Page 25 of The Queen The Fae Forgot
I looked up at him, my eyes wide and trembling, and saw the same raw intensity reflected back at me.
I gasped again, my voice as raw as I felt inside. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Normally, a fae couldn’t. Not unless they were in your court. Not unless you had the same glamour.”
I reached out and flexed my fingers as inside, I reached for my glamour. I found only the new glamour, but it now ran inside the veins that I’d thought were only reserved for the one I’d inherited.
“But I think you’ve learned by now that I’m not just any fae.”
My eyes widened and something like excitement welled up inside me, the endless possibilities that this presented dying the moment my gaze landed on the blackening tips of Icarus’ fingers. He tried to draw them back, to hide them from me, but he was too late.
So, instead, he leaned in closer, his lips brushing against my ear as he whispered, “Now, My Storm. Command me.”
My mind was a jumbled mess of desire and fear, but I knew what I had to do. I closed my eyes and focused, drawing on the newfound power within me. And then, in a voice that shook with emotion, I spoke the words that would bind Icarus to the truth.
“From this moment forward, Icarus, Lord of the Wildness, you will tell me no lies. You will speak nothing to me but the truth, keeping no secrets, until the moment that door behind me opens and we are no longer alone, you and I.”
I was careful to speak the command so that it bound us only together for now, for this specific moment. He’d given me his trust, and I wanted to repay him in kind. It felt better that way.
This time, when I commanded the fae, I didn’t feel guilt.
I felt, instead, a thrill, a tingle as I felt the glamour take hold of Icarus and saw the slight shudder that wracked his body as he registered it.
And I registered it, too.
For the first time since I’d met Icarus, since I’d metanyof the fae who’d lorded over me, controlled me, or tried to gain some advantage from me, I was the one in control. I shouldn’t have enjoyed the feeling, I tried to deny, even to myself, that I enjoyed the feeling.
But I did.
It excited me in a way that terrified me more than anything.
This was what it truly felt like to wield the throne’s power.
CHAPTERNINE
“Now,Aurra. You know fate won’t leave us alone for long.”
I opened my eyes and met his gaze once more, feeling the weight of his words. He was right, of course. Fate had a way of meddling in my affairs, twisting and turning until everything was once again upended, leaving chaos in its wake. And I knew that our time together, alone and bound by truth, was already quickly running out.
I wanted to savor this moment, this feeling of power and control. I wanted to explore this newfound part of myself, but I couldn’t waste the opportunity that had been handed right to me. So, as much as I wanted to give into this moment, to surrender to this feeling, I instead closed my eyes to focus, took a steadying breath, and asked the one thing I so most desperately needed to know.
“What is your plan in all this, really?” I asked. “Not some small part of it. All of it. Your grand scheme, the end you wish to accomplish.”
When I opened my eyes again, it was to find Icarus looking at me with a mix of awe and—dare I even think it—reverence. It was a look I’d never seen before on him, certainly never directed at me. It made my heart race and my stomach flutter in a way that made my skin flush with heat.
“You’re incredible,” Icarus said, his voice barely above a whisper. “So much stronger than you realize.”
I felt that warmth spread further through me at his words. “I don’t feel strong,” I admitted.
“That’s because you’ve never had the chance to truly use your power. But now …” He trailed off, his eyes darkening with a hunger that matched my own.
“Now what?” I asked, taking a step closer to him.
“Now we have the chance to do something great,” he said, his voice low and seductive. “You asked me what my grand plans are? What I aim to accomplish at the end of all this?”
I nodded, my breath catching slightly as I looked into those dark eyes of his widening slightly as he stared off through me for a moment, to something only he could see.
“Would you believe me if I told you it was to change the faerie courts of Luxia, to make it better for all of us.”
