Page 18 of The Crown of a Fallen Queen (Curse of the Fae #4)

Breakfast Club

SETH

I awake to sweaty, rumpled sheets and unfulfilled fantasies, but the cold doesn’t bite the way it used to as I make my way to the castle’s private sitting room.

Every other time I stayed here, it was as a sponsor for the Yule pageant. I wasn’t important enough for the guest wing, and definitely not breakfast-with-the-Winter-King material.

The parlor is quieter than the ballroom and warmer than the dining hall.

A few windows are open to the courtyard, letting in air that smells of loosened earth and fresh sap.

Beyond the stone arches, Wintermere’s sacred Hawthorn stands tall, its bone-white branches no longer locked in frost. Red buds freckle the tips, defiant and tender.

The tree is waking up from a long slumber.

The crust of snow that blanketed these grounds for fifty years is finally giving way. Melting in uneven patches, it reveals slivers of vibrant emerald-green grass. Moss campions peak out from underneath the thinning snow, pink and bright.

All because of Lori.

“Good morning, Wintermere,” I say, startling Sara as she serves herself coffee.

She reaches for a cloth napkin and wipes up the spilled drink. “Morning, Seth.”

Sara is more of a friend than an employee, a fact made clear by her permanent residence in the guest wing. As the daughter of the previous Winter King, it was generous of Elio not to run her out of her childhood home.

I’m surprised to see Devi already here. I expected her to be asleep, and with good reason. She suffered through hell last night, and the memory of her squeezing my hand as though I was her last tether to this life is still raw. In the brief time we were apart, I thought of nothing else.

Lori and Elio greet me, but Devi just stares over the rim of her ceramic mug, glaring. Not exactly the warm welcome I was hoping for, but alright.

I walk to the buffet and grab a plate. "How’s the arm?"

“Good. Fine.”

I sit beside her and squint at her dismissive behavior, trying to see past the fallen queen persona to the woman beneath. How much of it is really her, and how much is bravado?

The Queen of Hearts, holy and ruined all at once.

My cock tingles from the erotic dream I had while I was sleeping. In the dream, she tasted of wildfire honey, sweet and searing. I can still taste her skin under my tongue.

The line of her jaw where I placed so many imaginary kisses taunts me. Her mouth is parted, like she’s halfway between biting back a thought and speaking her mind. Her lashes cast thin shadows on her cheeks as she looks down at her hands.

The flex of her fingers on the handle of her coffee mug fascinates me. The curve of her spine when she shifts in her chair.

I can’t look away. The dream still lingers behind my eyes, rushing through my blood, hot and vivid.

I shouldn’t be thinking about it, but in the span of one night, I made love to her.

Revelled in the beauty of her smile at the altar.

Felt her tremble in ecstasy beneath me. Built an imaginary life with her that shattered in the blink of an eye.

What I suffered through this night should be outlawed, because now that I’ve gotten a taste, I crave it.

I want all of that and more .

Zeus help me, Devi Eros was never meant to be anyone’s. Yet, I want her to be mine. If this is the power of dreams, then the Shadow King is the most powerful king there is.

“I…dreamed,” I say, stabbing my fork into a sausage. “I’d forgotten what it was like.”

The threads of the Dreaming aren’t supposed to allow visitors from Faerie, but the destruction of the Eternal Chalice has changed the continent’s magic in ways we don’t yet understand.

Devi shifts in her seat, hugging her knees to her chest. “It’s nothing special to me.”

“Not a morning person, are we?” I crack.

“Just a fact. I’ve been living in the new world for decades.”

I grab the pitcher of water and pour myself a glass. “You’ve been having sex dreams for decades? That must be distracting.”

She narrows her eyes but keeps her tone light, as if she knows how much I like to rattle her and is working overtime not to give me what I want. “There are other kinds of dreams.”

The corners of my mouth twitch. “I wouldn’t know.”

Devi clearly isn’t used to being vulnerable. As one of the most powerful beings in the new world, I bet she’s forgotten what it’s like to be on equal footing with anyone.

“Where’s Percy?” I ask.

