Page 190 of The Fallen Fae King

Would my nestmates like the heads of Cato and Decima for our nest?

Liviana stares at me in horror. “You fucking tyrant.”

I grip Aquila’s arm more harshly. “You’re the one who denounced him.”

Liviana sways like she may faint.

“Livvy,” Aquila shouts in alarm, finally struggling to break free from me.

I let him go, watching in amusement as the person who has just been sent to his death on the word of another, rushes to catch them as they fall.

Liviana is a better manipulator than my fae is.

Maybe I should add her to the collection of monsters that Aurelius keeps as his Golden Family. The problem is that she isn’t loyal to anyone.

Aquila slips his arms around Liviana, gently helping her down to the floor.

She is breathing too fast.

He grasps her hand.

“I’m sorry, Quill.” Liviana drags her hand up to rest over her heart. “I misjudged Aurelius. I thought that I could play him. I didn’t know that he was unhinged. He doesn’t even whip his staff. You’re my best friend. I’d never intentionally betray you. Please, you must believe me. I didn’t think that he would⁠—”

“Just tell him the truth, Livvy,” Aquila says, firmly. “I have already admitted my crimes. I will atone for them. But we can’t continue to be our parents’ puppets. You’re my best friend too and you deserve to be free.”

She gives a bitter laugh from so deep inside that it sounds like it hurts. “Free? You lived like you were a savage fae out in that backwater village of yours, Quill. You’re new to the Shadow Court, and you’ve already been sentenced to death. This is why you don’t understand that there is no such thing as free for Omegas like us. You’re a dreamer.”

Aquila slowly pulls his hand away from hers, and his expression hardens. “Maybe I am. But my Alpha has forgiven me, when he should have killed me. He gives me the courage to dare that I can make up for what I have done, no matter how long it takes. So, let’s stop protecting our families after their mistreatment of us. If you don’t, then I die. It is your choice.”

When Liviana reaches up to touch Aquila’s cheek, I don’t know what she will choose, and heartbreakingly, I don’t think that Aquila does either.

What she doesn’t know is that if she chooses wrong, then she is the one who I will burn.

At last, Liviana pushes herself stiffly to her feet to face me. “Don’t punish Aquila for the plot. His father, Cato, forced him into it.”

I stare her down. “And how do you know that?”

Liviana tilts up her chin, challengingly. “My mother schemed with him, threatening me with death if I did not obey. They coerced us both into the plan to take political power. Mother would become Head of the Council. I would bond with Tarquin and then after his death, with you. Aquila would spy in the academy and once he bonded with your cousin he would kill him. Oh, by the Shadow Gods, you didn’t follow through with that, did you?”

Aquila shakes his head.

I grin with dark pleasure. I am better at this undercover shit than Aurelius believes.

“You won’t leave this bedchamber today,” I coldly inform them, “and no one will see you, apart from Aquila’s Alpha. As my secretary, Ignatius will note down both your confessions. I will expect full details on the involvement of your families. Sign them, then I will grant Aquila a pardon for the sake of my cousin. For attempting to trick me into your nest, however, and calling my mates filthy consorts,” my eyes blaze, as I fix my gaze on Liviana, “you are exiled. You shall run from the palace the moment that your confession is signed. Then I shall never hear your name, smell your scent, or see your face again, or I shall burn you to ash.”

Yet it is not her blood that I will taste tonight.

Instead, I will be crowned Emperor, and before the moon sets, I will gift my mates the heads of my enemies.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Silver Basilica, Shadow Court

Aurelius

On the afternoon of both my coronation as Emperor and my wedding at the Primo Festival, I sit on my giant throne in the Silver Basilica.

Sunshine floods through the clerestory windows in the nave walls over the glittering dragon scales of the throne. Flames coil from the throne all the way to the vaulted ceiling, as if it has already caught fire.