Page 24 of A Kiss From a Faerie King

Emrys nods. Looking around the room, his dark eyes connect with mine. They’ve cooled a bit, and I watch him inhale a great breath.

“Do you want to return to the world above?”

The question is asked so softly that I almost don’t hear it. At the abrupt turn in the conversation, my heart kicks up as I consider his question.

“If I said yes, would you let me go?”

Emrys’s eyes flash and his pale lips flatten into a hard line.

“I wouldn’t,” he pauses, “I wouldn’t like it. A part of me says no. It says that I would chain you to my bed before I ever let you leave.”

I suck in a breath, but the king continues.

“Yet, I know I couldn’t do that. To cage you—even to keep you—isn’t something I could stomach.” His eyes pour into my mind as if he can see my very soul. “Know this, Laurelle, if the time comes when you want to return above, I will let you go. It will always be your choice to stay with me or not.”

“To stay with you and be punished with orgasms and bountiful breakfasts?” I ask.

Emrys barks a laugh, the tension leaving his shoulders. “Exactly.”

I think about his question. When I first arrived, I would’ve seized this opportunity to leave. Was my arrival only a night ago? Regardless, I was content on biding my time and escaping as soon as the moment presented itself.

Yet, now that it’s been dangled in front of me, I no longer want it. It’s not because I feel under the influence of any magic or wine. No, it feels as if I know Emrys. Like we’ve spent weeks together rather than just a night.

It’s strange, but I don’t want to leave for now. Besides, I have nowhere to go back to.

“My family will wonder what happened to me.” My body shudders. “I don’t even want to think of how the prince will react when I don’t show up for our engagement.”

The king raises and brow and asks nonchalantly, “Would his head ease your concerns?”

My mouth drops open. Surely, he is kidding. He has to be. To imply that he would?—

“I’ll kill him for you, my blossom. You need only say the word,” he continues.

Shock ices over my veins. I knew Emrys was powerful, but to show it in this way…I should be appalled at the depths of cruelty and be standing to flee—demand he take me to the above world. I shouldn’t feel warmth spread throughout my stomach and pool between my thighs.

“You would do that?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to give you peace of mind.”

I consider his offer before shaking my head. “That’s not necessary. Whatever anger the royal family feels towards my disappearance can couple with my family’s. For the first time, I didn’t do exactly what they wanted. I wasn’t the perfect, dutiful daughter forsaking her own desires in order to help my father reach his.”

Emrys’s dark eyes bore into mine.

“What did you desire, Laurelle? Back when you were able to dream?”

I bite my lower lip and think back. When I was a young girl, I had been afforded a bit more freedom. Before I became of age, I still had to hold myself to a high standard, but I was still young enough not to face the entire scrutiny of my mother and father. I remember summers spent in the garden, reading all manner of tales under the warm sun. I remember wanting so badly to have adventures like theirs.

To find true love that only seemed to exist inside those pages.

That is my deepest desire. The only desire I’ve held on to even when all hope seemed lost. Can I really share that with the king? Will he think me foolish? Does true love even exist for faeries? Lust and ownership are clearly present, but what about something beyond that?

I huff a laugh and shake my head, falling back on my old training to keep some secrets to myself.

“It’s ridiculous—frivolous nonsense. A childish desire.”

Emrys’s eyes harden, and his mouth thins.

“If it’s something you want, then it isn’t nonsense.”

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