Page 92
Story: A Strange Hymn
He doesn’t respond to that, but he doesn’t need to. It’s all in his expression.It’s yours to take.
“It’s almost as dark in here as it is outside tonight,” one of the guests murmurs to her companion as they pass us.
That one little sentence interrupts the moment Des and I were having. A laugh bursts out of me, and the Bargainer’s lips spread into a secretive grin, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Little do those fairies know that the man next to me is responsible for the unusually dark evening.
Des pulls me in close, the action not going unnoticed. For the second day in a row, we hold the room’s attention. It’s not as obvious tonight, more like something I feel rather than see, their gazes warming my skin. I imagine there’s something particularly alluring about the King of the Night—the ruler of secrets, sex, dreams, and violence—enjoying a human.
Des runs a finger along my exposed collarbone. “Have you noticed?” he asks.
“Noticed what?”
Des’s eyes flick across the room. “The wings.”
I turn my attention to the fairies around us.
He’s right. Just like in Somnia, there are several individuals with their wings out. Not many, but definitely more than last night, and back then the fairies were toasted.
It’s nearly an hour after we enter the ballroom before Mara makes her appearance, a group of men around her, none of them the Green Man.
The sight is unsettling, and I can’t quite put my finger on why until, a few seconds later, she cups the chin of one of the men and kisses him.
My eyebrows hike up.
“The queen’s harem,” Des explains.
So fae queens have harems too.
“But she has a mate,” I say, my eyes riveted to her.
Today, her dress is a vibrant scarlet, her bodice cinched with gold ribbon. Her lips are bloodred, and they look particularly savage when she smiles.
“She does.” Des grabs two flutes of champagne from a passing waiter before handing me one.
Distractedly, I take it. “But I assumed…”
I had assumed soul mates couldn’t sleep with other people, but what had I been doing all those years Des and I were apart? Just because my heart couldn’t move on didn’t mean I avoided dating other men—or being intimate with them.
Des is gracious enough not to mention this. Instead, the two of us spend several more seconds staring at Mara.
“What does the Green Man think of this?” I ask.
Des lifts a shoulder. “I imagine he’s not too keen about sharing his mate. But she’s the queen, and he’s a coward.”
Ouch.
Before either of us can continue, we hear rhythmic stomping just outside the hall, coming from the staircase leading down here.
Ever so slowly, the room quiets, hundreds of gazes going to the huge double doors that lead into the ballroom.
The echoing footfalls quiet, and the doors to the ballroom are thrown open. Two rows of fae soldiers wearing uniforms of gleaming gold file into the room, their movements choreographed and precise.
Eventually, they stop and pivot, creating a makeshift aisle of sorts. Another uniformed fairy heads down the aisle, pausing at the end of it.
“It is my eminent honor to present, from the radiant heavens above, His Majesty Janus Soleil—the King of Day!” he announces.
I cover my eyes against the brightness that flares at the entrance of the ballroom as someone strides down the aisle before coming to a full stop in front of the soldiers. It takes several seconds for the glare to die away.
When it does…
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92 (Reading here)
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160