The Unseelie King (Maze of Shadows #4)

by Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Making Valroy suffer Puck’s company for an hour would easily equal the murder of Oberon.

“You know what’s worse than fearing you’ll never be loved?” He stood and cracked his neck. “Knowing you never will.”

Why did I wish to die? Because I do not wish to endure heartbreak again. But here I am at the precipice once more. Because I think I am in love with you, selkie, and I know you will never feel the same way in return. That is my fate.

“Do not say goodbye to me,” he murmured. “I do not think I could take it. This is but a parting until the morrow. I am eternal, my little witch. And I will come back to you someday—even if it is when this world has turned to dust, and I am ethereal once more. Go within my Maze, and embrace it, and you shall embrace me.”

Valroy laughed. Quietly, but he laughed all the same. She wanted to kick him in the ribs but decided that since many of them were broken and two were showing, it was likely rude.

It was exactly at that point, as she began drifting off to sleep that was spurred by sheer exhaustion, that Abigail came to a conclusion. Loving someone did not preclude wishing to punch them in the face.

“I would not ask you to be anything but what you are. I love you more than I can put into words, my little witch. My Seelie. My queen. My adversary. If I want you to love me as I truly am, how could I do anything but give you the same respect?”

“I must say, I am impressed. You have played a good game, though why you wish to punish me, I do not know. What have I ever done that you did not wish for me to do? What have I ever done that was not by your design? You gave her to me—you made me love her—and now you wish to watch me kill her!” Grimacing, he dug his nails into his palms, wishing to feel the sting. “You wish for me to destroy all those that I have come to love—why? Why?”

“You gave me love, only to make me rip it to pieces. You made me watch her die, knowing that you would simply make me do it again. If you wish for me to suffer, so be it. But it shall not stop me!” For a moment, he wondered if Titania had not returned with her axes and knives, with how much pain was arcing through his body. But it was not physical agony that troubled him. No, that was not what stung his eyes.

“All the light shall die, and the shadows shall reign. And when all is said and done, and there is nothing but dust and the tears you weep for those creatures you have made…only when you beg me for pity and mercy—only then shall I forgive you long enough to kill you. For that is the price you shall pay for the death of my Abigail Moore.” Valroy turned. And froze.

Tomorrow I will spend my last day in the sun before all that has been laid before me is undone.

Either I shall be killed…or I will destroy the man I love. Valroy will take my life, or I, his.

And I do not know which I find...

For either way, it feels ...

“Promise me one thing.” His words were quiet, nothing of his anger remaining in them. “Tell them you defeated me in battle. Or say you played some terrible trick upon me. Do not tell them I…I could not kill you. That I would rather surrender all that I am than to watch you die a second time.” His features contorted in pain. “I could not—I could not survive it.”

“My little witch…my Seelie Queen. No matter what we shall endure. No matter what becomes of us. My sunlight. My glowing blossoms. My living heart. I will not stop until I defeat you. And I will relish every moment I fail. I love you.”

Her moonlight. Her bone, and her blood, and the promise of sharp teeth and the tear of claws. Yes. This was how it should be. Like this—together, in this dance or any other. They would be together.

She placed her palm over the symbol over his heart. “And I love you...