Destined for the Fae King (Courts of Faery #3)

Chapter 26

W hile the crowds are still thick, I ask about her and home. The new blond streaks in her hair? Something she tried for fun but won’t keep. The red lipstick is staying though. It’s her new favorite color. My brothers are racking up the sports accolades, and college scholarships look promising—thank God. And Mom has been baking up a storm. Selena swears she’s gained five pounds thanks to her snickerdoodle cookies, but I can’t see it.

The farther we walk, the more the crowds disburse, and I’m able to feed her some details on the competition in short whispers. The king has been fine. I’m not his favorite, but not the least favorite either. I’ve represented the family well. All good facts she can tell my uncle later when he grills her. Because he totally will.

Selena nods along through the updates, nonplussed.

“So have you two…” She waggles her eyebrows and nudges me.

I roll eyes in return. “The dowager is a little old-fashioned and gave us strict no-sex rules.” That I don’t think anyone has broken. “But I did kiss him.”

“And?” She leans in, giving me a serious look. “I need details.”

“It was…” I shrug .

She cringes. “ Ay! So, he’s a bad kisser. Not looking forward to that for the rest of your life?”

Decidedly not, but I didn’t drag her out here to talk about a lackluster kiss. I pull in a deep breath. “The thing is…” I lean in to whisper directly in her ear. “He’s not the only person I’ve kissed.”

“ Santa mierda! ” She screeches then claps her hands over her mouth.

“Selena!” I look around. Thankfully, no one seems to be nearby.

She grabs my arms and practically pulls me down onto the nearby bench. “Mira. Seriously. Oh my God.”

“Yeah, I know.”

She drops my arms now that we’re seated, and I bury my face in my hands.

“You can’t leave me hanging.” Selena shakes me. “Dish. Now. Right now.”

I peek out from behind my hands. “You cannot tell your dad.”

“Psh.” She blows air through her lips. “Of course not. He’d blow a gasket, and I don’t want to deal with that, much less have it come back on you or your mom. Your secrets are safe with me.” She holds up one hand. “Scout’s honor.”

I drop my hands and give her a sideways look. “You were never a scout. And isn’t that Boy Scouts anyway?”

She shrugs. “You get the point.”

Yeah, I do. And I trust her more than anyone. So, we have the quietest conversation possible about Lysandir. I tell her everything, from our first terrible meeting that she witnessed, to our encounters in the library, seeing him play with the kids, him teaching me yard games, the kiss I can never forget, last night, and finally what I learned about from the king moments ago .

“Damn.” She leans back when I finish. “I thought we were headed straight for a happy for now ending there for a minute, and you have to go and drop the whole mate bombshell.”

“Selena!” I hiss.

She swats playfully at me. “You worry too much. We’ve seen all of—what?—two people come by? We’ve got to be at the back of this place. Besides, no one knows who I’m talking about.”

“Still.”

“Fair enough.” She holds up her hands in surrender. “But damn.”

I lean back on the wooden bench with a sigh. “Exactly.”

We’re silent for a moment, staring at the giant glass beastie nearby, which looks like a cross between a hippo and tiger, all striped and generously proportioned.

Selena looks over at me. “Maybe there could be a little fling in the future?”

Until his mate shows up. She doesn’t say the last part, but she doesn’t need to.

“A little hard to do that when…” I raise my wrist and tap my bond mark.

She shrugs one shoulder. “After?”

It was always going to be after anyway, wasn’t it? It’s not like I could be hooking up with the prince behind his brother’s back, especially not in Faery where everyone’s sense of smell is ridiculous and there’s a little thing called a mark, a magical mating bond, that can appear if two people are intimate with one another. Pretty sure that would be impossible to hide and very damning.

“Maybe,” I say at last. If the future was always leading there, why does it hurt so much to admit it now? “He mentioned liking someone else from long ago, though I hoped—”

Selena flings out her hand and grabs my arm. I fall silent. Then I hear it, a small laugh, the crunch of footsteps after.

