Page 217 of The Fallen Fae King

Taran hauls me even faster into the bowels of the dungeon, which is just where I want to be.

Idiot.

He is easier to play than any dragon I’ve met yet, but he thinks that he’s some type of smart assassin.

The courtesans who trained me in their guild were shrewder than he is.

When I catch the scent of intoxicating incense, my grin widens.

Then I force myself to look contrite.

Taran won’t believe my act, but a sadistic bastard like him will always be easy to con because they’re driven by their own cruelty.

“You’ll learn how I discipline those who are insolent to the Head of the Guild.” Taran drags me to the single cell that lies in darkness. He pulls out a key and opens the door. Then he shoves me inside. “The vampire is starving and feral. Aren’t you his Blood Lover? They say that fae blood is impossible to resist. If he hasn’t drained you, then I will return for you tomorrow and see if you have learned some respect. You can beg me to take you back out of the dungeons. I will consider whether you have learned your lesson. Have fun.”

My heart is beating fast, but I wait until I hear the clank of the cell door slamming shut, then Taran retreating back up the steps and away into the darkness.

I can’t see a bloody thing in the black. But then, I can’t see much anymore anyway.

It was agony yesterday in the arena, knowing that a brutal fight was happening far beneath me in the pit, in which Lanlin was battling for his life, but it being too far away for me to be able to see what was happening.

I had to trust that Aurelius would step in to save my Bat King’s life.

When sunlight had started to stream down from the roof, I had thought that it was my own soul leaving my body.

I had started to fly from my seat in desperation to save Lanlin, but Aurelius’ wings had already burst from his back, and he’d shoved me down into my seat.

“He’s alive…alive…alive.” Freya sobbed, clutching my shoulders.

Lost in my own blurred world, I had grabbed her arm and rested my cheek against the Ankh mark because it was the only way that I could feel connected to my vampire.

Now, I slowly turn, before I am bowled over backwards by a feral, incense-scented vampire.

“Darkness,” I whisper, brokenly.

“Sunshine.” Lanlin’s voice sounds hoarse like he has been crying all night.

He knocks me over, and I grunt as I fall onto my back, crushing my wings.

I don’t care, however, because Lanlin is crouched over me desperately sniffing at my neck. He is patting me up and down.

His shackles clank, before he grasps my hands and drags them above my head. He pins me down like he’s frightened that I will run away, rather than having plotted to be here.

I am exactly where I want to be.

When Lanlin’s fangs graze my neck, I shiver in the delightful pain and pleasure that I taunted Taran about.

Lanlin is a master in it.

I hadn’t been joking that I can revel in just the right knife-edge of pain, when it comes with the pleasure like the sensation of Lanlin’s fangs sinking into my skin.

“You’re real,” he mutters.

“Fae King in the flesh.”

Lanlin pats my head, stroking my hair. “You’re not wearing your crown.”

I will never wear Aurelius’.