Well, this was unusual. I actually did know about giants.
Black Louie turned to face me. “Speak, Princess Trixie.”
All right…that was horribly disturbing.
“Um.” I cleared my throat and glanced around again, all eyes on me. “My grandmother taught me about them.”
Black Louie merely stared with blank eyes, waiting for me to continue speaking as he had ordered.
“Giants were the Fae-created children before us.” I nibbled on my bottom lip and glanced at my father. His emerald eyes were patient on mine, complete faith in me despite the absurdity of what I had just said. I straightened my spine and discreetly wiped my forehead. “There was only one family of giants in the realm, a test for the first creations the Fae made. There was a father, a mother, and a young son.
“The Fae made the giants large, too large for the realm they had built. The mother’s and father’s heads were as tall as the top of a mountain in the Shifter Kingdom, but they were happy. They loved one another deeply.
“One day, their son ventured too far away. He had gangly limbs, as most young do, and he tripped and fell into the ocean. All of his flounderings only pushed him out farther into the water. He screamed for help, but his parents weren’t fast enough. He went over the end of the ocean to his death.”
Queen Mikko gasped in horror. “His parents must have been heartbroken.”
I licked my dry lips and nodded in agreement. “They were heartbroken, but their sorrow soon turned to anger. The two giants started destroying the realm, no longer being careful with its beauty. Soon, the entire realm was torn unrecognizable. This made the Fae angry, their beautiful creation almost entirely destroyed, which, at that time, was their path to their counterpart’s land—their own way of keeping the peace between the dark and the light Fae.
“But they didn’t want to kill the only two giants in existence, so they put them to sleep before remaking our realm even more beautiful. Then, the Fae created the first five originals of our kinds, but there they had to learn too because the originals kept killing one another. To keep everyone safe, they created the Blood Forest to keep us separated, and use it to travel to their counterpart’s land without disturbing our way of life.”
Everyone was still staring at me.
I shook my head. “That is all I know.”
Father sat back in his chair and rubbed his forehead in thought. “The important question is, why are we even talking about giants?”
Black Louie stated, “Because they are waking, King Traevon. The Fae buried them right below where we are now, and rebuilt the realm around them.”
King Athon’s solid black eyes narrowed. “The earthquakes are the giants waking?”
“Yes,” Black Louie replied, with no emotion.
“What happens if they wake up?” Queen Alora asked.
“The giants will lay waste to the kingdoms once more if they are not stopped.” Black Louie lifted the ancient book he had under his right arm, while the royals stared at him in horror. He looked up with brown void eyes, not noticing—or, more like, not caring—that his words had destroyed what we always believed to be safe—our realm. “I must read from this book now.”
An undercurrent of carnal need took me fast. I squeezed my eyes shut and propped my elbows on the table to hold my head in my trembling hands. I breathed heavily, concentrating on air flow, but that wasn’t helping as it did before.
Father placed his hand on my back and rubbed soft circles up and down my spine. “I beg your pardon, Louie, but please give us just a moment. My daughter is horribly distraught over this.”
“If you say so,” Black Louie intoned. “I will wait until Princess Trixie calms herself.”
Father leaned closer and started whispering gently against my ear, “It is all right, my daughter. The Misfits are here to help, and I have never met a challenge I cannot handle. The rulers and I will meet this head on…” He kept yammering on and on in my ear.
I only focused on squeezing my legs together more fiercely and not getting up to stalk across the room to throw myself on the bloody shifter king. This was the most awful time for this to occur, and it was so damned strong. I had never experienced an urge like this. It had to be because King Athon was so powerful.
Fae, take the man to his death before this gets worse.
I groaned softly under my breath, and grumbled, “Father, leave me the Fairy alone. I just need a moment of silence, please.”
“As you wish, my daughter,” he stated tenderly.
King Traevon removed his hand from my back and allowed me the peace I needed, silently waiting for me to comport myself for a reason he had entirely wrong.
The shakes subsided in my frame, enough for me to sit back up and breathe evenly again. My face was hot, my cheeks burning, but the dratted sweating had stopped now. The clench of my legs needed to stay, but I could manage—barely.
I nodded to Black Louie. “Thank you, Louie. Please continue.”
All the rulers were looking at me with actual, real sympathy, except for one. That particular shifter king was staring down at his desk with squinted eyes, his muscular arms crossed back over his chest, and his legs spread so damn wide it was remarkable for his size that he was that flexible.
“Wait a moment, Louie.” Red Louie stared at the shifter king, his lips twitching. “I think we should wait to make sure King Athon is all right before we continue.”
Solid black eyes shot upward from the desk, pegging Red Louie with a gaze ready to kill. “To Fairy and back with you. I am perfectly fine.”
“Are you positive?” Red Louie teased. His long and grotesque green nose twitched as he grinned with ugly delight. “We can wait.”
Red Louie must be the one holding the string of destiny.
I glared right at him.
He could change this in a heartbeat, have anyone else be the one we were in an urge with. But from the glee on his face, he did not look the sort to change anything that gave him dark pleasure. Red Louie was enjoying our agony—and possible deaths to come—far too much.
