He nipped at her bottom lip and she finally kissed him back. Lilith threw her arms around his shoulders and pressed herself against him, shoulder to hip. He could feel all her softness cushioning the hard, aching edge of his body.
Why did this woman affect him so? When no other ever had?
Suddenly, even this wasn’t enough. He had been the one to give her such power. He had been the one to make her so happy and now he would be the one to do it again.
Drake bit down hard on his bottom lip until he tasted metal and heat. Then he plunged into her mouth again, dragging his tongue across hers and swallowing her answering moan.
This was what he wanted. This was what he could give her.
And in that moment, he recognized the euphoria swimming in his head. It wasn’t that she was feasting on him and had him under some kind of vampiric spell. This was the same emotion he got when he drew the blade across his arm or wrist and let the magic feed upon him.
It wasn’t just happiness, it was sharing the burden of so much power.
When he drew himself away, he touched a thumb to her bottom lip and smeared the blood lingering there. “You are a remarkable woman, Lilith of the vampire brood. But I fear the longer you stay here, the sooner you’ll become a monster like me.”
She smiled and the blood on her lip glistened. “Don’t you know? I already am one of the monsters.”
18
After he left her alone in the Great Hall, after that incredible kiss, Lilith floated through her workday. She even ignored the angry looks Flint gave her as she meandered through the halls.
He’d kissed her. Because he wanted to kiss her, not because of any vampire venom or that he thought she was an interesting new toy. She had seen in his eyes he was interested in more than just a servant.
When was the last time someone had cared enough to kiss her just because they wanted to?
His mouth had been so soft and warm against hers. She hoped her own lips hadn’t been too frigid for him. Vampires weren’t known for their high body temperature. She was technically dead.
And what did it mean? He had kissed her out of his own accord just because he could. He must have some feelings for her. Or at least she must evoke something to capture his attraction.
These questions popped up in her mind and she couldn’t focus on anything else.
Lilith folded the same sheet wrong four times before she finally gave up. She needed to be alone for a while and think about all this. She couldn’t process what had happened with a hundred faeries flitting around her trying to go about their own workday.
Just a few moments of peace and quiet. Then she could peel through the layers of her mind and decide what to do next.
Lilith dropped the sheet in her hands and walked out of the laundry room. It didn’t matter if the others complained. They would, but she hadn’t made any friends since being here.
Her original plan flopped the moment she walked into the bunkroom, and all the other faeries made it very clear she wouldn’t be liked. A vampire among the fae. What a horrible thing to experience in their long lives.
Now, Lilith didn’t even know if she wanted to leave this place. Not with the king kissing her as he had.
She couldn’t even think straight and it was a day after! How was she supposed to leave?
Lilith wandered through the halls until she finally found a single room where she could have privacy. It looked like it hadn’t been used for ages. The floor was cracked and thin veins showed lava slowly moving underneath the fortress. She picked her way across those until she could put her back against the wall and slide down it onto her bottom.
“Right,” she muttered. “Now what are you going to do?”
She didn’t know. She’d kissed a king and now what was she supposed to do? Consider them to be an item? Because that wasn’t happening. They’d both agreed this wouldn’t ever work, and couldn’t just because of who they were.
So the next logical option was just to enjoy her time with him and call it good.
She made a face at the thought. That didn’t seem right either. She wanted to be more than just a fun little “friend” until he grew bored with her and moved onto the next. Then she’d be stuck here as the love-struck ex because he sure as hell wouldn’t let her go.
No, that wouldn’t do. She’d rather die. There had to be another solution.
Lilith didn’t know how long she sat in that forgotten room, racking her brain for what to do next. Every time she thought she’d figured the situation out, she recognized another segment that tangled everything up into a knot inside her head once more.
By the time she’d exhausted herself, she realized she wasn’t alone in the room anymore.
She’d been preparing to stand and return to the laundry room, giving up on the entire process for another day to think about this. But then she heard a heartbeat. Too close.
Lifting her head from her knees, she stared directly into glowing red eyes.
Flint crouched on the ground in front of her. The lava in his head sloshed as he shifted when their eyes met. His knees were spread in his crouch, giving him the strange appearance of a bird of prey.
“What do you want?” she snapped. “I can’t take a break when I do more work than your entire team?”
“I don’t think you’re taking a break.”
Did his teeth glow as well? Lilith leaned closer. “Why is your mouth making light?”
Obliging her curiosity, he opened his mouth wide. It wasn’t his teeth at all, but something deep inside his throat glowing with an internal light. Maybe he swallowed lava. She didn’t know.
Lilith thumped the back of her head against the hard stone. “I’m having a crisis, that’s all. Give me a few minutes to pull myself together.”
“About?”
She shouldn’t say a word. This was the head of staff and a very close confidante of Drake’s. Flint would go running back to his king and tell him everything Lilith said.
That could work in her advantage.