She plays with the silverware, the knife in her hand casting glints of light on the walls. “Sleeping in. He’s exhausted.”

If only she’d meet my gaze, I know I could thaw that icy exterior, the way I did yesterday.

Elio clears his throat, cutting through my botched flirting attempt. He stands, tossing his napkin over his plate. “Seth. A word.”

He steps through the passage leading to the courtyard, and I follow him outside. The day is pleasantly warm, the bright sunshine keeping the cold at bay.

The sun hits his face, and his eyes flutter shut. “I asked you to get her here in one piece. Not try to seduce her.”

I shrug off his concerns. “She’s Devi Eros. I’m smitten.”

More like besotted. Delirious. Obsessed.

“Ugh.” Elio pinches the bridge of his nose.

I tuck my hands in my pockets, stealing a glimpse of Devi and Lori through the windows. My abs clench.

Her dark skin glows with an inner light, every inch of her crafted to enthral and provoke. There’s perfection in the way she exists. I’ve spent most of my life trying to emulate such effortless confidence, but looking at her, I know I’ve always fallen short.

The stories warned me about her charisma, her power of fascination, luring hundreds of men in just so they could kneel at her feet. I thought I was above such manipulation, but in the brief time we’ve been acquainted, I’ve come to realize resistance is futile.

I will fall in love with Devi Eros. It’s just a matter of when. And how much of my soul will be lost to her forever.

The window frosts over, cutting my line of sight, and my gaze flies to Elio.

“She’s not like other women. She won’t be impressed by your seductive smiles and vapid jokes, so behave,” he says sternly.

A frown overpowers my face. His attitude reeks of disapproval, reminiscent of the blatant animosity that used to exist between us. I thought we’d moved past our mutual dislike.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were jealous.”

He sucks in air. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Yet there’s something here, isn’t there? What is Devi to you? An old flame?”

“Mind your own business.”

“You’re being uncharacteristically touchy about this, which says a lot given your baseline grumpiness. Devi’s a grown woman. She can make up her own mind about me.”

“I’m not—” He rubs his face and finally shakes his head. “Just stay away from her, Seth.”

Well, well. The plot thickens.

I watch him return to his wife’s side with a dubious smile and head off into the Winter gardens.

The soft ground shifts beneath my boots on my way to visit Iris, but I can’t help but be in awe of how the space has been transformed since I was last here. Even the sky is lighter, as though the weight of years of sorrows has been lifted from the land.

I thread to the statue watching over Iris’s grave.

Elio’s first queen is entombed in her glass coffin, her hands folded over her stomach, her painted red lips disgustingly vibrant compared toher chalky skin.

The world around her may be waking up, but she remains frozen in the shade of the Hawthorn, untouched by the sun.

A knot tightens in my chest as I read the bronze plaque underneath.

True love transcends crowns, blood, and flesh. It doesn’t care for common sense and doesn’t play by the rules. Love has no masters, only slaves.

- Elio Hades Lightbringer

Devi appears beside me without a sound. She gazes down at the bed of white feathers cradling Iris’s body but doesn’t flinch or turn away.

“Do you agree with that?” she asks, tracing the effigy.

“I bet you’re the type who thinks we have complete control over our hearts. Or rather, that you control them.”

“Mostly, yes. But I have to admit, no one can completely master true love.”

My gaze shifts to the three towers. The single window at the top of the tall, crooked keep where the king’s apartments are situated sends a shiver down my spine.

“I was there when Iris fell from the tower, you know,” I whisper.

“So was I.”

My eyes widen, and I open my mouth to ask how that’s possible, but she adds, “I kept to the shadows, of course. Freya wouldn’t have tolerated my presence. I came through the mirror to wish Iris a happy birthday—” She stops abruptly.

“Do you know how she fell? I hated Elio my whole adult life because I thought he pushed her,” I say.

“As I was exiting the sceawere, I heard a commotion and rushed upstairs…only to catch a glimpse of Iris’s dying form in the middle of the gardens.” She keeps her voice steady and calm, with no trace of emotion, and I know she’s rehearsed that speech many, many times before.

