37. Suffer a Fatal Fate

thirty-seven

Suffer a Fatal Fate

Alessia

“ R ainer,” I say, clutching his arm with both hands. My fingers bite into the soft fabric, aching to rip it away. To tear off this entire facade and show these people we can give them a reason to fear us.

Rainer runs his free hand soothingly down my back. He leans in toward my ear, his voice low. “Not now, mo róisín. Not here.” When he pulls back, the promise of danger flashes in his icy eyes, but he forces a smile. “Shall we dance?” he asks loudly.

I frown, studying him.

Dance? Now?

Dark spots crowd my vision, and my veins tingle. I am inclined to agree with my shadow-self’s line of questioning. The last thing I want to do is dance.

I want to burn this place down, like the lord’s estate. With all of these sickeningly joyful humans inside.

“I can’t.” My breath quickens, and I narrow my gaze on the old queen sitting atop her throne with a flat expression. She stares out into the crowd of revelers.

The sight of her indifference sickens me. How can someone so seemingly small and harmless cause so much pain and violence across two realms ?

It’s despicable.

Everyone around us hollers and cheers, celebrating the prospect of war—of killing fae. As if harming their own innocent people wasn’t enough, they’re threatening my kind now, too.

The inside of my skin burns as my shadow grows antsy, begging to burst out.

“Look at me, little rose,” Rainer demands, sensing my struggle. Clasping my shoulders and lowering his face to mine. Against my lips, he whispers, “Breathe.”

I shake my head, my chest tightening as I hyperventilate.

My vision blackens, and my ears ring as Rainer grasps my hand and tugs me away. For a moment, I think he’s taking me out of the room, but we stop abruptly. He pulls me to him, wrapping his arms around me. Swaying us slightly from side to side, he murmurs something low.

Dancing? Why are we dancing?

My body trembles with rage, and it takes everything in me to hold back the dark fog clawing its way out from inside of me.

I will kill them all—

My back slams against a wall, and a warm pressure envelopes my mouth, effectively silencing the shadow’s voice. The kiss is not unwelcome—quite the opposite. My lips move back in response, tasting him .

All too quickly, he’s gone.

My chest heaves, this time with need rather than wrath.

I blink, and my sight clears. I take in Rainer’s handsome face. A calmness washes over me. His mouth moves, but I don’t hear a word he says at first. Slowly, the sharp ringing in my ears fades away, and string music comes back, along with the chatter of people nearby, followed by his voice .

“—not alone in this,” Rainer says.

He bends and grips the back of my bare knee, exposed from the high slit in my dress, and hikes my leg up around his waist. Then he leans my back against the wall for support. His lips descend on mine again, tenderly and meaningfully. Unhurriedly, he kisses a path down my chin and then trails to my neck. Goosebumps break out along my skin.

“Do you feel me, little rose?” he whispers into my collarbone, pressing more firmly against me. My cheeks heat in response. His body is warm and hard against mine. “I’m here with you. Right here, right now. We have each other, and nothing else matters.”

He reaches for my hand, placing the palm over his heart.

The thud beneath the fabric is a silent melody, our love song.

“I’m with you,” I murmur, my eyes dancing across his face as I greedily take in this beautiful specimen who somehow knows how to support me, even when I’m losing myself. “I’m okay.”

“Good.” He pulls back, skimming my arm with the pads of his fingers. I writhe in response, and he smirks. “I like the way I affect you.”

Even with everything around us, I practically melt in his arms. My shadow settles, quieting down.

“You know, I do, too.” I sigh with relief. “You help keep my shadow calm and…” I frown as the words trail off.

My eyes widen, and my heart thumps furiously as panic sluices me.

“What is it?” he asks quietly.

I reach up with a shaking hand, trying to cover his sharp ears. They cut through his tousled onyx hair, appearing entirely fae. Gone are the soft human edges he wore moments ago .

His eyes drop to my cheek, and his brow furrows. His fingers come up, caressing the spot where my Tradeling tattoo sits. “Shite.”

