“You’d let them destroy this court? Because I assure you, daughter, that is what the price would be if you upset them. They may not wish to do it, but they would because the Horde would demand it of them. So take tonight, and enjoy your freedom while you can. Don’t make me force my hand against you.”
“And what about what I want?” she asked, her hands shaking as anger took hold of her. “What about what they’ve done to my court?”
“There is no Court of Shadows, but it wasn’t only the Horde who destroyed it, Lilith. It was involved in other things, things they shouldn’t have been.”
“It was the Horde who murdered my court, and his children,” she pointed out as she pretended to examine her nails.
“And had they not tried to take down the Horde, he wouldn’t have been in the Shadow Court. I understand your anger, trust me. I do. Your mother was the love of my life, my mate. What she did saved us all, and I have never forgiven myself for what happened,” he said with a deflating sigh as he stared into the eyes that were so akin to his own.
“If I marry him and secure a child, what then? I’m free?”
“You will be free to remain in that pile of ruins you love so much until my death, at which time you will rule both courts. You have my word on it, Lilith. I may have daughters to spare, but your mother only left me one. You know what you mean to me.”
“So much that you are tossing me to the wolves?” she snorted as she crossed her arms and stared up at him.
“I am doing what I have to in order to protect you and this court from history repeating itself. I fear losing you isn’t something I wish to endure, daughter. Four days, and then you are to return here to accept the man you will marry.”
“Monster, not man,” she snapped.
Chapter 2
Asrian stared at Ryder and Synthia, his jaw ticking as they discussed who would be heading off to each corner of the Fae Realm. He’d sworn to do his duty, to collect a wife who they’d chosen, sire an heir upon the wench, and get the fuck out of that realm and back to his own. He’d given that oath long ago, in another lifetime.
Yet here he was, facing his king and queen with his oath being called into play. The entire human world was on the verge of chaos, mortals were losing the war for survival. Faery was waging war against Changelings, and he was being sent off to collect some spoiled brat who he’d wed and bed. Fucking brilliant.
“She’s the queen of the Shadow Fae and Night Court’s chosen heir. It’s a good match,” Ryder said, even though he didn’t believe the shit he was spewing as the others absently listened, knowing their time would come soon enough.
“She’s a spoiled little bitch who wants to be pampered, don’t word-fuck me. You and I both know she isn’t what I want or need.”
“One year, one year to secure an heir and if you have not succeeded, the deal is off. You gave me an oath, Asrian. I don’t want this for you, but they need to know we are willing to stand with them or they won’t join the fight. We need them at our side, not clawing at us as we prepare for war. Especially with Danu gone,” Ryder grumbled as he rubbed his temples in exhaustion.
It wasn’t that Asrian didn’t think he could collect the little female, or do the deed; it was that he didn’t want to deal with a woman who would demand things, or want things from him which he couldn’t give. He hadn’t expected this oath to come this quickly, and he almost wanted to fork out the gold, harvest, and secure the other items for them to pay the fucking tithe. But that was against the laws of the Fae; no other caste could help another to pay the tithe owed to the Horde. Fucking politics.
“When do we leave?” he asked hesitantly as his brethren watched him. Outside, embers burned, igniting as the world turned to ashes, mirroring his emotions.
“Now; her father is collecting her from the Shadow Court, or what is left of it. She should be at the Night Court already. Asrian, you should know that there is tension you will be faced with; our father made a point of punishing the Night Court as a warning. He also murdered her entire court when they failed to pay the tithe, but also for their part in a plan to remove him from power.”
“So my bride is the queen of nothing? And she probably hates me and our kind, great,” he chuckled. “It just got interesting.”
“You will travel with Sinjinn, Cailean, and Tor. I expect you to be on your best behavior and return home with your darling wife already swelling with your child in her womb. The sooner you breed with her, the sooner you can rid yourself of her. If by chance you decide to keep her…make it a mutual thing, understand?” Golden eyes watched him, never faltering as he made sure his every word was heard, and the underlying meaning understood.
