I did not like this plan. Kheelan was dangerous. My brothers should not get too close to him and definitely not without me.
“But what about Evie?” Matthew said.
Smart boy.
“I’ve got her,” Loren reminded him. “I’m sure she will appreciate a soft place to sit and something to eat when I get to the camp. We won’t be far behind.”
That was a sly way to get my brothers to go along with Kheelan’s plan. Make it all out to be for my comfort. I hoped Matthew wouldn’t fall for Loren’s trick.
“She hasn’t eaten,” Jackson said. “Not since Friday, and she only had a few sips of water.”
How long had I been unconscious? It sounded like my brothers had been trying to care for me if they had been giving me water. I wanted to tell them I was okay but then I would have to face Kheelan once he figured out I was awake.
I needed more time to orient myself before I hatched our next escape. Besides, if my brothers distracted Kheelan then I would be alone with Loren. Divide and conquer wasn’t such a bad approach. The boys had managed while I had been unconscious. Surely Kheelan wouldn’t do anything to them in a short time.
Indecision kept my eyes closed.
“We brought food and water. You can fill the canteens and maybe boil water for tea as well. The nights here can be cool,” Loren said.
Sneaky, still appealing to the caring sides of my brothers, but it did sound like Kheelan had enough to do to keep them occupied and safe.
“We’ll be waiting for you. Don’t let the tea get cold,” Jackson said.
The decision was made for me.
Without another comment, the twins left. Whatever conversation I had woken up in the middle of had obviously covered some important points earlier if Loren was being trusted with me and the twins were reluctantly following Kheelan.
Loren sighed now that we were alone and his shoulders relaxed a little under my arms. It was almost as if he had let down his guard now my brothers were gone, but that was ridiculous. My human brothers couldn’t hurt a big Fae soldier like him.
“Kheelan is gone, kitten.”
How the hell did Loren know I was awake? I didn’t say anything. It had to be only a guess. I must have moved or tightened up without realizing it when I got my vision back.
I was a lump on a log and not moving.
Loren turned abruptly right and his gait became even rougher. I could tell that we had gone off the path they had been walking earlier and it definitely didn’t seem like the direction the others had gone. I opened my eyes to see where Loren was taking me, knowing there wasn’t anyone to catch me peeking now.
“Hello kitten.”
Lumpity log.
A cool breeze kissed my back, blowing up my hoodie’s waist in the way no natural wind could, a refreshing lick against my sweaty skin that was a pleasant shock. Then, my hoodie started inching up all on its own.
“Stop,” I ordered.
The breeze slowly died down and Loren halted. I wiggled, but his magic bonds held tight.
“I hate to disturb your cat nap, but as you heard, there are some important matters we need to address,” Loren said. “I thought you would appreciate if we discussed them without your brothers.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I said, confused. I suppose he meant the part about me being a Dark Elf and my glamour, which was the conversation I had been eavesdropping on earlier, but I wasn’t ready to admit that I had been awake all that time and the twins could have been present for this kind of talk, anyway. They knew I had magic.
“Do you want some water?” he asked, not calling me out on my denial. He held up the canteen he must have gotten from Matthew over his shoulder.
If I didn’t know better, I would have thought Loren had asked Matthew for a drink so he would have something for me to quench my thirst by stealing the canteen. He would have needed to know I was awake when he asked, however, and that meant I hadn’t fooled Loren for even a minute.
Loren was devious. I added the knowledge to what I knew about him.
“Need my hands free to drink,” I said, recalculating how difficult it might be to trick and escape from Loren.
Magic released my hands and I flexed my fingers, painfully stiff. Perhaps, it had something to do with clenching glowy so hard earlier. My claws accidentally scraped over Loren’s clavicles and he groaned.
The sound was sexual and my response reciprocal, feeling my nipples tightening. I would like to blame it on the cool breeze Loren had used to tease me but I was too familiar with this terrible lust lately.
