Shadow's Light

by Nicola Claire

  And then I felt it. The call it placed on my soul. Fey silver has remarkable magical qualities. Lutin had told me once, that it has medicinal purposes and is capable of carrying charms. But, more importantly, it is addictive to humans. Fey silver can control or command humans at will.

  I looked up and the not-right Avery was no longer standing before me. I hadn't expected him to be. He was in the corner of the room. I hadn't even seen him before. He must have been shielded from me, warded from my view. Avery wasn't breathing, just a lifeless lump of muscle, flesh and bone.

  “What are you going to do to him?” I asked Lutin, looking straight at him where the not-right Avery had been standing just a moment before.

  “I thought you would be happy to be rid of him, elska. He has been rather gauche in his attempts to seduce you, has he not? And if I am not mistaken, you had thoughts of killing him yourself last night. Now that was entertaining to watch.”

  “How long have you been here?” I asked numbly, unable to move from where I sat.

  “A few hours. Long enough to whittle away your Light, although I did help you shield your thoughts. And also long enough to replace the vampire's Sanguis Vitam with my own magic. It was I keeping you tied to that bed. Oh, the desire to take you where you lay helpless. We should experiment with bonds and chains.”

  A small sound escaped my lips, but I closed them firmly and willed myself to be strong. Searching for my Light only caused a slight headache to form in my temples and the silver bracelet start to pulse at my wrist.

  “Now, now elska,” Lutin drawled as he perched on the arm of my chair and started stroking above the silver bracelet he had placed on my arm. “This has been charmed to contain your Light. Every time you try to reach for it, it will elude you. The more you try, the more pain it will cause. I hadn't wanted the pain, but mother insisted. She really is quite tired of your lack of commitment to me. One should never annoy a Queen.”

  He stood and strode over to Avery, giving him a little shove with his boot. Avery didn't make a sound or stir. I hoped fervently that he was playing possum. But, I couldn't sense any life force from him. Just his Dark hanging in the air nearby.

  Avery. I wanted to get away from him, but it never occurred to me that my wish would be answered by Lutin. Avery versus Lutin. Which one would I prefer to hold me captive? A hard choice, but if I am honest, at least I know vampires. The Fey not so much. I've been in love with a vampire for almost three years. From the moment I laid eyes on on him in fact. Lutin is still an enigma. I'd take a vampire over Lutin every time.

  “Please don't hurt him,” I said when Lutin had bent to a crouch and had his hand hovering over Avery's head. He swung his face back towards me, a puzzled look placing frown lines on his forehead.

  “Why? He means to subjugate you.” And you don't? I thought bitterly. “He would never love you like I will.” Like I will. Not like I do.

  I forced a smile on my face. “Consider it a wedding gift to me.” I had no idea if the Fey married, but the way Lutin had gone on about me being his one true love and how important that was to his kind, I prayed that they had some sort of ceremony to perform before we had to consummate this relationship. Not that it had stopped him in the past, but a girl could only hope.

  “You are too soft hearted, elska. I appreciate this quality, but others of my kind will try to exploit it. My mother for one. You must harden if you wish to remain unharmed in Álfheimr. Court life in the Ljósálfar realm can be harsh. I know you have strength enough in you to survive, otherwise you would not be my elska.”

  He returned his attention to Avery's still form on the floor. I leapt from my chair and ran to him, sinking to my knees at Lutin's side. He seemed surprised that I had been able to do that. I guess he had been keeping me in my seat somehow and I had broken free. But, when I placed a gentle hand on his forearm, not restraining, just touching so lightly, he relaxed.

  “Please, Lutin. He wasn't all bad.” Pathetic thing to say, but I actually meant it.

  “What will you give me for this boon?” he said, twisting his body so he was facing me and running his hand down the side of my cheek. “A kiss?”

  Fuck, a kiss? If he'd asked to share Light, I'm not sure I would have survived the encounter. Although, it might have meant the removal of the bracelet and a chance to escape. Nah, the moment my Light would be free, his would call to mine and I would be lost. So, a kiss. OK, I could manage that at least, but I choked back the bile that threatened to rise up my throat.

