“Yeah. Why do you ask?”
I glanced at the red liquid and back at him again. “Just asking.”
He snickered. “Don’t worry, that isn’t what you think it is. It’s just a red wine. faery wine, actually.” He took a sip and gestured for me to try some.
I brought the glass to my mouth. I don’t know what I expected, I guess I thought it would be bitter or just down right disgusting. I’ve tasted wine before and yuk! But when I brought the glass to my lips and tasted, it was delicious, like a piece of fruit exploded in your mouth. And a million other things I could never describe. It tasted like… fall, that is the only way I could explain it. I closed my eyes and shivered.
“You have nothing to worry about,” he continued. “I will not eat you.” He laughed again. A full out, slap your knee laugh.
I didn’t like his reaction, the way he laughed, like I should be frightened when I wasn’t. It made me feel like he was laughing at me. I popped an eyebrow. “That’s all right. Probably better off that way,” I said taking another sip of faery wine . “Because I really do enjoy it.”
“Excuse me?” His laughter stopped abruptly.
“I said I enjoy it, you know, your feeding.”
“He fed from you?” Devlin jumped from his seat and came over to mine, twisting my hair away from my throat.
I swiped his hands away. “A few times, why?”
He was silent and considered me for a moment. “Nothing, it’s not important right now.” And he walked back to his seat.
We ate our food in silence. I enjoyed the silence but there was still a nagging I couldn’t get past. His comment was infuriating. It meant something but he couldn’t mention what? But beyond that, the details of the bonding, which I still knew nothing about, were continually fraying at my nerves. That, however, was important, and I needed him to help clarify. Now.
I cleared my throat. “Can you explain bonding to me?”
He sighed and gave me an almost sad expression. “If I must.”
“No one is making you. I am just trying to understand. I would like to know exactly what I am getting in to, what’s involved, weather I can get out of it or not.”
He nodded in understanding. “Bonding is not something we take lightly. It is a very intimate and involved ritual.”
“So, is it like a marriage?” A shiver ran down my spine.
“Well, yes… and no. When humans marry, they enter into a bond with the intent to stay together until death. Bonding is the same in that aspect, except way more serious. Way more involved” He took a deep breath and looked at me square in the eye. “A marriage bond can be broken in your courts if one of you wishes an out. The only thing that can break our bonding is death.”
I choked on the mouth full of food I had taken, coughing and gasping for air. “Explain,” I rasped between coughs. He jumped up to help and I waved him away, taking a sip of wine to wash it down.
“A bond, for us, is something we do not play with. We do not even consider the notion unless we are positive we want to spend eternity with that person. Once the ritual is performed, there will be no way to break the bond unless one of the two dies.”
“Okay, okay,” I tried hard to breath and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. “Tell me about the claim and the ceremony.”
“The claim is simple. The male, in your case Prince Halo, goes to the King and formally presents his intentions. The time between the claim and ceremony is basically a transition period, while the King takes his time to either except or reject the claim based on if he thinks the coupling will be beneficial to the court. For right now, it means you are both off the market. No one can actively pursue you during that time.”
Great! This is basically an arranged marriage, that there is no way to break and most of all I get no say in it at all.
“So, is there a chance the King can reject Halo’s claim?”
“Usually, I would say yes, there’s a chance.”
“But…”
He smirked. “But, like I told you, the King recognizes for Halo to ask for a bonding is major. Usually in circumstances like these, where a royal asks for a bonding, the claiming period can take months. Yours is only taking a couple days. I honestly do not see a way out of this.”
Days? “What if I bonded with someone else or… did the King say anything about me being here with you, instead of with Halo?”
“Is there really someone else in court you can see yourself tied to for eternity?”
I looked down. “I only know you.”
“I am pretty sure I wouldn’t mind. But I know that is not what you want.”
I could feel him studying me and I looked up to meet his gaze, but said nothing.
He continued. “As for the King, he has not said anything to me about you being here. He has given me a few looks that I am uncertain of, but he seems pretty determined for your bonding to Halo to take place. For whatever reason, he is overlooking your reluctance and our relations. ”
I stayed quiet for a minute, thinking. “Could we, I don’t know, fake it… at least convincingly enough for the King to reject the claim?”
“That won’t work, Trystessa. You can not fake a bond. There is a physical mark on your body after the ritual, marking you forever as his. And unfortunately, the female’s displeasure doesn’t have much sway on the decision in the claim.”
I let out a deep breath and buried my face in my hands.
“Do not give up yet. We will figure something out.”
“Devlin, why are you helping me?”
He sighed as if he was reluctant to give away a big secret. “One of my gifts is to see into the soul. From the moment I saw you, I knew I would like you, really like you. From your soul, I could see that we are extremely compatible, but most of all, I can see your soul is pure. I can also see you are breaking.” He stopped and stared, eyes focused on mine. “May I ask you a fairly personal question?”
“Sure, why not.”
“Why will you not bond to the Prince? He is a prince after all and I can see you do at least care about him. You could do much worse for a suitor.”
