Fortuna Sworn

by K.J. Sutton

Nightmares always drew stares. Whenever someone looked at me, they saw whatever face they believed the most beautiful. Like the nightmares that came at night, we were meant to be seductive. We were designed to lure our victims in. Then, when it was too late to draw back, we struck.

Fortuna, never make a promise that you can’t keep. Nightmares may be lies, but we don’t have to be liars.

It was also perturbing that, when they looked at me, they saw a face that wasn’t truly mine.

For as long as I could remember, Oliver had been waiting the moment I fell asleep.

I thought about how much those woods had taken from me. My freedom, my brother. I’d fought and regained one. Would I sacrifice everything for the other, as well?

“To claim a mate unwillingly

Mates?!? Heck yea

“It means that I am constantly torn between civility and ferocity. It means that I do not want you for a wife, but a mate. As to why you should accept me, above all others, consider this. I know exactly what you are... and I think it’s magnificent. Your enemies are my enemies. My power is your power. If nothing else, let that be the reason.”

Collith could see my real face.

Even if I were to leave him, he’d always be there. A presence in the back of my head and in my veins.

Fortuna was the goddess of chance, luck, and fate.

With every lash, I lost more than skin and blood. I lost the potential to someday love my mate.

This creature had no chance with me. He didn’t need to know that, though.

Oh, how Collith loved her.

Decades ago, Nightmares were the most feared race. The fae had been unwise to forget.

But maybe if you didn’t have so many secrets, my blood wouldn’t be all over the throne room floor right now.”

I would never love the Unseelie King. But maybe I didn’t have to hate him, either.

even if part of you believes I’m just a figment of your imagination.

We know he not

“If you died, Fortuna, I’d follow you into whatever afterlife there is. The rest doesn’t really matter, does it?”

The trials had been impossible to forget from the moment I agreed to them.

What all of 10 minago?

Collith of the bloodline Sylvyre?”

Too often, though, someone with a cause lost sight of themselves. The lines between right and wrong blurred. Passion became fanaticism. Collith seemed precariously close. After all, he hadn’t been deterred from his purpose even when it meant watching his mate being whipped within an inch of her life. I could hardly judge him for it. Look at the limits I was willing to go for my own cause―saving Damon.

He was not an ally, but the Court’s bitch.

Aahaha

“Nothing ends, Fortuna Sworn,”

We should’ve known you could lie. You’ve had longer than anyone else to perfect it.

Jesus, what’s wrong with you? I thought, turning quickly. Oliver, Collith, Laurie…

S ok girl we all thinking it

“They can’t see you, can they?” I asked under my breath. Jassin quirked a brow, knowing I wasn’t speaking to him, somehow. “No,” Laurie said simply.

Just as it had been with Collith, the brush of his skin revealed no fears.