by Ella Fields
In nothing but leggings and a silk camisole, I crept out of the room and found two guards stationed at the top of the stairs.
Garris, his arm in a sling, jerked his head, being sure to keep his eyes trained on my face. “There is a room for you to your left, Majesty.”
I didn’t bother saying I’d already guessed as much. “The horses?”
“All taken care of. A few had to be slaughtered due to injury.”
“How many?”
“Three. Maybe four come morning.”
I winced. “And our people?”
“We’re not yet certain.” He shifted, then cleared his throat. “We presume at least a hundred and sixty or more losses, and a few more are sure to follow.”
I stared, then blinked and nodded, heading to the room he’d mentioned and closing the door.
Inside, there sat a twin bed by a window with filthy gauzy curtains, and a chipped dresser against the far wall. Other than that, it was bare of belongings. Whoever stayed here had wisely taken them with them when they’d fled.
The bed squeaked when I sat, and I listened as voices were slow to fade outside the window and downstairs.
One hundred and sixty gone. More to follow.
I’d known the loss would be grave, but to actually have it happen…
It was quite possibly one of the most stupid decisions I’d ever made, bringing Raiden out of exile.
And also one of the smartest, as I thought about what could’ve happened if he hadn’t shown up and blown everyone’s plans to the darkness. Perhaps we could’ve found victory, but at a cost that would make it unbearable to celebrate.
Still perched on the bed, I stared at some chalk drawings done by a child on the wall, when voices traveled up the stairwell outside the room. They filtered into the small hall outside and crept beneath the thin wood of the door.
“You cannot, she will kill her.”
“He will only grow weaker as each hour passes. Do you have any other ideas?”
“Stop it,” someone hissed. “Fuck what she wants. She won’t even know if you hurry up and quit yapping.”
“Now’s not the time to let your hatred show.”
“Whoever said anything about hatred?” a male said. “Her father has killed so many of us that it is not hatred I feel, but a bone-deep need to seek retribution.”
“Enough,” another voice said. “Cool your shit, Kash. The walls have ears.”
“So let them hear.”
I would’ve rolled my eyes if I weren’t so tired. They stayed planted on the wall as they prattled on. “… bring her in already.”
My head tilted, and then a feminine laugh echoed before they shushed her. “Will it hurt?” a woman asked. “I’ve heard it feels good.”
“You heard right,” one of Zad’s friends said. I stiffened. Landen. “Don’t moan too loud.”
A door closed on her next bout of giggles, cutting them off.
I marched across the room, flinging open the door to find four sets of blinking eyes on me. “What are you doing?”
Kash’s lip curled. “The same could be asked of you.” Landen kicked him, and he cursed. “My queen.”
With my eyes narrowed, I tried to read their closed-off, stiff postures. “Would someone be so kind as to tell me what is going on,” I said. “Right now.”
Kash licked his teeth, and Landen sighed. “The lord needs some… assistance.”
“Assistance,” I repeated, frowning. It dawned then, and I felt my stomach fill with cement as I turned for Zad’s room.
Landen raced after me. “Majesty, please. I’m afraid we cannot allow you to interrupt…”
I rattled the door to no avail. It was locked. Then I started banging. “Zad,” I shouted. “You open this door right now or darkness help you.”
Silence, except for one of the faerie males at my back, who tried and failed to muffle his chuckles.
Well, I’d tried to do the respectful thing. As it so often happened, it got me nowhere.
With an enraged thought, the door splintered, collapsing into pieces on the beaten wood floor.
Utter silence.
No laughter now.
Seated on the side of his bed, the lord watched me, paler than usual, with an expression of patent boredom upon his etched features.
The girl stood beside him, her teeth sliding over her lip, looking uncertain, then quickly bowed when she realized who I was.
“Who are you?” I soaked in her petite frame, the golden curls spilling over her chest, and the pale blue summer dress that’d seen better days.
“Merrin, your majesty.” My brow lifted, and she hurried on, “My family’s camping in the woods nearby, and I was told the lord of the east needed—”
“Shut up and leave.”
Without a moment’s pause, she scampered out of the room. I followed, saying to my two guards and the asshole males who were biting their lips, “Leave us.”
Garris protested, “But my queen, we still need to be—”
“Keep watch from downstairs and see that the lord’s…” I trailed off on purpose, being sure to meet Kash and Landen’s eyes, “friends stay outside.”
Landen swallowed, but otherwise, the two just stared with blank expressions before finally heading downstairs.
