The Ruthless Fae King

THE RUTHLESS FAE KING KINGS OF AVALIER BOOK THREE LEIA STONE Copyright © 2023 by Leia Stone All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. CONTENTS TRIGGER WARNING Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Acknowledgments Follow Me TRIGGER WARNING Non-consensual sex and kidnapping are present in this book. They are not presented in a graphic or overly detailed way. ONE “I won’t do it, Father!” I screamed. “Do you want the entire realm to be plunged into winter? Or our crops to fail?” my father yelled back. “When the winter king asks for your daughter’s hand in marriage, you don’t say no!” I was so angry I was shaking. I’d never been this mad at my father in my entire life. I loved him, adored him, worshipped the ground he walked on, but I would not relent to marrying that monster. “Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to say when he gets here. NO!” I shouted, and wind picked up inside the house, causing the papers on my father’s desk to fly into the air and form a funnel. He sighed, as if he were used to my outbursts, but that wasn’t fair. I didn’t have them that often, only when being forced to be married off to a heartless jackass! “Daddy…” I softened my voice and the wind died down immediately, bringing the papers to a slow descent to the floor. “I love you. I respect your decision-making. But I will not under any circumstances marry Lucien Thorne. Ever.” My father looked up at me with sadness in his eyes and I knew then that it was already done. Arranged marriages were common among royalty, and I always knew as the princess of Fall I would one day be called on by a royal suitor, but Lucien, the winter king? It was unthinkable. “No.” A strangled cry came from my lips and my father could no longer meet my gaze. “I’m sorry, Madelynn. There’s nothing that can be done,” he said. And that was that. My fate was sealed to the most vile man in all of Thorngate. Lucien had only been king for six winters and yet I had over a dozen stories of his evil doings. He once froze the entire Summer crop when they protested his raise in taxes. I also heard that he took the tongue of his favorite chef for serving him bland food. He hated flowers, so he had them all destroyed for miles around his palace. He was dead inside. Evil. Ever since his father abdicated the throne to him on his sixteenth birthday, there had been nothing but rumors of his darkness. “What if he beats me?” I tried to reason with my father. “You’ve heard the rumors, Daddy. He’s unkind.” My father looked stricken. “He would not hit his wife.” He didn’t sound sure though. Maker help me. My father was kind, too kind, and always trying to please others. Now I was going to have to deal with this myself. I would have to be strong so that King Thorne knew I was not the type of woman to be crossed. “When does he arrive?” I asked through gritted teeth. “Later this afternoon.” My father’s voice was small. “Today!” I bellowed, and the wind was back, blowing through the open window and swirling around me. My powers were the strongest seen in generations, and I knew that’s why the king had chosen me. I’d never met Lucien Thorne as an adult. We Fall Court fae stuck to ourselves mostly. I’d briefly seen him as a young boy back when his mother was still alive, but I must have been six winters old and he only eight or so. I barely remembered that. He’d handed me a sunflower and told me my dress was pretty. A sweet boy—before the darkness took him over. I stormed from my father’s office, taking the wind spiral with me. How dare my father tell me hours before the king was to arrive! It gave me no time to find a way out of this arrangement. And maybe that’s what he wanted. The palace staff hugged the walls as I passed, my wind blowing their dresses left and right. I needed to go outside and blow off some of this anger before I collapsed the entire house. Bursting out the back doors, I ran past the gardens towards the meadow I often went to when I wanted to use my power without destroying anything. Once in the safety of nature, I let loose. I sucked in a huge lungful of air and the wind pressed in on me like an old friend. The grass bowed, dust kicked up, and the sun darkened as my little wind tunnel grew stronger. Maybe the king was on his way right now. It was late afternoon and he might be en route. If I sent this little windstorm his way, it might blow his horses off track and he could be injured, delaying the engagement… I shook myself from those dark thoughts, knowing such a thing would be traced back to me. Balling my hands into fists, I looked up at the sky, into the eye of the storm I’d created, and let loose with an agonizing scream, aiming it at the sun as if it was his fault I was upset. All at once the wind died out and I was calm again. Unleashing my power would not help me. I needed to keep a level head if I was going to find a way out of this. “Your father