The walls were covered in armor, priceless artifacts, and portraits of the king for every year he’d been ruling Fae Islands. There were only ten of them, and I hoped like hell that there wouldn’t be an eleventh.
The next hall held portraits of past leaders. I briefly paused at the previous queen’s. Had she been just as bad as her brother, or had King Zephyr killed her? Neither answer would surprise me. A dozen or so paintings hung there—the last picture of each previous ruler—but I paid them no attention as I hurried toward my destination.
I didn’t come across anything new until I arrived at the king’s door. The old wooden doors that had been hand-carved were no longer present. In their place were hideous steel doors with wood handles and one small sliding panel near eye level.
Approaching, I kept the smile on my face and bowed my head to the guards. “Lunch for the king,” I said without making eye contact. Maids were the lowest of low to the king. They were replaceable, and I wouldn’t pretend I thought otherwise.
Neither turned away from me, but the one on the left banged his fist on the door three times. No noise could be heard from inside, which I found interesting. That meant nobody would be able to hear him scream, either…
The idea was tantalizing and had me filled with elation in an instant, but I hadn’t come here prepared to kill him. The king was nearly immortal, and I wouldn’t be foolish to think I could end him without a proper weapon to remove his head, or even the most wicked spell I could get my hands on.
Finally, I heard two locks disengage and the metal panel opened up, only the king’s eyes and top of his head visible. “What?”
“Did you want your lunch, my king?” the left guard asked.
King Zephyr’s eyes darted down to me. Knowing he considered maids replaceable, it wouldn’t be of concern to him if he didn’t recognize me.
“What’s for lunch?” King Zephyr asked.
I was suddenly even more thankful I’d poisoned the food, or I wouldn’t have had an answer to that question. “Something warm and soothing, your highness. Potato soup.”
He grunted and slammed the panel closed. I took a step back, assuming that was his denial and I’d have to try something different, but then more locks began shifting and I stayed put. Still, the guards said nothing to me while we waited.
Time was running out. I’d already been gone at least three of the five minutes Finn had allowed, but I wasn’t concerned with them leaving me behind if it meant I had my chance at making sure King Zephyr’s sanity was about to be compromised. Even if I couldn’t kill him without proper preparations, I could at least take this time to make him suffer.
King Zephyr stood in the doorway and waved me into his chambers. Proper etiquette meant I couldn’t look him in the eyes, but it didn’t stop me from appraising the rest of him once I walked behind him.
His hair had been more grey than brunet when I’d seen him from afar at the gate, but it was back to darker colors and there was a tight set in his shoulders that told me he wasn’t as weak as I’d perceived before. He must be taking power from somewhere, and I’d need to figure out where before I faced him again.
He turned to take a seat at his desk, moving papers around before I set the tray down, and I couldn’t help myself from meeting his sour gaze. “Your highness. I do hope you enjoy.” There was too much thrill in my voice that he apparently took for sultry.
He grabbed on to my wrist, the shit-brown eyes I’d always hated appraising my face and chest, while I did the same to him, noticing even the wrinkles I’d seen before were gone.
“You must be new?” he asked, his hold cutting off circulation to my arm.
I bowed my head. “Yes, your highness. I’ll leave you be to eat your lunch.”
Even though I tugged at my hand, he didn’t loosen his grip. “What’s your name?”
“Sally,” I replied through gritted teeth. If he didn’t let me go soon, my cover was going to be blown.
“Well, Sally. Take a seat.” He released me with a shove, but I didn’t sit.
“I sincerely apologize, my king, but fresh produce just came in from a farm for you, and I must tend to it before it spoils.” Gods, I hoped he could see reasoning in that. I was not ready to fight him and win.
He stood from his desk, soup still untouched, and stalked closer. “I can see you take pride in your job. You want to make me proud, don’t you, Sally?”
