Page 59 of Lust & Lollipops

“Holy shit,” I swore. My voice was still muffled by the bed.

Cam was going to be their next king. Or Society leader, I supposed, but it sounded similar to me.

“How did you end up guarding me, then? Aren’t you close to dying?”

He made a noise of agreement. “I’ve been fading for a while. If you and I don’t seal a bond, I’ll only make it a few more weeks.”

My stomach tensed.

He worked my knots harder.

“My parents sat me down four years ago and told me in no uncertain terms that they were tired of waiting for me to choose a mate myself. They would use their power in the Society to force me into every game show there was until I secured a match. They knew very well that I was never going to mate with a female I didn’t know and care for before a game, so when I offered an alternative, they accepted. I proposed choosing a compatible female to guard until her game show arose, and winning her heart on the Bachelorette.”

“This is no fucking Bachelorette,” I said.

He chuckled. “Their left-hand fae realized my plan a few weeks ago, and claimed it was stacking the odds in my favor too obviously. There would be bloodshed. This was their answer. Being your guard and having the connections I do turned me from a shoo-in on Bachelorette to Survival’s biggest target. When I win, everyone will know damn well that I did because I outsmarted them. With the help of my mate, of course.”

I scowled into the bed, but the scowl faded as he continued working my muscles. “Why didn’t your parents just assign you a mate or something if they were that concerned?”

“Fae don’t work that way. Mental magic abounds—everyone would know the truth, and all three of us would’ve been killed. There are rules to follow, and the rulers must follow them more exactly than everyone else.”

“So what happens if we do seal the bond?”

“Whatever we want to happen.”

“Cameron,” I argued, knowing that wasn’t the full truth.

He chuckled. “I’m serious, Lolli. We can do whatever we want.”

“But?”

“But there is some expectation that we would go to my parents’ side and work with them until the next election, when we would most-likely take over running the Society.”

“That’s insane.”

“I’m aware. It’s just an option, though.”

“Could you turn it down if they elected you even though you didn’t want it?”

“Not quite. We would be magically bound to the role if the majority voted us into it. That aspect of fae democracy was sealed with magic from the beginning of time.”

“So if we seal the bond, we’re going to end up ruling the Society.”

“It’s not certain, but it is likely,” he admitted.

I squeezed my eyes shut. “You should’ve told me that before I started working with you. You know how I feel about the Society, Cam.”

“I know how you feel about how the Society has treated you,” he agreed. “And if we were to rule, we could change everything about the way the compatible mates are treated before the game shows.”

“Could we get rid of the game shows altogether?” I asked.

“It’s unlikely. There aren’t enough compatible mates to keep all of us alive, so this is the fair way to do it,” he admitted. “It also helps human perception of us, which is important. It would be easy for them to start seeing us as monsters. The shows humanize us to them.”

He wasn’t wrong about that.

All of the humans I knew adored fae. Some of them would even bring Cam coffee or croissants at my last job, without bringing anything for me.

They had saved our world, and given us something fun to focus on through the Bachelorette. That alone was enough to win most of us over.

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