by Cynthia Eden
“I disagree.”
She jerked up in bed and glared at the shadows. “Get your ass out here.”
The fat, thick spider scuttled toward her. “You disagree with me? Since when?” That was just…unsettling. He’d never, not once, disagreed with her. He was her most trusted confidant, her advisor, her loyal sidekick. He never said anything against—
“Your wings came back.” The spider didn’t talk. His voice just kind of filled the air. All disembodied and spooky.
It figured he knew about the brief reappearance of her wings. He’d probably been spying. “Yes, so? They popped out once when I was all desperate at the speakeasy…” Elise flexed her shoulders and harrumphed. “Can’t get them to appear again.”
“Maybe if you tried hard enough, you could.”
Oh, no, he had not. He was saying she wasn’t trying? “Spiders are easy to squish.”
He scuttled away.
“You think I’m not trying? Seriously? I am. I want out of this place so badly I can’t stand it. Harrison hates me—”
“Why on earth do you care how he feels? You never care how anyone feels.”
Back in her realm, no, she hadn’t. But… “Things are different here.” She rubbed her chest.
“Or maybe…you’re different.”
Her eyes turned to slits as she glowered at the spider.
He retreated a little more. “Maybe your brother didn’t fully understand the curse he put on you. Maybe you didn’t understand it. Or maybe you’ve just broken it yourself.”
“He was pretty damn clear as he cackled at me.” Elise rubbed her chilled arms. “He said I could no longer be what I once was. And bam, my wings were gone, my magic was gone, and I was booted over here.” Booted out to land in a freaking garbage bin. Her brother and his sick sense of humor.
“Maybe you changed while on the mortal side. Maybe you don’t have to wait for the curse to break because you’ve already broken it.”
She rolled her shoulders. Nope, no wings.
“Try,” he urged her.
“Beaux, you are not helping—”
“Break a mirror and try to come back home, my princess.” A pause. “What do you have to lose?”
She rose from the bed. Headed toward the closet. A long mirror covered the door. Her reflection stared back at her. When had she become so pale? And were those tear tracks on her cheeks? Elise swiped her hands over her cheeks. The woman in the mirror continued to look pale and far too…weak.
Her brother had always said she was the weak one. She had to do his bidding. Had to stay in his shadow. All her life, she’d only known the shadows. She’d grown used to the darkness.
“Even if I come back,” she whispered, “he’ll be stronger than me.” So much for getting her big, bad, surprise attack. Harrison wasn’t on her side.
If anything, he wanted her dead.
“And if you stay there…” Beaux’s voice dipped with sadness. “You’ll just die. Enemies will keep closing in on you.”
Yes, she was in a lose, lose situation. Lucky her. She always seemed to have the very best of times. Angry, no furious, her hands curled into fists. She stared at her reflection.
Weak.
Unworthy.
Cursed.
Elise drove her fist into the mirror. It cracked under the force of her blow, and the cracks seemed to take on a life of their own as they flew over the surface of the mirror. Flew and flew until—
“Elise!”
Uh, oh. That thundering shout had come from inside the suite. Footsteps rushed toward the bedroom.
The spider raced across the floor and disappeared into the shadows. Way to desert me.
“Elise!”
She flinched. She knew that roar. Hard to mistake Harrison’s bellow.
She peered into the cracked mirror. The mirror was broken, all right, and other than getting herself seven years of bad luck, she hadn’t done anything else. No magic gateway had opened. No mystical light shot out at her. Her blood just trickled from her cut knuckles, and Harrison was rushing toward her. She could hear him getting closer and closer and—
He was there. She saw his reflection behind her in the broken mirror. The cracks twisted his face. Made him look even more dangerous and…
Evil.
“You lied to me, Elise.” Angry. Low. Scary.
“No.” She lowered her hand from the glass. Her blood smeared across the surface of the broken mirror. “I never lied.” She turned toward him. “I can’t.”