“I won’t want to keep her. I got a lot of willing women; one spoiled little Queen of Nightmares isn’t enough to tame me.”
“You’re so fucked,” Cailean chuckled from behind him, his thickly coiled brands pulsing as he watched through turquoise eyes with thicker black outlining them. “If you don’t want her…” he let the offer hang in the air.
“You’re betrothed to the Winter Court’s princess, fuck-face. Your time will come, and we will see who got off easier. And it’s the Queen of Shadows, not Nightmares, that’s another court and another bad fucking idea waiting to happen,” Torin scoffed as his hazel and brown eyes filled with laughter.
“And you’re stuck with Summer, who adores you so much already,” Asrian said drolly. “Shadows, Nightmares, same fucking thing. All trouble, all more shit than any of us want to deal with. All about to fuck our world up and ruin the good thing we had going.”
“You assholes know I wouldn’t do this if there were another way,” Ryder injected, his eyes filled with hard steel and resolve. “No one can pay the tithe with Faery failing, and to not collect the debt makes the Horde look weak. Not to mention we are facing a war that may last longer than any of us care to admit. Tithes must be collected, and the courts our father wronged must be righted. Having a bride doesn’t end what we have; it just means some of you unlucky fucks are going to be fathers, while some of you may not be. Maybe then you too can be fucking sleep-deprived and worried as fuck every waking minute of the day. In the words of a wise lady, buckle up buttercups, because it’s a bumpy ride.”
“That’s not what I said, Fairy.” Synthia glared at him before returning to her gaze to the small child who played on the floor.
“And hopefully you assholes find mates who rut less than this dragon does,” Ciara groaned as she rubbed her swollen belly. Fury played on the floor, his tiny hands stretching for his mother as she slid a rattle closer to where he sat. “But if not, be kind to the lass. This shit sucks.”
“You love being pregnant,” Blane chuckled as his gaze warmed at the sight of his wife. “I hope you guys have an easier time collecting your brides than this one gave me.”
“I wasn’t willing, asshat, remember?”
“Asshat?” Blane hissed with heat burning in his eyes.
“Asshat,” Fury crooned, clapping his hands as Ciara growled.
“Watch your tongue, dragon, or I’ll cut it out of your mouth.”
“You like my tongue, that’s why you keep ending up pregnant.”
“Bumper sticker, dragon,” Synthia interrupted with a shooing motion of her hands before she knelt down to pick Fury up, returning to her chair with him. “Go read it again, and shoo, both of you. Fury only speaks a few words and most of them are cuss words.”
“Asrian taught him the last one, and he says Happy Meal now, who taught him that shit?” Ciara asked with a pointed look.
“Ryder did, and he’s king, so he can do as he wants,” Synthia smothered a laugh against Fury’s dark head as he pulled on her war braids.
“Are you assholes ready?” Sinjinn asked as he fixed the bag of weapons he wore and eyed his brothers. “I still think this isn’t the fucking time to be sending the guard off in separate directions, for the record.”
“Noted,” Zahruk said as he stepped from beside Ryder and h
anded the brothers scrolls that decreed their bloodline, along with which caste and their place in line for the throne. Alazander had hundreds of children; most of them had been born male, besides Ciara, who they knew of. But they hadn’t even begun to search for those who held the Horde’s bloodline, and now wasn’t the time to start looking. It also wasn’t like their father had been kind, and most would be the result of his brutality.
“Let’s go aviking!” Tor announced.
“It’s not the same.” Asrian shoved his brother forward before nodding to the king and queen as they headed outside to the portal.
“It’s the same.”
“It is not the same. There’s no pillaging and burning shit down, which makes it a lot less cool than what the Vikings did.”
“Can we burn shit down?” Sinjinn asked, and an exasperated sigh came from Ryder.
“You realize they will probably burn half of Faery down pretending to be Vikings now, right?” Synthia laughed as she cradled the toddler.
