Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
Deirdre
Kane sat on my bed, his diary open across his lap.
The guards shut the bedroom door behind me, leaving me alone with the king.
Shadows wafted off his skin in slow, sinister tendrils, and black claws replaced fingernails, which dug into the book.
“How did you get this?”
His voice was low, furious.
“Someone left it for me.”
“Liar.”
He stood in a swift, fluid motion, gripping the diary in one hand. Black scales rippled across his skin in waves, shifting from flesh to dragon skin, as if his dragon form were forcing its way out. This was the evil fae king I had heard about. A vengeful fae who would transform and rip you apart.
He’s going to kill me.
Think. Think quickly.
“I'm not lying,” I said, pressing my back against the door and trying the knob, which was suddenly locked from the outside.
“I should have known better.” He vaulted the diary into the fireplace.
“What are you doing?” I lunged forward in a feeble attempt to save the book.
“Don't!” His arm shot out, stopping me. “I should have known to never trust a human. You’re all the same.”
“I didn't steal it. I'm telling the truth!”
Instead of shifting and ripping me apart, he glared at me with a hatred I felt all the way to my bones. Whatever I thought we might have mended died the moment he found his diary hidden in my room.
He shoved past me and banged on the door. “Open it.”
The guards responded quickly, swinging the door open. Kane stormed out.
“Kane, wait!”
I chased him down the hall. “Will you give me a chance to explain?”
“You're a liar. A manipulative liar. I don’t know why I thought you would be different. You humans are all the same.”
He wasn’t yelling, but the quiet fury in his voice was worse. Shadows leaked from his trembling fists.
We were headed down toward his own chambers.
“Don't follow me unless you want me to bite your head off.”
Ignoring his request, I followed, thankful the guards kept their distance. When he got to his room and opened his door, I ran in before he could slam it shut.
“Listen to me,” I said. “Just for a moment.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
Anna and Ella fluttered by.
“Not now,” Kane snapped, but they didn’t leave.
I realized they weren't the only ones hovering nearby. Gideon slinked down the corridor, an odd look in his gaze.
If I didn't turn this around, everything Kane and I had established would be lost.
“What are you two arguing about?” Anna said, holding a baby pixie in her arms.
“She stole my journal.”
The brown-haired pixie flinched.
The gesture was quick, but Kane noticed it. “Ella, what did you do?”
“Well…” She twiddled her fingers against each other. “I thought it would help.”
“What?” He reached over and snatched her out of the air. She squeaked.
“You stole my journal and gave it to her. Ella, you know—”
“I know,” she said, cutting him off. “I'm sorry. But it helped, didn't it?”
The two of them looked at me for an answer. “I think so.”
Kane glared, but I didn't stop. “I didn't know a lot about your past. Humans weren't allowed here and all the stories we heard were exaggerated. After I read some entries, I realized we weren’t so different. We were both abandoned by our family.”
“Ella,” Kane said, keeping his gaze on me. “Is there anything else you would like to share? Any other pixie meddling that may have occurred.”
“Oh, yes, well, I, umm, may have kidnapped Olivia.”
Kane groaned and released her.
“Ella!” Anna snapped. “Never harm a fellow pixie! That is our law! And she is our sister!”
“She was going to tell the priests about what happened on the wedding night,” Ella hissed, revealing those sharp teeth of hers.
“Where is our sister?” Anna fluttered by Ella and poked her in the chest, which caused Ella to hiss again.
“She’s fine. I tied her up, but she’s had plenty of food and water.”
Anna gasped, horror in her wide-eyed stare.
Kane dragged a hand down his face, groaning at the spectacle while I tried to contain the laugh bubbling in my chest. “Go untie your sister and no more pixie meddling.”
“We're sorry,” they both said. The two pixies fluttered out, Ella giving me a wink.
Kane went to close the door, and I realized Gideon had disappeared.
Was he in here with us? Certainly, Kane would notice, right?
“I need a drink.” Kane walked over to the table and poured himself a glass. “No one was ever supposed to read that.”
“I know I probably shouldn't have, but you hadn't said much to me at the time. We barely spoke, and I thought I could learn something about you.” I thought back to the first night I had read the diary and how heartbreaking the words scrawled along the pages were. “It was there on our wedding night. I’d read some entries after… and well, it made me understand you better. My mother left me at the temple when I was five. I know what it’s like to be left alone.”
