by Erin R Flynn
“Yes, well, that is half the fun,” I chuckled. “I can prove it later, but right now, I want to watch your face as you realized how badly you played this hand. Go ahead, Iolas.”
Craftsman flinched, glancing behind me. “You cannot be Iolas. He is one of Faerie’s finest warriors, a true savant in every aspect of life and magic.”
“Yes, but I snore like you wouldn’t believe,” Iolas chuckled, always one to deflect when people praised him. I actually liked the man better when he did and wasn’t an egotistical ass. It made him feel awkward when people praised him.
Something Taeral and others had already picked up.
“If that’s what’s said about you, I must have quite the glowing review,” Taeral teased Iolas. “I am Taeral.”
Craftsman look as if he was about to short-circuit. “No, that’s not possible. Even if you were fairies, there is no world where you both are here. This is all glamour. Light and Dark Guardians do not do anything together besides fight.”
“That might have been true previously, but we’ve changed our ways.”
“Most of us,” Iolas corrected. “We’re working on the rest. And one person was the catalyst of it all.”
“Yes, a very impressive and worthy woman,” Taeral agreed. “One you will start addressing as you should before you anger us any further. You may address her as Your Highness or Princess Tamsin and give her the respect she deserves as Queen Meira’s daughter and heir to all of Faerie.”
A fly farting could be heard in the huge arena it went quiet so fast.
“That never gets old,” I sighed, leaning against Julian.
“No. No!” Campbell shouted. “This cannot be true. I’m not surprised, only surprised that I’m not. I found out and you took my memories? How did I find out?”
“You caught us kissing, I told you, punched you a few times after you slapped me, and then Julian and I had hot sex all over his lecture hall while you were passed out in the corner.”
“Princess,” a few people sighed from behind me.
Julian simply snorted. “I wish that was how it ended.” He kissed my hair. “Let’s move things along, love. We have a lot on the docket today.”
“Right.” I thought the correct runes, restraining and gagging Campbell without writing them on me. I did jazz fingers to Craftsman just to be a brat. “No hands.” I saw in his eyes he was starting to believe me. “You played this all wrong. Personally, I’m glad you did, because things would have been awkward, but your nephew is the fated mate of the heir of Faerie. And you want to hand me over to your elders?”
He snorted. “Not anymore. Everything is different. Now you will become our family immediately and I will rule over Faerie as—”
Every fairy behind me burst out laughing. I mean burst out laughing. It was almost deafening, which was shocking from such a small group.
I wasn’t though, waiting for them to calm down. “The scary thing is he fully believes it’s possible and he will now. He’s that fucked in the head and his narcissism to that level. I’m just a young, useless woman meant to have babies to bring useful men into the world and will be easily overpowered. He will force Julian to breed me and have the strongest fairy bloodline in the Craftsman bloodline.”
Julian snorted. “The moment we’re mated, I’m taking the name Vale and never, not ever, speaking that bloody name again. It might have been my father’s name, but it disgusts me that I was ever part of this family.”
“And we would kill you before you even tried any of that,” Neldor warned. “Protecting Princess Tamsin, the only heir to Faerie who we need to tap into the magic of our world and have all fairies thrive, are our first, second, and third priorities.”
“We would wipe out your whole family tree rather than risk her,” Iolas added.
“But that’s not on the docket today.”
Craftsman snorted. “No, it’s not, and once everyone finds out you’re a fairy, the heir to the light realm even, you’ll be begging for my protection.”
I gave him the crazy look he deserved, gesturing to everyone behind me. “Yeah, I’m good, you git.”
“I’m beaming with pride,” Julian joked.
I glanced over at Campbell. “You always wanted to see Faerie and today you’ll get your wish. Whether you get to come back to this world is another story.” I smiled at Craftsman. “For all of you. I wasn’t kidding when I said you’re not getting out of this. Round them up.”
