Chapter 24 #3
“Oi,” I narrow my eyes, “my Omega loves my cooking. I made her that lentil soup that you like, Bai.”
Bai bounds over to the bed. “Was she sick? Is that why you were trying to cheer her up?”
“Maybe lovesick.”
“You truly believe yourself a charmer with women, don’t you?” Wren says, frostily.
“I do my best.”
Bai reveals his forearm, which despite how much I have tried to protect him, is also littered with scars. He presses it to my collarbone.
“Scar to scar,” Bai proclaims with a solemness that suddenly makes him appear older.
I look around at my circle of Frost Clan.
This is who I have been missing. They are also the people I will need to risk.
Slowly, they remove their touch from my skin, and instantly, I miss it.
Wren’s intense blue gaze catches mine. “I understand your plan. But I don’t like it, Thorn. Why must you marry into the House of Draca? Bind yourself to these genocidal killers who slaughtered our people, burned our elders, and perpetrated sacrilege on our lands? Our sacred grove?”
He grabs my hand, sneering at the dragon ring that Aurelius gave to me.
I hurriedly snatch back my hand. I cradle the ring against my chest protectively.
How do I explain everything that has happened? I hardly understand it myself.
“I am also marrying my Omega,” I explain. “And she is bloody amazing. Freya is fierce, fearless, and sneakier than I am. You will bloody adore her.”
Elatha considers me, thoughtfully. “But she is also the dragon and vampire’s Omega. Your one and only soulmate is bound to your enemies. None of us want that for you.”
“I don’t bloody want it for myself. But I swear on the sacred grove that I don’t regret a moment that I have spent with her.
It has been worth all the pain. Freya loves me like I’m worth protecting.
She cares about when I’m hurt. She stole the dragon’s food to bring it to me when I was locked up.
And we’re spending time together now like it’s our private home in the Winter Court.
It’s a lie, but it feels right. She’s my soulmate, and it’s why I knew straight away that you should work on that gift for her.
Sometimes, however, fate laughs at our plans.
Because all four of us are bound together by these things called the golden threads of fate like I told you. And there’s this prophecy too.”
Wren’s gaze sharpens. “Prophecies are tricksters. We were taught that, remember?”
“It’s what I’ve been trying to tell the others,” I reply. “It says: Golden fated mates, an Omega and her Alpha Kings, destined to bleed.”
Wren smacks my shoulder.
“Ouch.” I rub my shoulder. “Treason.”
He pokes my chest. “Why didn’t you lead with this? I need to think about it and cast some rune magic. I’ll give you my findings. But it is our land that screams for the blood of the dragons. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice yourself—”
“I am not sacrificing myself,” I say, sharply.
Wren stands, shaking out his plaid cloak regally like he is the king between us. He always has this effect on me.
He glares down. “Do you forget my healing magic? If this is not a sacrifice, then why can I feel your agony?”
I pale.
By the Shadow Devils, why had I forgotten that he was talented enough to sense sickness now?
His powers have progressed.
I attempt to scramble off the bed, but Elatha wraps her vast wings around me, attempting to soothe me like I am her soulmate.
Only family members use their wings on each other like this.
But we are family.
Bai stands frozen, glancing between us in distress. His hands are balled at his sides.
“Don’t worry, aye?” I attempt to reassure him.
But his face scrunches up like he’s holding back his tears. “You’re going to die like my parents. Like everybody always does.”
Fuck.
My soul feels like it is being shredded.
What can I say? He’s not wrong. Every survivor in my army has lost their family. Every one of us has had to live with the burden of that guilt, as well as the fear that if we become close to anyone, then it will only lead to more heartache because we will lose them too.
I know the names of every fae that I have lost in this war.
I lost almost all of them in Rune Forest the day that Aurelius crushed my army and took me captive.
Those living here in the barracks are the remnants of a once great civilization.
I glance at the bronze and emerald ring that rubs next to Aurelius’ ring.
I won’t forget my duty to the Winter Court and the spirits of everyone who Tarquin burned to ash.
“Sheltering him from the truth,” Wren presses relentlessly, “only makes him weak and vulnerable. You try to protect us. But you can’t anymore. This is our last stand, and we deserve to know—”
“I’m iron poisoned,” I burst out.
The silence that follows flays me.
“Who dared to poison the Shadow Fae King?” Wren hisses.
“Maximinus.” I am ashen. I haven’t dared to look at Bai. His tears hurt me more than a barbed arrow through the bloody heart. “Although, he only saw it as a way to control his pet.”
“How long do you have left?” Wren’s voice breaks like he’s holding back tears as well.
Bai throws himself onto the bed, wrapping his arms around my neck. “You can’t. Please, don’t leave me. T-t-thorn…? Promise, you won’t. P-please?”
Helplessly, I stroke Bai’s hair, as his tears wet my neck. “Bug, you know that I can’t make that promise. But I’m here now. And I promise that I will fight to my last breath, like Unseelie always do.”
“Nay.” He tightens his arms around me. “I won’t let you go.”
“What other symptoms are you suffering?” Wren demands.
It would be hard to admit this to anyone else. But not to my Frost Clan.
I raise my hands to hover them in front of my eyes for a moment. “My eyes. I can’t see well. It’s only a matter of time before I am blind.”
I am grateful that the only thing Elatha says is, “What do you need?”
I bloody love my friends.
“You to make this plot happen as quickly as possible. I need to free my people.”
“Does your Omega know?”
I shake my head. “Let’s keep it that way, aye?”
Elatha sits up, and I can’t read her expression. “That’s why you’re doing all of this, right? I didn’t understand why you were being so daft before but now I do. She needs a pack when you’re gone.”
I knew that she would understand.
“Will you look after her too for me, Ela?” I search her gaze.
Elatha’s smile is shaky. “If she’s your Omega, then she’s family.”
“Because you don’t have long left, right?” Wren’s lips tighten. “And we must return to the Unseelie Kingdom, before you…”
To my shock, he drops to his knees in front of me.
I push Bai back from me, settling him on my lap like I would when he was much younger, and I would hold him through thunderstorms.
He flutters his colorful wings, while tears silently stream down his cheeks.
“What are you doing?” I demand.
“Your Majesty,” Wren’s voice is low and formal like it is when he practices his rune magic and it rarely is when he talks to me, “you have given every part of yourself to your people. You have led us to safety and then kept us alive through the dark years. I am sorry that I have given you a hard time. You are sacrificing yourself not only in this marriage but through your pain and iron poisoning. You are giving up your life, so that your court may live again. By my feathers, the land, and magic, I swear my devotion and loyalty to you — not a fallen king, but the Raven King. Our true King.”