Dust to Dust (Of Fae & Flame Duet #2)
Prologue Ash
“Get her out of here,” the cruel king sneers.
Two Unseelie guards flank me.
From my peripheral I catch them. Kieran. Finnian. Orion. Their eyes tortured. And I can’t do a damn thing about it.
Especially Kieran.
The bond at my wrist stings in answer.
He thinks I sacrificed myself to survive. He doesn’t know I sacrificed myself to protect him.
I agreed to enter the Unseelie Court. But only through the bond through Kieran.
I feel a soft presence behind me, cool and yet warm at once.
“Don’t look back,” she whispers. “I won’t leave you.”
Her words offer little comfort as King Moros turns his furious gaze on me. His face doesn’t flush; no, it cools like winter touched his cheeks, leaving blue burns in its wake.
His eyes, the color of a clouded winter sky, hold my gaze as he steps toward me, lip curling.
Anger pulses off of him, all directed at me. Cold and personal.
“You think you’ve won?” He steps before me. Looming.
I don’t step back.
King Moros is just another bully wearing a Fae crown. His sneer doesn’t deserve the satisfaction.
But even I know when I should keep my mouth shut. Keep my chin held high and my face blank. So I swallow the snarl building in my throat. Right now I get the idea I crossed a line no one ever dared to cross.
I know that energy, it tastes familiar. The kind that ends with someone bleeding. And he’s no man.
He leans down slowly, his voice barely above a whisper.
For my ears and mine only. “Magic may have accepted your terms.” He inhales slowly.
“But you are entering my court now, abomination. And I can keep you hidden away for millennia. Tell me, Ashlynne, how long will you wait isolated in a tower? How long will you last?”
Millennia.
The word settles into my bones like frost.
I hold his gaze. King Moros isn’t the only one who knows how to wait.
He looks away at the court before standing, his face impassive. “I, King Moros of the Unseelie Court, hereby exile my son, Kieran, until such a time in the future I deem him worthy.”