Ruled by Blood: An Unseelie Fae Fantasy Standalone by May Sage & Alexi Blake

Author:May Sage & Alexi Blake [Sage, May & Blake, Alexi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
Publisher: Twisted Mirth Publishing
Published: 2020-09-30T18:30:00+00:00

three

promises

drusk

The sound of my heartbeat resonates in my ears. I can’t speak. I can’t think. I can only stare and gape.

“I’m still asleep,” she says next.

I give up trying to make sense of any of it. I take a seat on her bed and close my eyes in an attempt to banish the migraine brewing after all this confusion.

“You’re in my mind right now.”

I sigh and give up, opening my eyes again. I have to look at her, illusion or no.

“So, I’m dreaming?”

She shakes her head, and waves around the room. I notice it isn’t quite the one I walked into. It looks like it had when I last saw her here ten years ago—with the professors’ chairs scattered around the walls and fireplace, bookshelves, a desk. “Not at all. If anyone walks in, they’ll see you next to me, your hand in mine. I suppose you’d look peculiar. Like a statue.” She grimaces. “Sorry. It makes you rather vulnerable, you know.”

I want to tell her I don’t care.

I keep my mouth shut, letting her go on. Letting her talk.

Letting her be alive.

I missed her voice. I missed seeing her, and she was right there. For an instant, I pretend nothing else mattered.

“Pulling you into my mind doesn’t cost me much energy when I’m touching you,” she explains. “I was so very bored until I worked out how to do this. I could feel Mother brushing my hair, and I wished I could speak to her. Then, suddenly, I was doing just that!”

I can’t begin to untangle my emotions, or make sense of them. There’s some anger, directed at myself, at her mother, at the world. And at Vlari herself.

No one told me anything. No one told me she could talk, that she was awake—that she was fine. And no one had told me what she’d planned before she cursed herself. I didn’t get to say goodbye because I hadn’t mattered to anyone in charge. I hadn’t mattered to her.

If Vlari had asked her mother to get me here, I know the queen would have done so. She hadn’t. She hadn’t cared to see me.

All the rage and sorrow muffled under the pile of ice that has surrounded my heart surfaced.

I hate her.

I hate her and all I can think about is touching her. Marking her. Pressing on her skin hard enough to leave bruises, so that she can feel me and remember me.

She tilts her head. “Pixie got your tongue?”

The pixie got my balls and crushed them in her grasp.

When I fail to respond, the teasing grin fades. She sighs. “How are you doing, Drusk?”

I’m a wreck. I’m undone, and moments away from exploding.

Gritting my teeth, I reply, “Fine.”

Fine means nothing. That word is so hollow we folk only use it when we want to lie.

She lets herself down on one of the chairs near the fireplace, and taps the one in front of her, inviting me to sit closer.

Maybe I’m just dreaming. Maybe I’ve gone over the edge and this is what madness looks like.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.