Faery Realms: Ten Magical Titles: Multi-Author Bundle of Novels & Novellas

by Rachel Morgan

  He leaned over and whispered, “I’ve never had any girl, fae or human, act so spitefully toward me. Whatever had I done to deserve wearing the ice cold drinks on my bare chest?”

  She smiled, but wouldn’t look at him. His dark eyes were deadly entrancing, charming, lulling her into a false sense of desire. He didn’t want her. He wanted her to beg for mercy before he had her killed. Or did the job himself.

  He added, “It took every bit of resolve for me not to flinch when the icy sodas hit my chest.”

  Alicia’s smile broadened. So he wasn’t as tough as he acted. She could just imagine him trying to pretend not to be unsettled by the ice hitting his sun-warmed skin for the human girl’s benefit. Though she wondered why he’d be so honest about it with her now. Did he think if he gave up a secret, she would, too?

  No way would she tell him who her father was. Not that she knew anyway. Her mother had kept her maiden name so the fae wouldn’t ever be able to learn Alicia’s father’s name. And Alicia only knew her father’s first name…

  Suddenly golden-haired fae, six of them, dressed in navy blue tunics and dark brown trousers appeared at the bottom of the stairs. For a moment, they looked at the carpeted floor, then turned their attention to Deveron and the rest of his party. At once, the six male fae tromped up the stairs to Alicia’s aisle. From their grim expressions, they looked like they had a formidable mission. Were they coming to arrest her?

  Instantly, her stomach muscles tightened. Deveron’s hand grasped hers more firmly also. Was he protecting her? Or keeping her there so she could be taken prisoner?

  He was a dark fae. He wouldn’t be helping her. She tried to free her hand from his steel grasp.

  “You’re in trouble now if the royal guards are coming for you,” Ritasia warned.

  Alicia knew it. She was a dead woman.

  Deveron cursed under his breath, then leaned over and kissed Alicia’s lips. Before she could react, shove him away, enjoy his attention, slip out of his reach, or kiss him back, her head began to swim in circles around and around, faster and faster as if she was riding a spinning top at an amusement park. Everything swirled into the dim light of the theater to a much darker void.

  Could a dark fae’s kiss disorient her that much?

  She tried to concentrate on him, on the feel of his warm lips pressing with such passion against hers, on his hand that gripped hers for dear life. Then the swirling slowed down. The dark gave into light. The smell of buttered popcorn turned into the fragrance of fresh grass. No longer was she sitting upright in a theater chair, but she reclined on a bed of soft, tall grass.

  Her eyes began to focus on her new surroundings.

  Too dizzy, she couldn’t sit up. She tried to open her mouth to speak as Deveron leaned over her, watching her, not saying a word. Her stomach’s queasiness began to settle.

  For what seemed like an eternity, she attempted to focus on him, on the dazzling blue sky above, and the puffs of white clouds that she could make out.

  Birds chattered in a forest—a forest?—just a few feet away. There were no forests on South Padre Island.

  She closed her eyes and tried to make sense of what had just happened. She was watching a suspense thriller with Cassie and Ritasia, then suddenly, Deveron and Micala arrived. And then...and then a gap in her memory prevented her from remembering what else.

  She looked at Deveron’s lips. They curved in a naughty grin. He’d kissed her. But no. Something before that. What had happened? Think, Alicia, think.

  Somehow she figured knowing what had happened before the kiss would prove tantamount to her survival. But as much as she attempted to remember, she couldn’t.

  He leaned over further and took her hand in his and touched his lips to hers.

  She should object. Shouldn’t she? He was a dark fae and she was…she was…was she a dark fae, too? She couldn’t remember. Why couldn’t she remember?

  His name was Deveron and he was…he was kissing her—again.

  She tangled her fingers in his dark brown, shoulder length hair, the rich color shimmering in the warm sunlight. The gold around his eyes sparkled with an intensity she hadn’t remembered before. Then they closed as he deepened his kiss.

  “Alicia,” he mouthed against her lips, uttered with such longing and desire, she knew he loved her.

