Page 82 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
“It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make for my people.”
I press her harder to me as I take us into a quick spin. “I can just buy you an entire bakery,” I murmur.
“But I want them to compete to impress me. To create my new favorite dessert every year. What do you want, Aldrin?”
I think for far too long, but the same answer keeps coming back to me. “Some peace and quiet. And for war-hungry lunatics to stop stealing my queen. And sleep. So much fucking undisturbed sleep. Maybe I’ll make a royal decree that no one is to wake the king on pain of death.” I dip her low, leaning overher to cover her body with mine. “Except for you, my queen. You can wake me any time of the night, but you have to be prepared for the consequences.”
“Oh, and what would those be?” A beautiful flush covers her cheeks as I raise her back to her feet. She cocks a single eyebrow. “I need details, Aldrin.”
I pull her close as other couples swirl around us. My words are only for her. “That depends on what my woman needs. If she wants to feel my tongue inside her, or my cock spreading her open and slamming into her from behind. If she is in the mood to be tied up by a dozen vines while I lick every part of her until she screams.”
“Gods, Aldrin. That mouth of yours,” she groans, eyes huge and innocent-looking as they stare up at me. I know better.
“Yes? I can do with it whatever you please. If you’d like to sit on?—”
She puts a hand over my mouth, pupils dilating, and a wicked satisfaction settles deep in my belly. “I am going to combust right here if you don’t stop talking.”
Smug satisfaction fills me.
The next time I glance at the people around us, Caitlin is dancing nearby with Cyprien in her clutches. He sends me a wounded look, desperate for help as he moves stiffly to the music.
“I don’t know why he lets her bully him,” Keira says, mystified. “Cyprien could easily shrug her off.”
I shrug. “I think he secretly enjoys it.”
The tavern’s door rattles in its frame, then swings open. The music stops abruptly as Silvan drops his panpipes from his lips, staring at the newcomers in the doorway. Jasper walks through, still wearing the bronze-and-gold uniform of the Royal Guard, bracketed by half a dozen of his loyal followers.
Silvan and Jasper face each other across the hall, both frozen to the spot. It is like no one else in the very packed room exists. Hurt visibly ripples through both men. Jasper’s blue eyes are so cold, yet strained at their corners, and his black eyebrows rise at their center. Silvan’s eyes narrow to slits and his lips compress in a thin line, but his hands shake violently despite how he fists them to hide the fact.
Silvan turns on his heel and storms for the staircase that leads up to the private rooms. I am across the tavern, grabbing his wrist and spinning him to me before he can escape.
“Talk to Jasper. After everything you had, you owe him that much,” I scold.
Silvan shakes my grip off him. “I have nothing to say to that man!” He moves away again, but I pull him back with ropes of air woven around his arms and legs. He lets out an animalistic snarl as he shatters my wield, taking a menacing step toward me.
“If you have nothing to say, that is fine. You can listen, then,” Jasper’s hard voice cuts in, and I am suddenly forgotten to Silvan.
“Listen? Listen!” Silvan roars.“What can you possibly say to justify your choices?”
I gesture at the gaping musicians and they quickly start playing music to give the men some privacy. I move away, but not far in case Silvan tries to escape again.
These ex-lovers need to have this overdue conversation.
Jasper folds his arms over his chest but wavers, his eyes flicking to me. I give him a nod. “I did not betray Aldrin. I did not turn my back on him or you, Silvan, when you both went into exile. Someone had to remain in the palace to take care of those left behind. You have seen the way the people have been treated in the city. They needed someone to look out for them, to organize a guard for them. We have achieved much?—”
“Weneeded you, Jasper.Ineeded you!” Silvan pokes him in the chest, his lips pulled back from his teeth and his blond eyebrows slashing downward.
“You took the best of our people with you!” Jasper snaps back, a vein protruding across his forehead. “You were well protected, especially from the palace. Those of us who remained behind, Cyprien especially, made sure that crazy bitch mostly forgot about you.”
“We needed our closest allies,” Silvan spits. “If we’d had a mass exodus from the palace, if we’d had a show of support from those who held the power, the people would have seen they made a mistake.”
I cringe at the memory of leaving with so few.I too had been angry for years, until I saw the truth of the situation.
“He lost by the popular vote and chose to leave his throne behind. There is nothing I could have done to change it, or believe me, I would have. I was ready to go to war for my king and I do not hesitate to answer the call now.” Jasper’s knuckles turn white as he clenches his fists tightly at his sides. “I thought that if too many of us left, there would be a power vacuum and Titania would fill the spaces with her own corrupt officials instead. I didn’t know at the time that she would stack the Senate in her favor anyway.”
The men glare at each other, their faces inches apart, jaws clenched tight and tendons sticking out in their necks. There is an inferno of emotion swirling within their eyes, but not a single word of it is spoken.
Jasper cracks first, his features softening. “Silvan.” His voice is tortured, breaking on that single word, and he reaches a hand out toward his ex-lover to bridge the gap.
