Page 93 of The Crown of the Last Fae Queen
“How can I not be suspicious?” he said, frowning. This was the woman known as the wicked queen, the evil fae monarch who had enslaved thousands of humans, who had drenched the streets with their blood. “Your reputation is terrible and we are on opposite sides of this war. I even fought your husband.”
Something flashed over her eyes—surprise, grief, relief? “He is alive, then?”
“Unfortunately.”
She touched her chest and closed her eyes. The vulnerability passed in a few seconds, and she was back to cold. Indifferent. A mask that she seemed to pull on whenever she was donning the role of fae queen.
“I see.” Aesileif breathed out heavily, and then pinned him with a lethal look. “My daughter has chosen you as her mate. Your souls are bound to one another. The stronger you grow, the strongershegrows. I am not on your side, Blár, but I will always choose my daughter over anyone. So, I will put my trust in you that you will protect her until I am able to do so.Thatis the only reason I am urging you to grow strong.”
Blár opened his mouth to snarl a snarky, albeit childish, remark—that she didn’t need to tell him to protect Kolfinna; he would always do that—but darkness licked at the corners of this place, and he turned to watch it.
Aesileif studied him with calculating eyes. “The fates are cruel. You have suffered because of his cursed crown, and you will one day wear it. Soon.”
Hiscrown? Whose crown?
He wanted to ask her, but everything began flickering away. The last thing he saw was her sad smile. It reminded him of Kolfinna’s—and then the darkness swamped him.
28
TWENTY-EIGHT – KOLFINNA
Kolfinna had been ripped awayfrom Blár moments after the cold darkness consumed them both. Her hand stretched out to grab him, to find him within the inky blackness surrounding her; blind panic rose within her chest, coiling and tightening over her body. She couldn’t hear anything. See anything.Feelanything.
It was like she didn’t even exist. She was floating in absolute darkness. No sensation of existing, of being, of … anything.
And then the world snapped back in place so fast, she recoiled.
Colors sprang alive around her. Vidar’s concerned face came into view; his starlight-white hair contrasted with the darkness of his armor. Agnarr’s confused expression. The sand beneath her feet. The chilly wind brushing against her cheeks. Her hair sticking to the sweat accumulating on the nape of her neck.
Kolfinna inhaled sharply, her head pounding and her stomach clenching. The sword in her trembling hand was heavy. It felt like days had passed while she was viewing the sword’s visions, and yet it had only been minutes, maybe. And judging by the confused looks everyone was shooting her, she must have looked crazy.
She blinked away the fatigue, the nausea, the panic—and dropped the sword, her body shaking uncontrollably. She wanted to kick it as far away as she could, but her legs were leaden and all she could do was squeeze her eyes shut.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Maybe it was all a lie. Maybe she had lucid dreamed the whole thing. Maybe her mind had conjured the horrible scenes to cope with her imprisonment here. Maybe?—
Her attention skated over to Blár. He was standing still, eyes haunted, with an equally confused expression that was mostly covered by the face mask; she quickly turned away. Had it been real after all?
“Kolfinna? What happened?” Vidar’s voice was quiet, and yet she still flinched, staring at him wide-eyed.
She could still remember the way he had snarled at Aesileif, how he had embraced her, how he had kissed her tears away. She shouldn’t have seen those vulnerable moments between him and Aesileif. A part of her hoped it hadn’t been real. But she needed answers.
“You married Aesileif before she became queen, didn’t you?” she whispered.
Vidar blinked slowly, surprise flashing over his face. “How did—” Then his gaze sliced to the sword, and then back to her face. Those blood-colored eyes widened, then narrowed. “What happened?”
“Answer me.”
“It’s true. Aesileif and I were mated long before we officially announced it to the empire,” he said. “How?—”
“You were there when Elin died,” she said, her head spinning. “She said cruel things to Aesileif.”
Another look passed over him; this one, she couldn’t read. “Yes.”
“And … and Aesileif … She’s dying, isn’t she? That’s why you both decided to seal her away? So that the power of the crown wouldn’t pass onto me?”
Vidar grabbed her shoulders, leveling her with a stare that, moments ago, she would have thought was shuttered, calculating, but now, she realized was desperate,needy. A feral gleam entered those sinister eyes.
