The Swell and Crash of Surrender (Rise of the Death Fae Book 3) by Val Saintcrowe

Author:Val Saintcrowe [Saintcrowe, Val]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Punk Rawk Books
Published: 2022-01-12T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

IT WAS SPRINGTIME in the capital, and Magdalia had not enjoyed the city so much in years. True, the signs of years of revolts and warfare had left their marks on the streets and the buildings, but the new fae government had spent the last months restoring much of the city to its splendor. She had personally overseen the planting in Horta Park. She had used some of her magic to help the growth along, of course, and now she liked to walk every afternoon there, looking at the buds growing on the trees and the flowers growing along the walkways.

It was her own little sanctuary, a place she could be alone and happy, where she could indulge her own magic, not the magic that she and Duranth made together—which was intoxicating and exciting but also overwhelming and sometimes frightening.

She found she needed this respite, even though Duranth didn’t involve her in any important decisions regarding running the country. For that, he consulted Larent, and he never spoke to her about any of it. She sometimes worried about this, because she knew of Duranth’s worser tendencies, but Larent could surely keep her husband in line. Duranth valued Larent, since he kept making her heal him, after all.

Admittedly, Larent hadn’t needed any putting together in several months now.

The other evening, she’d come upon Duranth in the sitting room outside his quarters, lounging on an easy chair, watching a line of dead fae women do perfectly synchronized kicks like they were performing on stage. Of course, Duranth was controlling them. He was even pulling magic from her to do it, but she hadn’t noticed.

Their bond was such now that they could do that with each other, just reach into the other one and take magic when they needed it. They didn’t need to be touching.

She had sat down with him and he’d put his arm around her and they’d watched together. She might have enjoyed varying the dance a little bit, making them twirl and sway their hips. This had delighted Duranth, and they’d ended up giggling together.

But then she’d had to ask him. Had he killed them for this?

He’d sighed. “I get bored sometimes, Magda.”

“You can’t kill people when you’re bored,” she told him. “Not just because you’re bored.”

“Why not?”

She searched long and hard for an answer, but it was hard to think, especially because they’d been giggling for so long. “It’s just not right. They’re our people.”

“They’re not like us,” said Duranth. “No one’s like us but us.”

She supposed that was true. “Still, we can’t… this is wrong. Promise you won’t do it again?”

“Promise,” he said easily enough, and he’d kissed her, and then they’d gone to bed and entertained each other for quite some time.

But she knew his promise likely meant nothing.

Away from him now, she felt horror at the thought of what they’d done, at the careless way that Duranth treated people’s lives. But when she was with him, when their magic surged, well, it was hard to feel things like that at all.

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.