Page 103 of Finding Love with the Fae King

Melina made King Osirus happy, and the love in their eyes only let the people realize one thing. Soon an heir would grace the good kingdom, and they would all hold feasts on such a day.

However, even though they were happy for the royal affair and the soon-to-be coronation and binding ceremony, there was still something dark lurking in the shadows.

Melina

I’m a terrible liar.

Seriously, terrible. I remembered Tulip’s mother, Rose, would come over in the evenings to check on me.

“Have you had dinner yet?”

I kept my mouth shut, so my voice didn’t waver.

I nodded. “Of course I had dinner,” when I really hadn’t. Rose would scowl at me and give me a disapproving motherly look.

“Come eat,” she would demand, and made me sit down at the table with her.

She brought over food from their dinner anyway and watched me eat every bite. It was mostly meat and carbs, not a lot of vegetables, and come to think about it, I should have known so much sooner what they were. I slapped myself mentally at the thought.

Then there was a time Tulip wanted to go to a party with her. She nagged all during school and well into the afternoon. I groaned and complained about it until I finally went. Rose didn’t know about it because it was a human party, and she didn’t keep up with those certain things. Tulip told Rose she would just spend the night at the cabin and lied straight through her perfectly white teeth.

The next morning there was banging on the cabin door, and Tulip and I got up groggily. We didn’t get home until three in the morning to much of my protest of not staying out that late. Rose walked in and took in our appearance.

“Have a fun sleepover, you two?” Technically she did sleepover, so we both nodded yes.

“Of course, mother,” Tulip’s voice was sickly sweet. On the inside, my heart was pounding out of my chest. We had been caught. I just knew it.

“So, you didn’t go anywhere last night. You stayed right here in the cabin?” Rose’s eyebrow raised with her hands on her hips. Tulip nodded again and smiled. Rose looked at me and took a few steps forward, and my eyes widened. How could she look at me and could see the lie written all over my face?

“What about you, Melina? Did you stay in the cabin all night?” My heart pounded several times harshly against the ribcage, and Rose sat back up with a smile. “You both are grounded. Melina, sleep in our guest room until your punishment is over.”

How she could figure it out every time there was a lie, I couldn’t figure it out. Then, when the werewolf secret came out, it was quite clear. They could hear heartbeats. They could hear the lies because they were all walking lie detectors. It was so embarrassing. Each lie I ever told, white or not, they knew.

Osirus and I had just arrived back in his royal study. Everett, Braxton, and Finley welcomed us back with wide smiles, even though a “criminal” was on the loose. My stomach churned as it dropped lower into my stomach. Fae couldn’t hear that well, not as well as werewolves. They couldn’t detect a lie or deception, could they?

Sure, Osirus read auras and looked for deception, but I didn’t think he read mine that often. He could quickly glance at my face and tell what I was feeling. Panic rose in me. What if he saw?

“Darling? Are you all right?” He glanced back at me as he sat at his desk.

Fiddling with my fingers, I nodded. “Yes, just a bit hungry. We didn’t eat breakfast,” I mentioned quickly.

Osirus ordered servants to bring in a wide array of food, and to be honest, it smelled amazing. Maybe my mood can change a bit while I stuff my face with some lotus sponge cake.

“Give me the briefing,” Osirus spoke to Alaneo, who was by his side.

“It happened about twelve hours after we released Daphne. I don’t think the two are linked. However, Daphne seemed thankful to be released. Even when I mentioned her status demotion, she took it well.” I internally scoffed. I couldn’t believe they would throw her off like she didn’t do anything. If it weren’t for my time in high school watching evil, queen bees of the school, I wouldn’t have known either. Her artificially sweetened demeanor was repulsive. Any woman could smell the stench of her lies.

I snorted, and everyone in the room looked at me. They went back to speaking, popping a grape in my mouth like I had nearly choked. Too close. This was too much. I couldn’t handle it. If Osirus found out, he was going to spank my ass so red a demon himself would like he was blushing.

“Darling, are you sure you are all right?” All right? I’ve been keeping a secret from you for days, and it is burning a hole in my heart! Now I don’t know how to tell you!

“Yup!” I threw another grape in my mouth. As long as no werewolves showed up and asked me about Tulip directly, I would be fine.

Alec then burst into the room.

Cheese and rice.

I exhaustedly laid back in a nearby chair with my plate of grapes. “Where is my mate?!” Alec growled. “She is supposed to be in the dungeons. Only the guards told me she escaped! My mate would never do such a thing!”

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