Page 11 of The Crown of a Fallen Queen (Curse of the Fae #4)

Twister

DEVI

M y heart pounds in my ears as I pour two glasses of Nether cider. “Careful, pretty boy. You might just fall for me for real.”

“Not a chance,” he says warmly. “But, was that a yes?”

“First, we need ground rules.”

“I agree.” He staggers back to his feet, his brows pulled together at the effort. I bet he thought it would be easy to stand after kneeling in front of me .

It’s not the first time I’ve pretended to be engaged, so it shouldn’t be too hard to pull off. Only Seth is my nemesis, not my friend, and I still want him dead.

Details for future me to deal with, I guess.

“First rule: If we don’t want the other royals to brand you as a traitor, too, we have to convince them that we actually have feelings for each other. This can’t be viewed as just a political scheme, or they’ll fight us at every turn.”

Seth’s jaw drops, but he quickly shakes off the shock of my statement. “And what if my mother asked us to wed immediately?”

I raise a brow. “I think Freya will hope to change your mind, no?”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t put it past her to agree to the marriage only to have you killed after the wedding night,” he says with an apologetic grimace.

“I wouldn’t put it past you, either. You’ll have to earn my trust, first.”

His gaze flies to the sky. “You can rest easy. If I betrayed you, Elio would have my head.”

“That’s a small relief, indeed.” I chuckle, but it’s a low, dangerous sound. “You’re not the first to come to me with such a proposition, you know. The current political landscape could prove a unique opportunity for us both, but we have to be ready for anything.”

A strangled huff whizzes out of his lungs.

Freya will burn when she hears this. The humiliation.

.. to have her precious son, illegitimate or not, parading around Faerie with the one woman she loathes above all others.

Him advocating for the criminal she banished, the fallen queen she tried so desperately to replace, but fell short at every turn.

The young girl she betrayed making a comeback decades later, smarter and more beautiful. I’m salivating.

The thought fills me with a dark, sinful pleasure. Her lover dead, her political influence crumbling, and her only child chasing me , the very embodiment of everything she despises. This bogus engagement will be a deep thorn in her side.

But for it to work, Seth has to believe he actually has a chance to rule by my side, even though I’d rather die than marry Freya’s heir. Still, I’m not lying when I say this is a unique opportunity.

“Second rule: No side pieces. No lovers. You’ll have to keep it in your pants until this arrangement falls apart, or until the wedding night, whichever comes first.” I keep the wording deliberately vague, unsure whether I want to include myself in that rule.

“And does that no-sex until marriage rule include you?” he challenges me.

I craft an enigmatic smile. “There’s no marriage without consummation, no? We’ll have to get naked at some point.”

He tries very hard to hide it, but I see the way his pupils dilate, the way his abs tighten… He’s interested, as he should be. I’m Devi Eros.

“But not before?” he insists, forcing me to take a stand.

“Not before.”

While he waits on the wedding night, I can trust he won’t sink a blade between my ribs.

I’ll keep him dangling, half-starved, for as long as it takes.

I’m not naive enough to think this isn’t some tangled scheme to get my powers.

Whether or not his mother’s in on it, Seth wants my magic.

But if I hope to win at this game, I’ll drive him to want my body more.

And the off-chance possibility of breaking his heart for real? Delicious.

He keeps staring, and I can practically see the dirty scenarios playing in his mind.

“You’re not going to rock my world, you know? Very few men have,” I taunt him.

He licks his lips. “I take that as a challenge.”

“That no-sex-with-other-women rule is non-negotiable, so I’ll need you to swear to it,” I add, suppressing a grin.

“Are you a very possessive woman?” he teases.

“I’m the Queen of Hearts. It wouldn’t be believable for my fiancé to have a wandering eye.”

“Fine, but I won’t be bound by that promise if, as you say, the arrangement falls apart. If we aren’t wed in let’s say…a year, or if you break it off, this no-sex rule falls apart.”

He doesn’t want me to trick him, but I’m baffled he’d offer a year. He doesn’t strike me as a Spring Fae who’s ever been celibate for long, so he probably doesn’t understand the toll abstinence can take.

“Alright,” I concede.

“Then I swear I won’t touch another woman until our wedding night, or until the aforementioned terms are met,” he says the words lightly, as though it doesn’t cost him anything, and my heart skips a beat. He certainly didn’t include me in that promise.

Magic pulses between us, sealing his vow.