“Bullshit. You aren’t human. You aren’t cursed.”
“You made assumptions about me. You shouldn’t do that. And I am cursed. My brother took my powers away and cast me out. He thought I’d die quickly in this wretched realm.” She laughed. The sound held no humor. “Bet he had no idea I’d die by your hands.”
Harrison blinked. “You think I’m going to kill you?”
Lift your chin. You’re a fey princess. Bow to no one. Not ever again. “I’m a monster. You kill monsters.”
He surged toward her. His hands closed around her shoulders. His nostrils flared. “Why do I smell your blood?”
Elise laughed. “Are you serious? You come in here all big and bad and you want to know why you smell my blood?” She yanked away from him and pointed to the broken mirror. “I was trying to get home. Trying to get away from you. If I broke the glass, if the curse was gone, I could go back.”
He shook his head. “No. You won’t get away from me.”
“I have to get away. I’m not just going to stand here meekly and let you kill me.”
He grabbed her again and yanked her against him. “I…wouldn’t.”
Her breath chilled her lungs. “Harrison?” She searched his eyes. “How did you find me?”
“I can find you anywhere.”
That was both scary and oddly reassuring. Then he ruined things by saying—
“What did you do to me? A spell?”
“Any spell on you didn’t come from me. I’m not a witch.” She’d told him that before.
“What did you do?” His hold tightened. “Why do I want you, even now, even knowing what you are?”
Wait. Wait. She shoved against him. He let go. Harrison staggered back as if caught off-guard by her strength. But her supernatural strength was gone…wasn’t it? “You act so shocked,” she sneered at him as she edged away a few steps. He was angry. So was she. She’d lost everything. “So shocked that you could dare to desire a creature like me.” Her shoulders straightened. “Get the hell in line.”
His jaw dropped.
Her chin arched up. “You seem all surprised that you could want me? Want me?” She wasn’t screaming. Her voice had grown deadly soft. Beaux always ran when she went soft. He knew softness from her meant her darkest fury was building. “I am a fey princess. I am a blood-born fey. I am a freaking prize, you get me? Men fall at my feet. They kill for my smiles and my favor. Sex with me is mind blowing. I am amazing, I am powerful, and I am not some random thing for you to disparage.”
“Elise…”
“But then you already know this, don’t you?” Her lips twisted. “Because I’m pretty sure you were the one going all crazy and having sex with me like I was your fantasy come to life. So drop that better-than-me bullshit because you are dead wrong.”
A muscle flexed along his jaw. “Is it my turn?”
She wanted to run. He was blocking the door. Sure, there was a window in the suite—actually, she thought that might be a balcony, not a window—but since they were on the top floor of the hotel, leaving that route wasn’t an option. Not without wings.
And her wings weren’t popping out of her back.
“I’ll take your silence as a yes,” he muttered.
It wasn’t a yes. She was thinking. Plotting.
“First…fey princess, huh? Blood-born and a prize?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes.”
“So much for being human. I think we need to talk about what a lie means.”
/>
Asshole. “Fey can’t lie. So we twist the truth sometimes. It’s not my fault if you misunderstand things.”
“I misunderstood?”
“When I was cursed by my brother and his lackeys, for all intents and purposes, I became human. No magic. No wings. No fey power.”
“So you’re helpless.”
She did not like where this was going. Elise raked him with her gaze. “That lead wraith found out just how helpless I was when I took his heart in the cemetery.”
“Yes, the wraiths…let’s talk about them.”
He was talking. Not attacking. Was that good or bad? Maybe Harrison wanted all of his questions answered before he tried to kill her.
But he’d said he wouldn’t kill her. The problem was that, unlike her, he could lie.
For the moment, though, she didn’t have a lot of options. “My brother sent the wraiths. They were his enforcers, I guess you could say. Certain creatures choose to swear their allegiance to various fey. They picked my brother’s side.” She rolled her shoulders in a shrug. “I suspect Ardon wanted to make sure I wasn’t plotting his destruction and coming up with an attack plan, so my brother sent them to this realm in order to finish me off.”
