Page 79 of Destined for the Fae King

Lysandir unfurls his palm. The object he holds looks like the back end of an arrow, but the fletching and make are different than the ones we had.

“That style…” Elaine glances up in horror.

He nods and tightens his fist around it once more. “Unseelie.”

The word steals any remaining warmth from the room.

“But the wards,” I say. They’re supposed to keep the Unseelie out or at least alert of their presence, should they be breached. That’s what happened before. We’re near the center of the territory. If Unseelie had slipped past their defenses, they should have felt it long ago.

Lysandir rises to his feet. “With all the comings and goings of members of the other courts over the past days, we must have missed something.”

“Missed something?” Alex snaps, whirling in her seat. “Misseda deadly enemy?”

“Alex—” I begin, rising to Lysandir’s defense. She whirls on me, her teeth pulled back in a snarl.

A strong tug on my wrist nearly pulls me from my feet. A few other women cry out. But no one has touched me. Still, it feels like ghost has grabbed me and is trying to toss me across the room.

“What is—” Alex grabs her wrist, right over the bond mark, and suddenly it all clicks.

I snap my attention to Lysandir, a question in my gaze. As suddenly as it started, the tug releases like a snapped rope.

“Vasilius is furious.” His gaze dips to my wrist. “He’s trying to go to the Shadow Lands.”

“But he can’t,” I say. “The power of the bonds he has with all of us prevent him from being so far away. Just like the power is trying to pull us to him, it’s jerking him back to us nine-fold.”

A stab of sorrow pierces my chest.

Eight-fold. Not nine. Not anymore.

“Find him,” Elaine demands of her son. “Talk some sense into him. He cannot storm into battle during The Choosing, not with all of the women here.”

“I will,” Lysandir promises his mother.

He turns to me, and once again, his eyes hold an ocean of sorrow. All I want to do is run to him, wrap my arms around his neck, and pull him close. But I can’t. Not here. And then he’s gone, off to carry out orders.

Tharin steps into the void. “I must ask you all to stay here for now, for your safety.” To the queen, he says, “Advisor Memnon was severely injured but lives. Hopefully, we will be able to learn more when he wakes.”

“Inform me at once, whatever you learn,” she says.

Tharin bows, and then he’s gone too.

Sorrowful silence and sniffles accompany us until Cora speaks.

“She was his choice, wasn’t she?” Her makeup is smeared, but she doesn’t seem to care. All of her spark has gone out. I thought her companionship with Bailey was a recent thing, a front to get closer to the king, but maybe I was wrong. “He was going to pick her.”

Elaine swallows. The slight bob of her head that follows is another nail in each of our hearts. He cared for her. He was going to choose her.

But Bailey—sweet, wonderful Bailey—is dead. The king will have to choose anoth—

I cry out. My hand flies to cover my mouth, but it’s too late to stifle the sound. The horror of my realization threatens to choke me, and it takes everything I have to pull in one breath or another.

“Mira?” Adeline sniffles and slides closer to me before wrapping her arm around my shoulders.

She can’t help. No one can. Because the king’s choice is dead. He will have to choose another.

And Lysandir has already seen that outcome.

Chapter 31

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