Page 90 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
“I can and I will,” he grumbles. We both know that if he could get me out permanently, he would have done it by now.
I take a steadying breath. “I can handle whatever she throws at me. The bargain must put limits on her as well. We will not lose the throne because her brutality outweighs ours. There is more at stake here than just our right to rule. Her refusal to acknowledge the corruption will destroy us all.”
Aldrin’s eyes search my face for any hint of distress. For signs that I cannot do what he is asking. I give him a small smile instead. He takes a cracker from the platter, places a slice of creamy cheese on it, then tops it with a piece of red fruit, placing the entire thing in my mouth. The pairing is rich and sweet, and slightly salty.
“If it gets too much, I will have the Assassins of Belladonna transport us into every shadow within the palace and we will slaughter them all,” he growls.“Titania. Torin. Her inner circle and every soldier who commits atrocities under her name.”
I laugh bitterly. “Titania is scared of shadows now. Every inch of the palace is lit up like daytime with fire orbs. Even the storage closets and unused staircases. The only reason you could visit my bedchamber is because none of our enemies know I have the magic to manipulate them. I can’t extinguish enough fire orbs to let in an army. The palace is too well guarded.”
“Then we will invade through the secret tunnels. The same ones you use to escape the palace.” Rage pinches his brow and scrunches his features, and still he is the most beautiful man I have ever beheld.
“We would be at a severe disadvantage.” I take a berry and pop it into his mouth. “An invading force can only climb those narrow stairs one abreast. Titania has tripled her forces within the palace. There are too many—they will pick your soldiers off as they enter one at a time. Even if it is possible, I will not allowyou to send the majority of our people to their death to get me out. The bargain won’t even allow it.”
“The bargain won’t have an effect if I kill Titania first,” he vows.
“The High Chancellor sleeps in a vault. One built completely of stone that the Wisteria of Mythanar cannot penetrate. She does most of her business in it. There are so many guards around her at all times, I fear we would be killed before we got close enough to her.”
“Drake is always at her side—” Aldrin tries.
I cut him off. “And Drake would be dead moments after killing her. He is not a sacrifice I am willing to make.”
My mate stares at me, his eyes a little wild. “Your wellbeing is not a sacrifice I am willing to make. I will not allow emotional scars to be inflicted upon you that you have to struggle with for the rest of your life.”
A tear drops down my cheek and he quickly wipes it away with calloused fingers. “We will not make a martyr of her. We will not sneak into the palace like rebels or assassins in the night and kill her before we expose her crimes. It could ruin our legitimacy, and we have put so much work into winning over the people. Proving to them that we are better. That cult-like following of hers needs to be broken first. They still blindly believe her lies because they benefit from them.”
Aldrin shakes his head. This is not what he wants to hear, but he knows the truth of it. “No. Not if it risks you. We can?—”
“What is the point in killing her, if it just causes the people to rise up and rip us apart?” I ask. “There is no saving this court if we die alongside her. We win the people first to neutralize the threat they pose. Many are not on our side. Somehow, she is still far too popular.”
“I do not like it when you are out of my reach.” Aldrin sits back as though struck. “I don’t even feel worthy of the crown, notwhen my neglect is the reason things have gotten so bad under her reign.”
“You didn’t know,” I plead with him. “Not even Cyprien knew the extent of what was happening here, and he held a position in her court and the Senate for years while you were in exile. Titania didn’t truly show her hand until she set the assassins on you, and assumed all opposition was as good as dead.”
“Ishouldhave known. It is my job as king to know, exiled or not.” Sadness rolls off him in waves, tightening his shoulders and making them hunch inward. Self-resentment twists his stomach, creating the same mirrored sensation within mine, bleeding down the bond.
I want to fix it. Gods, I want to fix it.
There are no words that can take these most destructive, irrational fears away.I have tried countless times.
I lean forward and kiss him gently on the lips, flooding him with the love brimming in my heart for him. My immense respect and awe at his ability to keep fighting, no matter the obstacles thrown at him or the impossible odds. I send warmth through the bond between us and sense his soul basking in it, the iciness of his shame and doubt melting away.
Aldrin’s fingers run through my hair, angling my head and deepening the kiss with urgency, while his other hand slides down my waist to cup my backside, lifting me. I move with him, straddling his hips and sending berries rolling away from our half-eaten platter. He bites my lower lip between his teeth, then allows it to slide away. I gasp and Aldrin slips his tongue inside my mouth.
I run my hands down his chest, enjoying the hard, defined planes of his ridged muscles through the thin fabric. I want nothing between us. My skin pressed against his skin. I break away from the kiss and unbutton the neckline of his tunic with urgent motions, my hands shaking ever so slightly. His fingerswork on the corset lacing of my bodice, only pausing for long enough to allow me to pull his top over his head.A heartbeat later, my dress is tossed over his shoulder.
Aldrin pulls back to take me in. His eyes roam down from my lips to my heaving chest, fixating on my breasts as he takes them in his hands, squeezing and flicking my nipples. His heated gaze falls across my waist, to my hips and my completely bare core.
I smile with triumph the moment he realizes that I wore absolutely nothing beneath my thin gown, his eyes widening slightly and flicking up to mine. I revel in the way his cock swells rapidly, sending delicious jolts across the link between our souls. My victory lasts until his hand slips down all my bare skin, right to where my legs are spread wide across his lap, and the tips of his fingers graze over my swollen flesh.
“Gods, Keira, you are going to be the end of me.”
He groans as he buries two fingers inside me and rolls his thumb over my clit. My whole body quakes in a series of sharp jolts at the exquisite sensation. Then he curls those thick, thick fingers in and out of me, and the friction of the motion hits me in waves of bliss.
I fumble frantically at the laces of his pants. My brain refuses to work. The hard length of his cock twitches beneath my touch, but he pushes my hand away. I let out a frustrated huff, because I canfeelechoes of just how aroused he is. Of how badly he longs for my touch.
“Not until I see you come undone.” His intent gaze remains fixed on my face as I throw my head back in ecstasy, rolling my hips to meet his fingers. With every plunge, they press upon a spot that drives me wild.
“Please, Aldrin. Oh, gods, please!” I can’t even remember what I am begging for.
