Page 133 of The Beast King's Bride

“My lady.” Auria approaches and takes my hand. “I’m so sorry. I know you cared for him.”

And her words manage to drive the shards even deeper into my chest, so deep that I bow over, tears sliding down my cheeks. “No…”

Finally, I approach the desk, take one of Talen’s hands in mine—so familiar, large and capable and scarred.

So cold.

I can’t breathe. My body is dissolving into darkness. The world is breaking apart. How is it that not so long ago I hated him and now I can’t imagine life without him?

Don’t leave me, I want to say, don’t go, but it looks like it’s too late. You can’t turn back time.

“If you want to say goodbye,” Auria says, “you should do it now.”

“Why?” Tears are sliding down my cheeks. I taste them on my lips. I press my forehead to his hand, wishing for him to stroke my hair, to cup my cheek. No one ever was as tender with me as he was. I can’t live without him. “What are you going to do?”

“Look,” Jassin says, “there’s no time. You should…” He glances at the door, his face going white. “Oh, heavens, it’s too late,” he whispers and I spin around.

Only to find the Empress standing there, a smile like a slash across her face. “Still here, human? You weren’t the right one after all. So disappointing, isn’t it? And now you’ll meet the same fate as everyone in this kingdom.” She waves a hand at her retinue, Lesser Faeries jabbering and tittering behind her. “Close the door. Let’s begin.”

“What are you going to do?” I whisper, ignoring Jassin who’s shushing me. I step in front of her, in front of Talen, his tall body laid out behind me. “Don’t touch him.”

“I came to collect what I’m due,” she says. “The moment he shifts, it’s over. He’ll die, and I’ll collect the gem from his back.”

“Then it’s not over,” I say with terrible calm, a cold that’s spreading inside me. “He hasn’t shifted yet. And you don’t have a right to him.”

“Funny that you’re still here. Or back here, rather. Haven’t you realized yet that there is nothing you can do?”

“I’m not letting you take him.”

She laughs, baring rows of needle-thin, sharp teeth. “Think you can stop me? Where are your armies? Where is your magic? This curse is a deal, human. He agreed to it. He lost the bet. End of story.”

“You tricked him into it.”

“Tricked? No. He only has himself to blame. An arrogant, selfish Fae lordling who thought the world owed him.”

“He has changed, then. He isn’t who he was.”

“Has he now?” A long slithering tongue slips out of her mouth—similar to a snake’s tongue.

I suppress a shiver. “Yes. He’s kind, generous, courageous, compassionate. He’s everything a king and a man should be.”

“Interesting. He gave up on you but you didn’t give up on him.”

“He didn’t give up on me. He sent me away to save me.”

“And now you want to save him,” she whispers.

“That’s what I came back for.”

“And you will offer your life for him in the ultimate hour? Is this why you are back? Tell me, girl. Do you love him enough to die for him?”

“Is this what the riddle demands? How the curse will be lifted?”

“A woman who is and isn’t a princess, who is and isn’t human, who does and doesn’t love you, who will give her life for you when you’re dead and you will cry for her when it’s done,” she says. “Hm?”

I swallow hard. “What do I have to do?”

“Stab yourself in the heart, of course.” The Empress gives me a pretty smile and I try not to flinch, not to think of the slithering tongue behind her teeth.

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