The Winter Court Book 2: The Fae's Queen
Автор
M. L. Smith
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841K
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Seraphina has always been caught between worlds—part mortal, part fae, and entirely unwanted. When she's forced into a shaky alliance with the cold, commanding King Cazimir, her already dangerous life becomes a tangle of secrets, betrayals, and simmering tension. Court politics are deadly, magic is unpredictable, and trust is in short supply. But as enemies close in and loyalties blur, Seraphina must choose: protect her heart or risk it all to save the people she loves. In this fae kingdom, nothing is what it seems—and love might be the most dangerous power of all.
Chapter 55
FAE’S CAPTIVE PART II
Caz was a wreck of fury and heartache, loathing and longing as he stared down at Seraphina, his mind a tormented haze he couldn’t escape from.
Even now, when he wanted nothing more than to bring her crimes to light, to damn her for every truth Beatrix had divulged only minutes ago, he couldn’t help but notice how beautiful his mate was. How breathtaking, even while afraid.
She’s afraid of me, a small part of him whispered, gutted.
But a larger, crueler part saw it as all the confirmation he needed of her guilt. Why fear him if she was innocent?
She’d done this—driven a wedge through their mating. Lied her way into his bed, into his heart. He was simply driving that wedge deeper. Adding fuel to the fire of her betrayal.
On some level, he still couldn’t believe where they stood now, the future bleak and in tatters at their feet.
Seraphina’s deception had led them to this moment.
Had anything ever been real between them? Or had lying always come naturally to his mate, her deceits so well hidden he’d never noticed them until now?
Despair struck him like a bolt of lightning, searing him until he felt nothing but a torrent of pain and a malevolent storm he couldn’t control.
So, he didn’t.
He unleashed it upon her. He wanted her to hurt like she’d hurt him.
“Yes, I know everything I need to know about you, Seraphina,” Caz uttered darkly. “A half-breed servant,” he spat, loathing the word even as it passed his lips. “The daughter of my enemy. A female who stabbed me in the back at every opportunity. Your transgressions against me are boundless.”
Just how deep did those transgressions go?
King Auburn had long ago revealed himself to be a cunning king. Had he discovered who Seraphina was to Caz a decade ago, before he’d even realized it himself, and conspired to use her against him?
Had anything between Caz and Seraphina ever been real? Or had his mate lured him with her sweet words, her intoxicating temperature and lush body, making him feel emotions he’d long thought lost?
He’d never felt for anyone the way he felt for Seraphina, not even Celeste.
And yet, Seraphina had deceived him as easily as that wretch had. His heart clenched hard, and agony radiated through him.
Only, it wasn’t physical, but emotional. Soul deep. The type of pain he’d thought himself incapable of feeling ever again. He pushed it back, letting his anger, his hatred of this entire ordeal rise to the surface, reigniting his fury.
Seri’s eyes stung with tears, and he hated the sight of them. Hated that they held power over him; that she did.
How could he want to wipe her tears away and apologize when it was she who’d hurt him? He didn’t know, but he did. Instead, he clenched his jaw so hard he felt a tooth crack from the strain.
“That’s not fair,” Seraphina whispered, her voice thick with tears. “I didn’t choose my parents, and I’ve never betrayed you—”
He cut her off, not wanting to hear another lie from her beautiful lips. Not wanting his resolve to weaken as it had from the moment she’d walked into his life.
Loving his mate had been a weakness that cost him, and he needed it extinguished.
“You made me crave you, fooled me into caring for you, all the while knowing I would never accept King Auburn’s filthy offspring in my bed,” he replied, his voice filled with self-loathing.
King Auburn was filthy, vile scum, incapable of producing anything but more of his own rot.
It was impossible to find those qualities in Seraphina, but Caz was determined to try. Determined to stop the battered emotions beating incessantly at his fractured heart.
All he wanted was to hear her excuses, her lies, to take everything she’d said at face value. But if he did that, he’d only weaken himself further. He’d open himself, and his people, up to the possibility of another betrayal.
