by Lexi Ostrow
They went on in that fashion for twelve more hallways and three floors before she stopped and smiled back at him. “I may have made that a little more difficult, just to see if you would follow me.”
His mouth hung open, and he started to say something in anger, but bit the comment back. “Women and their tests! You know, I always thought with my affinity for math and computers, I’d never be fortunate enough to have women problems. Now I don’t think I want them anymore!”
She smirked and playfully flicked her hair. “Well, you’ve got them, and this woman problem is fixing your greatest weakness in a battle, your inability to always see your opponent. Now in the door you go. Go, go.”
She walked behind him and pushed him in the mid-back, her hands so tiny feeling against his newly muscled back. “Technically, if things got in my eyes, I’d be perfectly able to be blind without vision problems.”
He felt her huff, a hot puff of air on his back, and couldn’t help but smile. It had been less than eight hours since he’d decided to accept Breena just might be his Guardian match, and he was liking their time together even more. She was certainly much more than she’d appeared to be from the book.
“Leandra! Leandra, it’s me, it’s Breena. I need a favor.”
A rustling noise came from the opposite side of the room as Dale stepped in, and a moment later, the most beautiful creature he had ever seen flew out. A fairy.
His hand traced lazily down the bare back of the newest concubine to warm his bed. Eldan could feel the gentle buzz of a good fuck, and he smiled lazily as the sprite, Jezzame, looked up at him. She parted her cherry lips to say something, but the door to his room slammed open with a bang to the wall. Jezzame screeched and rolled away from him so quickly, he didn’t even feel her body move out from under his touch.
His eyes blazed as bright as the ball of glowing fire forming in his hands, his elemental powers never failed to reflect his mood. He saw three of his men, not even bothering to look apologetic, filling the doorway.
“One of you had better speak now as for why you’re in my chambers and why you felt you could be so without knocking,” the words were a low growl, and he felt a small glob of spittle in his on his gruff unshaven chin.
One of them, Markedel, had the sense to blanch as his eyes caught onto the ball of fire in Eldan’s hand.
His captain bowed his head and spoke, “Your majesty, forgive us but this was urgent. Brenna has been seen out walking the halls.”
Eldan growled again. He had forbid his daughter from leaving her chambers after she’d attacked him for the assault on her precious Dale. He could hardly remember any of it, or even how long it had been. He knew the rules, no Word Speaker, no book progressing, and his daughter attacking his men certainly couldn’t be how their lives were written to play out, she was far too loyal. Transgressions aside, if she was out and walking, that meant Dale was back in their world. His anger immediately quelled, and the ball of fire winked out as if it had never been.
Turning away from his men, he found Jezzame practically cocooned in the sheets. Modesty from a concubine was interesting, but he liked that she felt she was for his eyes only. He did not have that same thought process. “We will allow you to dress and leave.” Once spoken, he pulled off the covers that covered his lower half and got out of bed, nude before his men. “I think the next sentence you were about to speak is that the male I asked you to find is with her.”
Nods from all three men caused his smile to widen as he walked to the chair where his clothes had been dropped after being expertly stripped from his body. His eyes looked over the commonplace clothes, and he walked into his closet, if he was indeed correct, he needed something regal.
“Yes, your majesty. The red haired human was seen following behind her. We are not certain where they went, but they are here.”
He listened as he pulled a silken white shirt off a hanger and slipped into it, doing up the buttons as his eyes found black pants to match. “Fantastic. You’re to find them. She has feelings for him, and if he can help us crush the Queen, he will be in my dungeon by nightfall.” The cool slide of silk over his legs felt seductive after the screwing had left him beaded with sweat. “You will injure him if need be, but any harm to my daughter, and you will deal with me.” His hands passed over not one, but two different royal cloaks until he came to the green velvet one. He slid it from the hanger and over his arms, tying the gold tasseled sash at the waist. “You’re dismissed.”