King Zephyr was only a few inches from me by then, and his use of “proud” was a trigger to my defense system. As a young girl, I’d only ever wanted to make him proud. It had been so ingrained into me that, for a while, it had become my sole purpose for living.
But not anymore.
He raised a hand to stroke my cheek, and I didn’t hesitate to grab a hold of his wrist like he’d done to mine and twisted until it cracked. “Don’t fucking touch me.”
He roared, but I wasn’t worried. The guards couldn’t hear us. “You ungrateful little bitch!”
“And you’re a dirty old man who preys on the weak, but I’m not a meek servant who will put up with some disgusting tyrant.” My knee surged forward, slamming into his crown jewels. Then, I used my elbow to thump the back of his head. “Have a nice nap, Zephy.”
His body went limp, crumpling to the floor. I might not be able to kill him easily, but I could still hurt him.
The nickname I used to call him before he turned me into a weapon slipped from my lips without a second thought. It was the name I’d coined for him when I used to think he was the greatest fae to walk the worlds.
Then, I grew up to know better.
He’d already begun to stir, and since I had no weapon to kill him with, I headed for the door, slipping through without opening it far enough that the guards could see the king’s body.
They said nothing to me once again as I made my way back to the kitchen.
My feet were moving swiftly, and I told myself it was merely because the guards would be on my ass soon and not because I hoped Finn was still waiting for me.
My five minutes had come and gone, and my heart sank a little when I entered the kitchen. The maid who was supposed to bring the king’s lunch up was standing there sorting through the food we’d brought.
She glowered at me. “Who do you think you are taking food to the king? Duties are assigned, and you must—”
I quit listening and darted for the stairs. I had no time for a reprimand that didn’t actually matter. When I made it to the main floor, I took a quick second to consider going back through the front doors or the back ones. I was a maid now and wasn’t sure which they’d utilize more at the end of their shift.
Shit, hadn’t a lot of the maids lived in the castle? I couldn’t remember. None of them had been important to me during my time here, considering how often they changed. Now I knew why. The king was even more vile than I’d thought.
Just when I stepped to go left, a plan already forming in my mind on how to get out on my own, a hand reached out from the shadows, wrapping around my bicep. My feet tripped over each other with the opposing momentum, and my body pressed against a hard chest.
It wasn’t dark, and my eyes immediately met Finn’s. They were charcoal and piercing with rage. Something unfamiliar blossomed in my chest. It was warm and consoling and unusual.
Finn’s hands moved from my arms up to my cheeks. “Did you do what you wanted?” I nodded. “Was it worth the risk?”
“Only time will tell,” I answered, my voice doing weird things as my pulse picked up.
What the hell was Finn doing to me?
He gave one curt nod, then moved in without notice. His lips pressed roughly against mine, and his hold tightened around my face. Where the hell was this coming from? I had no idea, but my body was no longer allowing me to fight it.
My hormones kicked into overdrive, and all sense went out the window as I wrapped my arms, and then my legs, around him. He turned us around, pressing my back against the wall while the growing hard-on Finn was rock
ing rubbed against my core.
His tongue explored my mouth with abandon while one hand sank into my hair and the other traveled lower, first circling my breasts, then trailing slowly down my ribs before looping around my ass as his kisses slowed.
Finn pulled back, hands still stroking my various body parts. “We need to get out of here.”
I didn’t want to agree, because that was the first time either of us had let loose without darkness or malice playing a factor, but I knew he was right.
“Where are Maddox and Dain? I’ll need Maddox to change me again before we can walk out the gates.”
“Dain had to use the bathroom. They’ll be back any second,” Finn replied.
“Really? Is he a child? He couldn’t hold it until we were outside of the walls where people wouldn’t sooner kill us than let us wipe our ass?”
Finn still held me, but as footsteps approached, we separated and pushed as far back into the alcove as we could.
“Yes, a maid. Now find the wench and bring her to the king. He will decide her punishment.”