What would the next one cost him? His kingdom?
“That Death Rattler,” Cazimir continued angrily, desperate to find Seraphina’s true motives. “Was it even an actual attack, or was it a ploy to lure me to your side? For me to notice a pathetic, worthless little half-breed?”
He twisted his question and the insults within, forming it in such a way that his words rang true, even if he didn’t believe them yet.
If she’d conspired against him like that, then she was worthless. She was pathetic. And he’d never forgive the slight.
“Stop calling me that,” Seri bit out roughly, a tear sliding down her cheek.
His breath stalled. You’re taking this too far.
Caz ignored it, hardening his resolve.
She wiped the tear away quickly before fisting the skirt of her dress. “What are you even asking me?”
“How far does your betrayal go, Seraphina?” Cazimir demanded, shaking his head as he forced himself to continue.
“You distracted me from my true purpose from the start. Was that the plan? To make me forget myself and my intention to go to war with your ilk? Did you know you were my mate before you even arrived here? Did your cunt father concoct another grand scheme against me, and were you all too excited to improve your social standing?”
“Listen to yourself!” Seri exclaimed. “You think I planned for you to kidnap me? That I plotted to almost die from poison, just so you would notice me? Why would I ever—”
“To fool me into caring for you!” he bellowed, pain and despair thick in his voice as his words echoed into the night.
“How can you even pretend to care about me? You won’t even talk to me about this. You’ve insulted me at every turn. You threw a spear at me!” Seri screamed, the same mix of emotions blending in her own voice.
It infuriated him. He’d done nothing but open his home and his heart to her. He’d mated her, made her his everything despite the trouble his court could cause because of it.
He’d killed his own allies to protect her, and she had the nerve to question his loyalty? To question how he felt?
“I dissolved that spear before it even came near you,” Cazimir snapped, unable to address the other issues.
If he did, then he knew he’d admit the truth. He didn’t just care for Seraphina. How he felt went so much deeper—and that was what made this entire situation excruciating. Unbearable.
“If you hadn’t been weak and looked away, you would have known that, Princess Seraphina.”
Seri narrowed her tear-filled eyes. “I think you mean Queen.”
Cazimir hissed, stalking toward her. He invaded her space, the cold wafting off him in waves.
Despite everything, the pull to her was too great. He wanted to hold her, to drag her into his arms and pretend everything was fine. But with what she’d put him through, he couldn’t give in to his primal, instinctual urge to find comfort in her touch.
He couldn’t risk another mistake, not when it could cost him and his people everything.
And yet he couldn’t resist putting a hand to her cheek, desperate to feel her soft skin.
“Making you my queen was a mistake,” he whispered harshly, his soul weeping.
He’d been too hasty in mating her. He’d let someone in who could just as easily ruin his kingdom as save it.
He should have been more cautious.
Seraphina flinched as if he’d struck her, and her breath caught in her throat, a new wave of tears rising to the surface.
His resolve to hurt her weakened, even as he rasped, “If I’d known you were the daughter of King Auburn, I never would have touched you. How could I ever want someone like you?”
Easily.
Because, no matter what she’d done, her heart beckoned him closer, like a moth to a flame. And his soul, the black, tarnished thing, craved the light in hers. Needed it, like he needed to feel the frost in the air. Like he needed to feel her warmth against his flesh, and her soft, sensual moans filling his ears as he took her.
Could she truly have faked everything?
“If I’d known you’d fucked Celeste, I never would have touched you either,” Seraphina bit out through clenched teeth, another tear tracking down her face.
His eyes widened with surprise, nostrils flaring.
“That’s right,” she goaded. “While you were discovering my secrets, I was learning yours.”
“Who told you that?” he asked, his fury stalling out suddenly in the wake of the fresh tears that slid down her face.
Unable to help himself, he wiped them away, his heart aching for an entirely different reason.
She didn’t react to his touch. It was almost as though she couldn’t even feel it.
When she didn’t answer, her eyes filled with so much turmoil, he asked again. “Who told you that?”