“Gods save us,” Ryder laughed as he shook his head and touched Fury’s chubby cheek with his index finger.
“Not even the Gods would touch that one, husband.”
Chapter 3
Lilith exploded into the Court of Shadows as chaos and anger filled her veins. How could her father be so cruel? Hadn’t they paid enough with the blood of her court to those heathens? So what if the new king had protected her father’s court from the same fate? It shouldn’t have ever happened. Now she would marry some Horde bastard and stay with him for an entire year?
The ruins shivered as her anger exploded around her. This wasn’t happening. Not now, not after everything she’d done to secure a match who would be worthy of rebuilding this court back up to its former glory with. Didn’t that mean something to her father? This court had been slaughtered, left in nothing but a pile of ruins and her entire life had been spent rebuilding what the monstrous Horde had done. And now Cade had backed out on her. It was infuriating.
“You’re angry,” Lara murmured as she stepped from the shadows.
“I’m pissed!” Lilith responded with angry tears filling her eyes. “That bastard!”
“Your father?” she asked hesitantly.
“Yes! He’s gone too far this time. He’s insane to think he can force this on me.”
“He’s found a husband?” she guessed, her gentle midnight blue eyes smiling with mischief as she watched her sister.
“Yes!”
“You knew it would come eventually. So, to which caste has he thrown you?”
“To the Horde!” Lilith spat coldly as she watched her sister’s complexion pale, losing all color in her face as it sank in.
“No, no, not even he would be so cruel to do that to you. Lilith, why would he do something like that?”
“Because the tithe is once again due, and of course he cannot pay it.”
“The Horde is demanding a tithe be paid with the world dying? I thought it had changed, become more understanding of our people. We cannot pay a tithe, and if they demand it from one court, they’ll demand it from every court.”
“They have. To clear the tithe of the Night and Shadow Court, I will be given to a monster of the Horde for a year and one day.”
“We can run, we can hide from them,” Lara offered, and Lilith shook her head as she lifted ice blue eyes to the velvet ones that flooded with unshed tears.
“You know that if we run, there will be nothing left of the Night Court, and I cannot allow what happened here to repeat itself. I won’t allow them to destroy everything, Lara. You will hold this court, and I will go with him. After one year has passed, I will return and marry Cade if he will keep his deal after this marriage has happened. I promised you we would right this place, that I’d give you a real home. I have not forgotten my promise.”
“You will have to sleep with him. The son of a monster who killed our mother! I forbid it.”
“You cannot forbid anything,” Lilith huffed as she stared into the ruined courtyard of the court she’d chosen to live at. Unlike her father’s courtyard, this one was a broken place. It was a hauntingly beautiful ruin of the glorious palace it had been.
“How can you be so calm?” she demanded as she pushed her dark, midnight curls out of her face.
“Because it isn’t forever, Lara,” she returned as she dipped her aching feet into one of the remaining ponds. “Because we know better than anyone else what happens when you don’t pay the tithe. I won’t let them take anyone else I love away from me. I don’t have to actually sleep with him, either. If he were drunk, he wouldn’t know if we had or hadn’t done it, right?”
“Men seem to remember taking a maiden’s virginity, especially on their marriage bed, Lilith. I mean, maybe if we use our combined magic, we could kill him and tell them he disappeared?”
“That would make us no better than they are. Plus, I’ve heard rumors that they’re unlike the old Horde, that they tend to stick together and are close to one another. It doesn’t mean I have to like him or do what is expected of me. I just have to pretend to be subdued, and then disappear for most of the time.”
“I think the whole one year and a day is supposed to be spent together to procure an heir, Lilith,” she said as she crossed her arms, staring at her sister as she chewed her lip.
“I can’t escape this, not without ruining everything we’ve worked to achieve here.”
“I know,” Lara agreed as she pushed her dark curls away from her face. “Day is coming, we should sleep. There’s nothing we can do to stop this from happening if you won’t run. So let’s eat and then rest, shall we?” she asked, holding her arm out to indicate they should move inside.