No, no, no. I had five Marks and a Claim already. Loren couldn’t possibly be added to the chaos. I was absolutely not getting myself worked up when I still had Kheelan to face. Distractions weren’t something I could afford when dealing with that kind of trouble.
Getting control over my body, I grabbed the canteen and uncapped it, tipping it into my mouth and greedily gulping. It quickly hit my belly and I slowed down. I don’t know how long I had been out with nothing to drink, but the weak feeling in my body had already started to abate with the water.
“What day is it?” I asked.
“Not sure. We don’t track time the same in Faerie. Drink a bit more,” Loren encouraged. “You need to eat as well but that will have to wait until we get to camp,” Loren said. “I’ll heal your burns once you’ve given your body sustenance.”
“I’m fine,” I said, declining healing although I took another sip of water and recapped.
I knew Loren was a good healer. I had seen him work his magic over the brutally whipped flesh of Kheelan’s back the first time we met, but he wasn’t getting his healing hands on me, especially with magic involved. I couldn’t afford to incur any further debts with the Fae.
Now, I just had to find a way to get out of his reach.
“Your hands aren’t meant to hold the hot end of the walking stick,” Loren said, taking the water canteen back and secreting it back somewhere on his body. He was dressed in leather and weapons. Clearly, he hadn’t been just out for a walk when they had rescued me and my brothers.
“Glowy didn’t come with instructions,” I retorted. I still noted the important safety tip. “Can I get down now?”
“If I let you down kitten, don’t run,” Loren warned me.
Was he really this stupid? If I took out Loren, then there were three of us to one of Kheelan. I would need every advantage after Kheelan’s demonstration of godlike power.
“Sure,” I lied, although I was still thinking about it. There would only be one chance to escape. I knew that I needed surprise for any attempt to work, and if I blew it by trying too early, then Kheelan would chain me himself.
The magic around my thighs released. Loren’s big hands reached back over and replaced the bonds with his warm grip, not quite ready to let me down yet.
I would have to attack him from behind and fast. He was too big for me to defeat in hand-to-hand combat and any distance I achieved would only put me at risk of being lassoed by his whip.
“Your heart is racing, kitten.”
It was thundering against my chest.
“Are you afraid?” I taunted. “Somebody loaded me for fighting while I was sleeping.”
It wasn’t as if I was revealing anything he didn’t already know.
Loren chuckled, his right hand finding my thigh dagger and smoothing down the handle. “Kheelan dressed you with your accessories. He gave your brothers a lecture about travelling into dangerous territory with all your weapons sitting uselessly in a bag.”
“COW,” I corrected. “Case on wheels.”
“As I said, your weapons were not where they belonged. Any other time, I would be ecstatic to play chase with you or demonstrate the proper use of your weapons against other Fae.”
Loren paused. The weight of it finally got to me.
“But?” I prompted.
“You carry my Mark on your neck. I watched you find your pleasure with your own ha
nd while dressed in lingerie practically made out of spider silk, and then with your randy, young dragon without an equal offer of release. I felt your fear and your pain in Faerie where you weren’t supposed to return, and I hunted down a group of slavers to find you running for your life with nary a single of your Marks to protect you.”
Loren’s voice was getting more worked up with every sentence. Was that his point? He was angry?
“I didn’t tell you to Mark me,” I reminded him. Or to watch me masturbating and being fucked by Falin, but that I kept to myself. He really did sound worked up. I could empathize a bit with the crazy lust that drove me.
“Kheelan says you don’t really know anything about the Fae. I’m beginning to believe him,” Loren said with a more rueful tone.
“Let me down,” I demanded.
Loren could insult me when I wasn’t riding on his back. This method put me at more of a disadvantage. He could lecture and I couldn’t escape.
“I warned you not to run because I am at the breaking point, Kitten. If you disobey, I’ll chase, and I’ll show you what else you don’t know about Marks pushed to the limit.”
His warning reminded me of what Dain said to me the night of the Faerie battle. Did Loren just threaten to fuck me if I ran? My libido shouldn't be interested in testing that out.