If Flint told Drake everything, then she wouldn’t have to say a thing to him. The rumor mill would fly, but did she care if the fire faeries thought she was a whore? Let them think she was sleeping with the king.
She’d love to be.
“Let’s just say the king and I shared a moment but now I don’t know how to feel about it.” That was a good start. At least then Flint could piece together the space between her words.
When he didn’t respond, she tilted her head to get a good look at him. The glowing creature stared at her as though she were a puzzle he couldn’t quite figure out.
And he remained silent.
Lilith didn’t like quiet spaces with someone staring at her like that. She continued speaking. “Look, it was just a kiss but now I don’t know what to do about it. What is he expecting from me? Does he do this with many of the faeries? Maybe I’m just his next pastime into the new century and then he’ll toss me away like his last toy.”
Again, Flint remained silent.
“I don’t know what to ask of him. Or how to clarify what the hell happened.” She ended her rant with a hopeless shrug.
Finally, Flint took a deep breath and opened his mouth. “The King of the Flame has long been a contentious figure in faerie history. I take it you’ve never studied our kind?”
Lilith rolled her eyes. “Do I look like someone who dove nose first into faerie history?”
“You knew how to create a portal into a faerie realm.”
“No, I didn’t. One of the fire court helped me make the portal cause I caught it in a jar.” At his censuring stare, she shrugged again. “What?”
Flint lifted a hand and scrubbed his face. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“Why? Is that bad?” She knew it was. But the little brat of a faerie had gotten her here in the first place and if she was going to get in trouble for the portal, then she was taking the faerie down with her.
Flint waved his hand in the
air. “No, listen. I can’t hear any more of that but I need to explain what is going on here.”
“Fire faeries. Realm between realms. I can’t imagine any of this is on the up and up.” When he stared at her with a stunned expression, she lifted a shoulder. “I get the whole king of an unknown realm is probably not making him any fans. He mentioned something about other faeries not liking him?”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Then what did he do?” She didn’t want to know. The last thing she needed was her image of him stained, but maybe it would help her make this hard decision.
Flint shifted closer to her. His head tilted dangerously to the side and a single drop fell onto the floor. It rolled lazily to a crack and slipped into the floor with the rest of the lava.
She’d never get used to that.
“The other faeries don’t like the King of the Flame. That namely has to do with a war fought a long time ago when he first started collecting those heads.” Flint planted his hands on the floor. His body bracketed her hips, and he was far too close. All he had to do was tilt his head and all that lava would fall right in her lap.
Lilith shakily pointed at his head. “Can you maybe shift that in the other direction? Please?”
“Hm?” He seemed to remember the danger and angled his head in the other direction. “Listen to me, Lilith. You’re claiming to be close to the king?”
“I wouldn’t say close.”
“He’s never shown any physical attraction to anyone else. Not in all the centuries I’ve been his head of staff.”
She gulped. “Then maybe he’s a little closer to me than most? I don’t know. That’s what I’m struggling with.”
“Then I need to ask for your help.”
All her thoughts stopped short. Help?
No, she was on a high. Today was a good day. She’d been kissed by a faerie king. All her vampiric powers were back in insane amounts. Nothing would make her day end on a bad note. Nothing.
“With the laundry?” she asked.
“No.” The glow of his eyes dimmed. He frowned severely. “I think you know what I’m asking, Lilith.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t know what you’re asking. All I know is that you’ve been very friendly with me about this entire situation and that you’re a horrible boss. I don’t know anything. I heard nothing.” She planted her hands on the floor next to his and tried to sit up. “I think it’s time for me to leave.”
Flint blocked her movement. He didn’t budge, forcing her to choose between the fire and lava on his head or remaining where she was. And as much as Lilith wanted to be out of the situation, she also didn’t want to die just yet.
So she stayed put.
“Have you ever noticed the king sometimes drifts a bit?” Flint asked. “You’ll be talking with him but then he loses focus.”
“He has a lot on his mind,” she murmured. “He’s a king.”
“There is a creature living inside every faerie king of every court. Dangerous creatures we call elementals, but they’re more than that.” Flint’s eyes bored into hers until she felt like he was burning her very soul. “Elementals want nothing more than to destroy the human realm. And he’s very close to doing exactly that.”
She blew out a sigh. “What do you want me to do? I don’t care for the humans either.”
“You require humans to live!”
He spat the words at her like she’d said something blasphemous. But she hadn’t. Lilith knew most people assumed vampires had to eat humans. She had always thought the same. Now she’d tasted faerie, and she realized vampires had been wrong. So very wrong.
She took a deep breath. “Listen, I know people think that. I did too. But since coming here-”
Flint pressed his hand against her mouth. His grip tightened with every word he said. “Have you drank from the King?”
Her response was muffled against his palm. “Who else?”
Flint let his head drop low and squeezed her face so tight she could feel her jaw creak. “Why? Why would you do that, you foolish vampiress?”