“I don’t love him. To be honest I don’t think I even know the real Halo.”
“You do not think you could learn to? I didn’t even know Halo was capable of the feeling, of caring for anyone but himself. But from the second I saw his face when he saw you burst through his door, well… I told you, I can read souls.” He took another sip of his drink. “As for the real Halo, I don’t think he even knows who he really is.”
I tried to envision a life with Halo. I pictured us staying here in Faery, living at the Unseelie court, but I couldn’t see it. I knew nothing about this place and all I had really seen were the halls and a few rooms. I tried picturing us at his house. Halo making dinner and us watching TV, sharing a room, everything. I could see us there, maybe see us sharing a life together, but the longer a tried to picture Halo specifically, his face would morph into someone else’s. I pushed away my food, my appetite now gone.
Devlin reached out and took my hand. “Tell me about this deal.”
Chapter Twenty Four
“The King has another heir?” Devlin yelled.
“You didn’t know?”
“Absolutely not, and I know everything about what happens in this court. It is my job to know.” He jumped up and started to pace.
“Well, I wish it weren’t true just as much as you do.”
“I guess deep down I knew something was going on when Halo left Faery, I wasn’t told why he was going, but I never would have guessed this.” He continued to pace around the room. “I’m not sure why yet, but there has to be some other connection here besides you just getting in the way of his plans. The King is very enthused about your bonding. I am missing something.”
Aggravated, I ran my hands roughly through my hair and pulled it into a sloppy ponytail, a few stray curls falling over my eyes and around my face. Leaving them, I put my wrist to my mouth to pull my ha
ir tie off with my teeth. Devlin stopped pacing and hurried over to me.
“Where did you get that?”
“Get what?” I asked, concentrating on twisting my hair tie.
“That,” he exclaimed, grabbing my hand and pointing to the ring. “Where did you get that?”
“It was a gift, why?”
“If it is what I think it is…
“What?”
“It’s a representation of Faery itself. The Queen of the Seelie court was the last to have it in possession, but none that I’ve heard of have ever been able to wear it. The ring is a symbol of both the Seelie and Unseelie courts, both light and dark. No one has ever been powerful enough to place it on their finger.” He laughed and fell to his knees in front of me. “And here it sits on your finger.”
That night, respectfully, Devlin offered me his bed while he slept in another room. As comfortable as the bed was, I just couldn’t sleep. What the hell was I supposed to think about all this, everything? If this ring was what Devlin said, then what did that say about me? Kamdyn had told me that the ring belonged to his mother, it was the only thing left to him when she sent him away. If Halo was telling me the truth, Kamdyn’s mother is the Queen of the Seelie court, which, Devlin had verified, was the last place the ring had been seen. As far as I knew, Halo had never even noticed the ring on my finger.
Now I was more confused than ever.
We had come to a decision that Devlin would take me to Halo tomorrow. Maybe talking to him would give me some sort of clue as to why this was so important, why he needs to bond with me or why the King is in such a hurry to complete the ceremony.
My min was such a buzz, I didn’t even realize when I finally fell asleep.
The next evening, Devlin walked me to Halo’s room. Again, I didn’t wait for Halo to come to the door. I simply just walked in with Devlin at my back.
Halo jumped from his seat across the room as we entered, smiling when he saw me and giving Devlin a look of intolerance.
“We need to talk,” I said to Halo, stopping not far from where he stood.
“Yes, I think we do.” He motioned for me to sit. Instead I remained standing and turned to Devlin.
“Do you mind if we talk alone?”
Halo grunted behind me.
“I think it would be wise if I stayed, but if you insist I go.”
“Please.”
He nodded, obviously disapproving of my request. “I won’t go far,” he stated. He turned his attention to Halo. “If you hurt her, you will regret it.” Halo growled as Devlin didn’t wait for any reply and walked out, closing the door behind him.
Halo took a few more steps, standing rigid only inches from me. He said nothing as he looked me up and down, assessing me. In a flash of movement, he lifted me off the ground, crushing me to his chest. Warm lips planted on my neck.
“Will you stay with me now?” he asked, his breath tickling my skin.
“Halo, we have things we need to discuss.” I expressed ignoring his question completely and trying to push free.
He set me down on my feet, but didn’t let me go. He leaned back and looked at me, an expression I couldn’t name on his face. “You want to be with him, don’t you? With Devlin? I laid a claim and he still managed to take you from me.”
“I am not a damn piece of property, Halo! What makes you think I will stand to be treated like one?”
“I… I’m not used to girls like you. I wasn’t thinking.”
“No, you weren’t.” I yelled, stepping away from him. He reluctantly let me go. “Why would you do this? And I don’t want to hear any of your macho, caveman, beat on your chest, crap. I am not some girl you can club over the head and drag back to your cave where you can flash pretty things in my face and I’ll forget that I didn’t choose to be here.”
“I was scared!” he screamed and took that step closing the distance between us. “I was afraid of losing you.”
“So you thought this was the best thing to do?”
He calmed himself, his voice much lower. “I knew it was what I wanted to do.”
“And you didn’t care if it was what I wanted?”
