by Sophie Stern
“This is your life,” he says. Wyatt nears me.
Closer.
He inches closer, and closer, until I can feel his breath on my face. The moment is strange and uncomfortable. I want it to be over. I want to fight him. Kill him. I want to destroy him the way he has so perfectly managed to destroy me. I want to take everything from him the way he has taken everything from me.
The reality is that I feel angry when I look at Wyatt. I feel a deep-rooted hatred I don’t think I can ever be rid of. More importantly, I don’t think I should be rid of it. He hurt me more deeply than anyone has ever hurt another person. He has slaughtered my heart and now he wants to slaughter my kingdom.
I feel a blade pressing against my belly, and I look down at the knife in his hand. I realize that this is it. We failed. We didn’t stop him. I thought I could fight him. I thought that perhaps I would have a chance to a fair fight.
I thought maybe, just maybe, the two of us could battle. I thought perhaps I would have the opportunity to face the man who so desperately feels the need to take my entire world from me.
Just maybe.
“For king and country,” Wyatt whispers. I feel the blade press slightly into me. I know this is it. This is the moment I die. Somehow, I thought it would be different. I thought I would be old and surrounded by a loving wife and a gaggle of children. I thought I would have grandchildren and memories and a wonderful legacy that made my family proud.
I didn’t think it would be this.
I didn’t think I would die in a throne room surrounded by demons.
Surrounded by monsters.
Surrounded by people who despise me and everything I stand for.
I nod and close my eyes. I would have given almost anything for one more day with Rose. We met far too late and had too little time together. She really is fantastic. She really is the most perfect creature I’ve ever laid my eyes on.
“I loved you,” I say to Wyatt. Together, we were brothers. We were unstoppable. We could have ruled the world, he and I. It didn’t have to be this way.
“You shouldn’t have,” he says. I feel him tense, and I tighten my body. I prepare myself for the pain that’s about to tear through my stomach, but it doesn’t come. Instead, I hear a gagging noise, and I open my eyes to see Wyatt’s mouth open and his eyes wide. His knife drops to the floor. I am unharmed.
Rose steps out from behind him and I see the blood on her clothing. It’s dripping from the dagger in her hand. She looks at Wyatt and shakes his head.
“Fuck you,” she whispers.
Then all hell breaks loose.
Chapter 16
Rose
The demons seem to realize what I’ve done to their lord and master, but it’s a moment too late because Wyatt is absolutely, undeniably dead. He’s just totally, completely dead. There will be no coming back from this moment. There will be no saving him. He’s gone.
They raise their weapons and crowd around us, but none of them seem to know what to do.
Should they kill us?
Should they bite us?
Should they try to fight us?
They’re yelling and screaming, but they no longer have a leader, so no one seems ready to make the call that yeah, it’s time to kill the little fairies. Instead, the demons snarl and growl. A few of them seem to be mourning Wyatt, but for the most part, they just seem angry and confused.
I’m about to spin my amulet to give us a chance to escape, but the doors to the throne room burst open at that moment. There’s a flutter of dark, glittery wings. A fairy flies in: one I’ve seen before, one I know very well, in fact.
“Daisy?” I ask, shocked to see my sister in the throne room. I’m even more shocked to see her flying, using her wings. She’s one of the few faes I know who can fly, but she so rarely does. It’s dangerous to fly in public. The chances of someone seeing you, of attacking you, are incredible.
She smiles, nodding politely at me. She gracefully floats into the room and is followed by a horde – an absolute horde – of creatures. Big and small, ugly and beautiful, they surround her.
“Vampires?” Edward whispers.
“And angels,” I point out. “And wizards and witches and humans. There are some hunters, too. Why is everyone here?”
“To unite the kingdom,” Daisy says. She turns to Edward. “We heard you were having some trouble.”
“Uh, a little,” Edward admits sheepishly.
“Well, those troubles are over. We all know who our king is now,” she says. Then she points to the demons and growls. “You!” She yells, and is it just my imagination, or do the demons look a little ashamed?
One of the demons actually has the audacity to point to himself, as though he can’t quite believe what’s happening.
“We should fight them,” one of the demons says.
“No,” another one tries to hush him. “There are too many of them.”
“But...but we’re demons,” the first one says. He looks a little sad not to be able to fight. “We’re demons,” he repeats, as though no one heard him the first time he said it.
“And you’d do well to leave this place,” a vampire says. He steps forward. “Mayor Jones,” he introduces himself to Edward. “I’m the leader of Dark Village.”
“Is that right?”
“And I want to formally apologize for terrorizing your citizens and holding them within city limits on a restrictive basis,” he says. “I should have come to you, king, to discover whether the rumors of war were accurate or not. For that, I apologize.”
“Accepted,” says Edward. “You may return to your village. Make sure the fairies know they are welcome here.”
“Of course,” Mayor Jones bows and leaves. He nods to Daisy as he heads out of the throne room and a few other people follow him. I recognize Martin, among other. He gives me a little wave, but then heads out of the room.
