King of Death: MM Fae Romance by Lily Mayne

Author:Lily Mayne [Mayne, Lily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-11-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

Lonan

The Woods of Orna were as sly as the Folk that lived within them.

The journey on horseback to the Midsith twice a year usually took several hours, but never more than six. The troop Belial had led to kidnap Ash from the mortal world had been gone for a full day, yet I had still managed to reach him before they did, despite leaving after and returning to the palace in time for them to get back.

Sometimes it seemed like the forest was working against you, others it was like it was trying to help. I couldn’t decide which was the case after spending two days travelling before I reached the unseelie border.

From the treeline, I stared at the cottage sitting all alone on the edge of unseelie land. I couldn’t bring myself to move, to cross over, but inside I was… muted. I didn’t feel much of anything as I looked at the place that held some of my happiest memories, and that more than anything else should have horrified me.

Ash’s herb garden was a wild, tangled thicket. The chicken coop was rotting. Through the tiny kitchen window, the interior of the cottage looked dark and lifeless.

No part of Ash was here anymore. He was entirely different now from the young mortal man who had lived here. I was different too, but I couldn’t even say how. I could barely articulate, even to myself, who or what I had been before. But I knew I was different.

Everything was silent around me save for the rustling of the trees. Far in the distance, I could see the unseelie palace winking in the afternoon sun, gleaming like melting ice on its hill.

It called to me. Not because of who was in it, but because it already felt like mine.

I was being torn in half. The pull of unseelie called me forward, getting stronger with every step I had taken through the forest. But the draw to return to Ash was still there, and it hadn’t faded. I already missed him terribly. I wanted to go back and apologise for my cruel words, for leaving without saying goodbye, for everything.

But I knew I couldn’t. Not yet.

Something in the air made me stiffen in a rush. My ears pricked, listening intently to the forest behind me. Before I even fully registered the sound of a twig snapping, I was whipping a sword off my back and whirling around.

A young fae was already frozen in place, staring at me in disbelief. She was unseelie, I realised instantly, and looked vaguely familiar, but I knew none of my mother’s subjects outside of the ones I’d murdered on her behalf.

Long, dark red hair had been woven into a messy plait, and her solid green eyes were wide with shock, but much to my surprise, I saw very little fear in them. She was gripping a basket laden with foraged fruits, and there was a bone-handled dagger strapped to her belt, but she didn’t attempt to grab it.

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