by Sofia Daniel
The sun dipped behind the mountain tops, coloring the horizon the hue of blood.
“Right then,” I marched alongside the river, clenching my fists. “It’s time to win this fucking round.”
Chapter 20
“Bloody bastard.” The uphill march toward the academy made my thighs ache, and the setting sun shone on my back like a magnifying glass.
I should have burned Prince Caulden’s dick off with that cock-ring. As if I would mate with a guy who threatened to freeze my body. What was wrong with these royal faeries?
I kept to the riverside, which meandered a curved path away from a dense forest. By now, my uniform had dried, and splotches of slime covered my once pristine blazer and skirt.
Why couldn’t I have been fated to mate with a decent faerie, like Pokeweed? I clenched and unclenched my fists. Right, because that dying freak with the bat wings had cursed me to suffer.
With each furious step, the lump of pyre stone weighed heavily in my blazer pocket, making muffled clanks against my iron dagger. In thirty minutes or so, I would reach the academy and win the trial. If anyone accused me of cheating, I would tell them to prove it. Prince Caulden was bound by magic into silence.
A rustle of leaves made me glance into the woods. I couldn’t see anything but trees, but I edged toward the waterside, just in case. Seconds later, something in my peripheral vision moved.
They looked like pixies, except they were green from the foliage covering their heads to the bark covering their svelte, little bodies. Instead of bumblebee wings, theirs seemed to be made of ginkgo leaves, and they wore loincloths made of tree bark.
I clenched my teeth. “Wood sprites.”
This was my first time seeing such a creature. Most humans knew better than to wander around in the forests on the mound. They were the home of all manner of nature faeries, ranging from the mischievous to the malevolent. Wood sprites could be either, depending on whether they served a master.
Keeping my gaze straight ahead, I continued trudging up the slope. Perhaps if I ignored them, they would go away.
“Oi!” said a high-pitched voice.
A frustrated huff escaped my nostrils, and I quickened my pace. According to legend, they were weak against fire. Too bad I didn’t have any.
“I’m talking to you,” shouted the little sprite.
“Fuck off,” I muttered under my breath.
Quiet footsteps approached from behind. I spun around, holding my iron dagger like a shield.
About a dozen of the wretched creatures circled me, each holding little swords carved from wood.
“What do you want?” I snarled.
The largest sprite, one with hair that looked like tufts of couch grass, made stabbing motions at me with its sword. “We have a message from Lady Salix.”
A spike of anger shot through my insides. I couldn’t remember ever exchanging a word with the green-haired faerie. The cowardly little twerp couldn’t even face me herself.
I placed my hands on my hips. “How on earth did someone like Salix get such noble creatures to run her errands? Wood sprites are supposed to be the kings of the forest.”
The sprite puffed out his chest. “We are, and don’t you forget it.”
“Well, then,” I said. “That’s me told. It was a pleasure to meet you all.”
They stepped aside to create a parting, and my heart leaped. It wasn’t often a human outsmarted a faerie, but I was grateful to have escaped the wood sprites unstabbed. With the longest strides I could muster, I power-walked out of their semi-circle and back along the riverside.
“Wait a minute!” said a little voice.
“What’s that, then?” I broke into a jog.
Running uphill with a pair of enormous wings that dragged against the wind was torturous. Sweat broke across my brow and under my armpits, and my heart broke into a canter.
“Lady Salix said—”
“Why are forest kings doing the bidding of a mere lady?” I asked between panting breaths. With the water at my side concealing all manner of slimy monsters, my only chance of survival was outrunning these creatures.
My foot caught on a tree root, sending me flying forward. I spread my arms out front to catch my fall, but another root sprang out from the grass, wrapped around my wrists, and flipped me onto my back. Another coiled around my dagger and yanked it out of reach.
“Get her!” cried one of the wood sprites.
Cheers and footsteps filled my ears. Tiny hands grabbed at my hair.
