus, Hadley.

I flip open the book and find a drawing of a beautiful woman. No, not just a woman—a Fae woman. It makes sense that she’s beautiful since I’ve yet to see an unattractive Fae, but she’s… more. I don’t know how to describe it. Whoever the artist is, their talent is unmeasurable, as they seem to have caught her very essence in the drawing.

Tearing my eyes off the picture, I flip forward, finding some writing that I know is ancient Fae. There are few texts in the old language, but the first time that I’d come across it, I’d asked Grace about it. She’d informed me that there aren’t many that can speak the old language anymore, let alone that can read it.

I can’t help but wonder what it says, but I also know how hard it will be to find someone who can translate it for me. My curiosity will just not be able to be slaked at this point. After a handful of pages, I find text written in English and quickly lose myself in the book.

Page after page of information about the past Fae Queens, about how life for the Fae had been back then. It’s fascinating to me and I’m annoyed that no one thought to give me this book to read before now. It’s more than what Grace has been covering with me, but it’s things I should know.

Why wouldn’t she give it to me? It doesn’t make any sense.

Wait.

“What the fuck?” I blink, sure that I’d just read that wrong. But as I reread the paragraph, I see that the words are still the same.

A knock at the door draws my attention from the book, shock still riding me. “Who is it?”

“It’s Adaline,” her quiet voice muffled by the door. But I’m glad that it’s her and not her mom—or one of the guys. I don’t even want to deal with them yet.

“Come in.”

A moment later Adaline pushes open the door, head popping around with a timid smile on her lips. “Is this a bad time?”

I shake my head, happy to see her. “No, come in. We can talk about what I just read. Please tell me you brought tea?”

“Of course I did.” Adaline pushes in a cart, bringing it over to me before sitting beside me. “Did something you read upset you?”

I sigh as I wait for Adaline to prepare my tea, having learned that she becomes very offended if I try to do it myself. Once she hands me my cup, she pours herself one before turning to face me.

“Uh, yeah,” I scoff. “This stupid book says that I’m supposed to get married within a month of my coronation. And not just that, but to four different people.”

Adaline nods. “Correct. One from each of the minor courts.”

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