King Athon snarled at him, and then turned his pointed gaze to Black Louie. “Please proceed. I am most assuredly all right.”
“If you say so.” Black Louie opened the old book and flipped to the specific page he was looking for. He raised the book right in front of his face, and mumbled into the pages, “The Fae gifted this book to the Fates, should the giants ever waken. There are ancient artifacts that they hid in the kingdoms that will help to control the giants. But only those who should find them will, descendants of the originals who have the royal power.”
Red Louie glanced around the room. “Are there any questions so far?”
“How many artifacts are there?” Queen Mikko asked.
Black Louie did not even bother to lower the book to look around. He kept it plastered to his face, and smashing his nose. His muffled voice stated, “There are six. The first artifact is hidden in the Blood Forest. That is where you must go, and I will not speak of the next artifact until it is time.”
“What?” Queen Alora practically shouted. “Are you sending us to our deaths?”
In his deep voice, Blue Louie stated adamantly, “No.”
It was possible Blue Louie held our death strings.
I smiled sweetly at him.
Blue Louie did a double take at me. He stared for a long moment and then rolled his too large eyes at my antics.
“You will cut your hand and let your royal power blood drip onto the Blood Forest’s leaves,” Black Louie expounded in his monotone way, the book a few inches up higher on his face, apparently having issues with his eyes. “You will say the single word giants, and the Blood Forest will give you free entry one time only.”
King Traevon’s red brows furrowed low over his emerald eyes. “How do we exit?”
“Hold on a moment,” Black Louie stated. The book rose another inch higher. “Here it is. You will each hold onto the artifact found, and you will be
freed from the Blood Forest.”
“So they must find the artifact before they can leave?” I asked for clarification. “They could be in there for a thousand years searching, but if they don’t find it, they’ll be imprisoned in the Blood Forest?”
“You are correct, Princess Trixie.” Black Louie moved the book a half-inch higher. “But you are incorrect on one point.”
“What is that?”
“You are assuming that it is only the rulers going. But do you not have royal power, too? Are you not also a direct descendant of an original?”
Is this what fainting feels like?
I was awfully lightheaded. I shook my head hard to snap out of my shock. I was going to search for these artifacts, too?
That couldn’t be right.
Father’s chair creaked as his spine straightened. Outrage—and fear—covered my father’s face. “My daughter cannot go into the damned Blood Forest!”
“She can. And she will,” Black Louie said. “I’m moving on from that topic. You can worry about that later on your own time.”
King Traevon’s wide eyes shot to me.
I stared back at him and shrugged a frightened shoulder.
What else was there to do? If I must go, then I must go.
Father leaned against the table and rubbed his forehead again, stress eating at his mouth, his lips pinched into the most severe of lines.
“As for the Blood Forest, when you all enter, your powers will be nullified,” Black Louie rambled on. “The Blood Forest removes any and all powers that are not pureblood born Fae, seeing as the originals tended to kill one another off too often for the Fae’s liking.”
Queen Mikko’s mist-created eyes were positively spinning in their sockets. “We will be powerless?”
“Except for your minds? Yes,” Black Louie stated.
“If we get hurt, will we still heal?” King Elon queried.
“No.”
“What about our immortality?” I pondered, having just reached my majority. “Will we continue to age?”
“Hold, please.” Black Louie pulled the book away from his face to flip a page; then it was smacked right back up to his face. He read for so long that I didn’t think he would find an answer. But he finally stated, “Yes, you will continue to age.”
My mouth gaped open. “How long does someone live when their body truly ages?”
Father murmured, “Great question, my heir.”
Black Louie droned, “The book does not say.”
“That was not a great answer,” I grumbled to my father.
But all the royals nodded their heads in agreement.
“What is in the Blood Forest?” King Athon questioned slowly. “What should we prepare ourselves for?”
The three original gremlins snickered to themselves.
“The book does not say,” Black Louie responded.
King Athon stared at the still chortling gremlins. “I would like to put to the royal community a verbal bill to relinquish the previous bill on blades.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed.”
“Agreed. And may I please borrow one from somebody? Mine was recently lost in a current.”
The last one was Queen Alora.
If the situation wasn’t so dire, I would have laughed.
King Athon’s solid black eyes snapped to me. “Royal community, Princess Trixie. That would require your vote, too.”
My emerald eyes shot wide. “My apologies. Agreed.”
That deadly gaze narrowed. “Do you even know how to wield a blade or are you merely a proficient student of your deceased grandmother’s?”
Pride almost tripped me. Almost.
I answered timidly, “I’ve only practiced a little.”
This was Father’s first rule that he taught me.
Never give away valuable information about yourself to the enemy. Keep your talents as close to you as you do your enemies, which is damn bloody close. And I wouldn’t mind getting real close to my enemy right now…
I rubbed at the back of my neck, trying to push away the thought of his disgusting shifter body naked and lying on top of mine, even as King Athon glared right at me, hating my answer that I would be useless in the Blood Forest. Or maybe he was picturing me naked, and that was causing the loathing scowl on his face. That…was even more disturbing. I’d rather he think of me in a winter coat buttoned up to my chin, with a burlap sack over my head.
