Page 37 of The Queen The Fae Forgot
He stood, finally, his jaw set so firmly that I could see the muscles twitch beneath his skin.
“Was that what this was all about?” he growled now, voice barely more than a whisper. “Why you came to me?”
I shrank back from him, my eyes darting around the room as I tried to come up with the words to counter his accusation.
But nothing came.
Shiel’s face darkened further, and he stepped away from me completely. He turned his head, looking away from me as if he could no longer stand to look at me and what I had done.
“I want to know what happened while you were with Icarus,” he said finally, his voice low and full of anger. “Every detail.”
My mouth opened, but I couldn’t find the words. I couldn’t find it in me to tell him how it felt to draw close to Icarus again, how it felt each time we were alone. How even though I knew everything about being with the fae Lord of the Wildness was wrong, I couldn’t find it in myself to resist him.
Even when it meant risking the one thing I’d risked everything else for.
I couldn’t answer Shiel, but that was answer enough.
“I knew it,” Shiel hissed at me, a sharpness in his tone I’d never heard before. His golden eyes had taken on a light from within, a dangerous glow that made my stomach knot. I felt myself shrinking again. I wanted to curl up and disappear.
“You used me,” he spat, his voice so low I almost didn’t hear it. The accusation stung, and I felt tears prickling at the corners of my eyes.
“No,” I whispered, my voice barely audible even to myself. “I would never do that. I didn’t come here to—”
I tried to deny it, to explain—but it only made Shiel angrier. He stepped closer to me, his eyes blazing with fury.
“Don’t lie to me,” he spat out between gritted teeth. “I can see the truth in your eyes.”
It felt like a slap in the face, because part of me had started to wonder if he was right. I wanted to apologize—to beg for his forgiveness—but all I could do was stand there, silent and ashamed. Had I come here to seek the comfort I couldn’t get from Icarus? Was it the heat between me and the dark fae that had reignited, not one that had been growing between Shiel and I all these weeks?
Shiel’s gaze softened slightly then, though the anger still simmered beneath the surface. He shook his head slowly, as if trying to find the words that would make sense of what had just happened between us. But no words came, nothing that could make this right again.
So, instead, he broke me further.
“You commanded me.”
My eyes widened, his accusation so clear and so damning, it made bile burn at the back of my throat.
“Howdareyou?”
I croaked out the words like they were poison themselves. I was on my feet now, too, my skin burning hot with a rage that matched the fae lord before me.
“How dare you accuse me of that? Of forcing you.”
“Did you not?” Shiel’s answer came too fast. “How would I know?
My mouth hung open for a moment. “Because it’s me, Shiel,” I snapped back. “Because I wouldn’t do that to you. You know me.”
Shiel just tilted his head back so that he looked down at me, the outer corner of his mouth turning up slightly. “I thought I did.”
The pain of his words stabbed into me as keenly as any blade.
He saw the pain on my face, the horror, and the rage on his face dimmed. He reached for me, tried to say something, but I wouldn’t listen.
I left Shiel without saying anything. I turned on my heel and fled, ignoring his calls for me to stop. It was cruel, I knew, but not as cruel as his words that had lodged themselves into my steadily bleeding heart.
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
I charged out,slamming the doors open with enough force to make the walls shudder. The roar of their closing echoed in my ears as I nearly ran straight into two guards marching past, barely noticing their stunned expressions until it was too late. One of the guards stepped up to block my way, a scowl firmly planted on his face.