“It's not your fault. My pixies are meddlesome. They always have been.” He handed me a goblet. “I don’t blame them. Everything they do, whether or not I like it, has been to protect me.”
The room was dim, the fireplace casting a warm glow. It was chilly at night now. The colder months were slowly creeping in on us.
“I can't believe I burned it,” he grumbled.
“We can try to pull it out of the ashes. Maybe use some kind of fancy magic. Fae have all sorts of tricks, don't you?”
His mouth perked up in a soft smile. “I don't think we can return something that was burned.”
“I am sorry.”
“And the things I wrote in those pages, well, it's embarrassing.” Sitting on the edge of the bed, he held the goblet in his hand, staring at it.
“Don't think that. It was heartbreaking.
Everything you experienced… I can't imagine what that must have felt like. Even when my parents left me at the temple, I would still see them. They would come visit. Though that was hard, and I felt alone and sad, I was still around people I knew and that loved me. But you were alone.”
His shoulders sagged.
“Do you know why she sent you there?”
“She was so afraid that day. My sister had just died. Three sisters gone in a year.” He rested his elbows on top of his knees.
“She said it was to protect me until she could figure out if my sister died tragically, like the other two or something worse.
I don't think she knew about the time difference and what happened after…
Everything happened so fast. She was covered in blood, frantic, shocked to see that I'd grown, and they told me my father had been attacked and to get to him quickly. By the time I got to the room, he was already dead.”
I placed the goblet down and stepped in front of him, placing a hand on his cheek. “I'm so sorry that happened to you.”
He looked up at me, his amber eyes brimming with sadness. “She killed him and then ran off, leaving me again. They both left me to rule a kingdom alone.”
“We may never know the truth of what happened that night, but it’s in the past. What matters now is how we move forward.” Brushing his cheek with my thumb, he turned into my touch, longing filling his expression.
“How do we make things right?” he whispered. “I don't even know where to start.”
“One step at a time.” I moved forward, drawing closer to him until I stood right between his legs.
He reached out, his fingers just grasping the back of my thighs. His gaze went to my mouth. “I want to make things right,” he said, his tone husky.
Heat flooded my cheeks. “Me too.”
Gazes locked. He pulled me closer, warmth blossoming in my chest, an excited rush drowning out my own thoughts. We were close, so very close.
Looking up at me, he dragged one hand up my back to my neck, his touch sparking my skin alive.
I hesitated, my heart pounding.
Part of me wanted to pull away, but the raw uncertainty in Kane’s eyes rooted me to the moment. Maybe it was the way his hand lingered at the base of my neck or the loneliness I so desperately wanted to go away.
“One step forward,” he whispered, then tugged me to his mouth.
Soft, full lips enveloped mine, warm, tender… smoky.
Losing myself, I kissed back, shocked at the easy way our mouths worked together. It wasn’t disgusting. In fact, it was perfect.
Wedging myself between his legs, I deepened the kiss as his fingers tangled in my hair, and he kissed me back with as much urgency as I did him.
What was happening?
How could I want this?
And yet I did.
The goblet of wine he had been holding fell to the floor and a soft groan left his lips, signaling how much he wanted me and making my entire body tingle. Was this because of the bonding ceremony? Were we connected because of the tattoo?
A tiny spark of guilt tugged at my mind, but it was drowned out by the need now coursing through my entire body.
Kane stilled, his mouth stopping on mine.
Did he remember how he was supposed to hate me? Because I was slowly forgetting the list of reasons I couldn’t stand him.
When he stopped tugging against my neck, I pulled back. “Kane?”
He coughed, his brow scrunching together, and he held a hand up to his throat.
Suddenly, I remembered what Gideon had done.
The poison! How could I be so stupid?
“Deirdre,” he gasped, before falling back onto the bed.
“No, Kane!” I scrambled onto the bed
His lips paled, and he hit the mattress with a dull thump. My hand trembled as I pressed two fingers to his throat, searching for his pulse. It beat slowly as his gaze locked onto mine in wild confusion.
What have I done?
I pulled away in horror, my hands trembling.
I just poisoned the King of the Fae.
How could I have forgotten about the balm on my lips?
“He's alive. Don't worry.” Gideon appeared in the back of the room. “Well done. I almost believed it myself.”
I blushed, knowing that kiss between Kane and me had been very real. I hadn't meant it to be, but it was. “What's wrong with him?”
“He's just paralyzed. He's aware, but he won’t be able to move for hours.”
“He can hear us?”
“Yes. He can hear and see everything that's happening.”