Queen Mikko answered, “When do we start this first quest?”
Red Louie answered, “Tomorrow when the sun is at its zenith, right here at High Pointe.”
Queen Alora stood abruptly. “We need to leave now and prepare for our journey.”
All the royals stood to their feet, seemingly in agreement.
I rose to stand and whispered against my father’s shoulder, “I need to use the bathroom again before we go.”
He tipped his head to the side, and grumbled quietly, “What in Fae fuck did you eat last night?”
“Everything. I was stress eating.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Prayer of a princess:
Dear beloved Fae,
Everything is perfectly respectable here! There is no need to check on me. I couldn’t be better. I thought I should inform you so you wouldn’t waste your all-powerful time on a trip to see me.
Your eternally devoted child, who never breaks your laws.
Princess Trixie Towers
I paced the private confines of my bedchamber. Back and forth.
I was lost in my own frantic, troubled thoughts.
I loathed the bloody urge. If I could burn it away, I would.
I opened my mouth and tossed another pill in, swallowing it down without any water. I examined the pill bottle and turned it around slowly, attempting to see if there were any hidden words on the brown glass that I hadn’t noticed. I’d bought it while living in Sugar Cove from a reputable merchant. These pills had worked before, dulling the edges of the urge. But I had already taken ten since leaving High Pointe. Nothing was diminishing in my body or my mind, and the desire was only getting worse as the sun set.
I squinted at the label.
It looked the same as the last ten times I had read it.
“DON’T LET THE URGE TAKE CONTROL. ONE PILL IS ALL IT TAKES. RELIEF IS ON THE WAY!”
Bloody Fae bullshit.
I opened my mouth and tilted the bottle back, pouring the remaining pills onto my waiting tongue. My nose scrunched in revulsion as I chomped and gnawed at the small, yellow tablets. They tasted like sour paste, not at all appetizing. I grabbed the wine bottle off my nightstand and drank a heady gulp, swishing it around in my mouth for maximum benefit and capturing the pills’ remaining residue to send it into my stomach.
I was hot as bloody Fairy, too.
I couldn’t remove any more clothing, or I’d be traipsing around my castle naked. All I wore were my undergarments, but even the chilled twilight air was burning my skin. I stared at my wine bottle, and then shrugged a shoulder and guzzled the booze down in hopes it would help. I tossed the empty bottle aside and stared at my bag on the floor, all packed and ready for the Blood Forest.
I picked up a notebook and began fanning my face with it while I tried to review everything I needed to have packed. I ticked off the list in my head, albeit, a little fuzzily due to my tipsy state and sex fogged brain. After twenty minutes of hard addled thinking, I was one hundred percent positive I had everything packed where they needed to be. I was as organized as I could be…
Desire jumped from my groin up to my head.
I dropped to my knees on the black plush carpet of my bedchamber, the notebook falling from my limp fingers. I’d spent far too much time down here tonight, knocked to my knees in excruciating need. I don’t even think if I had sex with the illegal shifter right now that it would be pleasurable.
I simply hurt.
“You fucking bitch,” King Athon snarled behind me.
“I want you ripped to shreds.”
I screamed.
I spun on my knees too fast and fell into a heap on my side, my arms and legs sprawled askew. I screamed again when I saw that the shifter king was in my kingdom—in my own fucking castle.
King Athon hissed, “Shut the Fairy fuck up before someone hears you. Unless you’d like me to take all my fucking rage out on your damned servants? I promise you, Princess, I would love to maul an elf right now.”
I sputtered, “W-what in the Fae fuck are you doing here?”
King Athon leaned heavily against my doorframe, using his left hand to grip the wooden frame tight, barely holding himself upright. “What in the realm do you think I’m doing here? Do you think the urge is going to disappear miraculously? After it hasn’t released us all day long? Are you able to function? I’d hazard to say no because you’re on the Fae damned floor right now!”
Another shock wave of lust slammed into my gut, and I curled in on myself, groaning in discomfort. I panted, “I still don’t understand.”
King Athon swayed where he stood, even using the doorframe for support. He choked out his words, “It’s simple, really. I can’t kill you because you may be needed to save our realm, so I’m here to fuck your disgusting elven cunt so that this Fae torture will end.”
I gasped for air and wrapped my arms around my stomach. “It’s a death sentence.”
“I would prefer sweet death over this. I’ll take the risk.”
The shifter king released the doorframe and fell to his knees. He slowly crawled toward me, a predator hunting his prey. His long, white hair draped over his shoulders, almost touching the black carpet. His lush, dusky pearl lips were already plump, begging to be kissed, and stark against his warm russet skin tone. Those solid black eyes focused on mine with a carnal intensity that was pure wild animal.
King Athon grabbed onto my bare ankles and yanked, pulling me roughly beneath him. My long red hair dragged behind me, catching on the fibers of the carpet, and my legs instantly spread and wrapped around his waist, inviting him in. The tiger inside of him quietly growled as he peered down at my tiny body beneath his massive frame.
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