Page 12 of The Fallen Fae King

My pulse pounds in my ears.

My heart hammers in my chest.

My pheromones deepen, as if I know that this is my last chance to draw my Omega to me.

Except, that moment has passed.

I can sense Freya’s terror and distress through our bond. Yet bound like this, I can’t reach to caress over the snowflake bond mark on my wrist to reassure her.

She must know that this is where the Golden Prophecy comes true:

Golden fated mates, an Omega and her Alpha Kings, destined to bleed…

I warned her that prophecies are greater tricksters than fae are. You can’t trust them. They make you think they mean one thing, so that you try to outrun them. But then, they bite you in the arse.

I fell into the trap myself.

I believed that the prophecy meant Aurelius would bleed. But look, I’m the one who will pay with my blood.

On the other hand, I always knew that it would end with one of us bloody. At least this way, it won’t be my beautiful Omega.

I still struggle, arching off the altar, however, because if I am tonight’s blood sacrifice, then I won’t be a docile one.

I’ll bloody haunt these bastards if they tear me away from Freya before I find her a worthy pack.

I’m dying, I know that. I’m iron poisoned. As a soldier, I’ll fight to the last.

Yet the vampire mage who schemed and bound me to this altar, Heka, is slowly stripping away my masks to reveal my hidden identity.

My stomach squirms with guilt.

Why does my blood still sing for the Shadow Vampire King?

Am I as addicted to him as I meant to make him to me?

Lanlin will tear out my throat.

When Heka bares my neck, I wince.

I blink up at the willowy Alpha, who is startlingly different looking to the other Shadow Vampires in the Blood Court.

Heka is handsome but coldly clinical. It is like I am just one of his science experiments.

In his forties, he is dressed in a pure white floor-length kilt with an elaborate collar that is made up of diamond scarab beetles that Lanlin gifted to him.

“I offer the ultimate blood sacrifice for the Night of the Shades, as well as a wedding gift for tomorrow.” Heka presses the knife harder against my skin, and crimson blood beads. “Your greatest enemy: The Shadow Queen Slayer, your mother’s killer. King Daire.”

Gasps ripple through the Diamond Ballroom.

Beneath my silver mask, which is shaped like dove wings and is actually a trick from Maximinus to capture Lanlin, I’m blushing.

If I wasn’t tied down, I would take a bow before I’m executed.

Except, I know how much this revelation must be hurting Lanlin. He fears betrayal more than anything.

He has lost his family, and I bloody understand the devastation of that.

I was never the good guy here.