Free To Love a King (Court of Annwyn) by Shona Husk Page B

a breath and held her gaze. “I wanted to apologize for leaving you. For not finding out the truth, and for blaming you. For letting my own fears get in the way.”
    She tilted her head slightly, as if trying to gauge if he was telling the truth or if it was a clever lie. “You have fears? You are the Prince of Death.” Her voice was little more than a whisper.
    He had a list of fears a mile long. However, they weren’t the sort that humans had. He didn’t fear death or spiders or heights. He feared for Annwyn, for the mortal world. He feared that he wasn’t good enough to be King, but then he feared that Sulia would make a worse Queen. He feared he’d end up like his father and that he’d lose Jacqui forever.
    She watched him as if waiting for him to reveal some of those fears. He didn’t want to give them voice. The silence stretched a little longer. He was going to have to say something, so he took a sip of coffee and formulated his words. “I don’t want to be trapped in a loveless marriage, like my father, for the sake of Annwyn. I worry that I will end up marrying a woman who only wants power, not me. You have always hated what I do, what I will become. But never me…” He needed to believe that she didn’t hate him. That what he wanted was possible.
    “I can’t imagine living without love forever.” She picked up the fork and helped herself to his cake. “I never thought I’d lose you, but you hurt me so bad I lost myself.”
    He nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. He’d thrown himself into Court politics instead of facing up to yet another failed relationship. He sucked at these things far more than the average fairy. But then, his relationships had far more pressure than the average fairy. Yet he also knew he wouldn’t stop trying to find love right up until the last second of his deadline.
    ***
    Jacqui chewed and thought. She was quite happy that he hadn’t shown the slightest bit of interest in Ash, but then she hadn’t expected him to. It had also gotten Ash off her back. Jacqui had learned something of fairy games from Felan when they’d been together. “I’m glad you know the truth. I wanted you to know for so long, if only so you wouldn’t blame me.” She’d also hoped he’d be able to get rid of the monsters she now knew were Greys, but that wasn’t to be. “And while it’s nice to see you again, why are you here?”
    He hesitated, looking at his coffee before looking up at her. “It was always you I wanted on the throne next to me.”
    She blinked, sure she’d misheard. “You wanted me to be Queen? Of Annwyn?” His plan had been for them to live there? “I thought you wanted to live here.”
    Felan frowned. “I can’t do that. I thought you understood I would be King.”
    “I did, but I thought you didn’t want that.”
    “Some days I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to walk away.”
    She leaned back in the wooden chair and stared at him. He hadn’t come back to find out the truth…or maybe he had, but it was only part of the reason. He’d come back because of Annwyn. Because he wanted her to be Queen of the fairies. “You only came back to me because of Annwyn.”
    “It’s in trouble.”
    She shook her head. “It’s always Annwyn. It always was and always will be. Can you hear yourself?”
    “You never used to care when I talked about it.”
    “That’s because I was young and gullible. You’re a workaholic and you don’t even realize it. You call it duty, loyalty, saving the frigging world. What do you want? Why did you , not the Prince, come back?”
    She needed to know that he’d come back because he loved her, that he’d missed her, something other than the expectation that she’d help him with Annwyn. She could fill in the gaps now, and she knew what he wasn’t saying—which was good, because she didn’t actually want him to ask in case she accidentally agreed. There was no way she was ever leaving the mortal world to live in