“Same old answer, different day,” King Athon mumbled, distracted by something else he had found. His eyes snapped back down to my bag. “At least you are consistent, King Traevon.”
Father tipped his head up, trying to peek into my bag. “What else did you find?” He almost sounded excited.
The King of Shifters stared down at what he held, still hidden inside my bag, a robust laugh bursting from his lush lips. “Trust me, King Traevon, there are some things a father really doesn’t want to know.”
My cheeks instantly flushed rosy red. “Let go of that!”
Father froze for a moment and then groaned under his breath. With much pain in his tone, Father muttered, “Release her dildo, King Athon.”
King Athon did no such thing. He brought it up into full view for everyone and waved it slowly back and forth. With much spiteful amusement, he asked cruelly, “So this is how small an elven dick is? That is quite embarrassing for your kingdom, King Traevon.”
The door banged open.
Queen Mikko, Queen Alora, and King Elon stopped walking, all three sets of eyes stuck on us. Or, more precisely, the dildo in King Athon’s hand for one and all to view. My dildo.
“Oh my Fae,” I breathed in horror.
Their eyes crinkled at the edges with confusion.
Maybe they didn’t know what it was yet.
Please Fae, let that be true.
I launched myself at the shifter king. I jumped and slammed hard against his chest, one of my hands gripping a fistful of his hair at the back of his head and the other grabbing the dildo right above his gripping hand. My bag was trapped between us with my legs wrapped around his waist. I jerked his head back hard at the same time I twisted the dildo out of his fist.
This all happened in an alarming second.
I stuffed the dildo back into my bag between us, right as a deadly tiger’s growl exploded in the stunned silence. I jerked his head up so I could stare into his raging eyes. I snarled, “That was not giving me a modicum of privacy, Your Royal Highness.”
Right behind me, Father stated softly, “King Athon, please put your claws away. My daughter will get down and apologize.”
Did it sound like a…plea?
My father never begged anyone for anything.
I released the shifter king’s hair and glanced down at his arms, my forehead wrinkling in confusion. My eyes traveled slowly down the slope of his overlarge limbs until they disappeared high behind my back, not touching me. I started to turn my head to look behind me, but my soft cheek hit something very sharp. I held still and peeked to the side.
Oh my Fae.
His claws were aimed right at my head, the tiniest sliver away from my flesh, six inches long and sharp as Fae fuck.
I moved my eyes back to his, and stated grudgingly, “I’m sorry for touching you, Your Royal Highness.”
“Idiot,” King Athon bit out through clenched teeth, his claws disappearing. He grabbed my waist and threw me back with such force my chin smacked down against my chest. My small body smashed into my father’s, who caught me with quick arms. King Athon snarled, “Your heir needs a reminder of protocol, King Traevon.”
“Quite so.” Father held me closely against him, safely protected in his embrace, and backed us away from the shifter king. My bag had dropped to the marble floor when we’d separated. Father stated evenly, “My apologies, King Traevon.”
Safely protected in my father’s arms, I looked up slowly and rubbed at my chin. That had frightened me more than it had hurt. I stated quietly, “I want my bag back.”
I could feel him in my chest.
He was pissed the Fae fuck off.
Which meant, he could feel me in his chest.
I was embarrassed.
And I hated that he knew that.
King Athon lifted his monster boot and kicked my bag over to us, a few of the contents spilling out. He muttered with disgust, “Pull yourself together, Princess Trixie. It only gets worse from here.”
CHAPTER NINE
Confession of a princess:
Is this what real pain feels like? If it is, I’d rather it go away. It’s altogether unpleasant. The Blood Forest is not for anyone created in this realm. The Fae made sure of that. One doesn’t think about what they have until it is gone. I am quickly realizing we take for granted what we have been gifted.
I want to go home!
The Blood Forest loomed in front of us. High Pointe was directly to our left. We walked into the Caster Kingdom for this, since it didn’t matter at this point, all arguing done.