“Wait,” I shouted. “Is this what wood sprites do to people who admire their majesty?” It bristled to continue kissing their asses when they were likely to stab me in the eye, but I’d run out of choices.
Nobody replied. Instead, they erupted into peals of eardrum-shattering giggles. Vines and weeds and all manner of vegetation wove around my limbs and rooted me to the ground until I could do nothing but gnash my teeth.
The leader of the wood sprites climbed up my arm and stood on my chest. “We’ll leave you out to the sun to dry instead of filling you with tiny holes.”
“Thanks,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Maybe a kelpie will rise from the water and eat you.” He jumped off with a whoop.
My stomach plummeted to the soil. “Hey, you can’t—”
“Bye, bye!” The little asshole ran off into the forest with his cohort of chuckling, leaf-headed bastards.
My muscles slumped with defeat, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to run through solutions. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to reject Prince Caulden. If I’d mated with him, it would have pissed Lady Salix off, and I wouldn’t be lying here vulnerable to any passing creature.
I pulled at my legs, but the vegetation rooted me to the ground. This reminded me of a story Mom once read to me called Gulliver’s Travels, where the main character got captured by little people. How the fuck did he get free? I forgot that part. I managed to raise my head six inches off the ground before the plants pulled me back.
“Shit.”
I stared up at the sky. Indigo clouds gathered above where I lay, their undersides tinged the blood-orange of the setting sun.
A warm drop of water splashed on my face.
“Bugger,” I whispered.
Then another, and another, until they coalesced into a full-blown downfall. I turned my head to the side, and a piece of hair loosened from the plants. Maybe this rain wasn’t so bad at all.
Hoofbeats approached, and hope surged through my insides. If I could persuade a horse to nibble on these plants…
I raised my head to find a large figure running through the woods on four legs, but it wasn’t a horse, it was something better.
“Hey, stallion!” I bellowed.
The centaur stopped and turned around.
“No, this way. I’m at the waterside.”
He trotted over, his brows furrowed. I blinked the rain out of my eyes and focussed on familiar-looking features. A golden mane, broad chest, and twinkling eyes. It was Coltrane, the centaur I had met at the Doolish town square who had supposedly rescued me from the Jack of Smiles.
He peered down at me with his hands on his waist. “What’s a nice faerie like you doing tied up?”
“Wood sprites,” I muttered.
“Bloody assholes, those rotten little creatures.” He bent his forelegs to the ground and stared into my eyes. “I suppose you want rescuing, then?”
My throat went dry. What would he ask for in return? “It would be much appreciated.”
His gaze lingered on my breasts. “Your shirt is see-through.”
“That’s because I’m wet.” I arched my back, letting my blazer fall around my shoulders.
“Really?” He licked his lips and swept his eyes down to the skirt hiking up around my hips.
My breath stilled. What the hell was I doing, teasing a known pervert while I was still tied up and unable to wriggle free? “I’m also one of the princes’ fated mates.”
“Oh.�
� Hoisting himself up, he stepped back and glanced over his shoulder into the beckoning woods, looking like he was late for a pressing appointment.
“But I’d be happy to give you a quick flash if you release me.” The words tumbled from my lips.
Coltrane narrowed his eyes, his features twisted with calculation. “A grope, and you watch me rut.”
“I’m in a hurry.”
“It won’t take long,” he said with a purr.
“Or I’ll just lie here and wait for His Royal Highness to ask why nobody came to my rescue,” I snapped. “Then I’ll tell him about the centaur who tried to extort sexual favors. What did you say your name was? Col-something?”
His eyes bulged, and he lowered himself onto his knees. “C-Coleman, and I was only joking.”
“I see.”
“Yeah.” His hands made busy work, plucking at the weeds encasing my limbs and hair, all the while muttering under his breath about some people not understanding bawdy centaur humor.
I glanced up at the sky, where only the barest trace of sunlight poked out from behind the mountains. Through the pouring rain, four specks flew in from the south. They might have been just birds, but enough time had passed for the Fated to make their return from the Calf of Fae.
