Enchanted Revenge

by Theresa M. Jones

  “Whatever. Let’s just do something,” I told him, exhausted with him only wanting to talk while I wanted to do something more. Anything.

  “I’m going to come at you. You try to block my attacks and then try to attack me.”

  I was still in my ready position, with my arms up and knees bent. He came at me from the front, much slower than anyone would have in real life. He tried to hit my face, but I blocked him easily and tried to kick his knee. He blocked it though.

  “Good. That was good. But I’m going to go a little faster this time.”

  “Okay, I’m ready.”

  He came at me from the front again and tried to punch me. I saw it coming, and tried to push his arm away. It didn’t budge even a tiny bit. If he hadn’t stopped himself, he would’ve totally punched me in the face.

  “You have to put more weight into it. You aren’t as strong as me, so use your whole body to push my arm away. You’re crouched, right, so push up with your feet when you push with your hands.”

  I nodded and we tried again. This time, when I pushed his arm away, I really put my weight into it and kicked off the ground with my feet. Which made me successful only in pushing us both to the ground. He landed on his back and I was on top of him.

  I jumped to my feet before my imagination could run away with what more could happen with me lying on top of him.

  “What did I do wrong?” My voice came out whiny and irritated, which only annoyed me more.

  “I didn’t mean for you to throw yourself at me, though in that situation you could have still hit me in the throat or tried to poke out my eyes.” I sighed and he said, “Let’s try again.”

  After several tries, I was finally able to block a punch and try to hit him in the knee in two swift moves. He was moving much faster, so I had to also. With each new attack, he would hit faster, and I would have to move faster. He also stopped coming at me from the front only, and started moving sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left.

  What sucked is that we both always knew what the other was going to do, so in a real fight none of this would even help. To spice it up, I decided that I wasn’t going to try and hit him in the throat after the knee attack. I just didn’t know what I would do instead.

  He was behind me, circling like a hawk, and I was moving to try and keep my eyes on him. He tried to hit me from behind, and instead of blocking it, I ducked and kicked at his knee. He blocked it, but barely and as he was trying to recover from his shock at the change in moves, I kicked at the other knee.

  I got him, but he didn’t fall down. I didn’t let it faze me though. I pushed out with all that I had and tried to punch him in the face.

  He grabbed ahold of my wrist just before it made contact, and spun me around to where my back was against his chest. We were both breathing heavily, our chests moving in sync up and down. Up and down. My heart was racing, pounding fiercely in my chest.

  “You cheated,” he huffed in my ear.

  “I was trying to beat you. And I was close too, don’t say I wasn’t.”

  He laughed, making his chest rumble behind me. I could feel the muscles in his arms that were wrapped around mine and in his chest against my back, so hard and smooth through his thin shirt.

  With each of his breaths, little strands of my hair blew out and tickled my face. But even more frustrating was the sweat that was covering every inch of me.

  “So, what would you do now? If I was a bad guy, and I had you pinned against me, how would you get out?” His voice was deep and low, husky, and just barely above a whisper. The sound made my butterflies come swarming back into my stomach. Worst timing ever for those little suckers. I couldn’t get all woozy and dreamy eyed and try to think of how to get out of this at the same time.

  “Umm…” I started, because I had to say something to keep my mind off of how good his breath felt against my neck. How good his body felt against mine, from the top of my head that rested on his chest, all the way down my back, and my butt- he was touching me everywhere.

  I had to concentrate though. He held my right wrist in front of my left shoulder with his left hand, and his right pressed against my stomach, holding me against him. His hand was so big it almost covered my entire stomach. And it was so strong, just like the rest of him. The weight and warmth of his hand stirred in my stomach a hunger I hadn’t experienced before.

  “Focus. What would you do?” he asked again.

  Right. Focus. I tried to pull my wrist out of his hold, but he was too strong. I tried to wiggle my body around, trying to loosen his hold, but it didn’t work.

  Finally I spun around to my left, so that I didn’t have to break his hold on my right wrist, and faced him. I had been planning to do something. Something like punch him with the hand he was holding, or kneeing him in the groin, but as soon as I turned around my mind blanked out.

  All I could see were his bright green eyes. He was smiling. It was obvious he was enjoying this. He was sweating just as much I was, and still breathing hard. But when his eyes locked onto mine, he sucked in a short breath.

  My heart started doing backflips.

  He ran his hand up my arm, until it was holding my face. “You are so beautiful,” he whispered, and then brushed the annoying strands of hair behind my ear.

  So I kissed him. My lips gave way to his, molding around the fiery warmth that I was constantly thinking about. The hand on my face pulled me closer, while his other hand was on my back holding my chest to his. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and held him in place, as close to me as I could get him.

  When his mouth opened, the entire experience shifted. It was as if I could feel his life pouring into mine through our lips, his soul connecting with mine on the deepest and most intimate level. He was so hot, everywhere. And so was I. Everything was on fire.

  I felt a whoosh of air throwing my hair back, but I ignored it. I felt his tongue slip between my lips, so I opened my mouth more to welcome him in. He tasted like the air, soft and warm, free and beautiful. Perfect.

