Page 4 of Atop the Faerie Throne
Rose grins sheepishly, and I realise Nicnevin Titania is already here, waiting patiently beside her granddaughter. Prae scoffs, but doesn’t move as the two of them heal her. The moment her wounds are dealt with, she heads straight for her cousin.
“What the fuck happened to you?” she demands of his paralysed body.
“Nathair bite,” I grunt. “He tried to kidnap Rose.”
“He wouldn’t do that,” Prae objects, putting herself purposefully between us and Caed. “Have you seen him? He’s been mooning over her since before that stupid lantern festival.” She growls under her breath, searching for allies among the gathered fae before she rounds on me. “I thought you trusted him.”
I can’t hold her stare, because the truth is, I did. He never once lied during our sparring matches, and he stuck to Drystan’s rules so carefully. During those rare moments when he was around Rose, he acted honourably.
“Then why did he drug her and stab you?” Drystan snaps. “Trying to defend someone caught in the act is?—”
“He would never do that if he were in control of himself,” Prae insists. “That’s what I’m telling you.Hewasn’tto blame.”
“His name.” Rose wipes her face on her sleeve as her brows furrow. “He said his father had his name. Maybe?—”
“He only snapped when he heard Elfhame had fallen,” Gryffin adds. “Lore delivered the news, and then Caed suddenly wanted to talk to Prae alone.”
“That theory assumes that he’s been alone with his father since he left Fellgotha,” Bree points out, pulling Rose backagainst his body when she attempts to sneak past him to Caed’s side. “He’s been under watch the entire time.”
“Except when he ran away from Reyni’s camp.” Prae pokes her cousin with her toe. “He was captured and then escaped, remember?”
“Itoldyou that it was convenient.” Drystan somehow seems in worse spirits now that there’s a possibility Caed could be innocent.
It fits, but I blanch as another thought hits me. “He cut out their tongues.” The asshole said it was to send a message, but now that I think about it… “He was trying to tell us, and he stayed away from Rose after that. He was trying to protect her.”
For the second time in the space of an hour, relief threatens to crush me. Rose loves him, and if he’d really turned on her…
Not that this is much better, Jare. We have no idea what else he’s been ordered to do.
“It doesn’t matter.” Drystan runs a hand through his braids, and the temperature in the room rises until the ceiling starts to drip. “This just proves what I’ve been saying this whole time; he’s a security risk—no, a security nightmare. Don’t ask me to let him breathe the same air as you. I won’t do it.”
Rose’s eyes glisten again. “I can’t live without him.”
Drystan’s eyes dim with a kind of horrified realisation as Bree stiffens behind her. I’d guessed her feelings were far deeper than she let on, but I don’t think Drystan is ready to hear it. Goddess, I don’t know if he’ll ever be.
“Don’t say it,” the dullahan pleads. “Goddess damnit, Rose, I?—”
Rose can’t look away from the blue corpse on the floor. “I love him.”
Shit. I mean, I suspected she did, but to hear it confirmed…Shit.
Drystan’s expression blanks the moment the whispered confession is out there. It’s like someone walked in and stole the emotions from him between one breath and the next.
The only ones who look happy about this development are Prae and Kitarni. Roark and his mate are edging towards the door, probably still keenly aware of the squawking cries coming from the other side of their home. They disappear with apologetic looks, leaving the rest of us to watch the dullahan methodically shut down, gutting our mate in the process.
I don’t think any of us are really surprised when he stalks from the room, fleeing the apartment like his ass is on fire.
“I shouldn’t have said that,” Rose whispers, burying her face in Bree’s chest.
“You didn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know, Rosie,” I promise, dropping to my haunches beside her. “He’ll get over himself.”
If he doesn’t do it soon, my wolf and I will hunt him down and make sure he gets the point.
I hope that was the kick up the ass he needed, because right now? The only one breaking Rose’s heart is him.
Three
Rhoswyn