The five rulers stood in a perfect row. I don’t think they even noticed it. They simply did it unconsciously. Their eyes were brutal on the dark red trees with the bright red leaves, the contorted limbs twisting around each other, creating a barrier from peeking eyes. The kings and queens looked just as fierce and deadly as the Blood Forest did, the rulers ready to save the realm.
I stood off to the side and chewed on my thumbnail. I eyed the Blood Forest with contempt, not wanting to step any closer. The Blood Forest was there for a reason. I’d rather leave the deadly forest to its dangerous games and let the rulers handle this.
But the Misfits said I needed to be there.
So there I shall go—albeit, reluctantly.
I sighed and peered at the queens and kings. “Are we just going to stare at it all day?”
“The sun hasn’t reached its zenith yet,” Queen Mikko stated in her quiet voice. “Just a few more minutes.”
Wrong answer. If I was doing this, I was doing it right.
I shifted my long fur coat back and palmed the handle of one of my daggers sheathed on my thigh. I slid it out and let my coat drape back over my leg. I sucked in a large lungful of oxygen and started hiking forward.
“Trixie!” Father barked in panic. “Get back here!”
“No,” I stated calmly. I didn’t glance back. “The sun will only be at its zenith for a literal second. We need to be ready.”
While it turned silent behind me, I kept walking.
Suddenly, Father was beside me, marching with me. He eyed the Blood Forest warily and palmed his own dagger. My king didn’t say a word, but he strolled next to me in solidarity.
The others were still behind us.
King Elon hissed, “I think Princess Trixie is correct.”
“They haven’t been killed yet,” Queen Alora remarked, her high-pitched voice screeching over my eardrums. “We should probably hurry.”
The other four rulers swiftly caught up and fanned out around us, all of us walking together now in a tight group.
King Athon cast a sneer in my direction. “Are you damned suicidal?”
“Not in the least. I’m merely more informed than you.” I lifted a red brow. The shifter king could feel that I wasn’t depressed. “If you’d like my counsel on anything else, go through my king first for permission. That is protocol, after all.”
Perhaps, I was a wee bit pissed at him.
He had embarrassed me too many times.
Father muttered under his breath, “Quit saying funny shit, my daughter. This is serious, and I’d rather not laugh in the face of the Blood Forest right now.”
“Fine,” I grumbled. “But he’s such an asshole.”
“I am literally right next to you,” King Athon growled. “Are you trying to piss me off again?”
“Is it working?”
“You tell me,” he muttered.
Yes, he was just as pissed off as I was.
I knew for a fact in my little, precious Fae-spark.
I murmured, “My apologies. Protocol forbids me from answering since you didn’t go through the correct channel.”
Father choked on a laugh. “Shut up, Trixie.”
I closed my mouth. I had gotten my point across.
King Traevon arrived first, taking a giant step directly in front of me. He stared forward, the tips of his boots almost touching a trunk of a dark red tree. Only when he wasn’t killed di
d he allow me to step beside him again.
I shook my head. “I know you are my king, but stop that.”
“I didn’t do that as your king, my clueless daughter. I did that as your father.” King Traevon winked. “One day, you will finally understand where the two lines are drawn.”
“The lines of the realm and the father and the mother are drawn from the eyes of a babe.” I rolled my eyes. “Grandmother Isabella used to say that all the time. I think I get the point, Father.”
King Elon hissed, “Will you two shut up? Truly, what happened to the times where rulers and their heirs hated one another? I really enjoyed those days. It was so much quieter.”
King Athon grunted. “It wasn’t that long ago.”
Father snickered.
“Thirty seconds,” Queen Mikko called down the line, her voice a little louder than normal. I wondered if that constituted as her screaming. “Everyone, prepare.”
I lifted my dagger to my hand and sliced the blade down my palm, cutting deep. Crimson blood pooled in my hand before it quickly healed. I cupped the precious blood, not allowing any to fall, and sheathed my blade. I held my hand directly over a batch of red leaves at waist level.