I knew that voice. It was one I’d never forget. Gabriel had been nearly as bad as the king while he trained me.
“Yes, sir,” another male voice sounded before more heavy footsteps came and went.
Finn placed his hand over my mouth as Gabriel passed by. He was just the same as I remembered: blonde hair, broad shoulders, and crisp uniform, as if nothing could ruffle him. Once upon a time, I’d wished he would save me from the king, but I’d learned he was no better.
Gabriel disappeared through a door at the same time Maddox and Dain came running from around the corner.
I bit Finn’s hand that was still placed over my mouth. “Don’t you ever do that again unless we’re role-playing.”
He tried to fight the grin but failed. I wasn’t sure what had just happened between us, and I definitely couldn’t decide if I liked it or not, especially since I currently looked nothing like myself. Now that his hands weren’t lighting my skin on fire, I had most of my wits about me and kicked myself for letting it happen.
As soon as Maddox and Dain approached, Maddox tugged me toward him without saying a word. Magic was already sparking from his hands, and before I knew it, I was Ivy again. Hopefully for the last time.
Without wasting another second, we moved toward the front door with purpose. It was time to get the hell away from this castle.
Chapter 21
The four of us arrived back at the farm, and the first thing I did was remove the glamor with a bit of my own magic. My neck cracked as I stretched and ran a hand through my indigo strands. Not being myself was almost torturous.
Our retreat from the castle had been uneventful. Considering the chaos of the guards, we were ushered out off the grounds once they confirmed our story of why we were there. Only one questioned why we’d been there for so long, and I’d spoken—even though Finn had told me to stay quiet—blaming some maid with red hair. And just like that, they’d let us go.
“What do we do now?” Dain asked.
Maddox was already halfway to the house. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to go see my girl, and then check on my land. With the Renegades around, I can’t leave it for too long.”
Dain nodded. “Yeah, I’m going to head home now, too. Unless you need anything else, Finn?”
“No, we’ll see you tomorrow,” Finn replied.
Great, it was just going to be the two of us again. On the way back, I hadn’t been sure what to think about the kiss inside the castle. It had been raw and unexpected, stirring emotions inside me I honestly didn’t think I was capable of feeling. These emotions were completely foreign to me, and I wasn’t even sure if I was identifying them correctly.
Neva had been the only person I’d ever let myself care about, and even then, I held back with my attachments to her. I knew one day she would leave me, and I wouldn’t let that crush me. I couldn’t care that much.
But Finn… well, he was different.
Not that I cared for him more than Neva already, but it was different. He made me think and feel in ways I wasn’t sure I was capable of after the mind games the king had played on me for six years.
Maybe it was the poison in him that drew me. I had no real understanding of what the Renegades had used to nearly kill the king, but if Finn truly did have some of it within him, I also knew I needed to be careful. I’d gone through too much hell to go backwards in life. I wouldn’t let another man force me to believe things that weren’t my own thoughts, even if Finn wasn’t intentionally doing so.
By the time I’d sorted through some of the chaos that was my mind, Maddox and Dain were already gone. “Lucy?” Finn said.
“Yeah?” I replied.
“Did you hear anything we said?”
I shrugged. “Nope. What did I miss?”
He shook his head. “Maddox asked for a few moments alone in the house with Ivy. I told him we’d wait out here.”
His eyes were back to silver, but the charcoal outline was getting thicker the longer he stared at me. Instead of responding to him, I turned to the trees behind us. I needed something to distract me that wasn’t sexy lips or muscled abs.
I’d made a decision to not get involved with him. While the make-out session under the stairs had been more than pleasurable, it was a momentary lapse in judgement on my part. I couldn’t allow it to happen again.
Could I?
I grabbed a pomegranate and cracked it in half, then tossed one side on the ground while I picked seeds from the other.
Finn had followed me and glared. “You’re wasteful.”