“How?” I ask, alarmed. Glancing to my left, I search for Tynan. The spot where he was earlier is empty. “Where’s your brother?”

Tynan dropped our glamour.

The rigid set in Rainer’s jaw tells me he’s realizing the same thing. He pulls my loose curls forward until they fall over my cheek. I tilt my head down, attempting to hide my mark. Someone bumps me from behind, and I draw closer to Rainer.

Suddenly, our area feels suffocatingly crowded, with people brushing up against us. There are too many eyes here.

“What do we do?” I ask, trying to hold onto the control he instilled in me. If my shadow-self latches onto the panic and—

“Hey.” He cups my face, bringing his forehead to mine. “Look at me. We’re in this together. We’ll be—”

“Feckin’ fae!” someone beside me yells.

Resounding gasps respond, and someone jostles us. I grip Rainer tightly. In the chaos, the crowd around us surges as people begin yelling and shoving in a frenzy. A cold wave of terror crashes over me, and my limbs turn to jelly.

This can't be happening. We need to find a way to get out of here—now.

“Mo róisín,” Rainer says calmly, eyes locked on me. He cups my cheeks in his hands. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to be—”

Rainer’s body jolts, his hands falling limp at his sides. His brow furrows, confusion shadowing his features as his gaze drifts downward, slow and deliberate. The crowd around us pulses, pushing in closer. People scream around us, but I don’t hear them.

All I hear is the single, shallow gasp that leaves Rainer’s mouth.

All I see is the droplet of blood that escapes his lips.

My gaze falls to the hilt protruding from his side, its wave-like carvings taunting cruelly. Blood blooms around it, soaking into his red shirt and darkening it a shade.

“No,” I choke out. “Rainer, no .”

I meet his glossy eyes, which speak loudly enough for me to see the truth.

That this is it.

We fecked up.

It’s over.

A roar rips from the room as a bear— Ken —crashes into the crowd. He exerts his dominance. His brown fur ripples as he runs, swiftly tearing his claws through bodies. A chorus of ear-piercing screams meets the melody of bones crunching.

Behind him, guards storm the dais with urgency, ripping weapons off the display.

Shock and terror course through me as I watch in what feels like slow motion. The guards yell instructions to one another, and people stampede for the door. Like a force of nature, Ken bolts towards the exit, blocking their path. With the strength of his astonishing weight, he brings people crashing down, their limbs snapping like twigs in his path.

Fear roots me in place, causing my body to tremble uncontrollably.

Rainer coughs, breaking my stupor. His legs give out, and I catch him right before his knees hit the ground. Cradling him in my arms, I carefully lower him.

“What do I do?” I cry, functioning in a haze as I situate him on my lap.

My hands tremble uncontrollably, hovering over him helplessly. A hollow ache spreads through my chest as the truth crashes into me: there's nothing I can do. My view narrows to the faint rise and fall of his chest, and the world around me crumbles.

“I love you, mo róisín,” he mutters, eyes fluttering shut before whipping open again.

“No,” I growl, gently slapping his cheek to keep him awake. “What do I do , Rainer? Tell me!”

A scream of desperation builds in my throat, raw and animalistic, but all I can do is choke on it as I watch his face pale. My heart shatters, splintering into jagged shards that pierce through my breath. I'm suffocating. No matter how hard I try, I can't catch my breath.

His thumb reaches up, attempting to wipe away the endless stream of tears from my face. He sucks in a shaky breath. “I’m s-sorry I failed you—that I failed us .”

Darkness claws at the edges of my vision, dragging inward until only a pinprick of light remains—and then even that is gone. Reality crumbles into a void, but the terror within me explodes, ripping through the blackness.

I throw my head back, allowing the scream to erupt from my soul. The noise is deafening, and my throat grows raw as I let out my rage. The silky, snake-like shadow spills out of me, carrying my cries to each corner of the room.

My pain saturates the space, flooding the ballroom with the weight of my anguish.

No. I am not helpless—I refuse to ever be helpless again.

And this time, the perpetrators will suffer a fatal fate.