“You were plotting his destruction.”
“Of course, I was.”
“That story you told Holly…”
Her eyes narrowed. “Were you eavesdropping on me? That is extremely rude. You shouldn’t listen to other people’s conversations.”
His lips twisted as he advanced on her. Shit. There was nowhere to go. She’d retreated until the broken mirror was literally pressed to her back. It felt cold against her. The mirror was cold and icy behind her, and he was all dangerous heat before her. Lose, lose.
“You know what’s worse than eavesdropping? Tricking someone. Betraying the person.” His voice rumbled at her. So angry. Yes, she could see his fury in the tightness of his face and in the hardness of his eyes. “What did you think, Elise? That I would lead you to some big, bad paranormal powerhouse on one of my hunts? That you could use me to find you secret weapon? Your pet?” Then he laughed at her. “Hate to break it to you, your highness…”
He had not just mockingly called her—
“But dragons aren’t real. You could’ve seduced me over and over again, you could’ve followed me on every hunt I completed, but you never would’ve found your new best friend.”
“You’re mocking me. It’s extremely unattractive.”
The muscle jerked in his jaw again. Yes, he was most certainly pissed. Good, so was she.
“I’m not mocking you, baby. You’re in a battle for your life. You’re desperate. You used me—”
She—yes, she had. Guilty.
“You deluded yourself. Dragons aren’t real, and there sure as hell isn’t one roaming the earth who will fight your battles for you.”
Elise sucked in a painful breath. “I didn’t want him fighting my battles for me. I wanted him at my side. I wanted to be together with him.” Didn’t he get it? “I was going to mate with him. I was going to give him half of my kingdom.”
Harrison’s whole body stiffened. “You were going to do what?”
“Give him half of my—”
Once more, his hands closed around her shoulders. Wow—they were warm. Not burning. But doing that little sizzle that she secretly enjoyed so much.
A deep, gravelly growl broke from him. Savage. Guttural.
She shivered. Why the hell did she find his growls sexy? She was so wrong on the inside.
“You were going to mate with the jackass?” Harrison bellowed.
“Yes, he is such a jackass,” she threw back at him. His scent was winding all around her, and she was starting to suspect that when his beast was close, he emitted some kind of pheromone that turned her on. Made sense—she was a paranormal and she’d react more to another paranormal and—
“You will not mate with anyone else.” His hold was almost painful. Almost. “I thought we were fucking handfasted.”
What?
“You joined with me. I gave you my vow to protect you—”
Her lower lip trembled. “That was before you found out what I am. Now you hate me. You and your band of hunters are planning to kill me, and the sight of me seems to be driving you into a rage.” And she was miserable. Because…
Because her plans had changed.
Because she’d changed?
Because she wanted to grab tight to her hunter and never let go.
What a sorry, sorry state she was in. “Give me five minutes to mope. I’ll be better soon,” she muttered. “Just give me—”
“You will not mate with another!’
Someone was sure hung up on that part. Better reveal that he was the dragon she’d—
Harrison’s lips crashed down on hers. The kiss was possessive and ferocious and so incredibly hungry that—
“No!” Elise shoved against him with all of her strength.
He stepped back.
“You don’t kiss me, then kill me. That shit doesn’t work. You don’t jerk around my emotions. You don’t act like I’m not worthy of you when I am the princess. You don’t…” Oh, no. No. Her hand swiped over her cheek. “You don’t make me cry,” she fired. “You definitely don’t do that crap to me!”
His eyes widened. The rage was gone, and she could’ve sworn that she saw fear flash in his stare.
Her breath sobbed out. Sobbed. No, she had not cried when she lost her wings. She had not cried when she woke up in that stupid garbage bin in New Orleans. She had not cried when the stalking and the attacks began as the supernaturals hunted her.
