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

Chapter 32

I barely register walking to my room or the palace around me. I don’t think as I grab the handle of my door, push it open, and step inside.

The first indication that something is wrong is a soft moan and the sight of shadowed movement on the bed in the dimly lit room.

I freeze. My stomach plummets. Anger and jealousy rear up within me until one of the figures sits up with a sharp gasp.

“Mira?” Alex stares at me in horror.

A feminine squeak comes from farther in the bed.

Oh God. All my shock and fury snuffs out in a moment, melted into a tide of embarrassment that has my skin burning.

Wrong room. I’m in the wrong fucking room!

I turn on my heel and lurch back out the door, pulling it shut behind me. In the hallway, I glance around and quickly spot my error. One room too soon.

Grace’s room…

One of the guards pacing near the end of the hall stops. “Lady Mira, do you need—”

“We’re good,” I call, a little bit of near hysterical laughter bubbling out. I’m at my door a heartbeat later, throwing it open, rushing inside, and almost slamming it behind me. I lean back on it for support. My heart pounds in my ears.

What did I just see? I ask the dimly lit room. But I know. They’ve been close the whole time. Just friends, I thought. After all, they came here to marry the king, right? Didn’t they?

A knock reverberates through the door. I yelp, jumping away from it.

“Mira?” Alex calls through the wood. “Can I come in?”

Oh my God. I buy my face in my hands. As if this day could get any worse.

The door cracks open, and I hear another voice, this one barely as whisper. “We just need a minute.”

Grace.

Damn it. The last thing we need is the guards getting curious.

“Yeah. Come in,” I squeak.

They slip inside and close the door but linger just inside it. Grace’s hair is a little disheveled, but otherwise no one could tell what they’d been up to. They’re both wearing casual human nightwear—a baggy shirt and shorts for Grace, a hoody and long sleep pants for Alex—but that’s not unusual on our hall at night. Awkward silence fille the short distance between us.

Finally, I break it.

“Sorry. I got the wrong room.” Of all the times to not lock the damn door. I hold up my hands. “I didn’t—” see anything .

And technically that’s true, but we all know that I know exactly what was happening in there.

I sigh. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

They look between one another, some silent conversation happening. Grace gives a weak smile.

Alex’s jaw stiffens, and she twists to look at me. “Why wouldn’t you? Tell anyone, that is. ”

“Why would I?” I counter.

“To narrow your competition.”

I nearly snort. Right. Which might be valid if I was a total bitch and actually wanted to marry the king, but I don’t. Not that fate gives a damn about what I want.

“Trust me, I have no intention of doing that.” I wander across the room and sit heavily on the edge of my bed, the weight of everything nearly crushing.

Alex and Grace share another look.

“Why?” Grace asks carefully as she crosses the room to stand near the end of the bed. Her brows are still furrowed, her head cocked to the side. I guess I’d be confused by me too if I were her.

“Maybe I don’t want to marry the king either.”

“Really?” She looks taken aback. “Though I never said I was opposed to marrying him.”

I blink at her, dumbfound. “Huh?”

“I, we—” She looks at Alex, who has come to stand at her side. “We don’t plan to leave Faery. Ever.”

“Grace…” Alex gives her a hard look.

The shorter woman shrugs. “I think we can trust her.”

Alex swears under her breath. “I hope you’re right.”

“So, you two are a thing? But you also want to marry the king?” Two and two are not making four, but they might add up to a different number. “Like a threesome?”

Alex groans. “Let’s just go.”

“No wait, seriously,” I hop off the bed. “I’m sorry. I’m just confused.”

“I’ll explain.” Grace brushes past Alex to sit on the edge of my bed and pulls me down next to her. “Our families have always been close, which is how we became friends.” She smiles at Alex. “And then more than friends. But they’re also both super strict about coven rules and such. They stick to the old ways.”

She says it as if I should understand, but I don’t really.

Alex must realize that because she says, “Gifted daughters have one real use—breeding.” She all but spits the word. “Either you go to Faery and make a match with a powerful fae and bare his little magically gifted faelings, or you stay on Earth, make a good match with a gifted man, and bear his kids.”

Continue the line on Earth or become a tribute to the fae. It’s so old-fashioned, so… backward. But isn’t that what my family has done too? If I didn’t go to Faery, Selena might have been forced to. And doesn’t my uncle dislike my mom just because she’s not gifted? Because my father sullied our family line with her non-gifted blood?