The shuffle of feet was unmistakable as the three rushed out. Eldan made a note to work on the stealth of his guards. They were Fae for fuck’s sake. He stepped out of the closet and saw Jezzame, the fairy was fully dressed, her gilded wings tucked inside the body clinging purple dress. His body hardened again as his eyes took in her form, and he cursed himself. You have plans. If this goes well, you will have all the time in the world for concubines.
She slunk across the room, her feet barely touching the ground, and stopped before him. Her cherry lips touched his, and he resisted the urge to dig his fingers into her shoulders and toss her back into the bed, but he didn’t suppress his moan of pleasure. He broke the kiss, his own heart thumping in his chest, and walked out the door.
His feet stopped the moment they crossed the threshold. There were four people in the grand hall, and all four appeared to be frozen in form. “What?” the question was a breathy release of air as he cautiously walked up to the nearest person.
Eldan placed his face as close as he could to the female nymph’s and cleared his throat. Dark black hair brushed over his cheeks, and he pushed it away. He got no response and felt no warm breathing in his face. He looked to her throat and saw that it was frozen as well.
“What in the hell?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
The sinister voice swept through the hall and sent a chill through Eldan. As calmly as he could, he pulled his head up and away from the nymph’s and turned to face Leather Jacket. His pulse was thumping harder than after touching Jezzame, the difference was that it beat in fear. He’d only gone up against the man the one time, and he had no desire to do so again. Eldan squared his shoulders and lifted his chin to look into the man’s eyes. What were once an eerie silver swirled with gold.
“Did you do this to my people?” his voice wavered slightly.
The man’s lips curved into a hideous smile, clearly pleased at the fear he invoked. “Why yes, I did. My favorite little party trick, not that you asked me.” He leaned forward, “Not that anyone ever asks me.” He laughed at his own joke.
The sound was as drenched in evil as everything else about the man, and Eldan was glad he had no reason to do his work anymore.
“You don’t need to be here. There’s no need. Dale has returned, my Kingdom will be victorious, and whenever you need the human, he’s yours for the taking.”
“Very well, I can see you are more aware of your Kingdom than I had initially thought. Your daughter did bring Dale here, he was quite a mess the last time I saw him. I don’t like to pry, you know, but he was rather intoxicated when he crashed through your daughter’s room.” The vileness in his voice oozed out of his eyes.
Eldan momentarily wondered if Dale had hurt Breena and she was running from him in the hall.
“But do you know what else I saw, your warriors attacking them. If I know one thing, it’s that Dale wouldn’t help you unless you had your daughter’s throat against a blade. Which you don’t. So I’ll spare your life for the success of your daughter. But your little war is far from won. I’m here to fetch them now.”
Eldan’s own lips curved into a smirk. The man had no idea. “So tell me, if this is the last time I have to see you, how far does your power reach? This freezing thing of yours?”
The man in leather raised one eyebrow and then scowled. “That sounds like a leading question. But, I’m in a good mood. My power extends only to the vicinity with which I can see.”
Eldan smirked wider.
&nbs
p; “Oh, and almost two-hundred feet around it. Now that I’m me again.”
The man’s golden eyes flashed red for the briefest of seconds and Eldan jumped backward, the smile slipping slightly.
“What the fuck was that?”
Fangs peeked out below the man’s upper lip, and his eyes flashed to red again and stayed that color. “Why, this is me, in my full realm of power. And, by the way, you may call me Demus.”
The ground beneath them began to shake as Eldan’s elemental magic for earth rocked beneath them. It always happened when he was afraid, and the look in the man’s eyes was enough to send any man away in utter terror. Magic or no magic.
“You see, I felt you needed to know this because you need to know what you’re truly dealing with, who you’re truly dealing with. That way, you can make the next choice very wisely, so it isn’t your last.”
An invisible hand wrapped around Eldan’s throat and exerted enough pressure for him to know something was there, but not enough to cut off his air.