“Stupid choice to have armed me if you were planning to force-”
“Oh, kitten, I might tie you up, but you’ll be willing and begging with my name on your lips and that dragon will be a distant memory.”
Fae arrogance. That wasn’t new. This time I let my claws dig into Loren’s skin on purpose and I nipped his right ear. His quick, shocked inhale let me know my challenge had been received.
“The last Fae to threaten to fuck me in the ground at least had the balls to say it to my face,” I whispered into his ear, following it up with another punishing nip.
Loren groaned loudly, not even trying to hide it.
“Kheelan will kill me if I leave him alone with the pups so long,” Loren said. His big hands moved down to cup my ass and pull me up hard against his hips, putting pressure where I had started to ache. It made things worse.
“I want down and I won’t run,” I offered out of desperation. I couldn’t think or plot with those hands on my body.
I slid down Loren’s muscular back with my tiny claws trailing and Loren said something short and harsh in Fae. He whipped around to look at me as soon as my feet touched the ground. Brown eyes clashed with the white blonde hair that marked him Light Fae and a Halfling like me.
He looked a lot like a big bear about to eat Goldilocks all up. Good thing I wasn’t a blonde.
“Eve, we’re in trouble,” Loren said.
I blinked, but it wasn’t my vision that was in question. Loren surprised me enough that I forgot to look around for the best direction to escape and instead peered into his deep brown eyes for answers.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You shouldn’t have come back to Faerie, not now,” he said. “Especially without protection.”
Should I stay or should I go? Even Loren was telling me that things were dangerous here, in case that wasn’t already obvious, but he had also warned me not to run.
“Well, I’m here now,” I said, presenting the quandary. His warning was too late.
“Give me your hands,” Loren said.
I held them out. I thought I was going to have to fight off a horny bear but hand holding was unexpected. What did he want now?
His cool magic danced up my hands as he spoke in Fae, harsh accent but still lyrical enough I found myself following the cadence as if listening for a poem’s rhythm. The stiffness in my fingers felt immediately better. I thought I had worked the ache out earlier, but there had been swelling I had missed, the mild burn he had picked up. His magic felt like dunking my hands into cold water and getting massaged at the same time.
“Uh, tha-” I cut myself off before I thanked him. Rules, so many damn rules. “That feels better,” I said, accepting that I was getting healed no matter my stated preference to suffer.
He didn’t acknowledge either my near faux pas or masked gratitude, magic strengthening as his Fae words picked up speed and volume, the prickling cold getting painful now. The refreshing water was turning icy. I tried to pull my hands free.
His grip tightened.
“Ouch, fu-” I yanked harder, twisting to try to wrench free with my body weight pulling. “It hurts, stop,” I said.
Sweat was soaking my brow and the small of my back despite the icy magic. My heart was pounding again and my mouth dried with fear. Loren was doing something wrong.
The wind he had teased me with earlier started up again but this time it was no gentle breeze. It came howling around us in a furious whirlwind that swept up the leaves and whipped the branches around us. I screamed Loren’s name and the wind stole that plea, too, as I was lifted into the air.
We were levitating in the eye of a freezing hurricane of power. My hair settled down as calm descended upon us, heavy with intent that focused on me as I whispered Loren’s name and his gaze snapped back to mine. He spoke three words in Fae, each a single syllable that stabbed into my chest with a precise thrust until my icy heart cracked and I gasped, tears frozen on my lashes.
Loren’s brown eyes had lost all their velvety softness, deep, dark pits of the cold hell he held us trapped. “Choose,” he told me and it took a moment for me to realize he had even spoken in English, his rough voice still guttural with the strain of heavy magic. “Dark or Light,” he offered.
Confused, angry and hurt, I wanted to refuse to answer.
“Choose, or I will decide for you,” Loren told me with cold indifference unlike what I had learned about him.