  Her brow furrowed for a moment. Didn’t he?

  He kissed her eyes, one with profound reverence, and then the other. He moved to her cheeks, doing both of them the honor next. And then her lips again. And she succumbed. No one had ever kissed her with such tenderness, such finesse, such passion. She was in love. Had to be.

  Male voices spoken some distance away garnered their attention. Alicia parted her lips to speak, but Deveron covered them with his again. She gave into his loving touch, but then the swirling began all over.

  She groaned as her world shifted from golden light and sweet smelling grass to rotating dark and the only scent, Deveron. His subtle spicy fae fragrance drew her under his spell.

  When dark faded to light and she managed to focus on her new surroundings, she realized to her horror, she was laying beneath Deveron in a pale blue velvet bed surrounded by the same colored curtains that shrouded them in secrecy. A human girl pinned to a very comfortable bed by her enemy.

  She opened her mouth to object, but Deveron shook his head at her and clamped his hand over her lips to keep her quiet.

  “Stay here, while I get something for you to wear,” he whispered in warning. “Do not, whatever you do, leave the bed. Neither of us can afford any of the other Denkar fae catching you here.”

  “Where are we?” Though she suspected it was his bed—his bedroom—or he would not have been so bold to bring her here.

  “My bedchambers at Castle Donao, the kingdom of Denkar.”

  Why in heaven’s name did he bring her here of all places? In the middle of the spider’s web where the black widow of them all would devour her in one fell swoop?

  A chill trickled down her spine. “Deveron, why did you bring me here?” As if she didn’t know. To play with her as he would with any human girl. And then when it wasn’t safe or fun anymore, give her up to the powers to be.

  He grasped her hand. “To keep you safe. To protect you. I promise that’s my only intention.”

  She scowled at him. “A promise from an evil dark fae?”

  He lips twitched upward slightly. “You’ll have to trust me.”

  She gasped as she thought of Cassie. “Cassie! What of Cassie?”

  “Micala will take good care of her.”

  She frowned at him.

  A slow smile curved his lips. “He’s not a dark fae, or I should say…not evil like me. He won’t allow any harm to come to her.”

  “But what about me? I mean, she’ll be worried that I disappeared…that I—”

  “He’s made sure she only thinks he’s been with her. As far as she knows, she’s alone on this trip, and she and he will share some fun times together, nothing more.”

  “Fun times?”

  “Pleasant…nothing unseeming.”

  Why didn’t she believe him? Because he was a dark fae…that’s why. “Why did you bring me here?” she asked again. “You had no reason to.”

  “The royal guard was after us.”

  “Us?”

  “I’m supposed to be elsewhere. But if they had learned or were to learn what you’re capable of…” He shook his head. “I didn’t want to have to worry about your well-being. You’ll be safer with me.”

  She glowered at him with her most evil, narrow-eyed glare. “It’s because of you that I’m in this mess.”

  He smiled at her words. But he hesitated to leave her. “Are you going to be all right?”

  “Right. I happen to be in the wicked lair of the dark fae.”

  His dark brows knit together in a frown. He whispered in her ear. “Stay put and I will return shortly.”

  Alicia nodded, but she wouldn’t release his hand.
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  His lips curved up again, only this time his eyes warmed and twinkled with a strange mixture of delight and intrigue. “Would you like for me to give you a goodbye kiss?”

  She released his hand at once.

  “I should world jump with you more often. It makes you more…compliant.”

  She slapped his chest and whispered, “Go and hurry back. Then you can…why do I need to change clothes?”

  “To blend in with the other blond-haired fae.”

  “Why would I need to do that? I mean, why can’t you return me to—”

  “You are going to stay close by my side. End of discussion.”

  She scowled at him, not caring for his superior male attitude.

  He grinned at her, kissed her lips, nipping the bottom one, and when she touched her tongue to his to show him he wasn’t so much in charge, he groaned. “Later, faery princess.”

  Fae princess. She was a human who was in a whole lot of trouble.