So apparently things are going to be changing in Dark Village, at least a little.
A group of hunters step forward. I don’t recognize them, but I know they’re humans. They stand out. They’re tall, for one thing. They’re lean, and muscular, and very bold. They’re all loaded with weapons and they’re scarred to all hell, but they’re here, and they’re ready to stand by their king.
“Shall we kill the beasts for you, King?” One of the hunters asks. He has long, dark hair and a scar that spans his entire face. He’s a fighter, for sure, and he looks like he’d do anything to be able to spar with a demon today.
“That depends on them,” he turns to the demons, who have all slowly been inching over toward one side of the room. “Would you like to fight, or would you like to fuck off?”
“Fight!” A lone demon yells. The rest of them scurry to cover his mouth.
“If it pleases you,” one of the demons says. “We’ll fuck off, King.”
“Go,” Edward says, and the demons quickly scatter. I’m a little surprised they don’t just hurry out of the throne room through the original entrance. Instead, they take hidey holes and secret passageways and one actually jumps out of a window.
“Aren’t you worried about them coming back?” I ask Edward quietly. “Seeking revenge? That sort of thing?”
The hunter overhears me and shakes his head. “They won’t be back,” he tells me. “They’re cowards, through-and-through. They only do as they’re told and no one has told them what to do today.” He smiles. “So they’ll go back to wandering through the woods and infesting tiny towns here and there. Don’t worry, though,” the hunter turns back to Edward. “You have my men and women by your side, King. We will serve you as needed.”
“Thank you,” Edward says politely. “I am moved.”
Luther appears and manages to start organizing the people. He motions for the king to take a minute to breathe and Luther somehow seems to get everyone moving steadily toward the doors and out of the throne room. Within minutes, Edward and I are alone with Daisy.
“You made it,” I tell her
.
“I made it. Thanks for sending the kid. He really did all the work. I can’t take credit for what he did.”
“He went all that way to save Tulip. I can’t believe it, really.”
“Most people wouldn’t have.”
“Most people wouldn’t have the guts,” I say.
“So you two are...” Edward asks, and I realize he hasn’t been properly introduced.
“I’m sorry. This is my sister, Daisy.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Edward says.
Daisy looks at him, then back to me, and then back to Edward again.
“My dragons,” she says.
“What?” I ask innocently.
“You mated him.”
“What? No, I didn’t.”
“Oh, you did! I can tell!”
“What? How?” There is no mating mark. There’s no scar. There’s no real way to tell that someone has mated another. This can’t be real. I rack my brain, trying to think of moments when my mother may have revealed more about the true instances of mating, but my sister simply starts to laugh.
“You just gave yourself away, love,” Edward says, and he steps toward me.
“So it’s true,” Daisy says.
“It’s true,” I grumble.
“I’m very happy for you. The king doesn’t seem too bad in real life, actually. He’s much more handsome than the rumors let on.”
“I’m right here. I can hear you.” Edward crosses his arms playfully over his chest, as though he’s upset, but I know he isn’t.
I know that right now, no matter what happens next, everything is going to be okay because we did it. We actually did it. I killed Wyatt. I killed him before he could take one more thing from me. I killed him, ending his life, and now the kingdom will never have to face him anymore.
Oh, I know there will be other threats. I know there will be other problems, but this problem? This one is over.
“Well,” Daisy looks from Edward to me and back again. “I suppose I’ll just...go...see if Luther needs anything.” She winks at me and then hurries out of the throne room. She closes the doors behind her.
“So we’re alone,” Edward turns to me and wraps his arms around me. He pulls me close.
“I thought you were going to die.”
“I thought I was, too.”
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thank you for saving me,” he whispers.
“You aren’t sad you were saved by a girl?”
He just laughs and smiles. Then Edward kisses me sweetly and brushes my hair back out of my face.
“I’m just glad I was saved by a goddess,” he whispers.
Then he kisses me again.
Epilogue
Rose
Murder has never been my favorite way to pass the time, but killing Wyatt felt right.
Good.
Noble.
Killing him felt like I was setting the people of Dark Falls free after years of living under his watch. None of them even knew they were trapped. Hell, I didn’t know they were trapped. I didn’t know any of this. None of us knew that he was the one keeping the fairies divided into little towns of anger and isolation, rather than uniting us in one kingdom.
Now, just weeks after his death, the world is different. There are no more walls. No more divisions. The kingdom is still ruled by Edward, but now he himself designates people from each smaller village to communicate with him and let them know what the people in those areas need. It’s even more important to have open communication with the villages on the opposite side of the Dark Forest, so Edward has actually started working with the fairies and wizards there to make sure that everyone finds a way to be happy.
That’s what he wants, more than anything else: happiness for everyone.
Tulip has made a full recovery and she’s still happily living with Daisy, although if my inclinations are correct, she’s soon going to be moving in with Martin, the wizard. He’s been coming around more and more, apparently, and Daisy thinks they’re definitely fated mates.
What does Daisy know, though?
She’s a hopeless romantic.
Like me.