  That’s why, when someone knocked on our door, it totally pissed me off.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Floruin: A Nymph delicacy. Composed of the edible sunflower, with a princess blue flower in its center. Normally served with sugared pecans along the edges of the plate. Flourin is a dish served only in the Lords presence, as sunflowers have become scarce.

  As soon as he heard the knock, Alec pulled away and stood in front of the door. He looked tall, strong and confident, as if the last few minutes had never happened. Or maybe it just didn’t affect him like it did me.

  His wings were out, huge, glorious and beautiful behind him, betraying him and letting me know that the kiss had to have affected him on some kind of level.

  I stood where he left me, standing like an idiot, staring into the space he had just occupied.

  “Enter,” he said, his voice calm and sure.

  The High Guard opened the door and walked in carrying two long, thin boxes. He placed them on the bed and turned to Alec. Then he stopped, looked back at me, and then back at Alec, as if he was wondering what we had been doing. I was still breathing pretty hard, and we were both sweating bullets.

  “Dinner is in fifteen minutes. Clothes have been brought for you so that you may look presentable.”

  “We will be ready,” Alec assured him.

  The High Guard shrugged his shoulders, and then turned and left, shutting the door behind him.

  Alec turned to me and said, “If you’re fast, you have time to bathe.”

  I couldn’t make my voice work, so I only nodded at him and walked to the bathroom. Right before I shut the door behind me he said, “And for the record, kissing your opponent was a good move. No man would be able to resist that.” At first I didn’t know if he was being serious, but then he smiled at me and winked.

  When I shut the bathroom door, I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face or the giddiness that washed over me, or stop my body from doing
a little happy dance. But thankfully, I didn’t allow the squee to escape my lips.

  After the fastest shower in the world, I wrapped myself in a towel and walked out so that Alec could wash off too. When I walked out, he stopped looking through the clothes and stared at me. His mouth actually dropped, and I couldn’t help the satisfyingly proud feeling that grew in me. I had never been looked at like that before. Like I was something to be desired or something beautiful. And it only made me remember his words. He called me beautiful. Me! And he could never deny it, because Fae can’t lie.

  He quickly cleared his face from the stunned emotion and walked past me to the bathroom.

  Alec had already opened the boxes and placed one on both of the beds. The dress that had been brought for me was made of some kind of thin material, too soft to be cotton, but not smooth enough to be silk. I pulled the unfamiliar fabric over my head, and was shocked that it fit perfectly. Around my bust, was an off white color, and then it flowed out from under my bust into a lavender purple.

  I think the length must have been made for a Nymph, because it was so long, it touched the floor. Inside the box was a pair of purple heels that matched perfectly, but they were the wrong size completely. I decided to go barefoot. I couldn’t risk falling all over the place due to wearing shoes that were at least two sizes too big, and the dress was long enough that no one would notice anyway.

  Hopefully.

  I combed my fingers through my hair before I rummaged around trying to find something to pull it back in. The black ribbon I found was stuffed in the desk drawer, but pulled my hair mostly out of my face, making it almost presentable at least.

  Alec walked out after less than five minutes, already sporting a pair of dark blue pants. But he wasn’t wearing a shirt, and man was I glad for it. It was the first time I had seen his chest, and it was a sight to be reckoned with. The muscles I had felt against me were staring me in the face, teasing me and begging me to touch them. He had no hair anywhere on his chest, just smooth, still-wet muscles that rose and dipped in all the right places.

  He walked past me to the other bed and I got to see his back before he pulled an off white shirt on. His back. Oh man! Who would’ve thought a back could be beautiful. Dips and bumps from his strong muscles created a pattern so luscious I felt the urge to lick my lips, which seems pretty weird. Along the side of his ribs, running down the length of his torso was some sort of black design. I had no idea what it meant, or if it held some sort of significance to him, but it reminded me of the designs in his wings. And was stunning.

  I know he had something else inked into his right shoulder blade, but the darn shirt covered it up before I could get a good look at it.

  “Can you tie me?” I asked him, as soon as he was finished. He nodded, and came around to tie the sash behind me.

  “You look lovely in this.” Thankfully my face was still flushed from the fight lessons, the kiss, and the fast shower that he never knew I blushed at his words.

  “Thanks. You look pretty good yourself.”

  He smiled back at me. “Did you know that purple is the color of the Sylph? It’s rare to see something purple here in Ardennes.”

  “It wasn’t made for me, if that’s what you think.”

  “No, I can tell that. You’re much too small.” Though, normally I would have been offended by someone pointing out my lack of height, in this case he said it like a compliment. Like he was happy I was a shorty.

  When the guard knocked again, we were both ready. We followed him down the hallway, and turned left at the end of the hall. This hall opened up into another huge room. It was similar to the room we met the Lord in, in that the far wall was completely gone. It was just an open area without even glass to separate the inside from the outside.

  Everything was marble again, and in the center was a very long table, that would probably sit at least thirty people. The table was a deep red wood, almost cherry colored, and the chairs matched it perfectly.