“But how did no one see you? Tons of people were watching the tower from below. My entire family was there?—”

“It’s nice to have family.” There’s a sharp edge to her voice, like I’m somehow to blame for her having none.

She probably thinks I got everything handed to me on a silver platter, apart from the family name.

“You forget, I grew up in the shadows as the bastard son of an adulterous Fae queen. For me, the concept of family is, at best, complicated,” I say.

“It’s laughable, really, that Freya ever hoped to get away with it. How did she plan to explain herself when you stopped aging?”

My eyes dart to the white, unripened frost apples dangling from the Hawthorn.

“My mother and Iris had it all figured out. Iris had received a Frost apple after her wedding to Elio, and she’d eaten it, but she told everyone she’d given it to me.

Of course, that lie was debunked the second I dissipated into a cloud, but their plan was actually clever.

If I hadn’t been a dual wielder, people would have continued to think of her as a full-blooded Fae, and me as the halfling, and no one would have been the wiser. ”

She moves away from Iris’s grave, her top lip curled in disgust. “Ugh. I’m so sick of your mother’s convoluted schemes.”

I chase after her. “Hey, at least she didn’t disavow me like my father did. I’m curious, you know. Sometimes, I wonder what would have happened if my mother hadn’t become queen. If you hadn’t been stripped of your title, maybe I would have had a completely different life.”

She digs her heels in the snow. “Your mother would have worked herself to death before she gave up scheming against me. If I hadn’t lost my crown, chances are you’d never have been born.” She picks up the pace, heading for the entrance of the maze.

Devi’s angry with me. Angry at my mother, angry at the world for all the damage it’s done to us. I don’t blame her. Maybe she deserves to be angry, but I’m not my mother, and I need her to see that.

“Elio wants me to keep my distance,” I confess.

Her brows raise.

“He warned me off you. Like a jealous lover,” I add, watching her reaction.

The corners of her eyes wrinkle with warmth. “Imagine that.”

“I told him you were old enough to make up your own mind about me.”

She chuckles softly, without thinking, and my chest swells with joy. I’m already hooked on that sound.

“Why did you act like a blushing bride at breakfast? Isn’t it time to put our plan in motion? Or are you holding back because of some old romantic tie with Elio?”

“I’m as much a blushing bride as you are a wallflower,” she jokes.

“You’re shying away from our deal. We don’t have much time.”

She opens her mouth, then closes it. “You’re right.” She laces our fingers and pulls me toward the entrance of the labyrinth. “Let’s take a quick walk, shall we?”

“Inside a frozen labyrinth?”

A dimple appears on her cheek. “Haven’t you noticed? It’s springtime.”

Devi isn’t a rose waiting to be picked, but a carnivorous plant in a field of simpering flowers. She doesn’t want a man with titles or a polished smile. She wants the marrow. The kind of power that sinks into the soil and grows teeth.

A dark shard of me bristles at the chance to show her exactly how wild and beautiful a storm can be.

“Byron’s watching,” she mouths quietly.

“Where?” I tilt my head toward the sky, but she tugs on my coat lapels, scolding me.

Be still my heart. I block her path, trapping her against the hedge. “So you’re into me now?”

She loops her arms around my neck. “Only for appearances.”

I lean in just a little. Her smooth brown lips gleam in the light. “What if we catch feelings?”

“You said there was no chance.”

“We just agreed that love has no masters,” I remind her.

She digs her nails into my scalp. “If you fall for me, it’ll destroy you. So don’t.”

“Consider me warned.” My gaze dips down to her cleavage, to the smooth expanse of skin there, and I trace the constellation of freckles running down her collarbone. “But what if you fall for me, first?” I breathe, inches from her lips.

“Don’t worry.” She boops my nose with a finger. “I’d kill you before that happened.”

It’s a game. A good one. If I kissed her here, beneath the cedar hedge with snow crunching beneath our feet, I’m almost certain I could win.

Her clever eyes remain locked on mine, unyielding. I should walk away, but she’s just so damn magnetic. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t actually plan to marry me. She thinks she can back out when the time comes.

I’ll change her mind.

Given her electric personality, I’ll certainly enjoy the challenge.