“I feel like I’m drowning, and there’s nothing I can do to keep my head above water.” Lilith exhaled, following her sister into the ruined castle. “If I run, I doom my bloodline to repeat the same path this one has ended up in. If I run, they would hunt me down and anyone who assisted me. I cannot win, can I?”
“I don’t know what bothers me the most. That your father would hand you off to the same monsters that killed our mother, or that you’ll have to sleep with it to secure a child.”
“I realize how babies are created, Lara. But thanks for pointing that out again,” she grumbled as her sister used magic to heat the tea, never fully touching the teapot as it tipped to fill both teacups. Lilith reached for the delicate cup, holding her nose above it as she inhaled the rich spices of the tea.
“Maybe I will get lucky, and he won’t need to feed for sex, or he’ll take other lovers to his bed.”
“The Horde is notorious for their feeding habits. There are also rumors that they prefer to be exclusive to the one they wed. This new Horde is dangerous in the way that it is nothing as we’ve known before. I heard rumors that dragons have married into their folds—dragons!” she exclaimed as she blew on her tea. “Can you imagine them?”
Lilith continued watching her sister. Lara was the one being who she trusted in this world. She was gentle, loving, and mature for her age, considering she was only a mere fifteen years older than Lilith. But Lara had been hidden within the Court of Shadows from her father, from the world really. It was only by the Goddess that Lara had survived the attack on the court. She’d found her here, crying for their mother in the dark of the night. That had been years after the initial attack, and in that time, Lara had been alone.
Liliana had given birth to her a few years before she’d been betrothed to the King of the Night Court. She’d left Lara here, in the protection of her grandfather and King to the Shadow Court, the first target for Alazander when the tithes couldn’t be paid in full. Or had there been more than she’d believed? Her father thought there had been.
She’d come here as soon as she was old enough to learn about her mother and what had happened. It was here she’d found the sister she’d never known existed crying, balled up into the fetal position as she pined for anyone to remember she existed. And Lilith hadn’t left he
r since, not even when her father demanded she do so to return to court for good.
“I still think we should run. I know you’re afraid of leaving this place, but it’s just a place. I’d go with you, and you wouldn’t have to marry this…this monster they’re sending to murder you.”
“Lara, I love you to pieces, but this isn’t helping. I doubt the Horde is sending a monster to murder me. My guess is that they’re trying to gain control of the lesser courts; marrying the queen of two courts would just be a starting point, don’t you think? And while I don’t doubt it will be a monster they send, since they only breed them, it won’t be one who wants to kill me, because that would be a bad move on his part. I have trained to fight since the moment I could walk; I’m not easy to kill. I came here as a child to escape court politics, to be reminded every day of what they took from me. I rule a dead court, one that was once the largest, scariest court of the lesser Fae. Now nothing more than a court of ruins and rubble, but yet mine to rule all the same.”
“With a son from the monsters who laid siege to us,” she whispered on a choked sob.
“Stop crying, it doesn’t help anything. This is my legacy, my world, and he will be only a moment in time; nothing but a smear in my life that I will erase once I take Cade as my king. A child can be taught to be good, and my child will be part of me too.”
“You know I only want what is best for you, and for this court.”
“You’re my favorite sister,” Lilith laughed through the tears in her throat. She pushed away the tears, choking on them as she stared at her sister absently.
“I’m the only sister you actually speak to. Besides, mother died to protect me, and you.”
“I wonder what my father would think if he knew about you. He is so full of himself most days, and grandfather and mother hid you so well. I wish I had known her.”
“She was like you, fierce and loyal, and brave. She hated the Night Court, and yet she sacrificed her own desires to do her duty. I remember when she brought you home, how jealous I had been that you had her attention, her hair. I look at you, and I see her smiling back at me through you. You are brave for doing this, but that court hasn’t even questioned your absence once. You are his heir, and the Queen of Shadows, two titles to two thrones. They should wish for you to grace them with your presence.”
A Demon's Plaything: The Elite Guards Page 2