  And then he vanished.

  All at once her skin erupted in goose flesh. Alone in unfamiliar surroundings a sudden sense of disquiet filled her. What if he didn’t return? What if she got caught in his bed?

  She sniffed at the bed linens. They smelled like Deveron. And then the realization sank in that she was indeed in his bed.

  Great! If his parents should catch her here of all places, she’d be dead meat.

  She scrambled through the bed curtains and meant to stand on the floor, but as soon as her feet touched the woven rug, she collapsed to her knees. Her head swam with dizziness as her stomach grew nauseous.

  Then women’s voices grew close to the room, and Alicia’s heartbeat quickened as she grabbed for the bed curtains.

  Chapter Six

  “I swear I was with him one moment and the next, he was gone,” a woman said somewhere outside Deveron’s room as Alicia fumbled with the bed curtains.

  Was Ritasia the one who was speaking?

  “If you are hiding anything concerning this matter, it will not go easy for either you or your brother,” a woman warned. Her voice sounded older and concerned.

  “I had nothing to do with his disappearance,” Ritasia insisted. Her voice grew closer to the bedroom door as her footsteps padded outside the room. “Why should I wish to get into trouble for my brother’s folly?”

  The curved brass handle on the door began to twist down. Alicia grappled with the bed curtains, trying to find the entrance into the bed as her heart sped up its pace and a trickle of perspiration dribbled between her breasts.

  Work legs, work, she scolded them silently as her whole body seemed to be moving in perpetually slow motion.

  “Because, Princess Ritasia, you are like two dark kernels on an ear of corn, clinging side by side. The queen knows you often help your brother out of predicaments he gets himself into. Only this time it’s much too serious. Either your brother weds the Venician princess Lorelei, or you wed her brother. That’s what your mother just announced one of you would do. Strife in the kingdoms and such. The Denkar royalty wish an alliance with the Venicians, too.”

  “I won’t. Deveron will have to marry Lorelei.”

  Ritasia peeked through Deveron’s bed curtains as if afraid of what she’d find.

  Alicia bolted out the other side. And fell on the floor. What was wrong with her fool legs? Her bones had turned to rubber.

  “What was that thump?” the woman asked.

  Footsteps hurried toward the other side of the bed. The side where Alicia sat on the floor, totally shaken. She crawled under the bed.

  “Nothing,” Ritasia said, quickly, worry evident in her voice. “See? Nothing. Must have been something that fell in the bedchambers next to Deveron’s.”

  Alicia watched as their golden sandaled feet walked away from the bed.

  “Why don’t you continue your search, Lady Manantos? I’ll wait here a while, just in case my dear brother returns anytime soon.”

  “You will not attempt to aid him?”

  “Hmpf. Why should I? What does he ever do for me, but give me grief?”

  “True enough. However, you have done so before.”

  The door closed and then footsteps hurried back to the bed. Before Alicia could scurry out from under the bed in the opposite direction, Ritasia peered underneath the bed skirt. She grinned. “This is too funny. Whatever are you doing in here?”

  “Hiding.” Though Alicia assumed it was obvious what she was doing sprawled out under Deveron’s bed.

  Ritasia reached her hand out to her. “Come. If anyone else searches for you here, I can take you safely to my own bedchambers. For now, I can freely move about the castle. Though I don’t know how long before my mother sets the guard on me.” Ritasia helped pull Alicia out from under the bed. “Get back in his bed. Where has he gone to anyway?”

  “To get some clothes for me to wear, he said.”

  “To get some of my clothes.” Ritasia frowned, then her face brightened. “Can’t be helped. Whatever does he hope to pass you off as?”

  “A fae.”

  Ritasia giggled and touched a lock of Alicia’s blond hair. “Well, yes I suppose so.”

  “I’ve seen blond-haired fae with Deveron. Micala is one even.” Alicia tried to stand, but closed her eyes as a wave of dizziness washed over her.

  “Oh,” Ritasia said. “You’re not used to fae travel.” She helped Alicia onto the massive mattress that spanned the width of two king-sized beds shoved together. Why would Deveron need one that large?