“Why do you seem so surprised?” I asked even though I’d even inwardly cringed at my action. It had felt forceful, like I was trying to prove how terrible I was just to make him leave me alone.
You are who you are, Lucinda. There is no denying that. Embrace the darkness, because if you suppress me one more time, you’re not going to like it.
Holy shit. The voice was back and stronger than ever, making my skin crawl. The inner me usually made me detached, more at peace, but this was evil and not normal.
What the hell was happening to me?
Finn nudged me, asking a question of his own. “What did you do that was important enough to nearly get us caught?”
Thankful he wasn’t asking about the kiss, I gladly answered his question. “Well, I initiated, and hopefully succeeded, at phase two of my plans.”
“Care to elaborate?” he pushed.
The words were at the tip of my tongue to spill right now, but if I told him what I’d done, told him what happened, it would mean there was some sort of trust established between us. Neva was the only person I trusted. Wasn’t she?
I turned away from Finn, pretending to pay more attention to the trees than him, and gave myself a moment. If Neva was here, she’d tell me to stop being so damn stubborn, and I’d have laughed at her words, but I’d also know she was right even if I didn’t admit it.
Finn had proved himself trustworthy to a point. He’d had my back against Edgar, and he’d waited for me at the castle when my time had been more than up.
It wasn’t like he didn’t know I’d done something, so there really was no reason to be worried about telling him what that something actually was. That’s right. It wasn’t necessarily giving him my full trust, just filling in the blanks to information he practically already knew.
I straightened my shoulders and turned back to him, flicking my hair back. “If you need to know, then I guess. Well, as you know, phase one was to turn the people against him even more by showing King Zephyr isn’t capable of keeping them safe. Phase two is all about screwing with his head. I slipped him a spell in the tray I took and, if he ate the soup, then he should begin hallucinating, well, any minute now.”
“You really are twisted.” Finn’s lips fought a smile, telling me, for the first time, he wasn’t opposed to something I did. “But, wait. What do you mean ‘if he ate’?”
>
A grin rose on my face, and he was already shaking his head. “Well, I might have knocked him unconscious and left him on the floor before I exited his chambers.”
His eyes bulged. “Why would you do that?”
“Because he tried to put his hands where they had no permission being, and I wasn’t going to let that bastard touch me, no matter the consequence. He’s done enough damage over the years. It was time someone stood up to him, even if he doesn’t know who did it.”
Finn’s face tightened, and the twitch was back. He moved in closer, grabbing me gently. “What did he do to you, Lucy?”
I lifted my head, meeting his liquid stare without showing any weakness. “Nothing I didn’t handle on my own.”
“Did he touch you?” Finn’s voice was nearly a growl.
“Of course not. I might have been naïve back then, but I wasn’t stupid. I would have found a way to kill the bastard then if he’d ever tried.”
Finn let out a heavy breath, and he pulled me closer until my cheek was forced against his chest. His arms wrapped around me, holding me tightly, while I stood there uncomfortably. At least, I thought that was how I felt.
I couldn’t ever remember being hugged. Sure, I’d been in a man’s arms before, but it was never simply to hug me. My heart sped up, and I couldn’t breathe, but not like when I was having the panic attacks before.
No, the longer he held me, the more I realized a part of me was enjoying the feelings he evoked within me. The embrace reminded me of how wrapping my wings around myself and soaking in my own power recharged me.
Though, my inner self was not thrilled with the emotions circling through me.
Don’t let him in. He will only hurt you. Or you’ll get him killed. I’m all you need, and you know it.
Guilt slammed into me. Something else that was new. Was choosing to get closer to Finn, even if it was subconsciously, going to get him killed? I had no idea, but a part of me believed the voice and I stiffened.
Finn began to laugh, unaware of the reasons behind my actions. If only he could hear inside my head, he’d never have asked for my help. “Lucy, it’s just a hug. I’m not asking you to marry me or anything drastic.”
Dark Fae Cursed (Broken Court Book 1) Page 16