Page 123 of The Fallen Fae King

I rush to shove the sticky bat cake through the bars, which it clings to, followed by the rose.

I watch Lanlin, as he is lost to the rush of blood. He chases after every trickle of scarlet.

I settle on my heels, delighted to have fed my Alpha.

Finally, he sits back, as his eyelashes flutter.

Lanlin’s hands clench and unclench. His mouth widens into a toothy smile.

He’s fucking flying.

“Dearheart,” he murmurs, swaying, “I shall reward my Blood Lover with anything he wishes if I survive. He is my god.”

“And what am I?”

Lanlin’s liquid eyes open, soft and unexpectedly vulnerable. The intense feeding he’s just been through is clear in his blissed-out gaze like he hasn’t yet come back to earth.

He smiles. “My everything.” Then his smile widens, as he picks up the honey and date bat cake. “This is…?”

My lips quirk. “Our attempt to create the wedding breakfast. How about I tell Daire you did recognize that as a bat, even though it looks more like a flattened dragon that has made poor life choices.”

“Like Aurelius.”

I snort a laugh and then cover my mouth. “We wanted to do something nice for you.”

Lanlin stuffs the cake into his mouth, munching eagerly. “It is the sweetest gift anyone has given me.” I glow. He strokes over the rose’s petal. “This smells of all of you, even Relius.”

“He gave it to me,” I reply cautiously. After all, Lanlin must fucking hate Aurelius, right? “It’s from his mom’s garden. I was trying to recreate the way you gave me a lotus flower.”

“I love it. You must take it back with you, however, because if Taran notices anything in my cell that I am attached to, then he will only stomp it under his boot.”

“What about that?” I gesture in confusion at the metal that he’d been hugging.

“It is what is left of my crown after Maximinus melted it, along with the one that I gave to Daire.”

“Bastard. They’re broken.”

Lanlin shakes his head. “They bled into one just like I draw Daire’s blood into me when I feed from him. Other people may try to break our pack apart, but they can’t. I have only been allowed to keep it on Relius’ order.”

When I edge my hand through the bars, Lanlin eagerly grabs my fingers with his manacled hand. The shackles clank.

It is hard to read his feelings on Aurelius.

I must find a way to bring my fractured pack together.

“Aurelius has a plan,” I insist.

I brace myself for Lanlin’s fury.

By the moon, Lanlin’s tortured body is an accusation that screams out against his rival king. He deserves to react in any way that he likes.

Instead, Lanlin smiles, fondly. “My friend always does.”

“You’re not…? I mean, you don’t want us to scheme against him?”

Daire would.

Lanlin pushes his hair out of his face with his scorched hand. “Why, my dear? I am not here because of him but because of the machinations of his toxic court. He is also caught in its poisonous jaws.”