Page 74 of The Fury Queen's Harem

They shared a look. Pain and bitterness filled every dragon prince’s eyes.

“We know we aren’t your true loves, since the curse still binds you to your Fury forms,” Rai said. “We failed you.”

“No,” I said, my voice croaking.

“It doesn’t mean we don’t love you, Daisy,” Blaze said. “We’ve all fallen for you, no matter what form you take, but by fate, we aren’t destined for you.”

“Fate means nothing,” I said. “Fate doesn’t get to decide what true love is. For some reason, my curse stays with me, but it doesn’t mean you have to carry yours.”

They looked at me in bewilderment.

The term to lift their curses was that they either cut off my heads or make me fall in love with them.

I knew they’d never agree to cut my three heads.

“All of you are in my heart,” I said. “But you still can’t shift.”

I needed to let them have this knowledge that they were more than worthy of my love. Maybe all that was needed was to believe, and then their curses would fall off.

“Your curses should be gone by now,” I continued. “Have you tried to shift?”

Blaze shook his head with a wishful smile. “Just like you, we don’t feel the curses leaving us either.”

“Maybe we’ve done it wrong?” I said. “Maybe there’s something else we need to do?”

The princes’ masked faces lit up as they saw another hope.

“We’ll figure it out,” Rai said. “No matter what, we’ll always stay by your side, until your true loves come along. And as long as you’ll have us, we won’t go away.”

“Never,” Blaze said.

They must have spoken about this while I had been with Elvey.

“I don’t have much to offer,” I said. “I have only an hour in my Fae form. And when it comes to the intimacy you desire….” I flushed.

“You have everything to offer,” Iokul said quietly. “We’re happy with whatever form you take, as Rai said.”

The brothers shared another agreeable look.

“We just hate seeing you suffer when you change,” Blaze said.

And fate had decided what we had wasn’t true love?

CHAPTER 19

The first light came too soon, yet it was indistinguishable due to the dim light on Pandemonium. Rai had left with half of the men to scout the arena to prevent a possible ambush.

I paced in the chamber as anxiety rained down on me. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Iokul’s skill with the sword. All the dragons in the room had told me that no one had ever defeated the ice dragon in a duel, but I still had a dreadful feeling about this.

The demon captain must have known that none of the dragon princes could have their formidable full strength since they couldn’t shift. Elvey obviously knew about me and my companions more than we knew about him and his demons. Thus,Fomorian challenged us to a duel when we were at disadvantage.

The demons didn’t perceive such a thing as honor.

Last night, we had brainstormed about Fomorian’s possible weaknesses and his strengths, but all of those speculations were only guesswork.

Iokul wasn’t around, and I constantly looked at the entrance.

Elvey had posed himself as my enemy, but he was right about dueling being our best opportunity to have a chance at surviving and escaping the planet.

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