Page 229 of The Forbidden Dragon King
I flinch. “He loves you.”
“He lovesyou.”
I look away.
I’ll fall apart now, if I don’t hold onto the memory of our first times together, being bitten by them at the same time, then waking up tangled in both these Alphas’ arms.
I know that I am equally both their Omegas. I can’t choose between them.
I won’t.
I stare at my Raven King, who is trussed up in silver chains across the aisle. He should be sitting on the throne in his bronze and emerald feather crown and not manacled to a column as a prisoner.
Yet has he ever truly been bound by these dragons?
“I swore to serve both Aurelius and you.” Daire’s expression is unreadable. “And that’s never changed. He needs to do more than claim us, however, to make right the ancient feuds within the Shadow Realms. He needs to free them. He must make a choice to be the blood that rebirths spring after the winter.”
“Don’t speak in riddles. I’ve decided that I hate prophecies.”
“Me too, love.”
I give a shaky smile. “Thanks for saving my feather. I was in too much shock, when that servant tried to take it from my hair.”
Daire flashes his sharp teeth. “Aye, the Beta is lucky he still has his finger. No one touches a soulmate’s pinion feather.”
Tears burn my eyes. “We’re really going to die tonight, aren’t we?”
“Look at me.” Daire’s voice is sharp enough to startle me to raise my head and stare at him across the grandaisle. “The one thing that I’ve learned intimately in my long years on the battlefield is that everyone dies. But that’s not going to be tonight. The bloody psycho Hadrian won’t allow it.”
“What if he’s in enchanted chains the same as we are?”
“Aye, I’d bet my wings he is. The calculating but cruel emperor who once dominated these lands is still inside Aurelius. Didn’t you hear what he said?No matter how much you hate me or hate my plot, don’t reject my bond.”
Yeah, and I wish that I hadn’t.
What is Aurelius scheming?
“Why do I think that we will hate however he tries to save us almost as much as being devoured by the Shadow Gods?”
Daire cocks his head. “Probably because we will. But pain can be survived. The important thing is to stay alive, aye?”
I swallow at the earnestness of his tone. I know that he needs me to nod. So, I do.
“The Seelie Fae of the Summer Court, who believe themselves so much better than us Unseelie, despite the fact that they never came to our aid and allowed us to be wiped out by the dragons, have a myth about death that I was obsessed with in the years after…” Dare bites off what he’s about to say, as if it’s still too painful.Years after the destruction of the Winter Court.“They say that if you’d died unjustly, on the way along the shadow bridge after death, a portal would open, allowing you to be reborn into your younger self. I would dream…over and over…what I would do differently. At first, that I could have saved the Winter Court. When I became older, I wished that I would have died instead of my friends in battles, so that I could go back with the knowledge to be faster and better and save them. After Aurelius defeated me, I’ve thought, if only I could return to the past and plan to ambush him instead. Then, for once, I would win and takehimas my pet. I would topple Draca, make Aurelius kneel, and free the realms. I would finally be the hero for my people, rather the reason that my kingdom fell. But then, I realized that the Seelie do nothing but trade in dreams. I need to wake up. There is no going back and only one life.”
My chest is tight.
Then I startle, and my heartbeat spikes, when I hear a door bang open and loud footsteps clattering behind the apse.
Daire and I exchange panicked looks.
Here they come.
“I’m here, love,” Daire whispers.
The Council members file into the room, wearing matching grim expressions. The twelve councilors are dressed in ceremonial silver robes with elaborate dragon pins that mark out their status.
They take their places in front of the dragon statues, one for each of them