We sit quietly, waiting for them to move on. Though I suppose we actually should be getting back to the celebration before we’re missed. I’m about to suggest as much when some of the approaching people’s conversation catches my attention.

“You’re really sure what you’ve seen cannot be changed?” a woman asks.

“What I see always comes true, in one way or another, and this vision was quite clear.”

I jolt in the seat and clasp my hand over my mouth to stifle a gasp. Lysandir. But who is the woman? I pull my bottom lip between my teeth, angry at myself over the jealousy that immediately flares in my chest. Not yours, Mira .

Selena gives me a funny look.

I drop my hand and mouth, Lysandir .

It takes a moment to sink in, but I know the second it does. Her eyes widen, her mouth drops open, and she hikes a finger behind us toward the backside of some large glass animal that the bench is positioned against. I nod, straining my ears to listen. Both of us shift in our seats, turning to look behind us.

Two figures draw still, their silhouettes visible beyond the colorful translucent glass. With any luck, they won’t be able to notice Selena and me, especially if we hold still.

“Then don’t you think you should just tell her?” the woman asks. “Or your brother?”

“And surrender to fate?” The sorrow in Lysandir’s voice is so deep it makes my chest ache.

Her . Oh God. Has he already met his mate? Is that what he was trying to tell me last night?

The woman crosses her arms. “It sounds like you’re doing that already. ”

“Yes, he’s good at that.” Tharin? I can’t see him, but that’s definitely his voice.

A low, growling, grumble echoes from beyond, raising some of the fine hairs along my arms.

“So touchy.” The woman walks away, her silhouette disappearing.

“I just…” Lysandir’s head drops. “I kept hoping to find a way around it, but I feel like I’m running out of time.”

“So why aren’t you out there spending what time you have with her then?” the woman asks.

I suck in a breath and turn fully in the seat. My stomach plummets, and my shoulders sag. Not his mate. Not the horrible woman he wants to get away from. They’re talking about the one he gave his heart to. Someone he must care about a great deal. She’s here. Tonight.

“Because that will lead to more pain and heartache for everyone involved.” The bitterness in Tharin’s tone is sharp as a blade.

“You talk about her like she’s a curse,” Lysandir snaps.

“Isn’t she?” he retorts.

Something hard slams against the glass structure in front of us. A crack rushes down the surface in front of my face. I let out a startled screech. Too late, I clap my hand over my mouth. In horror, I turn to stare at Selena. Her eyes are wide, a hand over her mouth as well. Did she scream too or just me?

But it doesn’t matter. One or both, it’s enough to condemn our eavesdropping.

Tharin is the first around the corner. Fae light reflects off his drawn blade. With a quick scan of the area, he zones in on us, blade lowering .

A heartbeat later, Lysandir rushes around the corner, a stunning woman on his heels. And not just any woman. It’s Wren, the beautiful consort of the King of Air.

Lysandir skids to a halt, his eyes widening.

Shit. I don’t even know what to say, where to begin.

Tharin sheaths his sword before crossing his arms to stare at us—or rather, me. “You have a bad habit of listening in on conversations in gardens.”

A flush of embarrassment races up my neck to my cheeks. Just call me out, why don’t you? What I wouldn’t give to be able to shift away like some of the fae can.

“Your fault for talking in a public place,” Selena replies with impressive casualness.

Wren tips her head to the side and glances at the men. “She has a point.”

Tharin frowns, but Lysandir doesn’t seem to hear her. In fact, he hasn’t reacted to a thing anyone has said since they appeared. He’s just continued to stare at me, that same look of barely muted horror etched on his features.

“Mira.” My name falls from his lips like a prayer, but I can’t image how he could be the embarrassed one in this situation. He’s not the one literally sitting here hoping to vanish.

“Oh!” Wren’s head whips around. “ You’re Mira?”

The words are so full of meaning that it takes me a moment to digest them. But it’s the look in her eyes that makes everything slam into place with jarring awareness.