“There we are.” Coltrane pulled himself upright. “All free.”
“Take me to the Royal Fae Academy,” I asked.
He held out his hand. “Six beads. You pretty ones are all the same, wanting something for nothing.”
My brows drew together. Did he remember my human self?. “Has someone scammed you recently?”
“Every bloody day!” he snarled.
My shoulders drooped. If he was trading rides for tug-a-lug, it was no wonder girls ran off without paying. I unbuttoned my shirt.
Coltrane’s face went slack. “What are you doing?”
“No money beads.” I continued sliding the buttons out of their little holes down to my sternum. “Will you accept a quick flash?”
“A slow one would be better.”
I pulled open my shirt, letting the rain pour down on my bare breasts, and counted to ten. Sometimes, this barter economy got on my frigging nerves. If I lived in the outside world, I’d have one of those credit cards that paid for everything.
Coltrane’s pupils, which were usually horizontal, widened into huge, black circles, leaving only a ring of brown. His broad, horsehair-covered chest heaved with rapid breaths, and his tongue darted out to lick his lips.
His hand twitched toward my breast. “Can I suck your nips?”
“No.” I stepped back and buttoned my shirt.
The centaur squeezed his eyes shut, took several more deep breaths, and rasped, “Get on.”
“Thanks.” I grabbed onto his bicep, climbed onto his saddle, and pressed my chest against his upper back. “Go as fast as you can.”
With a nod, Coltrane broke into a rapid gallop. The wind roared in my ears and battered my wings so hard, they trailed behind my back for protection. I wrapped my arms around the centaur’s chest, feeling his steady heartbeat.
Behind me, the four specs on the horizon took shape, each looking alarmingly like faeries. I turned back, pressing myself hard against Coltrane, and shouted, “Faster!”
Coltrane sped uphill with me shouting in his ear. I almost felt bad for working the poor centaur so hard, but I remembered how he had tried to take advantage of my desperation to find Sicily on the night she got taken.
A cold wind swept above my head. I turned once more to find Lady Gala in the lead, trailing white smoke from her wings. I gulped. At this rate, she would overtake me. Lady Aster flew several feet behind her with the other two in the distance.
I kept my head down, hoping they wouldn’t attack from above. If they had sped up, it meant that they had recognized I was in the lead. Clods of earth flew from Coltrane’s feet, some hitting me on the legs. My breath came in shallow pants.
As we approached the pond surrounded by weeping willows, he shouted, “Where to?”
“Through the garlic field!”
“Right-ho,” he said with a happy whinny.
I tilted my head to see if the girls had caught up, but the canopy of garlic flowers was so thick, it was hard to see the sky. Moments later, we emerged from our cover and entered the field of chamomile.
Something cold and hard hit me on the back of my head and shattered into pieces of ice. “Ouch!”
“What’s going on?” Coltrane shouted.
“Naughty schoolgirls playing pranks,” I said. “Show them how well a centaur can dodge.”
Something else landed in front of us and exploded into a mass of earth, burnt herbs, and flames. Coltrane reared back with a horsey scream. “Fireballs?”
I clung onto his back, my stomach lurching from the sudden movement. “Keep going!”
“Bugger this.” He knelt to the chamomile and pulled my arms off his chest. “No tit-flash is worth getting embroiled in a blood feud.”
I landed on the spongy ground with a thud. “You can’t leave me here.”
“Next time a hard-working centaur asks to suck your nips, say yes!”
Just as another fireball exploded three feet away, Coltrane pulled himself upright and galloped into the garlic field.
A ball of ice hit me between the wings, laying me out flat. Strangely, the cold numbed any pain, and I placed my hands on the charred earth and pushed myself up onto shaky legs.
“You bloody halfling,” Lady Gala screeched from up high, looking like a murderous snowflake. “Stand still and die.”
