Chapter 33
T he Unseelie King is easy to find. He’s taken the tie out of his hair, and the long white length drifts gently in the breeze behind him like a banner.
And honestly, just about anyone would stick out in this landscape unless they intentionally tried to hide behind a ruined foundation or dead tree, especially since it’s light out.
But he’s not hiding, though his back is to the campsite and he’s wandered some distance away from it. Nor does he run or even flinch as I slowly advance from behind, though I’m sure he can hear my footsteps as my boots crunch over the rocky soil and through the tuffs of dead grasses.
The muted sunlight gives me the confidence not to worry about more dangerous beasts like the canyena sneaking up and picking me off. That, and I’m pretty sure the fae would sense them and raise the alarm if anything drew near.
When I’m a few feet away from Elias, I strongly consider turning and running.
In fact, approaching a vicious beast sounds better than stalking up to the Unseelie King right now.
There’s a voice in my head shouting to flee, and damn, do I want to listen to it.
But I’ve come too far—on this whole quest, not just this moment—to stop now.
And so, I keep going.
It’s not until I’ve circled around to stand just in front of Elias that I finally make myself look at him, really look, trailing from the dust-covered boots planted in the soil, up to the pants with ripped-out knees and a few blood stains to the fists tightly balled at his sides that I literally stop and do a double take.
His bruised and bloody knuckles stand out in stark relief.
More blood drips from his clenched fist to the ground.
The sight is so jarring that I skip the rest of my perusal and look him straight in the eyes.
The sight hits just as hard as his rejection. A storm of emotions swirls in his wide eyes, a soft purple glow radiating out around him, seeming to seep from every pore in waves. His jaw is set and stiff, but I’d swear there’s a slight tremor there.
Everything I’d prepared to say on my slow walk blanks from my mind. All I’m able to summon is a cracked “Why?”
My teeth dig into my bottom lip hard to keep tears from welling as I stare him down and await an answer. He owes me this, and I will have it.
“Aimee.” His voice is so sad that it breaks my heart and infuriates me all at once. How dare he sound miserable?
“Why?” I demand again.
His lips press thin.
My fists tighten at my side, and damn, do I want to slam one into his chest right now. I’m talking myself down from that urge when finally he speaks.
“I made a vow a long time ago never to take someone—human or fae—to my bed against their will, no matter the benefit to myself or my people.”
“What?” I blink, momentarily dumbstruck. Of all the things I expected—
He hangs his head, his whole body sagging like a puppet with cut strings. “My mother was a human taken against her will.”
“Oh. Oh God.” I clamp a hand over my mouth. The fight and fury burning bright within me is doused immediately.
“She came here by accident, she and her sister. My mother wanted to go back, even though her sister wished to stay. But no sooner was she home than she regretted leaving, so she returned. But instead of finding her sister, she came across my father and his clan. He claimed my mother for his own. Kept her here for the power that her humanity granted him. She never found her sister.”
He’s not looking at me as he speaks, his unfocused gaze fixed on the ground somewhere past me. And for once, I’m thankful. The horror of what he’s shared is enough without his sorrowful eyes on me.
“When Katiya was born, my father named her, but my mother gave her a different name, Evie, for her sister, Evelyn. The sister that she had lost and found it harder and harder to remember. Faery can do that to humans,” he says, finally looking up at me.
“It makes it harder for them to remember their human lives. I think… I think it’s supposed to make it easier to transition to life here, but for my mother, it made everything worse. ”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Elias was her brother’s name, or so she thought.
She couldn’t remember clearly by then, but the name was important to her.
Another one she wanted to remember, which is why she gave it to me.
She loved us as much as she was able, though she was always sad.
My father did not help that,” his voice turns bitter and sharp.
“He was unkind to her. Used her.” A tremor of rage has his body shaking.
“They never shared a bond mark because she never cared for him. He blamed her for that, but it was his own fault. He was cruel, especially to us. I vowed to never be like him.”
It’s the worst kind of pain is that caused by someone who is supposed to love and care for you.
It sinks deeper into the heart and the soul, leaving scars that never truly heal.
