Page 25 of The Crown of a Fallen Queen (Curse of the Fae #4)

Assassin

DEVI

I t cuts that Elio invited Seth and not me.

I keep busy after their departure, waving cheekily at my ex-lieutenants from my tall seat at the bar.

The members of the Spring Fae delegation stick to their corner, watching me with glum, fearful looks.

The lot of them turn my stomach. If I ever take back my crown, I’ll make sure they suffer for their betrayal.

Percy stares down my second shadow mule cocktail, arms braced on his hips, wings flicking impatiently at his back. “Is it a good idea to get pissed right now?”

“Good idea or not, it’ll be more fun.”

He lands on the back of my hand, stopping me from taking another swig. “You’re upset they only invited Seth to their little meeting, aren’t you?”

He knows me too well.

“It’s offensive,” I grumble, switching hands to finish the drink.

Percy scolds me. “It’s good enough they didn’t arrest us.”

I open my mouth to argue, but he adds, “I’m not saying we deserve it, but they’ve never been smart or fair to begin with. Freya downright tried to murder you in front of everyone. I’m not letting you out of my sight again.”

Beth sits next to us and hails the bartender. “I’ll have whatever she’s having,” she tells him, and he nods, stealing not-too-discreet glimpses at her.

I tip my glass in her direction. “You’re more famous than me, these days.”

Beth went from being an outsider to the most famous singer in all the worlds, and a part of me resents her rise to fame, especially since it unfolded in parallel with my harsh fall from grace.

A wry grin curls her red-painted lips. “Are you jealous?”

She’s loved and praised for her talents, adored by the masses while I’m being persecuted and feared. You bet I’m jealous. “Jealous of you?” I wrinkle my nose as though she’s lost her mind.

She peeks at my flock of haters. “You and Seth… It’s all for show, isn’t it?”

Why can’t anyone wrap their minds around the fact that Seth and I want to marry? He’s hot. I’m Devi Eros. He won’t rule without me, and I won’t be pardoned without him.

“Why do you say that?” I quip. “Is it so hard to believe I’m into him?”

“Don’t you think we’ve had enough of these arranged weddings?”

I scoff at the tiredness in her tone. “Last I heard, your husband was going to marry someone else. That explains your bias, I bet.”

Elizabeth Snow spent the last few decades in exile—by choice. She can pretend to be in tune with Faerie politics mere days after her return.

“Call it bias if you want, but it’s a recipe for disaster,” she says.

I slide to my feet, eager to walk away from this conversation. “Because you have the monopoly on love? I don’t love Seth yet , but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t learn to.”

Her eyes widen, like she never expected me to mention love at all, and she chases after me. “Aidan wants to save Willow. That’s all he’s been talking about since the attack on the capital.”

“And what if she doesn’t want to be saved?”

Beth chews on her bottom lip. “She wants Ethan dead above all else.”

“Who could argue with that?” I snicker.

Beth grips my wrists, forcing me to a halt, and scolds me with a stern look. “Willow used to worship you. I know Ethan hurt her, but isn’t there a way to bring her back?”

Beth and Willow were close at the academy. She was Willow’s kindred at her wedding, and my heart gives a painful, forlorn thud, remembering that clusterfuck.

“Listen, moth. I get it. I want Willow back, too. But if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that you can’t heal someone—can’t bring them back to life—no matter how much you love them, if they don’t want you to.”

“If someone could, I think it’d be you. Or Ezra.” Her gaze softens.

Ezra again. By Eros, I need to thread carefully. “Ezra can’t help us now.”

The royals return to the ballroom far sooner than expected, Seth and Elio at the back of the line. My fiancé’s bright smile has dimmed to a sullen pout.

“Everything alright?” I ask.

His sharp nod means everything but fine .

Aidan hurries to Beth’s side and places a hand on her back—his movements subtle but urgent—just as Ethan Lightbringer joins our circle.

His arrival steals the oxygen from the air.

His bite of power hits like altitude sickness, causing a thin, sharp pain along my ribs, the same breathless pressure felt in his city above the clouds.

The hairs on my arms stand to attention.

“Violet. Hi. It’s been a while.”

“Hello, Ethan.”

Few here know why this vicious, soulless king once voted for my exile and not my execution.

No one ever entertained the idea that a chalk-white king could sire a girl with dark brown skin, and that failure of imagination turned out to be the best shield I could hope for. Their bias worked in my favor.