I sprinted through the chamomile field, dodging left and right as frozen and fire-based missiles rained down on me like it was the end of the world. A rope of fire lashed across my back, making me cry out, but I continued running. Whatever they did to me here wouldn’t be as bad as the penalty they’d planned if I came last.
The stone garden stood at the end of the field, and I picked up my pace. My chest burned with its need for air, and my thighs burned with their need for rest. I was weaker as a hybrid faerie than I had been when I was human, but my will was stronger than anything these flying wenches could hurl.
Cheers traveled across the air. With all that noise, they had attracted the students’ attention. I balled my fists for a last dash, but my foot tripped on something slippery, and I stumbled forward.
“Got you!” shouted Lady Aster.
Something fiery flew past my ear, filling my nostrils with the scent of burnt hair. It landed on a statue and exploded into sparks.
I ducked to the side and rushed behind the statue of the one-eyed ogre, hoping him and those huge bat-wings would provide cover. An explosion boomed overhead, raining sparks everywhere.
“Stop,” boomed a voice from above.
I glanced up to find Mistress Ellyllon hovering in the air with her arms outstretched.
Huge gusts of breath heaved in and out of my lungs, but I couldn’t feel a drop of relief. Not when the headmistress was the one who authorized this deadly trial.
“No-one is permitted to vandalize the campus,” she shouted.
I shook my head. Of course, she would only care about the upkeep of her precious academy.
“Headmistress!” I raised Prince Caulden’s lump of pyre stone above my head. “I came first in the trial.”
“Well done.” She flew down.
“Wait,” screeched Lady Gala from the sky. “I came first.”
“Where is your stone?” asked the headmistress.
She placed her hand in her pocket and pulled it out. “Here.”
“Gala,” said Lady Aster, her voice as whiney as a stray dog’s. “I was the first to step into the stone garden.”
Lady Gala flew down beside us and retracted her wings. “This halfling pretender cheated. There’s no way she could have gotten to the Calf of Fae and back before us.”
Lady Aster landed and twisted her face into a scowl. “Gala, you were busy making that huge boulder of ice. I reached the camp
us first.”
Everyone ignored her, and the bitchy side of me felt a thrill at seeing Lady Aster denied her victory. The floating sofa carrying all four princes flew across the sky and landed on the chamomile lawn.
Moments later, Ladies Salix and Gazania glided down, both with sweat glistening on their faces. With a flick of their pretty fingers and a few faerie sparkles, they straightened their appearances and took their positions at the side of the throne.
“Headmistress.” Prince August stood, flicking back his golden mane like one of the posers on TV. “I will announce the winners.”
“Not so fast.” The headmistress held up her palm. “Here are the final scores. All ladies failed the test of magic through ineptitude and cheating.”
My gaze dropped to my feet. The last thing I needed right now was a reminder of how Elijah had tricked me into nearly having sex in front of the whole academy.
Mistress Ellyllon continued. “The winner of the oral sex round is Unity due to being the only candidate who participated. Is that correct?”
Prince Rory grinned and gave Prince Caulden a nudge.
With a grimace, the winter prince nodded. I wondered if the oath of silence he had sworn would allow him to claim that I’d given him a blowjob.
“And the first person to set foot on the campus and present the pyre stone was also Unity, making her the winner—”
“I refuse to accept this.” Prince August’s hands curled into fists, and his lime-green eyes burned hot enough to incinerate my heart. He turned to Lady Aster, the faerie fated to become his mate. “It’s time to put an end to this farce and get rid of the halfling interloper.”
Chapter 21
I stepped away from the furious prince, and my back hit the stone statue.
“Prince August,” said Mistress Ellyllon. “You agreed to this trial—”
“Only when I thought our females would crush her,” the blond prince snarled. “But she appears to be as resilient as a salamander-rat from the mound’s deepest levels.”
I edged away, breathing hard to calm my frantic heart. “Wait.” I held up both palms. “If you want me to drop out—”