Page 92 of Fake Dating a Human 101

Or, he likely wouldn’t have confessed at all.

He took in the great stone walls around him and the misty forests beyond the windows. He’d certainly never been here before, but after what happened at the border…

Thishadto be the Shadow Palace. Of all places. Somewhere he never in his wildest dreams thought he’d set foot even once in his faeborn lifetime.

Shayne’s mind raced as he went back to his last memory before he’d been nearly gutted before the House of Lyro and left in the grass to die. He had thought he was dead, truly. He thought he might make it to human heaven after all. But he was alive, and he was here—with Lily.

Queensbane, after all the months of Shayne’s wrestling through plans and tossing them to the wind, Luc-Foxy-Zelsor was the one who’d found a way to free him. Shayne brought a hand to his forehead as he considered what it meant now that his blood family thought he was dead. He dropped his hand to stare at that ring—the one he’d bound to himself, the one that would never come off. The one Hans-Der hadn’t even asked to get back after Luc’s stunt. The one he’d felt sick to slide onto his finger in the first place; a thick chunk of gold that was now powerless. He tugged at it, even though he already knew it wouldn’t budge. And then he laughed because, even though he was free, he would forever have a reminder of his heritage, of the last name he wished to scrub from his life, of his memories of the Ever Corners he’d tried so hard to convince Mor to take away.

“Stupid ring,” he remarked, dropping his hand to his lap.

The doors at the end of the room squeaked open, and in walked Luc wearing an extravagant black coat that was almost as ugly as his other coat had been, and a spindly black wreath-crown with jagged spokes, black opals, and silver moonstones. Luc even carried a large scepter he used as a walking stick that made Shayne laugh. “You look like a clown,” he promised when Luc was close enough, even though Luc was the Dark King and the Shadows who tailed him wouldn’t like the insult one bit.

“I look menacing,” Luc corrected. “Which is fitting since Iammenacing. I’m also the one who saved you, in case you haven’t figured that out yet, North Fairy.”

All his loud self-glorifying made Lily stir. She batted her eyelashes as she woke and lifted from the bed. She inhaled slowly, then reached her arms high in the air and stretched.

Shayne clasped his hands together and squeezed them, his faeborn heart nearly bursting as he watched her be that cute. “Stop it,” he warned her, and she looked over at him in question. “You’re supposed to be tough and angry like always.”

She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t ask what he was talking about. Instead, she lifted from her seat and came closer. “Are you alright?” she asked, and he revelled in every bit of concern in her tone. He was obsessing over it too hard to notice that Cress, Mor, and Dranian had followed Luc into the room.

“One of your minions just told me you sent a letter to Queene Levress,” Cress said, taking over the conversation about two seconds after he arrived. He rushed over and put a hand on Luc’s shoulder that caused the trio of Shadow Fairies around him to glare. “What did you say to Levress?” Cress demanded.

Luc carefully peeled Cress’s fingers off his shoulder. “I threatened war,” he told him. “I told her the great Cressica Alabastian was in fact alive, as the rumours claim, and that he was allied withme, the Dark King, and if she ever tried to find you or send one of her assassin guard dogs after you, or if she ever dared to send one of her loser North Fairies into the human realm to spy on you, I’d send the greatest army in the Ever Corners—”

“Second greatest,” Cress mumbled in objection.

“—to the Silver Castle, and she would regret the day she broke the delicate peace between the Dark and North Corners.” Luc shrugged. “Simple.” Then he looked around from fairy to fairy—to human—and back to fairy as a slow, broad smile split his mouth. “Don’t you all want to know how I became King?” he asked.

“Not really,” Cress grumbled. He folded his arms with a slight pout. Mor pressed a fist over his mouth like he was trying not to laugh at him.

“Let’s get one thing straight, Foxy,” Shayne said as he pulled the covers off himself. He turned with a grimace, pain shooting through his whole faeborn body, and he put his legs over the side of the bed. Then he glared at Luc. “You practicallykilledme.”

“Yes, well, you killed me first,” Luc reminded him. “And I did say I’d get my revenge. We’re even now, North Fairy. And just in case you’re all dying to know, I became King because I slaughtered the Queene of—”

“Eiw.” Lily covered her ears.

“—the Dark Corner on her throne, and then I gave the Shadow Court two options. I told them to gather and vote on whether they’d execute me for treason or tofullyKing me. It seems I was right about what they’d decide, since I pointed out I was the last living member of the royal family, and my bloodline has remained in power for seventeen generations.” He snapped and pointed. “I’m also not the first one in my family to assassinate a King or Queene to steal the throne. So, I had that going for me.”

“Congratulations,” Mor mumbled in a low voice. It was hard to tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

Luc did a spin so that everyone could see his coat from all sides or something. “You can all thank me now. I fixed everything, like I said I would.” He pointed his scepter at Cress. “I even fixed your thing, when I didn’t have to.” Then he jabbed it toward Shayne. “And yours, North Fairy.”

Dranian clapped, and Shayne shot him a look that made him clap slower and then eventually stop.

The candlelit dinner in the Shadow Palace was every bit as horrifying as Shayne could have imagined. He’d never spent much time thinking about the Dark Corner or its practices, or its decorations, or the things the Shadows considered to be valuable. But it was clear now as he looked down the black tablecloth at the gloomy curtains mostly covering the dim, filtered light slipping through the twisting cloud in the sky outside. Tall silver candlesticks speared the air like broken fingers, holding candles that dripped wax all over the tablecloth. But the cherry on top was the fox sitting at the head of the table in his heavy black crown, now fashioning anewcoat with slick black feathers around the collar that seemed to be swallowing him whole. Luc picked at a plate of meat he seemed too revulsed at the sight of to actually eat. If Shayne didn’t know any better, he’d think Luc was secretly plotting to escape this dungeon of darkness, even if it did seem to suit his evil personality.

The rest of Shayne’s brothers, Lily, and Mycra sat around the table, nudging their plates every now and then so wax wouldn’t drip on their food.

Cress leaned over to Mor and didn’t whisper quietly enough, “This is worse than your cathedral, Mor. It’s like we’re trapped in the underworld.”

Mor bit down on his lips, but a smirk still formed. “I think we’ll go home after this,” he said back to Cress. “I’m a Shadow Fairy and even I’m going to have nightmares from looking around this place too long.”

Naturally, Lily was every bit as oblivious as usual about how mighty she seemed as she braved the meat first. She took a bite, and Shayne watched her chew and swallow it. He sat back in his chair and folded his arms, waiting for the sassy remark he knew would be coming next.

Dranian leaned and mumbled something to Mycra.

Cress nudged Mor, then pointed down at something on his plate in disgust.

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