They never looked too closely at how I managed to sneak around the Royal Academy unnoticed. Never questioned why I was so good at eavesdropping, or why I was the only one who didn’t fawn over his picture-perfect first-born son, while every other girl was desperate to spread their legs for him.

“Aidan. Miss Snow,” Ethan says in his usual glacial tone. “I see you two finally got married.”

Beth’s fists clench at her sides, the siren barely contained. “Yes. In spite of all your help .”

“It’s all in the past now. We have to pull together—” Ethan stops, his gaze landing on Lori.

The Winter Queen is chatting quietly with Damian near the exit, the two of them clearly well-acquainted.

Ethan drinks in the sight of her and sips his drink with the slow, focused intent of someone who wishes he were draining her dry.

“—in these difficult times,” he finishes.

Lori turns to look as though she felt him staring, and her bright smile falls from her face.

The dark light in Ethan’s eyes, the way he studies Lori, his gaze dipping down the lapels of her pantsuit, dries my mouth. He can surely see the dark soul that has nestled inside her body, and he’s not only curious about it, but thrilled .

He’s found a new prey, and licks his lips. “Excuse me. I need to meet my son’s latest wife…”

I could punch him for his gleeful tone and swallow hard at my mistake.

I should’ve stopped them from meeting altogether.

I should have convinced Elio to keep Lori locked in her room for the duration of the summit.

Because with a dark soul inside her, she falls under Ethan’s purview, and he might offer to help her, to cleanse her of it, but Eros knows what he’d want in return.

“She’s in danger. We need to run interference.” Beth clasps her husband’s arm and follows after Ethan, clearly determined to keep him from hurting yet another woman.

“Should we go after them?” Seth asks, but a soft nudge on my shoulder calls my attention away, and my heart somersaults.

“Devi,” Damian whispers my name in an intimate, brutal way that flips my stomach. His golden eyes stare into my soul—molten and endless. The dark swirls inked behind his ears are a living picture of the lazy nights we spent back at the academy, sharing secrets and plotting revolutions.

Seth glowers at the Shadow King, his arm snaking around my shoulder in a pointless show of testosterone. “Hey, D. What’s up? Where’s Nell?”

Damian doesn’t even spare him a glance. “Would you give us a minute, Seth?”

Finally, someone from my past who’s not miraculously best buddies with my fiancé. I was beginning to wonder if Seth had charmed everyone I’d ever known as part of his evil plan to wed me.

“To do what?” Seth asks, voice tight. “I need to speak with her alone, too. And soon,” he warns.

“And I’ll be back before you know, darling . Let’s take a walk around the gardens.” I slip from Seth’s embrace and hook my arm around Damian’s, tugging him along.

The look of betrayal on Seth’s face pinches my gut, but he’s not allowed to act so territorial. Not when we’ve only known each other for less than forty eight hours and Damian is happily married to someone else.

Damian and I stroll into the gardens, our boots denting the soft, melting snow.

Spring is really starting to break through the frost. Pale shoots unfurl from the Hawthorn’s branches, delicate, feather-like flowers daring to bloom at the ends.

Above us, silver and gold snowflakes drift in the late afternoon breeze.

Puddles stretch between the stones, reflecting a sky the color of thaw.

It’s beautiful in a quiet, aching way, the way the world tries again after a long, painful slumber, much like the man next to me.

Once we’re hidden by the hedges, I squeeze his upper arm over his black tunic. “You look good, Samhain. How did you do it? How did you break your curse?”

“Nell did. She’s the most infuriating woman I’ve ever known, and she changed me. Taught me how to love again, to let go of the past. She’s…everything.”

I take a good look at his heart. The moving shadow that was there has been replaced by an emerald-green glow, and my breath hitches. He’s in love, and not the kind of love that fades. By some twist of fate, he’s found the one.

If a part of me was holding onto the infinitesimal possibility that we might ever rekindle what we had, it’s extinguished here, seeing his whole face come alive. And I’m glad for him. This beautiful man suffered enough at my hands.

“You married your mystery girl after all.”

“Yes.”

Last time I saw him, he confided her existence, but we were both pessimistic about his chances.

“I’m happy for you,” I whisper.

The light in his eyes speeds up my heart. If Damian managed to rid himself of his curse, if Elio is finally happily married, it gives one cursed Fae reason to hope…

“What about you and Seth?” Damian grimaces like the thought of us together is highly unpalatable, and while the others’ meddling irked my nerves, he’s allowed to feel this way.

“It’s a long story.”