When everyone started restraining and detaining people before the witches and warlocks could react, I made a move of my own… Throwing up a barrier around Craftsman and me. Only the two of us.
To keep everyone else out.
“But first, I promised you a dance and warned you that if we did, you’d be buried under the rubble of this arena. You couldn’t even beat Dean White, and I’m already at that level making tier ten crystals at twenty.” I smirked at him when his eyes went wide. “Oh, but to be fair, I should warn you my father is also the last demigod.” I pointed over to Lageos.
Who wiggled his fingers at Craftsman in a wave. Oh geez, we really were related and the sarcasm was strong inside of us.
“Demigods aren’t real, they’re myth,” Craftsman snapped.
“Oh, no, I think my one feeling is hurt,” Lageos drawled. “The cretin who wanted to sell my daughter for a council seat, treats females like they’re dirt, and has abused my to-be son-in-law all of his life doesn’t believe in me. I might shed a tear or go have some comfort food.” He smirked at me. “Hurt him to avenge my honor, my daughter.”
“Like I needed another reason,” I snickered. I used the rune to break Craftsman’s leg to get the ball rolling. “That’s for threatening my mate.”
“There’s no point in my fighting you,” he bit out as he glanced around to see all of his family already restrained and magically handled. “I will win, simply not today.”
“Nah, you won’t, but I’m shocked you’re not taking this chance,” I pushed as fairies tried to get me to take the barrier down and stop what I was up to. “You’re all talk when you thought I was just a young witch, but now you’re not even going to try? It’s pathetic. All talk. Nothing there but barking.”
Rage filled his eyes as he wrote something and healed himself. “I don’t have to explain myself to you. I am far above you and—”
“Yeah, only in your head, git,” I chuckled darkly. “To the rest of the world, princess, and certainly light realm heir, beats the head of one magical family. You’re not even a council family, not that those corrupt, useless fuckers are any better.”
He ground his jaw. “Your childish goading won’t work on me.”
Because he thought he could never turn people to his new plot if he was seen being violent with me. His mind was racing with prospects of explaining to my elders that as someone who had been on the outside of Faerie, he would be the perfect guiding force to advise me on all my decisions. I’d have to be mated into his family first—of course—and then after he got a following, he would declare himself ruler.
Sure, a warlock ruling the fairies sounded likely ever. The species who had been warring forever between light and dark would accept a warlock. The man was completely delusional, and his self-importance plus his beliefs in his power were ridiculous.
“You could convince every elder and older fairy in existence that you were right and I still wouldn’t cave,” I told him, not hiding my amusement at how stupid that plan was. “I’d just bail. As I keep reminding people, I haven’t actually agreed to take the job yet. They just keep saying it as if hoping I’ll get used to the idea.”
“If only you were that easy to deal with,” Iolas grumbled. “Your Highness, take down this barrier. We can take turns mauling this pest if it would amuse you. I promise we will, but we cannot risk you.”
Lageos snorted. “He’s no risk to her. Let her have some damn fun, Iolas. You’re all so confining and rigid. You’re going to make her want to run if you don’t at least allow her to be
who she is. Besides, let the snake try and take advantage of this. I bet he thinks he can pull off some hat trick while everyone watches and take over her mind to do as he wishes if he beats her.”
Yeah, we were abso-fucking-lutely related. Poking at bad guys until they did what I wanted was one of my favorite past times and clearly Lageos enjoyed it as well.
Even better? It worked.
Craftsman took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, his mind already plotting how he would get me under control after he tired me out. He was convinced he was stronger than any fairy and they wouldn’t be able to help me.
I didn’t want to stop the battle from happening, but there was one hole I need to poke in his theory. “If you’re so almighty powerful already, stronger than all the fairies here—why haven’t you taken over the council yet? Why are you salivating at the idea of breeding the strongest fairy bloodline into yours?” I flinched away, his thoughts taking a turn. “I would die first.”