The story makes my tears well anew. In our earthly history, kings were always portrayed as men of wealth and power, privileged, with the world at their feet.
But Elias’s story is anything but that. Every moment has been a struggle, even his childhood before he wore the crown.
I reach for his arm but drop my hand just short. His fists are still balled tight, still dripping blood, and he’s not even looking at me as he hangs his head, eyes pinched tight.
“Katiya told me you came into your power to protect her and your mother from your father,” I say softly. “That’s a very noble and good thing.”
He huffs air through his nose and finally looks up at me with a frown.
“After how many years of torment? No, it wasn’t good or noble.
It was desperate. My mother was already ill and not recovering.
Kedrak was in one of his moods.” His jaw twitches, a flare of violet light pouring from him.
“Katiya found them first and tried to stop him. By the time I heard the screams, she was bloody and broken, but still, she stood in front of our mother. The sight of the two of them cowering there ignited something in me. I didn’t think, didn’t try to summon magic, for I had none yet, but it burst from me with such force that it rattled the land.
It— I…” He swallows. “I tore him to pieces before the ground split and swallowed the last of him.”
Holy shit.
“My mother died not long after, but she was at peace in those last weeks. Then it was just Katiya and me and the remnants of our clan that had not fled in the wake of Kedrak’s death. So few of us. And I had this newly awakened power that was hard to control and impossible to ignore.”
Finally, I summon the courage to touch his arm. A jolt of electricity flows through me.
He must feel it too, for the way he jerks, his eyes finding me immediately and widening.
“Yet you two set about creating a better world,” I say softly. “That is a good thing, Elias. You are not your father.”
He shakes his head and takes a step back, breaking our connection. My hand falls limply to my side, heart shattering as it does.
“But you see, this is why I cannot lie with you. I know you want to help your brother and will do anything for him, but I will not take someone who does not want me. We would not create a mark anyway, and we do not have all of the other ingredients for your potion.”
My mouth drops open in shock.
A rosy hue spreads over his cheeks as he looks away and says, “Perhaps by the time the Velvias flower blooms—”
“You think I don’t want you?” I blurt, unable to listen to more foolish denials.
“You—” He takes another step back, eyes wide, throat bobbing before he says, “You called me a monster.”
“I called the Unseelie King a monster when I didn’t know I had already met him and had no idea who you really were!” I fling my arms wide in frustration. “I was wrong, okay? I did not know you, but now I do.”
He shifts, looking away. “You weren’t wrong. I am a monster.”
Foolish, idiot of a man!
I stomp to him, stretch up on my toes, and take his face between both of my hands.
“If you are a monster, then you’re my monster.
I want you, Elias. Not just for the sake of my brother, not for your people, I want you for me.
” Melting warmth fills my chest, threatening to steal my words.
Especially as I watch his pupils dilate and feel his body stiffen against mine.
“I have wanted you…” I drop my hands and fall back on my heels.
He doesn’t move, frozen by my words. “I startled you when waking you up the other morning.”
“No, I—”
I hold up a hand. “Let me finish.”
He snaps his mouth shut. Good.
“I startled you by waking you up, and I woke you up because I—” Shit, why is this suddenly hard? “I woke you up because I wanted you, and I thought you wanted me too.”
There. I said it. Tears burn at the corners of my eyes again. The urge to run is back, my legs tingling with the need to flee, but I hold myself still, refusing to look away as various emotions race across his face.
Don’t reject me again . It’s not like I haven’t been rejected before. It always stings. But this? This would destroy me because somehow I care for him so much more than I ever expected. I want to be wanted by him. I need it.
I suck in a sharp breath as he steps forward. He reaches for my face, the back of his fingertips grazing across my cheek before he freezes. A soft curse passes his lips.
When he holds his upturned palms between us, I see why. They’re covered in blood, jagged crescent moon shapes still bleeding from where he clenched his fists so tight. But that’s not all. His nails are broken to the quick, knuckles just as bloody and mangled.
“What happened to you?” I ask.
His shoulders rise and fall on a sigh. “When the collapse happened, I had to get to you. I had to know you were safe.”
I rock back on my heels. My God, did he claw his way out to get to me?