  Ritasia climbed onto the mattress and shut the curtains.

  “Thanks for telling the other lady I was not here.”

  Ritasia smiled. “I couldn’t. What fun would there be in that? But as to your remark about the blond-haired fae, well, except for Micala and a few others, I should amend. Most are not of the royal house of Denkar. They serve us and have for many millennia. If any of the Denkar fae found you to be in Deveron’s company, you would be suspect at once. Everyone knows who the royals are. He doesn’t associate with the female blond-haired fae. So he must be planning something else. Though nothing comes to mind.” Ritasia patted Alicia’s hand. “Lie down. Get your strength back. I’m sure Deveron plans to transport you again. Repeated transportation the fae way for one who is not accustomed to it, can be incapacitating at the very least.”

  “How would you know?” Alicia asked as she took Ritasia’s advice and laid her head against the soft down pillow.

  “When we haven’t jumped from place to place for a while, even the Denkar can become disoriented. Deveron does it so often, he never does. But I don’t transport as frequently as he does.”

  “Why don’t you marry the Venician prince?”

  Ritasia’s eyes widened. “How would you know...oh, you overheard my lady-in-waiting’s conversation with me. Not only do I not love the conceited Prince Phillinois, I can’t stand him.”

  Before Alicia could speak further to Ritasia about the prince, Deveron appeared in front of her on the mattress.

  He turned and scowled at Ritasia.

  She smiled back at him and raised her brows.

  “What in curses are you doing here?”

  Ritasia ignored his words. Her gaze shifted to the garments Deveron had taken from her room. “You could have asked my permission.”

  “How could I when you were not in your chambers but in mine? Whoever gave you permission to enter mine anyway?”

  “Me, after I was grilled thoroughly about your vanishing with Alicia. Where do you intend to take her next?”

  “Change,” he said to Alicia. Then he climbed off the bed and Ritasia joined him, pulling the curtains closed again.

  Alicia removed her shirt and then her sandals and jeans. She pulled the purple satin gown over her head while wispy sheers of the same color of purple attached to the gown floated down to the mattress. Now she felt like a faery princess.

  “I wouldn’t tell you my plans,” Deveron said to Ritasia.

  “I’ve already kept yo
ur secret.”

  “She did,” Alicia said from behind the bed curtains. She figured they needed all of the alliances they could get. Though on the other hand, she wasn’t sure she could trust either of them completely.

  “I have to return to fulfill my duties escorting Princess Lorelei,” Deveron said.

  Ritasia laughed. “But what about Alicia? Surely you don’t intend for me to attempt to hide her here.”

  “She will be our dear cousin…a sixth removed and will accompany me.”

  “But I don’t have dark hair.” Alicia pulled on a sandal.

  “Some of our distant cousins are blond,” Deveron remarked. “Most don’t live here. Aren’t you dressed yet?”

  “I feel as though I’m moving in slow motion.”

  “From transporting her,” Ritasia reminded him.

  “Oh.”

  Alicia pulled the curtain aside.

  Deveron considered the way her gowns shimmered over her form. His expression indicated deepest admiration. Did he prefer her wearing the dress of the fae? It appeared so. But she reminded herself he was her enemy as much as she wished in an instant of madness that he wasn’t.

  Ritasia socked him in the shoulder. “She needs some of my clips for her hair, if you’re going to pass her off as one of the Denkar fae of the minor royal branches. And pull in your tongue. It’s dragging the floor.”

  He frowned at Ritasia.

  She shook her head and vanished.

  Alicia sat on the edge of the bed, not trusting her legs to hold her if she stood.

  His lips curved up in that same mischievous way he had before that totally disarmed and warmed her throughout.

  “You know, you have the most charming smile,” she said.

  “It’s one of my most gifted dark fae qualities.”

  “And you’re terribly conceited.”

  He grinned. “Now there’s my Alicia. I thought I’d lost you.”

  She made an annoyed face at him.

  He chuckled under his breath.