“Who says you would have a choice?” He smirked at me as his thoughts became filled with vile plans.
I swallowed loudly and shut off my telepathy, trying to act as if I wasn’t affected. “Julian, if I lose, do your smartie thing and make sure he hasn’t messed with me. I’m saying it clearly now, I will never want this man.”
“What does… You sick, sick fuck.” Julian pounded on my barrier. “I will kill you if you ever try to touch my mate! You are not having children with her. Our children won’t be Craftsmans. I wash my hands of all of you!”
Craftsman simply smirked at me. “Go ahead, drop your barrier. Show you’re weak and need to be saved. That will just prove my point that you’re not fit to rule without guidance.”
I snorted. “One, I can shut off my telepathy so you can’t distract me. Two, refer to what I said earlier that I haven’t agreed to rule so… Like I give a fuck what you think about the situation.”
“We’d all have to be brain-dead to let the opinion of one of the most corrupt supe families matter, much less a warlock who teems with evil,” Iolas drawled. “I’m worried about how we’ll get the elders to accept your mate is a Craftsman.”
I glanced at him over my shoulder, not even hiding how stupid that sounded. “Yeah, I seem the type to give a single shit what a group of old guys thinks about my life. If I was, any of the councils would have had a shot at me. I’m worried you think the elders or anyone get a vote with me or my life. They don’t.”
“Snakes are slithering,” Lageos chuckled, my only warning that Craftsman was launching an attack while I was distracted.
Except I didn’t need it. I didn’t have my barrier up, but Julian had long ago showed me how to deflect magical attacks.
Even better was Taeral showing me how to absorb the magic of them.
I moved my arm to break the attack and absorb the magic of it, smirking at Craftsman. “Let’s dance, git.”
20
He slowly blinked at me. “How did you—there’s no way you deflected my magic like that. You’re just a child.”
“Julian said he’s been able to do that since he was fifteen, and it impressed you that he could stand up to you.”
The look he gave me spoke volumes about how stupid he thought me. “Julian is a man.”
“Yes, I know that, thank you. I’ve had lots of sex with him. You said you couldn’t believe it because I’m a child. I was going off your words. If you don’t know how to use them correctly, that’s not my fault.” I smirked at him when I saw that landed a hit. “And I didn’t deflect it. I absorbed it because I’m a fairy and you overinflate your abilities.”
Before he could react or launch anything else, I flung the ten-year celibacy rune, not hiding my amusement when it seared him as a brand.
“Awww, guess we won’t be having those kids, you sick fuck.”
If looks could kill, I would have instantly been dead.
Instead, I rushed towards him to get some closer contact that an asshole like him wouldn’t want to lower himself for. Yeah, but that was the truly fun stuff.
His eyes went wide and he tried to block my punch, not doing much of shit besides managing some sort of magical deflector to take some of the impact. He tried to get a barrier up but I moved faster, kicking him in the ribs and loving when I heard the satisfying sound of something breaking.
“You are done, asshole,” I taunted before clocking him in the face. “This is for all you did to Julian and even that shit you just spewed about his mom. I like her. She’s nice and even apologizes when she’s wrong. You would be lucky to be more like her. You think you’re the most powerful but to everyone else, you’re the head of one of the most corrupt families. Your whole perspective is twisted.”
Which was also why I turned back on my telepathy. Now that I’d handled his one sick plan—that I honestly didn’t know if he would really do or was simply messing with me as a distraction—I wanted to hear what else he was thinking about. Pain let a lot out of the bag and random thoughts happened.
And I planned on giving him a lot of pain. It might be a drop in the bucket for all the pain he’d given Julian and his family, but it was a start. Just thinking about how much this dick had traumatized Julian had me kicking out his knee before I even realized it.
He used that time to write a few things on his hand and launch them at me… So he got to see up close how I could deflect and absorb the magic of his attack. His brain couldn’t believe what it was seeing. He wasn’t lying to himself, he understood what he saw, no matter how skewed his world view was. His brain couldn’t connect the dots to how someone like me could manage it.
