Page 107 of The Fallen Fae King

I refuse to answer, attempting to stop my limbs trembling.

I struggle to uncurl, extending my claws and sinking them into the damp wall. I use my claws to drag myself up into a painful sitting position with my back against the wall.

I am shaking but I defiantly stare back at the dragons.

Taran rubs at the stubble on his chin. “He’s already trembling from his withdrawal from the fae’s blood and his Omega’s pheromones. What do you think the chances are that he’ll die simply from being separated from his bonded Omega this soon after the Blood Moon?”

Wraith’s smile becomes dreamy. “High.”

My chest tightens. “I shall endeavor to disappoint you.”

Wraith’s smile sours.

She rests her hand on the bars. “I shall return to watch you tonight and every night, murderer, curled up and shaking in the dark. I shall see how you are still shackled and caged, as you slowly die. Then I shall finally be able to sleep soundly again. Because knowing you are here suffering alone will drive the nightmares from me that have wracked me every night since your rats ripped the woman I loved apart.”

She is panting, clutching the bars with white knuckles. Tears tremble on her eyelashes.

Our gazes meet.

I lick my dry lips, attempting to clear my foggy mind. “Was she not an assassin like me? Didn’t she die protecting her king, which was an honorable death? I do not pretend to be good. But did I hide Aurelius’ Omega from him? Did my kingdom seek to conquer yours for decades? Force its submission? Did I create a fake peace treaty? I accept the blame that I deserve, but I won’t become the scapegoat for your country’s grief. Only one of us is empire-building on dead bodies.”

Wraith draws back from the bars. “We should gag him.”

I give a sharp smile. “Don’t you wish to hear the truth?”

“You know,” Taran says in a mild tone that makes my stomach drop, “sometimes having hope and then having it dashed is the worst torment.”

“What do you mean, An?” Wraith asks.

“Let us play a twisted game. It will be fun.” Taran’s smile is cruel. “Let in the sunshine.”

He twirls to the corridor wall and pulls on a lever.

To my horror, hundreds of pinpricks of burning light spear through tiny holes in the cell’s walls. They crisscross the entire cell like an assault course.

I hiss in pain, covering my head.

My skin begins to steam.

I throw myself forward, attempting to avoid the light. Every time that I dive over the streams of light, however, new ones open or close.

Wraith laughs.

Even in my pain, I remember making love in the cave to Freya, and how Daire held his hand over mine, protecting it from the sun.

If Daire had moved his hand at any time, then I would have burst into flames.

But I trusted him to keep me safe.

My bondeds were sunshine. They were my light in a dark world.

Yet they are not here now.

Taran is twisting the light against me, until it means nothing but pain.

The holes shift again, and I hurl myself to the front of the cell to avoid the shafts. One catches my left foot, scorching the skin until it blackens.

I howl.