So far, I had been captured by Light Fae twice, tormented and enslaved. A royal asshole was their king. Kheelan was a bastard prince of betrayal that had already burned me once for his brother in an act of familial loyalty that I hated to respect. Orin had pulled no punches to tell me what he wanted and he took it with no regrets, not even allowing me my own. Even Loren had shown me the whiplash speed in which he could tip the balance of his Halfling humanity for the cruel power of his Light heritage.
I was Dark. The choice should be simple. Yet, for all the faults of the Light Fae, I knew what really decided my fate. It wasn’t Eloden’s fiery intent or Falin’s possessive seduction I feared. Dain was darkness incarnate that could claim my soul.
“Light,” I whispered, then repeated louder. “Light, and I’ll make you regret it.”
Finally, I got a reaction. Loren used his grip on my hands to yank me up against his body, lips crashing down on mine. This was no sweet kiss from my honeybear. It was carnal, tongue deep in my mouth as he stole my breath from me. I nipped him for the trespass. My hair whipped my cheeks as the wind picked up around us again, forcing me to close my eyes. I felt the power rippling over me without an incantation as he pushed his magic to change me.
My feet touched the soft, forest ground the moment he pulled up from our kiss. He still held my hands, the cold awareness between us a soft breeze once more.
“Are you done?” I asked.
He released my hands. “It is only glamour,” he said, voice thick with regret he wouldn’t speak.
“I had a glamour already,” I reminded him. “Why didn’t you ask if I wanted another?”
“Your original glamour would have interfered,” he said, looking over my shoulder. “There was something very strange about it, so much power for a simple human glamour. Nothing could go overtop without it shining through.”
He made it sound like I had done something purposefully to my glamour to be difficult. As if. The blame here was all on him. I gave him one of my best glares.
“I should have been given a choice,” I insisted. “A real choice, not a forced decision,” I added before he could say anything edgewise.
Loren looked away from me. “Better some choice than none at all.
”
The Fae never avoided my eyes, making me face them for every difficult conversation. I wanted to slap Loren to get his attention, but I fisted my hands by my sides and felt the horrible betrayal of my own eyes falling to the ground. I squeezed my tears back. Loren wouldn’t see me mourn what he had stolen. No wonder he had wanted me separated from my brothers before he did this.
“How am I supposed to go back home?” I asked him.
“Kheelan should be able to replace it, once things are safer,” Loren answered. He turned back to face me. “Eve, your glamour was only ever meant for the human world.”
Not kitten. At least, Loren recognized that things had changed between us.
“You should have asked first,” I said. “Will my brothers even recognize me?” I asked, finally feeling steady enough to open my eyes and look back up at his face.
He was watching me, studying my reaction. Didn’t he realize what my glamour had meant to me before he took it away?
“I haven’t altered your glamoured human appearance, only hidden part of your magic from other Fae so you can pass as a Light Elf Halfling. Although it is anchored like the last glamour, it doesn’t change who you are and what you can do. If you use Dark magic, the glamour will not hide it.”
“Then I can’t use magic?” I said, feeling frustrated.
Without magic, I would be as helpless as the rest of the humans in Faerie and I didn’t even have the muscular physique of the twins to help me punch my way through problems. I felt foolish loaded down with weapons when Loren had taken away my one real power to fight back in Faerie.
Loren’s eyes softened. I could see the moment he picked up on my vulnerability and the guilt he tried to suppress. I hardened my own face.
“You have been using Light magic all along, kitten.”
I glared at him for the endearment. I thought we were still at angry and betrayed. Kheelan could tell him all about the rules, especially the need to maintain a frosty distance. Loren needed me to draw the lines for him.
“I thought I was Dark Fae,” I said. I put one of my clawed hands on his chest and scraped my nails lightly across his pectorals over his clothes, trailing lower as he stared at my face. I licked my lips, just a tiny dart of my tongue as I reached his belt line. “Dark enough to eat a Light fairy like you-” I dropped my hand over the front of his pants and took him into my palm, at least what I could grasp, spreading my clawed fingers. “-for a midnight snack,” I said.
Falling Into Faerie After Page 13