“I… when you didn’t come out of your room the other day, when Jayson and Lauren showed up, I was upset. I came here to talk with my father.”
“So he told you to do this?”
“No, I did tell him about you, about you and Kamdyn and about our deal. When I came here to talk with him, I already knew I wanted to ask for a claim. But you need to believe me. I did intend to talk with you about it first. I guess when I told my father about it, he didn’t really wait for me to actually ask. He seemed too… excited about the possibility.”
“That doesn’t seem odd to you? You’re a Prince, Halo, why would your father be so quick for you to bond with someone he doesn’t know. Who is human and he might not approve of. Maybe I am only after you because you’re a prince.”
“Are you after me because I am a prince?” His voice low and teasing.
“You’re not getting my point.”
“No, I do get it, but I think my father only wants me to be happy. I am sure Devlin has told you about my past. I vowed never to do this, Trystie. Do you understand what that means?”
I do, I think. “That for you to say so to your father meant something important.”
“Yes,” he said reaching to cup my face. “You are important.”
I pulled out of his hands. “Don’t try to distract me, Halo. That doesn’t change what you did.”
“I didn’t do it intentionally, well, at least the part about you not knowing. But I will not tell you that this isn’t what I wanted because it is. Please, give me a chance to fix this, to change your mind about me.”
I moved away from him and sat on a couch close by, my head spinning. “Halo, I don’t even know you, not really. Not the real you, anyway.”
“I know. I don’t know how to explain.”
There was a long silence where I didn’t know what to say. Nothing I could say would change the fact that a bonding was to take place and I would apparently spend eternity with Halo. But wasn’t I still human? Wasn’t that a factor in this? How was I ever going to get back to Kamdyn?
“Devlin explained the bond to me. At least most of it, I think.”
Halo growled at the mention of his name. “Did he.”
“What is it with you and him anyway, why do you have a problem with him?”
He didn’t answer, so I continued. “Have you thought about this bonding thing at all? Eternity? You know eternity is a very short time with someone who is mortal, right? Is that the only reason you are okay with the bonding, because it really isn’t a commitment to you.”
He walked over to me and sat beside me on the couch, too close, and took my hand. “I have done nothing but think about a bond since the moment I saw you, even then, before I knew anything about you. Even when I thought you were mortal,” his fingers ran absently over my hand in a soothing sensation. “But you and I both know you are no longer mortal. So, no that is not the only reason I wanted a bonding with you.”
“I thought this was only about Kamdyn.”
He flinched at the mention of his brother’s name. “Everything that I told you was true. He was the reason I was there, but you were an unexpected surprise. When I realized that you two were together, I tried to lure you away, but I couldn’t. When the dreams first started, and I saw how you acted with me, felt how you cared for me, I thought I had a chance if only I could get you away from him.” Still holding my hand tight, he turned towards me. “I know how I hurt you, and I know I tricked you into this, but I had to do it. I had to try. I needed to see if it was real, and it is. I know it is.”
I pulled my hand out of his and walked away, toward a large wall filled with books. Looking over the many titles I thought about everything he said. Somewhere in his heart, he meant well. And it hurt me to keep pushing him away when I knew it was hopeless to do so. If we were going to me bonded, and so fa
r I have found no way out of it, I needed to get used to the idea, and I needed to let go.
I felt my finger burn and my heart ache as I felt arms wrap around me. He pulled me back against him and kissed my hair. He leaned down and I felt his warm teasing breath by my ear. “It is only a couple days until our bonding. Please, the only thing I ask is that you stay with me, in our room. Can we at least start there?”
“Okay, Halo,” I said twisting around in his arms. “We can start there.”
“Really?” His smile beamed and still, after all we had been through, made me catch my breath at the sight.
“Really,” I said and tried for a smile that matched his own.
Still smiling, he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine, and as I closed my eyes they welled up with tears.
Later that day, Halo decided it was time to take a tour of the court. Honestly, I wasn’t all that interested and seeing it. Well, I was interested, curious I guess, but not for the reason Halo wanted me to see it. Since he was going to be making me a princess, I needed to know the court as well as I knew my own house. A big house was hard enough to get used to, but a court? The size of the place was ridiculous; it would take me years to learn the layout. Halo then thought it appropriate to remind me that I had years to learn the specifics of the layout, but for now I needed to know the gist of it. I frowned, but I don’t think he caught it.
After a few really twisted hallways, Halo pointing out this and that, we ended up at his father’s office. I told him it wasn’t a good idea to bother him while he was working, but like usual, he didn’t listen and barged his way in. Corrigan and Devlin were sitting at a large table, a few others around them I didn’t know and apparently wouldn’t get to know because the second Corrigan saw us walk in, they were all dismissed. All except Devlin.
The King called us over to his large table and started to talk to us, well Halo, about court business. He was trying to involve me in the conversation; at least he kept looking at me. But I noticed, every time he looked at me, he stole really quick glances towards my hands. So fast, that if I weren’t really looking, I would never have seen it.
Beautiful Nightmare Page 35