Page 23 of Kiss the Filthiest King

You're harboring the All Goddess inside you.

I don't quite know what that means, but I don't doubt it. At the moment, the strange presence I sense is silent, watching and waiting peacefully. Something tells me it won't remain that way. There will be consequences to what Ryther has done for me—tome. To us.

I have her opposite, the Undoing.

Yes, things are incontestably different than they were when I first arrived in this wretched place, but I can’t persuade myself into thinking they're better, or safer.

"I'm glad you're here," I manage to say, because it's the truth. "But you can't stay."

"Then come with me. We can leave. Go somewhere they won't find us."

It's almost tempting.

Almost.

"There's nowhere they won't find me."

They'll look to the ends of this world and the next. I am the child of their high queen. A threat. Any children I might have one day are equally dangerous, because of the power they hold over all of this world.

Every lord sitting on a fairy throne is bound to my bloodline, sworn to obey whoever sits on the high queen's throne.

I don't say any of that to Rachel. She's scared enough as it is.

"I have to stay and control those monsters. But you…you can go. With protection. You can't return home," I tell her regretfully.

I don't even think she'd want to, would she? Her fiancé is dead. Our parents are dead.

"But you can have a life. Be an accountant, go to book clubs, join a gym."

I'll have to hide her. Give her a guard. Someone I can trust. Caenan, maybe.

"Rina?" she says. "I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving you alone. And you can't tell me I'll be safe. Not after they found me, and our parents. Not after what I saw them do to Ben. It was so fast. So easy."

I sigh. I should have seen this coming. She's as stubborn as I am.

"We'll talk later."

That's as close to an agreement as she's going to get on this. She can't stay forever. But a day or two can't hurt, right?

I ignore the little voice at the back of my mind telling me I only spent five days here.

And that was enough to kill me.

“There’s one thing we need to do first.”

And no one will dare argue she has every right to be there for that.

I sit up and make myself stand. When my feet reach the cool stone floor, I feel a soft brush of fur against my skin and smile. The nixie’s right here, by my feet, sleeping like a gigantic house cat.

I wonder whether I should feed it. Brush it. And I dread to think about the size of an appropriate litter box.

The feline lifts his head, giving me one look of pure contempt. I swear I understand her perfectly.Dream on, fairy toothpick.

I grin, grateful for the metal interruption. But my sister soon brings me back to reality. “What do we need to do?”

Fuck. No wonder my attention deficit took a detour away from this fact. “Bury our parents.”

12

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