  We followed the guard, and stopped at the chairs he indicated. Directly across from me stood Rita, the Lady Minor, dressed in a long bright green gown. We were only a few seats down from the head of the table, where I assumed the Lord would sit.

  We didn’t sit; we remained standing for another few minutes until Lord and Lady Nettle walked in. She was much like her daughter. Long and lean. She looked much too nice to be married to this cruel man. But sometimes looks could be deceiving.

  They walked up to their chairs. He stayed at the head, while she sat to his right, next to Rita. As soon as he sat, his wife sat, and then the daughter, and then Alec motioned for me to sit with him.

  The plate that was set before me looked like glass stained green. The food, if you could call it that, looked too pretty to eat. In the center of the plate was a large red flower, a kind I had never seen before. And inside the flower was placed a smaller blue flower.

  Around the flowers were shiny pecans. Finally a food I recognized! It wasn’t until Lord Nettle ate the first bite that anyone else started eating. I was wary at first, because every time I had some preconceived notion about what the food would taste like, I was always totally wrong.

  Dinner was quiet. No one spoke at all. The only noise in the room was the clanking of silverware on the glass plates, the chewing of food, and the flickering of candles.

  It was probably the most awkward dinner I had ever experienced. Not just because it was quiet, but because I knew that he planned on having us killed the next morning. All of a sudden I felt sick to my stomach. Alec and I had wasted the day, and tomorrow we would be killed.

  As if he could tell that I was starting to freak out, he placed his left hand on my thigh. There was nothing sexual about the gesture. It was only meant to comfort me so I didn’t make a scene.

  Let’s just get through this, and get the hell out of here. No worries. Just stay calm. You’re doing great.

  Exactly what I needed to hear. My lips lifted infinitesimally, and then I started to eat. The food was actually really good. The right blend of salty, sweet, and fresh.

  I ate it all.

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Amicus: A close confidant. A person who you feel will keep your secrets safe. An ally.

  We waited for six hours after dinner, hoping that Rita would show up. I could tell that Alec was concentrating on something, probably trying to find a way out of here. Or maybe he was trying to pull his magic again. Who knew? He wasn’t talking to me, and every time I tried to bring up conversation, he quickly shut me down.

  I tried with all my might to not think about that kiss. Our second kiss. I hadn’t been planning on kissing him, like he had suggested. It just happened. And really, I think he might have kissed me.

  After we changed clothes, I tried to get him to practice fighting with me again to pass the time, but he wouldn’t. So I just stayed there on the bed, waiting and waiting. I went through my memories, remembering everything great about my parents, strengthening my urge to find the Mortem.

  I remembered the way they were together, so in love. I remembered the way they were with me, stern but kind. They were both so full of love. Love of each other, love of me and love of life in general. They always wanted us to ‘seize the day’ because you never knew how many days you had left. It made sense now. They knew what they had left behind.

  I still didn’t know why they left. I mean, I guess I wouldn’t want my magic sucked away either, but still to leave everything you know to stay in a world you don’t belong was harsh. It explained why I always felt out of place, and why I looked so different. I mean, there are short girls, and pale girls, and even girls with bleach white hair. But never all in the same girl. And never one with orange eyes.

  When the door opened, I shot up in the bed, wondering immediately why the guard hadn’t knocked like before. Maybe the Lord had changed his mind about letting us stay the night, and wanted to lock us up in a dungeon or something.

  But it wasn’t the guard who came in. Rita st
epped through the door, and shut it quietly behind her. Alec was up in front of the door, standing between the door and me, before she was even all the way through.

  “The High Guard?” Alec asked.

  “I used a screen,” she explained. “Listen, I don’t have much time. I have an amicus that is willing to assist you.”

  “That’s wonderful news.” Hope flared in Alec’s emerald eyes.

  “I overheard the dux and my father discussing the Mortem. As far as I can tell, they have ventured to Muircadia.” She paused, as if to ask if we had any information to offer.

  “We are under the same impression. When the guard came for us, we had been heading there already.”

  “Perfect. A Sprite called Lynn will be waiting for you. I can get you outside this hallway where magics are blocked to you, and then you must leave right away. Do you have means of transport, or do you plan on flying?”

  “My protégé is not yet mature.” Yeah, I just loved it when he said that. “We will be using a tripudio.”

  She nodded, picked up a bag that looked similar to my abscondita, and thrust it into Alec’s hands. “Here are some supplies. We’ll need to move quickly, my nursemaid will be looking for me soon.”

  Alec nodded and took out the tripudio so that we could leave as soon as he had his magic. She waved her hands, and a mist covered us, starting a foot above her head and drifting down around us like a sparkling curtain.

  “It is time,” she said.

  “Thank you for this. I know you risk much in helping us and I appreciate it. We will not forget,” Alec promised her.

  She only nodded, and then went to the door. She inhaled deeply before turning the handle and opening it. I couldn’t help the nervous flutters in my belly. It wasn’t the same feeling that I had just moments ago, when Alec kissed me. This was a scary feeling, one that was hard to shake or ignore. I ignored my sweaty palms, wiping them furiously on my pants. I took a deep breath too, hoping it would help calm my nerves, steady my heart, and make me ready for whatever was ahead.