The Dagger and the Forbidden Heir (The Forbidden Heir Trilogy, #1)

by Emilia Jae

I heard the soft, malicious whisper of a voice that I barely recognized as my wife’s, as she bent down to my ear, “You may keep your bastard daughter, but I will have my war and an heir of my blood. Mark my words, Jameson.”

My father had told me the war truly began the day I was born. That was the day the queen decided to claim her revenge for the deaths of her father and brother.

Since the moment I became Captain, I felt that I owed it to my soldiers to be the one to comfort their families when hearing of their loss.

He said my mother loved to read, and it’s one of the many traits I received from her without ever truly knowing her. It was an odd feeling to miss someone you had never met.

“If you hurt him, Kai will be the least of your problems. You will have to deal with me,” I said with a sweet venom lacing my voice as I chuckled. Finnian began to rub his temples. “Okay, Lia, you made your point.”

Solus was the surname given to all younglings orphaned at birth in Velyra. My father wanted me to possess the Valderre name, but the queen shut that down for obvious reasons. The truth was, I loathed my given last name. It just served as a constant reminder that I could never be recognized for who I truly was.

“Oh, you know, I am just your typical princess locked away in a tower full of every beautiful item and artifact you could dream of. I will never get to experience what you do. I have no life outside of these gates. I also will never know the feeling of spontaneous love. I am eventually to be married off to some far-off Lord across the sea, never truly knowing if I have a mate out there, or if I could’ve loved without it being forced upon me,” she explained to me, each word hitting me harder than the last.

My favorite smell, of course, was the freshly baked bread from the bakeries. One thing was for sure, my thighs didn’t get this thick on their own.

“Vin,” I greeted, reaching out my hand to the male that I had publicly beaten the shit out of earlier in front of Lia and the crew. He grasped my hand tightly and shook it in greeting. “Did it work?” he asked. “You bet your ass it did,” I responded. “Excellent work, my friend. She practically begged me to spend the night with her.” I crossed my arms as a grin crept up my face.

ewww. Kellan can get hit by a mac truck

If I need to bathe in the blood of my enemies to make sure my people are able to sleep soundly at night, then so be it.

“You are correct, princess,” he replied as he placed a hand on each of my shoulders from behind me and massaged them awkwardly. The urge to correct him nearly consumed me, but I knew he wouldn’t stop calling me that no matter how many times I asked…or demanded.

Barf. Absolutely no respect for her

Why would that be? He fucked up. He tried to touch and harm what was mine. He–” “I. Am. Not. Yours!” I cut him off, my breathing turned ragged. He looked angry now. Finally. “This is getting old, Elianna…as I said before, we claimed each other, and that isn’t going to change.” All the features on his face tightened, he twisted from me slightly in an attempt to hide his wrath as it flooded his veins. “I thought you punished him for trying to attack a captain, not because you thought you still had some kind of claim on me.

Kellan... Very much disrespectfully, kick rocs

I saw below that Kellan was now stuck under the weight of the barrels that I had untied to steal the rope, angrily trying to wrestle his way out from under them. Oops.

I laughed way toooo hard at this

“Your lies are like a siren’s song, Solus. They roll off your tongue so sweetly, beautifully. Almost enough to convince me,”

Once the brand was hot, he walked back over to Matthias, and without hesitating, he stuck it into the horse's side and held it there for far too long. The horse thrashed and loudly neighed, the sound ending in a whimper of pain while stuck in his pen.

Kai can also get hit by a mac truck

“So you will die for the secrets of a queen you do not respect?” he asked, as he looked over at me. “No.” I paused and my stare slowly rose to meet his. “But I will gladly die protecting the few individuals that I do.”

“Goodnight,” he said softly, sleepily. “I’m glad I saved you,” he continued on a yawn.

“Is it respect you want, Elianna?” he asked, his tone alluring and wicked. The way he said my name sent a shiver down my spine. My eyes darted across his face. “On most occasions,” I answered in a soft, submissive voice I barely recognized, refusing to break his stare.

“Who did that to you.” His tone seeped with rage. Not a question, but a demand.

“Once again, you lie to me so beautifully.”

“…Because maybe I am starting to realize that just because you are not human, doesn't mean you haven’t suffered at the hands of horrific kinds of fae and humans alike. And that being said, I know that someone who has taken a whip to her back multiple times by someone I'm assuming she trusted, then leads the armies of warriors that don’t respect her, and yet still keeps the secrets of her kingdom to protect the ones she loves…” He paused for a moment. “Is someone I would want on my side.”

Once my face was above water, I was terrified to look in his direction. He kissed me. The rude, arrogant and…extremely attractive commander kissed me. And I enjoyed it. Wanted it even. Gods, Lia, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?

“And then you touched her.” He let out a breathy laugh. “You will die for that.”

“Just climb into the bed.” She smiled mockingly at me. “I will behave.” Yeah, she might. But I didn’t trust myself, to be honest. I sighed. “Okay, Lia,” I said, voice heavy with mirth.

“I couldn’t let you die. Even that first night on the ship. I thought about letting you drown, but I couldn’t do it. The thought of you even being injured…I can’t explain it. It feels as if flames ignite within my very veins and light my entire existence on fire. It's not an option I was willing to accept. Nor will I ever.”

O.M.G. They are mates!!!

“From this moment moving forward, you are no longer my enemy or my prisoner. Members of each side have committed acts of extreme cruelty and horror. That no longer speaks for the entirety of either race. We are going to figure everything out. Together.”

She wasn’t evil, or cruel at all. She was not this vile, wicked being that I had convinced myself she must have been. She was kind, smart, beautiful, and oh-so-fucking stubborn. She was also funny, but I could never let her know that. It would go right to her thick skull.

“You will learn to never bet against me,” she said sternly, but I could tell she was trying to hide a smile forming.

Breathing heavily, I forced myself to look back over at Jace, whose body was now twisting on the ground in agony as he tried to hide how much pain he felt. Then I realized it was how much pain I felt. I felt his pain. “Mother of the gods...” I whispered.

I KNEW ITTTT

“You can brace yourself for whatever you see fit. But mark my words, you will die for what you did today. You will die for the havoc and devastation you caused this village of innocents. And you will die for harming what’s mine.”