“Why did you ask about my powers? You didn’t have any questions for me before.”
The wheels in his head where spinning so loudly that he worried the creature controlling the invisible hand would hear them. Eldan’s heart thudded faster than ever before, and he could feel the sweat dripping down his face. The ground began to tremble again, the hand at his neck did squeeze, and he sputtered as Demus’ eyes narrowed. His air supply wasn’t completely blocked, so he could breathe, but he wasn’t prepared for the man to charge him. His head slammed back into the wall so hard he heard the distinct crunch of wood, and his vision momentarily blurred.
Demus replaced the invisible hand of power around his neck with strong fingers. “I suggest you answer me, although there’s not much to go on that I won’t kill you anyway once you do. Just the knowledge that, with you gone, your daughter might see reason to abandon the cause, even if she has feelings for her Word Speaker. “
White touched the edges of his vision as the hand clamped tighter, and as the pain mixed with the small beginnings of air loss as the hand clamped tighter. Instinct kicked in, and the fire appeared in his hand. He tried to shove his palm at Demus and failed, the man grabbed it quicker than he was able to react and held onto the fireball.
“There are so many things that have touched my soul during my time alive. Do not think that anything you do can injure me. I’ll spare you the hassle, it can’t.”
The hand left his neck, and Eldan wheezed as he struggled for air. His brain could hardly keep up with what was going on around him. Fear was embedded like a thorn over every inch of his skin. It was so thick around him, he thought it could detach from him and be its own creature. Whatever Demus was, it wasn’t something he or any of his warriors could handle.
Thank the forest spirits they’re out of his range by now.
“Now, let’s try this again before I really lose my temper, why did you ask me that question?”
Eldan knew only one thing and that was he would never really have Dale, but if Demus couldn’t find him first, maybe he could whisk him away to somewhere no one would find him till the war was won.
“You might be here to collect your Word Speaker and my daughter, but my men are also on the way to get them, and they’ve been ordered to do whatever it takes to bring him back.”
The scream that tore from Demus was so inhuman that Eldan drew back and covered his ears. Demus’ eyes were closed and his face twisted in a howl. When his eyes opened, they were a glowing blood red, and as he took a step forward, his powers flew out of control.
Fire launched, the ground shook so hard it knocked him off his feet, wind whipped the zippers on Demus’ jacket and water appeared, raining down on them both. Eldan had no time to think about anything, not even the utter terror he felt. Demus’ mouth opened again, and his head reared back just enough to show how truly thick the fangs were and then he was on Eldan.
The sharp piece of tooth landed first on his right cheek. The warm spray of blood covered him, and his powers suddenly stopped. He couldn’t move, whatever had been done to Megara and the people was now his fate.
There was no tearing sensation, he expected to feel muscle and flesh ripped away, but all he felt was the slide of teeth as Demus stepped back, his eyes still glowing.
“You had better pray he doesn’t seek out good to counteract how his Guardian’s family is treating him.”
Then Demus was gone, but Eldan, Eldan still couldn’t move.
Chapter Seventeen
She watched the way his pupils expanded when Leandra walked into the room, and her fists clenched. Seeing a fairy in all their glory, even if it wasn’t the first time, was breathtaking. The healer concealed some of her ethereal beauty with a smock to cover up should there be blood, but beyond that, she was as stunning as any other fairy.
Leandra’s wings sprouted gracefully behind her back, fairies had two pairs, but only ones that humans in her world could see, so it was easy to assume Dale could only see the transparent larger wings and not the shimmering, silver glittery set of smaller wings inside them. The larger pair were a defense mechanism and purely for show. Humans liked to capture fairies and rip off their wings for prizes. What they didn’t know was that, despite the excruciating pain, there was still a way for them to fly. Her bronze colored hair fell around her face in curls and her amethyst eyes glowed, a telltale sign someone was a fairy if their wings were hidden.