The late night bleeds into the early hours of the morning as Seth and I sit in my shop, working out the minutia of our deal.

How to play it in front of the other royals and arguing whether we should ease them into it or not.

The dim glow of the hearth flickers over a growing pile of empty bottles and the verdant glint of Nether cider in our glasses, the air thick with distrust and intrigue.

The dryer finally dings, and Seth stands up to retrieve his shirt.

“I’m supposed to take you straight from here to Wintermere. An emergency meeting is planned between the seven crowns.” He rubs the curve of his jaw. “Elio thought it best to summon them before paranoia completely settled in.”

“Elio doesn’t know about your insane proposal, does he?”

“No.”

“Good. He’s not a big fan of arranged weddings.”

“Funny coming from a man who’s had dozens.” Seth huffs out a laugh. “But that’s all in the past. He’s in love now, and his new wife is a doppelg?nger of my cousin Iris, did you hear?”

I tip my chin in affirmation.

“She’s quite something.” A secret smile touches Seth’s full lips, his eyes cast down, and I get the feeling he’s fond of this woman.

Maybe even enamored with her, which irks me, given the circumstances.

Iris was gorgeous, of course, but her affair with Elio’s brother ended with her dead, and the fallout dragged everyone involved into decades of misery.

I send a discreet sliver of magic forward, probing Seth’s heart, searching for the depth of his affection, but he’s harder to read than most. Storm Fae keep their emotions hidden behind the clouds, their magic shielding them from scrutiny.

I catch only brief, shallow glimpses of his emotions, not enough to hold onto.

It leaves me unsatisfied, unsure if he’s hiding the truth or if there’s nothing deeper to find.

“Do you have a thing for Elio’s wife?” I tease, still unsure how to interpret the faint traces of jealousy emanating from him. “That’s dangerous territory to tread.”

“Not a crush, no.” He tilts his head. “But I envy their marriage. Elio’s a lucky bastard. He’s known true love not once, but twice.”

“His first marriage wasn’t so lucky, trust me. As much as I loved Iris, she really destroyed him. Spring folks worship true love, swear by it even, but how many of us manage it in our lifetime? Very few, and the rest are stuck longing for something they’ll never have.”

Seth quiets down even more. “Is that why you crafted love arrows strong enough to pierce a Fae’s heart? Are you a romantic?”

“I crafted the arrows because it had never been done before. Because I had to prove myself at every turn. No one could accuse me of being a romantic.”

“Don’t you see how flawed it was, in hindsight, to manipulate your peers?”

“We manipulate mortals’ feelings every day, and they don’t live meaningless lives because of it.”

“When the archer does their job right. Otherwise, it’s not a gift, but a curse.” He pauses for a moment. “And mortals don’t know they’re being manipulated. That counts for something.”

I shake my head. He’s totally missing the point.

“I didn’t mean for anyone to steal my arrows and use them for their own greed.

I was matching consenting couples, which is entirely different from an arrow thief swindling an unsuspecting Fae king into marriage.

My arrows were designed to ease the loneliness of arranged unions, but like all powerful tools, they can be misused.

I shouldn’t have been blamed for what Rye did, and if Freya hadn’t been scheming against me—if my lieutenants had any backbone at all—I wouldn’t have been banished.

Seth devours me with his eyes as though he finds my rant… delectable. “You’re so passionate. I’ve known quite a few princesses, but none seem to spark the same fascination?—”

“I’m no princess,” I interrupt him. “I was Queen .”

The corners of his mouth quirk, but he doesn’t argue. He leans back on his stool, swirling the last of his cider, watching me.

My stomach flip-flops. It’s been years since I’ve gossiped with a Spring Fae, let alone one as powerful and objectively attractive as Seth.

“How come you’re named Devine and not Heart?” My exile started before he was born, and I never understood why Freya refused him her surname.

Seth waves dismissively. “Oh, it was all part of her strategy. She pretended I was the illegitimate child of her mortal lover, Garrett Devine, hoping to protect my real father’s reputation and marriage.

Mortal lovers and their bastards are not so unusual in Spring, as you must know. They don’t count, so to speak.”

“What made her change her mind?”

He rubs his jaw, looking more defeated than pensive.

“She admitted to me being a full-blooded Fae when my Storm magic manifested. The Royal Academy doesn’t invite half-Fae to their trials and requested proof of parentage.

With me being a dual-wielder, my mother decided to put my future above her lover’s need for secrecy and admitted publicly to the affair. ”