Twenty Four #2
Satisfied with the pain I had inflicted, I spun away from him and headed to the bathing chamber I had spotted from the anteroom.
His tormented expression was the last thing I saw before I closed the bathroom door behind me and sagged against it.
I wanted to slide down all the way to the floor and wallow in my misery, but by some miracle, I managed to keep myself up.
My legs were weak as I walked over to the sink, and my hands trembled as I splashed some water on my haggard face.
Bleary-eyed, I stared at my reflection in the gilded mirror.
The last few hours had felt surreal. I was in the Fae kingdom, and the last two months of my life had been a lie.
Adrian was a stranger who knew me in the most intimate way.
A few tears escaped at the thought, but I quickly wiped them away.
I couldn’t break down like I wanted. Not here, not now.
I was in the Fae territory, and I needed to have a clear head.
“What happens now?” I asked Adrian as soon as I had emerged from the bathroom.
He was pacing the room but halted when I came out.
“I need to get you out of here,” he said so low I almost missed it as his gaze flicked to the bedroom door.
I also glanced at the door as all the things I had read about the Fae through the years began popping up in my head, momentarily crowding out the current of dread and trepidation.
“So it’s true that faeries have a heightened sense of hearing?” I asked, and Adrian nodded instead of replying.
I scoffed. “Good to know. Because the notion about the Fae not being able to lie turned out to be a myth.”
He grimaced. “I didn’t tell you that I was a Fae prince, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t myself around you. You know me. You know who I am.”
“I feel like I don’t know you at all,” I rasped, my voice shaking. “You’re a stranger.”
“I’m sorry. If I could go back and change the past, I would.”
“Which part? The one where you lied to me or the one where you bedded me?”
He flinched again. “The part about me hiding the truth. I would never want to erase last night.”
“That makes one of us.” I folded my arms over my chest, which seemed to be my new usual posture around him.
Adrian’s jaw ticked, but he didn’t say anything else. As silence stretched between us, I took a moment to study his face no longer obscured by glamor. In the whirlwind of everything that had transpired, I hadn’t taken the time to notice how he had changed.
I had always thought he was handsome, but his features were near-perfect now.
My fingertips tingled, itching to trace the high cheekbones and the firm line of his jaw.
My throat dried as the memory of me doing that last night flashed through my mind.
I squashed it, burying it deep down and locking it away.
Only time would tell if I would ever unlock and retrieve it.
Adrian’s golden complexion was even more pronounced now, almost setting his smooth skin aglow. Despite the soft, warm undertone, a chill emanated from him that I had never noticed before. It was as if Fae’s beauty was meant to be cold and devastating. Alluring yet untouchable.
He watched me as I studied him, my gaze lingering on the arched tips of his ears.
When I dragged my gaze to his, his eyes swirled with shimmering silver flecks.
His black, glossy hair gleamed as the lamp light glanced off it, and my fingers flexed as the memory of me tugging on the silky strands resurfaced.
Once again, I forced it down, together with the lump that had formed in my throat.
“Do you have…” I pointed at my pursed lips.
“Yes, we all do.” He flashed his short fangs. I shuddered, thinking about how close they had been to my throat.
“Does the Fae magic work the same way ours does?” I asked, telling myself to focus.
Adrian had told me before that it was wise to know your enemy. I intended to learn everything I could about the Fae.
“The magic is similar in how it works, but the Fae powers tend to be more potent. All faeries possess magical abilities, but the magic of the royal bloodline is the strongest. It’s an ancient power that my grandfather, King Oberon, passed down to my father and that my father will one day pass down to me since I’m the oldest heir. ”
“How old are you?” I asked, tilting my head to the side. “Is it true that the Fae can live for centuries?”
“It’s true. We don’t age at the same rate as mortals.
” My breath snagged as I stared at him. He could be decades or even centuries older than me.
“I didn’t lie about my age. I’m twenty-four.
Tarn is two years younger. My father, however, is over one hundred years old.
And the older he gets, the stronger he becomes.
That’s why the issue of acquiring more land has become more pressing over the past few years. ”
Acquiring more land by invading my kingdom. It was only a matter of time before Sorin found a way to launch a full-scale attack, and when he did, my people would need to know as much as they could to even stand a chance.
“Is it true that iron weakens Fae?” I asked, racking my brain for any scraps of helpful information.
“No. The only thing that weakens us is someone else’s magic. Someone who is more powerful than you can tamper with your magic or even suppress it for a while, like my father is currently doing to me, so I can’t glimmer you out of here.”
“You wouldn’t be able to leave anyway,” I pointed out. “Not after you’ve sworn the blood oath.”
He pursed his lips but didn’t say anything.
“Is it true that faeries have mates?” I asked, regretting it the second I did.
“Yes,” he said carefully because he knew my next question.
“Do you have a mate?”
My heart pounded loudly in my chest. I shouldn’t be asking, shouldn’t care. Yet, I had and I did.
“I do.”
My brows shot up. “Your former fiancée?” I realized as my breath left me.
“Yes,” he confirmed with sadness in his voice. All I could do was stare at him, speechless. If what I had read was true, the mating bond was a deep connection that could not be easily broken. “Ask me,” he challenged, his expression serious.
“What?”
“Ask me if I still have feelings for her.”
“Can the Fae read minds?” I asked instead.
“No.” He scowled. “But I don’t need to read your mind to know what you’re thinking. It’s written on your face.”
I willed the muscles of my face to relax into a neutral expression.
Asking if he still had feelings for his mate would let him know that I still cared.
That not all was lost when it came to our relationship.
But I didn’t know if that was the case. A part of me didn’t want to give him false hope.
There was also the part that wanted to hurt him for his betrayal.
“It doesn’t matter.” I delivered the intentional blow that made his features crumple.
A knock sounded on the door, and I tore my gaze away from the look of misery on Adrian’s face as Thea popped her head into the room.
“I’m beyond relieved that you’re not hurt,” she said to me in my language when she entered and closed the door behind her. “Please tell me you have a plan,” she whispered urgently to Adrian.
“I’m working on it. Is Lady May here?”
“Not yet. She hasn’t answered the king’s summons. Tom thinks that’s why Emelin is still alive.”
“I think so, too,” Adrian said with a rough exhale.
“What?” I asked, looking between them.
“Sorin needs Lady May to perform the spell to bring down the wards,” he explained.
“He can’t do it himself?”
“No. Such spells require a different kind of magic. The kind that Lady May possesses. She’s a powerful sorceress, who has been around for almost three hundred years.”
My brows climbed my forehead before I forced them down and schooled my features. “Is she truly your grandaunt?”
“She’s not. We lied about that to erase any suspicion about my stronger magical abilities.”
“So the king won’t kill me until Lady May is here,” I concluded, piecing it all together.
“What are we going to do?” Thea asked, looking between Adrian and me.
“We need to get Emelin out of here,” he said low.
“How do you propose we do that?” The notes of desperation in her voice were unmistakable.
He sighed and shook his head. “I do not know.”
Quiet settled over the room, tense and foreboding. When Lady May showed up, she would help King Sorin bring down the wards, and then he wouldn’t need to keep me alive. As the silence dragged on, trepidation came over me—my kingdom was doomed, and I was the means to its demise.