Page 73 of Crown of Briars
Shock skittered through me at her words.Other human brides.“Sybelle,” I said slowly, “you are my first and only human wife.”
Her head reared back, her jaw dropping.
Mother of Shade, had she really not known this? Had she believed I was an ageless fae demon who abducted her ancestors over hundreds of years?
“But you are the only human foolish enough to attend a revel as if you were an invited guest,” I went on, trying to gloss over this startling revelation.
It didn’t work. Sybelle continued to gape at me, unabashed. I cleared my throat, looking around the room to see if anyone was eavesdropping. But no one cared. The fae were too distracted by their merriment.
“So youaren’tthe same Wraith King who has come for a human bride from my kingdom every generation?” she asked quietly.
I bit back a growl. “I am no wraith.”
“I know that.” She stated this so plainly that I almost believed her.
I sighed. “No. I am not the same king that married the other human brides. That would be my father, and his father, and his father before that.”
She blinked at me, clearly astonished by this. What was so alarming about this information?
“But… fae are immortal,” she said.
I smirked. “I am well aware.”
She shook her head. “So…”
“You may be my first human bride, but many kings before me had multiple wives. It is not unheard of.”
She swallowed hard, her gaze lowering as she considered this. Her eyes turned calculating, a look I knew well by now.
Her interest was piqued.
“Can we perhaps discuss something else?” I murmured. The curse was the last thing I wanted to talk about, especially since, when I’d previously brought it up, she had yelled at me and stormed out of the room. If anything would disrupt a revel, it was that kind of behavior.
Sybelle blinked as if I’d jolted her from her thoughts. “I wanted to apologize.”
I raised my eyebrows, surprised by this. “Oh?”
“Yes. I reacted badly to your request for my blood, and I’m terribly sorry for that. I should have allowed you to explain further. Please forgive me.”
An unexpected knot of emotion formed in my throat. I hadn’t expected this level of sincerity from her. She had seemed so confident and—dare I say it—arrogant when she’d arrived. I thought for sure she had come to yell at me again.
“Is that why you came to the revel?” I asked, my voice low and soft.
A blush spread along her cheeks. “Partly.”
I found myself smirking again. “And the other part?”
Her blush deepened. “I was curious. And, yes, I wanted to embrace my role as your wife, and I can’t very well do that by hiding in my chambers every time you host a revel, now, can I?”
My smile widened, showing my fangs. Sybelle’s eyes dipped to those incisors, but I scented no fear on her. “Well, that’s quite admirable of you,dannahla.”
“So it’sdannahlaagain, is it?”
“Youaresitting on my lap, wife.” I leaned closer, my lips brushing the shell of her ear. Her hair smelled like lilacs. “It is certainly not the most scandalous thing I could call you.”
I delighted in the way her skin pebbled as a shudder swept over her. But my victory was short-lived when my own body reacted as well.
Sybelle clearly sensed it, too, because she wriggled against me once again. I clamped my teeth together to keep from groaning.