The rulers did the same, all at varying heights.
Queen Mikko counted it down. “Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Now!”
We flicked our blood hard onto the leaves.
All said, “Giants.”
The gnarled, dark red limbs creaked like a scream.
I flinched and tensed but didn’t step back.
The rulers and I held still. We waited.
The leaves rustled near the ground. They started to travel upward, the thin sharp limbs ever so slowly lifting and unwinding themselves as if they would rather reach out and stab us than open the mystery of the Blood Forest. Right before my eyes, the limbs slid over each other like snakes in a pit, their movement gradually rising higher.
My head slowly tipped back as the red leaves and thin tree limbs formed an archway high above, allowing entry for the five rulers and myself. I lowered my gaze to the view before me and squinted through the thick mist that covered the ground. The trees inside were black, their leaves the same shadowy hue. A few white butterflies beat their beautiful wings in front of us, and then darted away, down into the mist. The sunlight was vastly subdued in the Blood Forest, so at night it would be utterly pitch black.
The five rulers and I glanced at one another.
Then we stepped forward into the Blood Forest.
The entrance slammed shut behind us, showing the true speed of the deadly Blood Forest and jarring the ground so brutally that we fell to our knees as it rocked beneath us.
A scream tore through my throat as my head dropped back—and I was not the only one. Six total cries of fierce agony belted the Blood Forest, our bellows boomeranging back at us and striking our ears in malicious mocking—you have arrived, and we will have fun with you.
The Fae-spark in my heart that kept me warm and safe sputtered, ripping my very being straight from my chest. My back bowed brutally toward the black limbs high above, their mocking shadow leaves swaying in glee. I fell to my side right between Father and King Athon, everyone now lying on rotted leaves and clutching their chests. I rocked back and forth on the ground as hot tears ran down my face, soaking my hair.
The agony never stopped.
My screams forever sprayed the air.
I grasped at my chest as the last of my Fae-spark disappeared in a sharp tug from my heart. I sobbed in agony, just wanting it back. I just wanted to touch it for a moment—a tiny brush against my cheek would make this end.
My eyes closed. And the Blood Forest went dark.
* * *
“Wake up!” Father shouted in fear. His hands shook my shoulders roughly. “Wake up, Trixie!”
I opened my eyes to see his worried face.
And then they shut again. I couldn’t keep them open.
“She is too young for this strain. It will take her more time,” Queen Mikko said softly from somewhere by my feet. “We will need to carry her or make camp here for the night. It is already too dark to go far.”
The leaves crunched to my right—boots stomping over them—and King Elon hissed, “Is Princess Trixie awake yet?”
Father cupped my right cheek with a warm palm. “No, not yet.”
“I can’t see a Fae blasted thing,” King Elon complained.
“Precisely,” Queen Mikko murmured. “We need to make camp here quickly. Where are Queen Alora and King Athon?”
I tried to open my eyes again. But the numbness pulled.
“We’re right behind you,” King Athon rumbled darkly. “We won’t be able to make shelter at this point.”
There was no fighting this... Oblivion captured me.
* * *
King Elon snorted. “You are going to drop your heir, King Traevon. You can’t keep this up.”
The side of my head bounced against a hard shoulder, and my arms and legs dangled from trembling, protective arms that held me against a heaving male chest. What in the Fae was going on?
Father panted, “To Fairy and back with you. I am perfectly capable of taking care of my daughter.”
Queen Alora sighed heavily. “It’s been two days, King Traevon. You must consider that she is not going to come back from this. If she cannot eat or drink—”
“Shut up!” Father roared. “She will be fine.”
My father was carrying me. I could tell that now.
Where were we? Why couldn’t I open my eyes?
Why were they talking about me?
King Athon stated gently, “Give her to me, King Traevon. I will carry her for only a little while, so that you may catch your breath.”
