Crowned by the Fae King: A Fae Fated Mates Dark Fantasy Romance (Monsters of Faery) by Mallory Dunlin

Author:Mallory Dunlin [Dunlin, Mallory]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Settlements

Walking into the forest at dusk set off a bunch of trauma I hadn't even realized I'd been carrying around. All my skin went cold, then hot, and I staggered to a stop not fifteen feet into the treeline.

People are talking. Saying it's your fault.

Come on, Q. It's freaky. You're freaking people out.

Just go, before people decide to make you go.

I covered my mouth, starting to shake. I wanted to scream—to find my old bunkmate Gina and scream at her, to snatch at all those people and tell them they'd been cruel, and horrible, and that I'd come back for them. That they were wrong about me. I wasn't a freak. I was their Queen. I'd fucking— I'd fucking—

They'd moved into the treeline, I realized, horror settling into me as I started parsing what I was looking at. Ramshackle shelters, now falling down, the sheets and canvas tarps people had used for roofs dirty and rotting. A charred firepit with pots and cans scattered around it. Two shallow graves, dug up by some animal, with the gnawed bones and gristle visible, half-covered by dirt.

"I forgot them," I whispered, staring at the ragged remains. "I— I—"

Cass wrapped his strong arms around me and folded his wings in front of me, shielding me from the world. The shock of having him touch me again – of having all of his sorrow and kindness and strength flooding into me – made me start sobbing.

"Cassie," I choked out, clinging to his forearm. Hot tears tracked down my face. "I left them here. I— people died. They— They— fuck, Cass, I didn't— I can't—"

"Shh, shh," he murmured. He rested his face on the top of my head. "By the time you made it to me, they weren't here. You couldn't have helped them."

Despair clawed at me. "How can you say that? How can you know?"

He sighed softly, his breath warming my scalp. "Because I was a soldier," he said. Cass gave me a gentle squeeze. "I know the sort of impact people make on the landscape when they camp in it. By the count of shelters, there were dozens of people here, but the area isn't cleared of deadfall, nor is the ground trampled bare. They couldn't have been here for more than a week or two."

My wet lashes trembled, but my tears slowed. "You heal the ground," I said. "What if it's just that?"

"No. It's not. I'm confident of that." Cass shook his head, running his nose through my hair. "I'm not growing forests anymore, Quyen. That's how people can build homes and plant gardens in the open land." He huffed another sigh. "There was a landslide in the east a few weeks ago, and it's still a landslide. The cliffs didn't return to cliffs in the night. I think things can still change, as long as it's natural or slow, not violent."

I didn't say anything.

"No guilt for things you can't control," he murmured against my hair. "Let it go, sunlight. Let them go."

I let out a weak laugh.

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