I live in Dark Falls now. I reside safely in the castle with Edward by my side. Perhaps it’s an unconventional arrangement, a fairy king being mated to a fairy peasant, but it works for us. The people here have accepted me as their queen and have given me more than my fair share of chances to show them what kind of queen I’m going to be.
A good one.
That’s what I want to be.
I want to be the kind of queen they write about in fairy tales, the kind of queen who makes her family proud. I want people to remember me after I’m gone as the queen who made a difference. I want them to remember me as the queen who wasn’t scared, and more than anything else, I want to make my sisters proud.
“There you are.”
I turn toward Edward’s voice. He strides into the library and closes the door behind him. I smile when I see him: my king. He looks a little different now than he did that day when I met him in the dungeon. He’s healthier now, stronger. His face is brighter and he doesn’t seem to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders anymore. His eyes shine and when he looks at me, I think I might just melt.
“Staring out windows again, are we?” He asks lightly. He reaches for me, touching my shoulder gently. His fingers graze my skin and when I look at him, I realize that this really is it for me. This really is everything I could have ever wanted, hoped for, or dreamed of.
“You know I love this view.”
I kiss him, welcoming him, letting him know that I’m so very happy to see him. Somehow, Edward manages to make everything seem like it’s going to be just fine. No matter what the kingdom might be facing. No matter what I might be dealing with. No matter how scared or worried or anxious I might be about something, he’s going to be here for me.
“And I love looking at you looking at the view,” he smiles. He moves me, turning me back around so I’m looking out the window once more. Then he wraps his arms around my stomach. Edward pulls me back close to himself and kisses my neck gently.
The kiss makes me feel alive.
I never realized that love could feel this way.
When I heard tales about mates and true love and being bonded to someone, it sounded scary to me. It sounded horrifying. It didn’t sound like this. It didn’t sound like it could be this incredible, wonderful thing. It is, though, and now I just can’t get enough of what’s happening. I just can’t get enough of Edward.
He can touch me as much as he wants.
He can have me forever.
He can do anything, as long as it makes me feel like this.
I might be an ordinary dark fae, but when I’m with Edward, I feel like I can fly.
“My King,” I whisper.
“My Queen,” he says.
“You know I can’t resist you when you do that.”
“Who said anything about you resisting?”
He nips at my neck, spins me around, and kisses my mouth, claiming me. He takes his time running his tongue over my lips before taking my mouth once more. In these moments, nothing feels as good as being with Edward. Nothing feels as strong or as incredible. Nothing feels like it matters quite so much.
I run my hands up his chest as we kiss, and I unbutton his shirt. Slowly, carefully, I strip it off of him and let it fall to the floor. We won’t be needing it anymore.
“You’re wearing entirely too many clothes,” I tell him.
“I could say the same about you,” he reaches for my dress and yanks it open. My buttons drop and fall all over the library. I hear them rolling in different directions, bouncing around. He doesn’t seem to mind.
“Hey, at least I was gentle with your clothes,” I tell him.
“I’ll buy you new clothes,” he kisses me again and again and again, and somehow, I know that I really am lucky. I always suspected that I wasn’t. Part of me thought
there was something seriously wrong with me, but now I know better. Now I know that the reality is that we make our own luck. We can be fairies or dark faes or unicorns or vampires, but we won’t get what we want unless we’re brave enough to go after it.
Edward pulls my breasts out and begins to kiss them, sucking on each one. He nips at me, biting me, and then slowly traces his tongue up my collarbone until he meets my lips once more with his.
“More,” I whisper. “I need you.”
He chuckles, lifts me into his arms, and carries me to the center of the room. He lays me on a soft, lush carpet that’s in the center of the space, and then he just looks at me. I’m not embarrassed. I don’t feel shy. I feel...admired. I feel like right now, in this moment, anything could happen. He could bite me or kiss me or make love to me for hours and it’ll be wonderful. No matter what happens next.
Edward climbs over me, teasing me and kissing me. Somehow, the rest of his pants disappear and he pulls the rest of my clothing off before gently easing himself into me. I feel full, and satisfied, and greedy for more. I grab him, clinging to him, and I pull him to myself.
“Naughty little fairy,” he murmurs. “You’re so wet.”
“I like this,” I say in response. Then I run my nails down his back, scratching at him, silently urging him to give me more. Soon I’m close, so close, and I just need a little bit more. I slide my hand between us and start to touch myself. The heat inside of me grows, threatening to explode.
“I’m close,” I whisper.
“I can tell. You’re squeezing me so fucking hard.” He looks up at me. His eyes are bright and fiery with passion. “Come for me, baby,” he whispers. “Come for me.”
He kisses me then, and pleasure shoots throughout my body as my orgasm rushes over me with a power I’ve never felt before. I close my eyes and bite my lip as I explode. I feel like I’m dying and being born all at the same time. It’s the most powerful thing I’ve ever felt, the most wonderful, and then Edward comes, too.
And I feel complete.
Sated.
Happy.
And this is it, I realize.