Page 23 of What did you do?

I had loved him from the moment he swore he wouldn’t treat me the way the other queens were treated. That he wanted me to be an equal and rule beside him. That was unheard of for a king.

Felix worshiped me. Anything that made me happy, he made flourish as only a king could do. When I asked for a novel, he built me a library. When I showed interest in war strategy, he allowed me to sit in during briefings on the procession of the Unseelie War. He always treated me as an equal, showing me anything and everything I could ever want to know.

But then that was the problem.

He had shown me how much I didn’t wish to be his equal. I wanted his power.

Putting the memoillusion cube down, I grabbed the poison, poured the dried herbs into the tea sachet, and tightened the small, cream-colored strings, setting it in the teacup and hurrying out of my parlor before I could lose my courage.

“There you are, my flower.”

I bumped into Felix’s chest, causing me to nearly drop the fragile cup. “Felix.”

His familiar hands wrapped around my waist. “Agh, the woman with the tea. Chef Samuel mentioned that you wished to deliver my tea tonight. Idesperatelyhate to be a pest, but after the day I’ve had, I’m afraid I needquitea strong brew,” he said squeezing my middle.

Oh, I’d give him a strong brew.

I’d have doubled the dose had I thought I’d have to sit and listen to him talk about his boring day. He had no idea what a tough day was. He and everyone else in Seelie were oblivious to the horrors outside of Seelie’s veil.

“I was just bringing it up, my dear. Will you be taking it in your study?” I asked, taking note of the faded scroll he carried under his arm.

“Yes, I need to place a few things in the burnaway.” He removed his arm from my waist to rub at his forehead.

We continued up the stairs and into his study without words. I made my way to the warm wrought-iron kettle in the corner of the well-lit study. I poured a bit of the hot water, filling the teacup I held. The black kettle refilled itself with hot water before I had a chance to set it back on the table. The tea sachet leached a small swirl of purple into the clear water as it steeped.

I couldn’t do this. This was foolish and wrong. Felix was a good man, a good king. He had been so kind to me.

What was I doing? I was Seelie. I didn’t do things like this.

“You and I will be unmatched in power. You will show all the realms what you are truly made of. No one can stop us with an army so powerful.”

Thanes’s dominating promises echoed in my head, the words he said to me every time I delivered another group of humans for him to break, each more sinister than the last. Though I was having a harder and harder time impressing him with my finds. We needed someone more powerful than a regular human, but the trouble was, anyone more powerful easily blocked him from entering their mind.

My eyes clenched shut.

This was the only way to get power over the other realms.

I needed to claim the throne for myself and become the most powerful queen in existence. It wouldn’t matter that I couldn’t shift into a fox or that I was just a chosen bride. For once,it would be me with all of the power.

I opened my eyes and moved the teabag around. The water deepened in color.

Felix had gone to the fireplace, waving his hand in front with an easy flick that caused a bright glow of sunlight to cast upon the sooty-black inside and burst into flames.

“Here is your tea, darling. It must have been an eventful day if you have scrolls for the burnaway,” I said, sending up a silent prayer that he didn’t feel the need to tell me about it.

Felix began to set the scroll in the fireplace, then paused. The fire of the burnaway would seal it from all eyes but his until he requested to see it again. It was where he put all of his most important documents.

Taking the ivory teacup from me, he sat with a great huff in the dark-green love seat facing the fire.

“It’s been a day straight from the seven levels of Tartarus. I was in the confidence of Zef this afternoon.” He paused to take a sip of his tea.

My breath stilled. Would he taste it? Would he know that I betrayed him?

He let out a relaxed sigh.

I gripped the gold-and-white dress hanging heavily over my legs and sat in the love seat across from him, my back to the fire.

I’d rather watch the hedges grow than listen to him talk about Zef. The Ancient had been close with Felix prior to his Ascension, and he had always hated me.

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