I shift my attention to Lysandir. He grimaces, his eyes closing as he tilts his head down. His hands ball into fists at his side before releasing, his eyes flying open as they do, his gaze focused solely on me. A glow flares from him, bright then gone, like his resolve slipped for the briefest moment .

Oh. Oh God.

“You… I’m…” I stammer, taking a step back, as puzzle pieces crash into me so hard they threaten to steal my breath.

“Mira?” From the corner of my eye, I see Selena step closer.

But I don’t turn. I can’t look away from the male in front of me and everything that’s suddenly, painfully clear, like fog rolling back to reveal a graveyard.

Tharin mutters some curse and turns away.

“It’s me. You were talking about me. I’m your…” Mate. The last word sticks, bitter, dirty, and hard as a rock on my tongue.

His mate. The one he didn’t want. The one he entered a deadly competition to be freed of.

No wonder he tried to be rid of me that first night and prevent me from entering the competition.

He doesn’t want me here. He never has. Any feelings, any emotions… It’s just been biology, fate. Nothing real, nothing meaningful.

My legs no longer want to hold me up, and I wobble. Lysandir races forward, reaching for me, but I recoil. The motion has me careening back, falling, but the damnable man is faster, managing to scoop an arm around me and pull me to his chest before I tumble to the ground.

The warmth, strength, and gentleness of his hold make my body into a traitor. It wants to stay there, to cling to him, to bury my face in his chest and cry.

But my mind is screaming. Mate. Unwanted mate.

Maybe he can hear that, or sense it, because he lingers for only a moment, just long enough to steady me on my feet again before stepping back. It’s only when cool air rushes between us that I can breathe again, that my body remembers how to move on its own .

Bits of quiet conversation float around me, but the first words I make out are my cousin saying, “Maybe we should give you two a few minutes?”

“Yes.” Lysandir swallows. “But not here.”

We’re lucky enough that no one else has stumbled upon us, but someone could be listening. In this maze of a place, it’s hard to tell, and fae hearing is so much better than a human’s. The last rational part of my mind reminds me of that. It may be the only thing keeping a leash on my tongue and all the questions and accusations I want to fling at the prince. Keeping them in only makes my skin burn hotter and the tears trying to form at the corners of my eyes sting more.

It’s Wren of all people who rushes up to me and takes my hands in hers. It’s entirely too comforting, given that we haven’t properly met. “Tell Tharin that you have a headache and need a few minutes before you return to the party.”

My brows draw together and I blink at her. “What?”

“He can’t lie.” She looks over her shoulder at Tharin, who now stands at Lysandir’s side just a few steps away, then back at me. “But you can tell him something that he can tell others, should they ask about where you’ve gone. Right?”

He sighs. “Seems like we’re too far in to go back now.”

“Then you can have a moment.” This time, she glances over at Lysandir. “And he can explain some things?”

The look she gives him could peel paint. A queen in the making indeed.

That hard stare has softened completely when she looks back at me. “These fae and their secrets.” She shakes her head with a sigh, finally releasing my hands to gesture at Tharin. “Go on.”

He crosses his arms but nods at me .

“I…” It takes a moment to find my voice. “I have a headache and need some quiet. I’ll come back to the party in a little bit?” The words finally spill out of my mouth, but my voice doesn’t even sound like mine. I’m a world away.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll go back with them,” Selena says. If anyone can handle herself, it’s her. A techy she may be, but an introvert she is not. “Actually…” she slides up next to Wren like a kid to the ice cream counter. “I’ve been dying to talk to you.”

“Talk while we walk.” Tharin ushers them toward the pathway. “Our absence is likely already noted.”

I watch them go. The moment they are out of sight, Lysandir extends a hand to me. “Mira.”

The watering in my eyes increases. My chest grows tight. But I refuse to cry in front of him. I want to smack his hand away, to berate him for leading me on when he’s obviously tried to move heaven and earth to avoid me. But more than anything, I need answers.

So, I take his hand.