The heavy silence of the bedroom shifted as Elias exhaled slowly, his warm breath fanning across my forehead. His grip on my waist tightened further, pulling me against his chest with a protective force that seemed to challenge the very gravity of our world.
The realization of what the past fae kings and queens had suffered weighed heavily in the air, a dark legacy of stolen queens and broken kings that had spanned generations. Yet, as I looked up into his hazel eyes, I did not see the defeated sorrow of the past; instead, a fierce resolve had taken root within his gaze, pushing away the grief that had cracked his voice moments before.
"Every single time a fae king and queen have been chosen, they have been forced to suffer an eternity of punishment," Elias murmured, his voice dropping to a low rumble.