  I nodded, stiffly.

  “Oh, elska. You are perfect.”

  His lips met mine, softly at first, tentatively. Then with a rush of air from his mouth he wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me against his chest and began to devour me. I didn't respond, stunned by the passion that had ignited in Lutin. But, after only a second my body couldn't resist him anymore, despite my mind screaming, stop!

  I had none of my Light to protect me and my shields were still all in a mess. Clearly it was his fey magic. And I kissed him back with abandon, my body under his control yet again.

  I became aware that we were no longer alone. Standing now, chest to chest. Lutin still had me wrapped up in his arms and we were still tangling tongues and lips and teeth. But, the air had changed, it smelled more rich, more complex. And the temperature had risen too. To a pleasant summer night's evening. A breeze coated in fresh blossoms wrapped around our bodies and infused my nose. On it, the hum of many whispered voices.

  “Son,” a delicate female's voice intoned. “You have finally brought your elska home.”

  Not good, I thought numbly as Lutin pulled away from my lips and stood staring at me with hunger obvious in his beautiful green eyes.

  “I have, mother,” he breathed huskily. “And is she not divine?”

  Chapter 10

  The Royal Court of Ljósálfar

  “Let me see her then,” the woman commanded.

  Lutin clasped my hand and turned me towards his mother. There was simply so much to take in that I just stood there blinking stupidly for several seconds. The room we were in was enormous. The ceiling so high I couldn't see where it ended. There were no rafters or eye-beams, just a vast expanse painted like the Sistine Chapel. I could see the clouds and angels and human bodies, so meticulously depicted they looked divine. But I couldn't see how close the ceiling was. Whether it was only twenty feet above us or a thousand.

  The walls were like an old palace, thick stone covered in colourful tapestries and art. Colour was everywhere. From the rich furnishings to the delightfully cheerful crowd of people milling around. All of which watched with much interest as Lutin led me up a few steps to where the woman, his mother, sat perched on an ornately carved wooden throne.

  She was beautiful. There was no other word to describe her. Her hair shone a bright gold, not blonde, not straw, but actual gold. I was sure you could cut it and melt it down to make jewellery. Not that I would tell her that, she didn't look like the melting type. It hung down her back and over her shoulders, reaching below her waist. Her flawless skin shone brilliantly, catching the light from various strategically placed sconces burning bright flames of fire around the room. She was dressed in a full bodied skirt and fitted brocade top. The style like something out of medieval France or England. But it was bright, not dull. A rich dusky pink that suited her colouring and made her look extremely feminine.

  Everything about her screamed female. Woman. She oozed feminine sexual charm. Her eyes, a green like Lutin's, the only thing that really told me they were related at all, did a slow scan of my body. Taking in my dishevelled brown shoulder length hair, skimpy singlet and too short shorts. Black. So out of place in amongst all this colour.

  “What is your name, child?” she asked, her voice carrying that musical lilt the Fey have.

  “Lucinda Monk,” I replied, enormously pleased with the strength of my words.

  “Lucinda,” she mused, tapping a long elegant finger on the armrest of her chair.
“Meaning Light Giver. How appropriate.”

  “I told you mother, she is perfect,” Lutin piped up enthusiastically.

  “Hush son, you are besotted. We all know it.” The whole room erupted in tittering laughter. Like little crystal chandeliers disturbed by a gentle breeze.

  Lutin began to chime quietly beside me. I don't know why, but I reached for him. He'd kidnapped me, tried to seduce me in the past – and I use the term "seduce" broadly here, encompassing not only his fervent desire to kiss me, but also his attempts to play with my Light, an action I fear has greater consequences than it sounds - and he wanted me to bear his offspring against my will. But, I still reached for him when he bristled at the Court's response to his mother's words.

  He lifted my clasped hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it, keeping his eyes on his mother the entire time. She noticed. I don't think anything would get past her.