But she’d cried…because of him.
“Damn you,” she whispered. “I hate you right now.”
“Don’t.”
“Stop watching me cry!”
But he didn’t stop. His stare was on her, and he looked horrified. “You don’t need to be afraid of me. I would never kill you. I told you that.” He reached out to her.
Elise shook her head. “Stay back. Don’t touch me. When you touch me, everything just gets even more confused. I still want you, I need you, and you think I’m a freak.”
“You’re not a freak. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone or anything.”
“Too bad I’m a supernatural, huh? Could’ve been your dream girl instead of your worst nightmare.” She swiped at her cheek again.
“I don’t fucking care that you’re a supernatural!”
Her hand stilled. “What?”
“I don’t care what you are. It’s who you are that matters to me. You’re Elise. My Elise.” Definitely a possessive edge in his voice. “And no, I’m not plotting your end with my hunter buddies. If they come after you, they’ll have to go through me.”
He was…really?
Hope started to stir. So faint. So…bright. She could feel the glow in her chest.
“I’m pissed as hell at you, baby, don’t get me wrong. You don’t lie—”
“I didn’t—”
“You don’t twist the freaking truth, not with me. You tell it to me straight, I tell it to you straight, and we go the fuck from there.” He nodded curtly. “Forget the dragon. You don’t need him. You’ve got me, and I’m going to keep you safe.”
Her lips curled. Hope made her dizzy. “Harrison—
Something grabbed her. A hard, fierce yank from behind. She was stunned because no one was behind her. Just the broken mirror. She’d been pressed up against it and—
Elise looked down in dawning horror. Hands were wrapped around her stomach. Hands that had grabbed her from behind and were dragging her into the mirror. Only it wasn’t a mirror any longer. The broken shards had vanished and bright light spilled into the suite. The light swept all around her and she screamed, “Harrison!”
The hands around her stomach were yanking her away from him. He’d just said that he wanted her. That he was going to stand with her. She w
anted to stay with Harrison. “You’re the one,” Elise yelled, desperate. “You’re my—”
The mirror sealed up. She saw the glass fly back into place. Dozens of jagged pieces of glass reformed the broken mirror.
“Elise!” Harrison roared. He tried to grab her, but it was too late. Everything happened far too fast. His fist slammed into the mirror, but it didn’t break. The glass was glowing, still pulsing from fey power.
Elise had been ripped from the mortal realm and hauled back into the place that had once been her home. She was being pulled farther and farther away from Harrison, and it felt as if she’d had her heart ripped right from her chest.
No, it feels as if my heart stayed in the mortal realm.
“Welcome back, sister,” a low voice whispered into her ear. She was reminded of a snake, hissing. “Welcome home.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Elise!” Harrison drove his fist into the mirror. She’d been there one moment, then she’d been torn away from him in the next instant. Torn away and fear had covered her beautiful face. She’d been crying out for him. Been so desperate for him and then she’d just been…
Gone.
He pounded at the mirror again, and the glass shattered. It rained down in hundreds of small, broken pieces. His knuckles were bleeding, and he didn’t care.
Elise had vanished.
He’d said he would protect her. But she was gone.
Something was happening to him. A fiery rage and fear twisted inside of him. Burning so hot and bright, seeming to destroy the man he’d been and leave only a dark, unholy beast inside to—
“Go after her.”
Harrison spun around. He didn’t see anyone else. His gaze darted to the left and the right even as he yanked out his knife.
“Hurry or she’s dead.”
No, Elise would not die. If she did…
No.
“Show yourself,” Harrison thundered.
A fat, black spider scurried across the floor.
Harrison sharpened his gaze on the spider.
“I can see him in you.” A disembodied voice seemed to fill the suite. “If you want to cross over, now is your only chance. Find a mirror. I’ll pull you through.”
Was the spider freaking talking to him? He looked around to make sure no one—or nothing—else was there.