“Oh, someone has a huge cache of fairy magical items,” I busted. “At least a dozen locations stockpiled with them.” I snorted. “He was one of the first to start raiding known locations. The snake waited a whole month after fairies were called back and Faerie was closed off.” A slow grin formed on my lips. “And he knows a bunch of other people he’s trying not to think of who’ve done the same.”
“We’ll get it out of him, Your Highness,” Iolas promised.
“You have no right,” Craftsman snarled.
“We understand you have no morals, but I didn’t think you had no concept of how laws worked until this moment,” Taeral drawled. “You have repeatedly tried to illegally abduct one of our people, our princess no less.”
“I didn’t know she was a fairy. She never declared that.”
“Yes, well, it was still against the law, no matter what species she was, idiot,” he threw right back, the sarcasm heavily dripping from his tone. “Knowing Princess Tamsin, she also warned you that you were fighting a battle you couldn’t win. A wiser man would have listened. She is a fairy, so you answer to us.”
“You were also stealing from fairies,” I reminded Craftsman. “There are no rules on ‘finders keepers’ after so many years. Everything was locked away and protected how it should have been.” I smirked at him. “Plus, I hear I have diplomatic immunity, so I can basically do whatever the fuck I want. And what I want is to fuck you up. Permanently.”
I barely got that out before my fist connected with his jaw. I landed several more hits until he was spitting blood and completely done for, having absolutely no chance of taking me since he’d not even sparred in an exceedingly long time. Like since he was in school and it was required of him, always thinking it beneath him.
Well, that wasn’t working out that great for him at the moment.
Still, I heard from his mind that my beating him proved nothing; that I was volatile, rabid, and too violent, and that made me dirt in his mind. Dirt he would still use to take everything he wanted. He didn’t get he was beat, not at all.
But I would show him.
I healed him, biting back a smirk when his thoughts admitted how impressive it was that I could do such a good job that easily.
“Come on then,” I goaded. “You think you’re so much better and could easily best me if I wasn’t a volatile, rabid, and too violent heathen you plan
on controlling.”
“This idiot really thought that, GP?” one of the Dark Guardians asked me, disgust in his voice.
“And worse,” Taeral growled. “Several of us are now wearing telepathy runes to listen, Your Highness. You don’t have to anymore.”
“We prefer you didn’t, as you’ve been subjected to enough filth and depravity that injures our souls as fairies,” Iolas added. “We can handle it better as we do with age.”
“I leave it to you then.” I shrugged when Craftsman shot me a surprised look. “I don’t like to listen. I’ve always said that. The moment I got control, I started turning it off unless there was a need to protect myself. I get you would use that curse and listen to everyone all the time to get their secrets, but it’s horrible. You’re just more horrible.”
“Still, you’re as idiotic as Campbell told me given you’re turning off your only chance of beating me.” Steam practically came out of his ears when all the fairies burst out laughing again.
He was killing it even if it wasn’t a comedy show… And it only got worse the more and more attacks he shot at me that I absorbed the magic of.
“Well, it seems there are two women on this campus that can easily best you, Craftsman,” I purred when he was panting for air, clearly on his last leg.
“White didn’t best me,” he sneered. “You cheated and threw up a barrier.”
“You came for me, and I tagged back in when you were willing to go too far over the line with your attack,” I clarified for those who hadn’t been there. “And yes, she bested you as her goal was never to beat you, but to let you tire yourself out like a child throwing a tantrum. That’s all you are right now, and you will never win.”
I let him go a bit more, but then it really was enough when I didn’t even get the satisfaction of smashing his face in. I made my whips of electricity and used them to invert that rune again so I drained his energy, smirking when he dropped like a rock, unconscious before he hit the ground. “I win.”
“I expected more blood if I’m being honest,” Lageos muttered, his tone disappointed.