Page 86 of Wrath of the Fae

‘His ancient blood destroyed the Fae Queen’s home and drove her here.’

‘Fuck. Humans! Humans stole the Fae world!’

‘It is in their nature to destroy. It is in yours too. So if I am to help you, I must know your heart. And if you lie, I will peel the flesh from your bones.’

Truth. It’s speaking the truth. Like me, it knows when it’s being lied to.

This has all happened before. Ivan’s bloodline destroys Fae.

‘Whatever I have to,’ I reply, swallowing hard. ‘I’m not like Ivan. I’m not human.’

He grins, showing me those teeth.

‘I will help you. But there is a price.’

‘What is it?’

‘I need to die,’ it replies.

‘Oddly, I’m okay with that.’

He gives a monstrous chuckle. ‘I am too weak now to hold them back. Too old. I called you here because the Leviathans shall always need a King. Or else they will devour all. I hold their leash. My fingers are slipping. Two have already got free. The third will follow in a matter of days.’

‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Take your crown.’

‘I have. They all call me their queen. I’m fighting.’

‘You are not their queen,’he drawls.‘You are ours.’

I feel my insides turn to ice and lose the ability to speak.

‘Born of human and Fae. Conceived in this realm. Born in that one. Your blood is my blood. It is her blood. You are part of a pair. Your wings mark you as Leviathan, child of fate. The wings of your sister mark her as Fae.’

‘No. No, I’m not a monster. And Rhea has no wings.’

‘She does. Deep inside and hidden because she was not born here. But they are there, I assure you. She is of light. You are of me.’

‘I am not a monster,’ I snarl in reply, fisting my hands and gritting my teeth.

‘You are made as we needed. You are Bonded to those you need. We have given you everything you need to make the world as you wish it to be. My lover is dead and waiting for me. My power is old and feeble. It is your turn to take the crown. Your subjects are waking up. If you do not take it, they will rise. They will slaughter everything we built. Everything she died for. Everything I betrayed my kind for. You are of our blood. Our making.’

‘I am not your child. And I am not Dark,’ I argue, shaking my head and stepping back.

‘You are mine. I see you in darkness. You shall see yourself too. Very soon. And that little heart of yours that clings to such a small part of your mother will dim.’He falls silent after he speaks solemnly.‘The Dark in you needs the light. Needs teeth. Needs balance. We have given you what you need to keep it.’

‘Given me what?!’ I yell, my voice echoing all around us. ‘You have given me riddles.’

‘Do you accept?’He makes the gold within his black form glow. As it does, so does mine.‘Will you take the crown? Or will you watch me fail to hold on and see them rise to devour every soul you are trying to save?’

‘If I do, w-will I become like you?’

His form swirls wildly around me so much that my hair whips across my face. When it stops, a man stands before me. He’s seven feet tall with gold skin but absolutely covered in black markings. Rune markings. Beautiful, intricate, delicate symbols that weave around his form. Long black hair falls down his back and his eyes are blindingly golden. His wings stretch out. Wings of sharp black feathers that shine golden in the dim light.

He reaches out and rests his hand on my cheek, a softness to those sharp features. And sympathy in those malevolent eyes.

He’s beautiful. Utterly entrancing and radiating power. I stand there looking up at him in silence, frozen to the spot.

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