Page 176 of The Fallen Fae King

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.”

My eyes are wide with shock. My heart is beating too fast.

My wings tremor, but I smile.

The Raven King. Our true King.

A quip is on my tongue, but I bite it back.

He truly means it. He’s sincere.