  “So, she is enamoured with you too. This is welcome news, more than I could have hoped for.” She stood then and the whole room, those who weren't already standing, stood with her. “Take her to your quarters and prepare her for the kvángask. We shall celebrate our Court's new prosperity tomorrow and then my son will provide us with new life.”

  With those ominous words she turned her back on us and left the room. Several daintily clad women sweeping along in her wake. Both Lutin and I and the rest of the Court stood motionless until the door to the hall, or whatever this space was called, shut firmly behind her. I for one was not breathing.

  Then Lutin spun me towards him and wrapped me up in his arms, his mouth crushing mine in a fervent kiss.

  “You were brilliant,” he said breathlessly against my lips. “She loves you.” I seriously doubted that. And I was picking when the whole I'm-not-providing-you-with-a-grandchild thing came out, she wouldn't be so friendly either.

  Lutin started leading me away from the throne, in the opposite direction to his mother's exit. I let him pull me along, receiving a mixture of jealous looks and lustful glares and a couple of just plain murderous ones too.

  “Lutin,” I whispered, urgently. “No one seems pleased to see me here.”

  Lutin stopped in his tracks and looked around the room. Suddenly all the looks turned to pleasant smiles and friendly winks. But I think he had seen them. The faces that had been on display before.

  “You are the first elska to arrive since the portals began opening. Some are jealous that I have found you so quickly, others are jealous that I am no longer available to them. And some, just do not like change. It is nothing to worry about, as my elska you are protected by royal decree.”

  He started walking again, this time more leisurely, tucking my arm under his and placing my hand on his forearm.

  “Royal decree?” I asked, admittedly a little fascinated. How many people get to visit Álfheimr and learn about fairies?

  “I am Prince of Ljósálfar, when the kvángask is complete, you will be Princess of Ljósálfar. Harming you will mean instant, painful death. That is why we must complete the ceremony quickly. I will not have you harmed.”

  Good to know. “What is a kvángask?” I asked as we entered a long hallway, more colourful fabric hanging on either side of the walls. My sandals made a slapping sound on the bare stone floors that the tapestries were unable to muffle.

  “A bit like your marriage ceremony, only more complicated,” he replied, stopping briefly to tap a stone on the wall that looked just like every other stone. The wall peeled away to reveal another passage. This one lacked the tapestries and didn't have as many sconces to light the way.

  “How more complicated?” I asked, feeling like a five year old with way too many questions swirling around my mind.

  We both stepped through the new opening and then as soon as it closed behind us Lutin had me pressed firmly up against the wall.

  “So many questions, elska. I will reveal all, but first...” He kissed me again, one hand going to my hair the other wrapping tightly around my waist and pulling me against him. He broke away only long enough to murmur against my lips, “I finally have you in my world. You have no idea how excited I am.”

  Oh, I think I had a fairly good idea. His tongue half way down my throat might have told me. Or his wandering hand to my rear. Or maybe it was the rock hard erection poking into my stomach. I tried to push back against him, but he was simply too strong. It didn't help that he used a little of his Light to immobilise, either. I reached instinctively for my own Light and then screamed out in agony as a sharp shot of pain sliced through my head.

  “Lucinda.” Lutin's voice reached me from down a long tunnel.

  I was lying on a big, fluffy bed in a moderate sized bedroom. More fabric hanging on the walls, but this time the colours were muted, more masculine somehow. The furniture was large and comfortable. The room smelt of peaches. Lutin's quarters I was picking.

  There was a window to the side, draped in luxurious green velvet and I had an interesting desire to know what Álfheimr looked like. What I would see when I peered out through the glass. I brought my attention back to Lutin, who was sitting beside me on the bed, hovering like a mother hen.

  “How did I get here?” I croaked and Lutin reached for a glass of water beside the bed. I drank from it gratefully, then suddenly had a memory of warnings from fairy tales that said you shouldn't eat or drink anything in Faerie. “That won't make me sick or grow two heads or something will it?” I demanded, spearing the glass of water with a hard glare.