“But isn’t marrying the king just following through on that?” I ask.

“Sort of,” Grace admits. “But the king doesn’t really favor humans. It’s why he’s put this off for so long. When he does take a human bride, I doubt he’ll be the picture of an attentive husband. He’s not…” Her breath catches. “Well, he did care for…” She breaks off with a sniffle.

For Bailey. I take her hand in mine. Alex drops onto the bed on her other side, wrapping an arm around her.

“Sorry,” Grace says after a moment.

“Don’t be,” I reply. I still feel like part of my chest has been ripped open. Talking about it, thinking about it, makes it much worse.

“We thought,” Alex continues for her, “that we’d have a better chance of being together here than on Earth, where our families forbid it. It was run away and try to start a new life with nothing or come here and hope for something better. Either one of us marries the king and uses our influence to keep the other around, meet the king’s needs when we have to, but otherwise be together. Or neither of us gets picked but we still earn enough of the king’s favor that he’ll let us stay and be together, despite what our families might demand after the competition.”

“Damn. That’s…” Even their most optimistic outcomes seem rough, and I hate it for them. Fighting for a man you don’t want just so you can stay with your lover? How awful that must be. “I’m sorry for all that you’ve had to go through. You should be able to be together because you love one another. That should be enough.”

“Maybe since you know about us,” Grace says, “you could help?”

“Yes. If I can, I will. But how can I?”

“If the king picks you, use your power as queen to make sure we can stay.” She glances over at Alex, her gaze full of love. “Together.”

How ironic that fate says I will be. I hate it. I dread it. But maybe I can make something good come from my fate. “I will. I promise. No marriage to some fae or anyone else required.”

Grace beams like all their problems have been solved.

“So damn optimistic,” Alex grumbles, but I catch the hint of adoration in her gaze as she stares at Grace.

For the first time in hours—days—the tightness around my chest loosens.

“So, you really don’t want to marry the king?” Grace asks.

Uh oh. Should have figured she’d remember that. “He’s…not my type?”

“Oh. You’re a lesbian too?” Alex peers over at me.

“Hey now,” Grace scolds her.

Alex ruffles her hair. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”

Grace huffs but looks at me, waiting for an answer.

“No, sorry.” I don’t know why I’m apologizing. “More like I like someone else? ”

The flush of embarrassment is back again, and I can’t seem to make anything come out a statement. In fact, I suddenly feel like I’ve fallen back in time to my preteen years when I had a sleepover at Selena’s house and was too embarrassed to say which member of the boy band I thought was the hottest.

“So, your family pushed you into the competition?” Grace asks. “I was wondering why we hadn’t met you before. He’s not gifted, I take it?”

This only makes my cheeks flame hotter. She’s way wrong, and I should let her run with those conclusions. It’d be smarter, safer, but for some reason I whisper, “The prince.”

“Harry?” Grace’s brows pinch.

I run my palms down my face. “Lysandir.”

Both of them stare at me wide-eyed.

“Well damn,” Alex remarks.

“Oh. Oh!” Grace bounces on the bed and looks like she’s about to combust with the need to say something more.

I grimace. “Yeah, so maybe don’t tell anyone?”

“You keep our secrets, and we’ll keep yours,” Alex promises.

“But oh my God, we have to talk about this!” Grace grabs my arm and gives it a little shake, her whole body still vibrating with excitement. “I mean, he is always around you, but I thought that maybe he didn’t trust you after that whole thing at the induction ceremony.” She leans in closer. “Does he like you? Is it one-sided?”

“Uh…” I lean back, trying to put some much needed space between us.

“When did all of this start?” Grace presses. “Does he know?”

The panic welling up in me must be written on my face because Alex gently tugs Grace off me and pulls her off the bed and toward the door.

“Settle down now, kitten,” Alex says .

“But I— We—” She gestures between herself and me.

“Later.” She urges her toward the door. “Good night, Mira,” she says to me.

“Good night.” I give a little wave. And thank you a million for making this discussion stop.

Grace sighs. “But you have to tell me more sometime. Okay?”

A brittle smile twitches at the corner of my lips. “Um, okay.”

“Out.” Alex gives her a gentle shove toward the door, and then finally they’re gone.

But the minute the door closes behind them and silence settles over the room once more, it doesn’t take long for the horrors of the day to slink back through the shadows to haunt me.