“Hey!” she shouted against his hand. Lilith wrestled his hand from her face, snarling, “How else was I supposed to survive? You weren’t providing me with blood. All of you faeries think everyone can exist on bread and honey. Well let me tell you, there’s more out there than just your own glittery asses.”
He twisted her hand in his grip, forcing her palm face up. Flint held her hand lower, pushing it closer to the lava in the floor but close enough where she could see the skin there without the shadows of night hiding the changes. “Don’t you see? You cannot feast from the king. His magic is tainted.”
She wished she didn’t believe him. She wished she saw nothing in her hand, just so she could call him a liar.
But embedded in her palms were tiny pinpricks of gold and red. Strands like a necklace of gemstones, but they were underneath her skin. Dimming and glowing with every beat of her heart.
Lilith opened her mouth, closed it again, then asked, “What is inside me?”
“Pieces of the elemental. It’s a terrible thing, but I believe it will die out, eventually. Otherwise, you’ll become controlled by the monster as well.” Flint released his grip on her wrist. “This is why I need your help, Lilith.”
She tucked her shaking hand against her chest. “I’m just a servant. How can I help you?”
“For centuries every king has someone to look out for them. To prevent the elemental from taking control.” A ragged breath interrupted his words, almost as though he were about to cough but never did. “I am that person for the King of the Flame. For years I have tried to guide him away from this path of destruction.”
“And?” She already knew the answer.
Flint reached forward and touched a finger to her chin. He tilted her head up so he could stare into her eyes as he said the words that crushed her soul. “The elemental and him are nearly one. They share the same mind and the same intent.”
“So what do you want from me?” she asked. “You want me to convince him humans are good? You want me to teach him to love the human realm? Because I can’t do that.”
“No, vampiress. I want you to kill the king.”
19
She hadn’t agreed to anything. At least Lilith had that going for her.
Even after all the other faeries fell asleep and she made her way back to her own bunk, she knew she could hold on to her indecision. Flint had been explicit that she must save the humans from certain death. He’d claimed the elemental ran the show, that Drake could never be himself because he’d completely taken the elemental into his own soul. No one could control an elemental with its mind set on a single purpose.
Which meant... what? She didn’t have to agree to anything. Even if Flint thought death was the only answer, that didn’t mean he was right. She could find another way to save Drake if this elemental was as bad as Flint said.
But she didn’t know if the elemental was that evil.
Did he zone out sometimes when she was talking? He did. All men did. She knew there was something else going through his mind, and she didn’t care all that much. If she was saying something important, then she’d repeat it for him.
Flint claimed that was the elemental talking to the king. Drake was speaking with someone else in his mind about something, probably horrible, because the elemental was dangerous.
She scrubbed her hands over her face and groaned.
“Keep it down!” the faerie above her snarled, then slapped his fist against the side of the bunk bed.
Oh, was she keeping him awake? Did he want to sleep so his mind could rest?
Lilith swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. She hooked her arm over the rung and popped up over the edge of his bed. A snarl on her face and fangs fully extended, she growled, “Tell me one more time, faerie.”
Though he wasn’t nearly as powerful as her, he still was a fire faerie. His clothes had been “turned off” as
she liked to think, but the flames burst to live the second she threatened him. “Say again, vampiress?”
She wasn’t as afraid of fire now. It didn’t matter if she got burned because she had so much magic running through her, she wasn’t sure what would happen if she touched it.
So she growled again. “You have to sleep sometime, faerie, and I can drain you dry. Keep your own mouth shut and let me move in my own damn bed.”
Maybe something in her gaze frightened him. Or maybe he just didn’t want to argue. Either way, the flames died down on his body and he wiggled back underneath his now singed covers.
Lilith turned around and flinched back against the bed.
Flint loomed behind her, all the fires in his eyes glowing like mad. “The king wants to see you.”
Her blood ran cold. “Right now?”
“Yes.”
She stared up into his gaze and searched for her answers. Did the king know? Had he heard their conversation somehow?
Or worse, was Flint testing her only to run back to the king and reveal she would betray him?
Swallowing hard, she whispered, “Why?”
Flint shook his head. “I don’t know. But not a word of our discussion from this afternoon.” He leaned closer, and she heard the tell tale slosh of lava. “Or I’ll kill you myself.”
Right. Flint hadn’t run back to his king and told him everything. The game was still on the same board. At least that hadn’t changed.
“But do you think he...” She waved a hand by her ear, certain at least some faerie servants were listening to them.
“No.”
At least he was confident. She wasn’t. The King of the Flame never ceased to surprise her, and she wouldn’t be shocked to find out the lava had ears.
Shaking out her hands, she nodded. “Okay. His private quarters then?”
Flint nodded with a frown marring his usual cool expression. “Good luck.”
King of the Flame Page 13