Breena turned her head slightly to the side and saw Dale’s mouth parted. Seeing where his eyes were, she slammed her hand sideways and connected with the solid muscle of his stomach. She heard the intake of breath and smirked.
“What? I’m just staring because she’s big.”
Leandra scoffed this time. “I’m going to take that as in height and not a comment on my weight.”
Breena stifled a laugh. “Yes, Dale, do explain this one because I’d love to hear the excuse for staring at a beautiful woman.” She turned her head and leveled her gaze on his.
As Dale stood there, under the scrutiny of both women, amusement flicked through Breena. Dale’s discomfort was written all over his face from the shifted eyebrows to the slight tightness at the corner of his mouth. He wasn’t ready for a female tag team, not at the moment at least.
“I’ve said this once today, and I’ll say it again, somehow I think I was luckier not having women problems,” he grumbled and averted his eyes to the ground before continuing. “She’s beautiful, she’s also fucking taller than I would have expected since even you said fairies were small, and can we just fucking forget it?”
She had to raise her hand to cover her mouth and hide her giggling. Even Leandra’s lips twitched with a smile. Dale’s discomfort was amusing, but she didn’t want to spend all day taunting him, or he could change his mind about helping her clan.
“Leandra, I swear I didn’t bring a human here to gawk at you.”
“So he is definitely human then?” The fairy frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, the action making her no less attractive.
“Yes, well no. Well, yes. Ugh.” Her mind argued back and forth with each answer change. Leandra had a right to know she was working on a human. Fairies detested humans almost as much as sprites did, but that didn’t mean she was ready to hear the truth. She snapped her lips together and waited.
“I see.” Leandra’s body was stiff as a board, but it was Dale who spoke.
“I am a special human, I’m going to help your side of this war.” He shrugged and half smirked. “It’s what I do, apparently.” Within an instant, flame leapt out off his arms, and Leandra’s eyes widened and their glow increased in brightness.
“Sidhe Magic.”
“Ah, yea you could definitely call it that.”
“I won’t ask any more questions. If a human is in possession of Sidhe powers, there is more than meets the eye. I may be UnSeelie, but I am a healer. I will help with your request.”
Breena sighed in relief. “Thank you, Leandra
. I promise you’ll get an explanation.” One day. ”Dale’s vision isn’t perfect. It hinders him in battle, and as he will be fighting for the Unseelie, I think it is time he saw you.”
The fairy pursed her lips and walked a circle around Dale. Amethyst eyes roamed his body, and Breena felt the sizzle of jealousy firing up again. Dale might not enjoy women problems, but I’m sure as shit not liking this jealousy. Leandra put her slender fingers into Dale’s hair, and Breena had to chew the inside of her cheek to stop from striking the healer.
“It can be done,” her tone was matter of fact.
Breena had never noticed how clinical Leandra was, most fairies were emotional creatures.
“Close your eyes, human Dale.” She closed her eyes raised her hands in front of his face and his already pale pallor paled more.
“Uh, right this second?”
One eyelid lifted. “Yes, now.”
Dale turned to face Breena, and she shrugged. He might not trust her that Leandra wasn’t actually going to harm him. But she’d never touched him before, and she’d protected him, that would have to be enough for him.
“Come on, there are millions of things I could be showing you right now and healer magic isn’t one of them.” The agitation lacing her voice was because of how he kept looking at Leandra, and not that he was delaying things.
Dale’s mouth snapped shut anything he was going to say concealed. Breena wondered just what was going on in his mind, but she’d already learned he told her things when he felt it like. He turned back to Leandra, and nodded tersely.
“I’m praying this doesn’t make my eyes worse.”
Leandra snorted and then her face twisted in confusion as she leaned even closer to Dale, sending Breena’s heart rate spiking. “You’re already wearing something over your eyes. Remove it, or we will have no way of seeing if this works on humans.”
“If I take them out, and this fails, I’ll be completely blind. I can’t risk that,” his tone bordered on aggression.