“Fuck you. You almost killed her two days ago.”
King Athon chuckled. “Fine. Drop your daughter then.”
This was the most bizarre dream…
I wanted to wake up from it. I didn’t think I liked it.
King Elon stated happily, “I will carry her if you would like me—”
“King Athon, will you take her for a moment so that I may catch my breath,” Father asked brusquely, cutting off the other king. “But if you hurt her, I will slit your throat while you sleep.”
“Always with the threats,” King Athon snarled. “Will you just shut the Fae fuck up and give her to me before you collapse from exhaustion? We do not need another liability on our hands. One is enough.”
Queen Mikko grouched quietly, “Well said, King Athon.”
Any time now, my eyes are going to open from this nightmare. But there is this beautiful numbness right over here…
My body was jostled into a much larger male’s embrace, and my head rested against a brutally stiff chest while my frame was engulfed in bulky arms that held me soundly in the same child’s hold my father’s had. Who was this supposed to be?
“There,” Father sniped. “I will take her back in ten minutes.”
King Athon growled, “You’re welcome.”
His voice had vibrated against my ear.
I was in the shifter king’s arms now.
I really wanted to wake up from this horrendous delusion.
But were we walking? Were we walking before?
This was most odd.
Queen Mikko asked softly, “What are we going to do if she doesn’t—”
“Be quiet!” Father barked.
Was that honeysuckle I smelled? I didn’t fancy it. There was something off-putting about it. It smelled disgusting, extremely offensive.
My nose twitched.
Wait…
Oh my Fae, my nose twitched.
I inhaled the honeysuckle scent once more, holding it in.
Holding it. Holding it… Holding it in some more…
I cannot take it anymore. I choked it from my lungs.
Ugh, that was dreadful.
Why did I think that was a good idea?
“Trixie!” Father bellowed.
“Is she awake?”
“She coughed,” King Elon stated curiously. “That was new.”
Father patted my face hard. “Trixie! Wake up!”
I wanted to try again. I could do this.
I pulled ferociously at my eyelid—it was Fae damned hard—managing to peek open my right eye.
“Oh, thank you, Fae,” King Traevon prayed reverently. His warm palms cupped my cheeks, and his emerald eyes glistened with unshed tears in the low light. “Stay awake, Trixie. All right? I need you to stay awake for me.”
I croaked, “Father?”
“Yes, it is me.” My father nodded grandly. “Can you open your other eye? I want to see both of your beautiful eyes, Trixie.”
“They look just like yours,” I slurred, creaking open my other eye. I achieved a decent squint, but not the glare I’d set out for. “You are a vain man.”
Father’s laughter sounded hysterical. He snapped his fingers frantically to the side, trying to grab someone’s attention. He was very odd sometimes. Father stated quickly, “Keep talking. Keep telling me off. I don’t care. Just keep speaking.”
“All right,” I slurred. I lifted one trembling finger into the air. “You banished me. Who does that to their own kid? I’ll tell you who. A Fae fucking dickhead. All in the name of this wonderful freedom I didn’t even want. I wanted you.”
Father stalled in taking a canteen from someone’s outstretched hand, his emerald eyes catching mine. “One day, my daughter, you will realize what I did was for you and that you have always had me.”
King Elon choked. “I think I am getting sick.”
“Did you eat those Fae damned berries again?” Queen Alora shrieked.
“No,” King Elon stated adamantly. “Never again.”
My red brows puckered. “My mind is addled, Father. I don’t understand what’s going on. Why are the king and queen here with us?”
Father gripped the canteen harder in his hand, yanking it away from someone, and quickly pressed it to my lips. “Drink and don’t worry. Everything will be all right.”
I gulped the water. And then choked, spitting it all over myself. But Father insisted, so I tried again. The second time, I sipped it slowly. My throat clenched, and my stomach churned. I realized how thirsty I truly was and lifted my shaking hands to hold it.
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