  He laughed, a musical combination of sounds that immediately made me relax. “No, of course not. Our food is safe to all. Nothing like those silly old human stories.” I hoped he wasn't fooling me. Those silly old human stories had been right about the fairies stealing our babies from their cribs and replacing them with one of their own. “Now tell me, elska, why did you try to use your Light?”

  “You startled me,” I answered automatically, trying to take in everything about the room. It was remarkably normal. No magical hanging lamps or moving knick-knacks. Just a little old school, as in very old school. No electricity that I could see and I wondered what the plumbing would be like.

  “Why would I startle you. I was kissing you.”

  “I'm not your girlfriend, Lutin. You can't just spin me around and play tonsil hockey with me at the drop of a hat. Or cop a feel. I know where your hand was going,” I said angrily.

  “Tonsil hockey?” he replied, slowly.

  “Kiss me. All tongue and… and everything,” I replied, a little lamely.

  “You are my elska. Is that not my girlfriend too? Does that not allow for... tonsil hockey?”

  “Look,” I said sitting up in the bed a little higher, “just because you think I'm your elska does not mean that I am. I don't think it. So, it's a bit one sided, isn't it?”

  He looked at me as though I was mad. He really did think I felt the same way about him as he did about me. It was written all over his face. He may not love me yet, but he was well on the way to allowing that emotion to develop. Whereas I was still stuck back on the kidnapping, forcefully seducing and providing an heir against my will.

  I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. How to play this? I was in an alternate realm. I had no idea how I got here or how to get back. I was at Lutin's mercy and from what I could see, he was about the only fairy on my side. To alienate him could be disastrous. So, he was a little delusional. But, he was my only chance of escaping this mess, delusional or not.

  I reached over and took his hand in mine. “Lutin, what I told you back in the Bahamas was true. I need to get to know you first. I can't just fall into bed with you when you snap your fingers and then make babies with you because you demand it. I can't make that commitment so lightly. I need some time.”

  I waited, hopeful for the same response I had received back on that beach. Right before I led him on and then blasted him with my Light. Yeah, this was going to be easy. Not.

  “My mother expects us to consummate this relationsh
ip tonight. We have no choice.”

  So not the words I wanted to hear.

  “She doesn't have to know we didn't,” I replied, watching his reaction carefully.

  “She is powerful, elska. You don't want her as an enemy.” That I kind of gathered, but still. “She will be able to tell.”

  “How?” I asked, pushing for specifics.

  “I will not be able to lie to her.”

  “Will not or can not?”

  “There is no difference when it comes to Queen Isoleth of Ljósálfar,” he replied, brushing a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Is it so bad a thought, making love to me?”

  Yes. It was. Not that Lutin wasn't a looker. And he could certainly kiss. But, that didn't change the fact that I was being held here against my will, that I was being made to do something I didn't want to.

  “Lutin, I can't,” I said in a whisper.

  Anger shot over his features, but was gone in an instant. Then just as suddenly I was reaching for his shirt and pulling him down on top of me. What the fuck? He chimed in agreement to our change of position and moulded himself to me. His lips trailing down my cheek and over my jaw. Laying a hot, wet path down my neck.

  “Elska,” he murmured melodiously. “How badly do you want me?” His mouth branding hot kisses across my chest and down my stomach. “How badly? Tell me?” he whispered against my skin. “You want this, don't you?”

  “Yes,” I said, shocked that my lips moved without my consent. “Lutin,” I managed, a slight edge of panic creeping into my tone.

  “Hmm?” he murmured, still intent on seducing me with everything he had. His chiming was getting louder.

  “This isn't right,” I murmured, struggling to think of an out.

  “It feels right,” came his muffled reply.

  I couldn't let this happen, I didn't want it. I didn't want Lutin. I was so damn sick and tired of men using their power over me to get what they wanted and to hell with my desires. I didn't fancy this man before me. He was not Michel and this was not something I desired. How dare he think he could spell my body into acting like this. I craved my Light. I craved a power, a strength, I no longer had.