Faerie Child (Dragons' Reign: Book 1)

Chapter 10

She stiffened.
    

There it was. A weakness.
    

It wasn't much, but it was something.
    

"Why do you want me to be with you in the Wilds? Why me?" Not entirely a distraction. Just general curiosity. "You could have picked any other male in the Spring Court and it would be a punishment to Titania. They're all her children."
    

Her brow tightened, "You are her son-"
    

"Don't give me that crap," he snapped. His eyes were blazing.
    

Why me?
    

His eyes narrowed. "You pity me...because I'm human. Don't you."
    

She said nothing. Her body was frozen, her face unreadable. But her fingers still tapped thoughtfully. Yet she said nothing.
    

"Tell me that I'm wrong," he dared her. "A human doesn't belong in the Faerie Lands. I don't belong in the Spring Court... And neither do you." Her hands balled into fists.
    

"A Queen, with no people to lead. No one to guide and protect. No one to turn to, no real place to belong outside of those barren woods. So it only seems right that we look out for each other. The Queen of nothing, and the human with no reason to live. Two peas in a pod."
   

And there it was. The heat in her eyes that burned hotter than fire ever could.
   

"Is it so wrong that I no longer want to be alone? I am sick of being looked down upon by Titania while she gloats with everything that I've ever wanted. A family. A people who are loyal and would go to any length for her. And then there's you," her clawed index finger aimed at him as she swiftly closed the distance between them.
    

"She gets the child I have always dreamed of having. You aren't even born from her womb, while my child was taken from me by her and her father. I never got to have that special bond with my son. I never got the chance to see him grow up, to hear his first words, and see him smile." Her face was red with anger. A hatred that had been building for who knew how long. Centuries. Millenniums. A hatred that she'd kept hidden all this time. But in her eyes were tears.
    

It was then that he realized she wasn't angry—she was heartbroken and never had anyone to help her get through her grief. She never had anyone there to help her heal.
    

All this time she suffered in silence and solitude.
    

"I wanted her to know how I felt. I wanted to bed you, please you, do anything I could to make you forget about her and love me instead. No Faerie would have caused her as much pain. It had to be you because you're human. Easily corrupted, your feelings so fickle that your love can switch from one to another like it were nothing. It was her I wanted to hurt, but not you... Never you."
    

Love. She wanted to regain what she had lost. Humans were more easily swayed than Faeries, more easily seduced. She chose him simply for that reason. He wouldn't have been a challenge.
    

And as he looked over her flushed face, at the tear that slid down her cheek... He found himself pitying her.
    

"I could have made you happy. Could have given you love, a land of your own, a warm home, a family. And I wouldn't have asked anything of you."
    

He tried not to look at the movement behind her, tried to keep his focus on her amber eyes. He let his true emotions flow through him, raw, unhidden. So she could see the sadness he felt for her, the anguish as he pictured her life thus far. All the nights she cried herself to sleep, all the songs she sang to pour out her heart while there was no one and nothing there to hear her heartfelt lyrics. All the dreams she had reduced to nothing but rubble, the wind blowing away everything that remained.