“Was that really necessary?” Zad asked, though there was no humor, no inflection at all, in his tone.
I walked over and seated myself beside him on the bed, curling a leg under me, the other hanging to the floor. “You dare to bring another female to bed while I’m in the next room?” I reached out to grab his chin with a firm grip, my nails denting his skin as I turned his head to me. “You must take me for…” At the sight of his eyes, which were dulling to a buttery yellow, and the shadows pillowing them, I paused.
I paused, and I realized I was an idiot after remembering the violent, extreme ways he’d used his blood magic. “You were going to feed from her.”
His hand folded around my wrist, swallowing it whole. “I wasn’t—”
“You were.” I found this new horror almost as bad as the one I’d thought was taking place moments ago.
“Darkness’ sake, Audra.” He dropped my hand to lay back on the bed, his eyes closing. “Do you ever let anyone finish their sentences?”
“When they have something useful to say, yes.”
“You’re a brat.”
I blinked. “Oh, I’m the brat?”
“If you’d have let me finish,” he said, eyes still closed. “You’d have heard me tell you I wasn’t going to feed from her.”
I felt my shoulders sag, and then I frowned. “Then who would you have fed from?”
“There are some females at home in the village who’ve offered should I ever need to.” With a sigh, he continued, “Or I don’t at all and just wait it out.”
“Wait it out?” I made a mental note to make sure these females knew to never visit him. “How long does it take for you to…”
“Refill?” he offered. “A few weeks, depending on the severity of the exhaustion.”
I sat with that a while, watching the harsh rise and fall of his chest.
He was still in his battle leather. Blood crusted it, as well as his hair, being that no one had the opportunity to bathe properly yet.
That didn’t matter.
Crawling across the bed, I hovered over him until he opened his eyes. “Use me.”
“No.”
I balked. “Why not?”
Reaching up, he tucked some hair behind my ear. “You are a queen.”
I nodded, my eyes fluttering at his whispering touch as words rolled off my tongue without warning. “Your queen.”
He stilled. His brows lowered as he stared, eyes flickering between mine, gaging and assessing. “You will tire easily over the coming days, having spent a lot of your own power.”
“I’ll be fine.” I lowered my head, brushing my lips across his.
A heated exhale fled him, and then his hand wrapped b
ehind my head. He flipped us, his tongue sweeping into my mouth as I clutched at his cheeks.
Tearing away, he read my eyes once more, and I nodded. His lips returned to mine for a brief but toe-curling kiss, firm and then tender as they drifted to my chin, then my neck, his tongue leaving his mouth to skim the curve of my shoulder.
A muted scream faded into a gasp as he ran his hand down my side, and his canines pierced.
I struggled to breathe as he drew blood from my body into his, a soft groan heating my neck.
My eyes closed, and I grasped his hair, and then I moaned as his hand entered my pants.
His fingers were gentle in parting me and matched the slow stroking of his lips and tongue at my neck.
Within seconds, I grew dizzy with a growing ecstasy I’d never encountered before. The sound of my leggings and the lace beneath tearing snapped off the walls as cool air met my shifting legs. I lost track of time, of my own breathing, and of our whereabouts as he slowly suckled at my neck and brought me to orgasm, over and over again.
I had a fleeting thought, strong in potency, to destroy anyone else he’d given this to.
Just when I thought I couldn’t stand anymore, he was rising above me with blood red lips and eyes alight with foreign hunger. “I have to.”
I opened my thighs in response and welcomed him inside, wishing I hadn’t wrecked the door after all.
But this was not the lord I was used to bedding.
He moved in hot, quick, fluid jerks, his groans a beastly rumble that echoed through the room. Beneath the haze he continued to envelop me in, I watched him, hypnotized by the bunching of sinew and muscle and the sheer animalistic power oozing from every inch of him as he ravished me.
His mouth dragged over my chest, teeth grazing my nipples. I moaned, long and loud, unable to help it as he gently bit one and planted himself deep. With a grumbled curse, he filled me again, his harsh breaths dampening my breasts.
My breathing had only half slowed when I thought we were done. And then I was face down in the bedding as he entered me from behind, delirious and shaking.
On and on it went until the sun began to trace the shadows in the room, and my fingers did the same to his muscular back as he lay over top of me, sweating and breathing heavily.
I was nearing sleep when he finally spoke, his voice rough and hoarse. “Are you okay?”
“Perfect,” I yawned. For I was, though I knew it was likely I’d think differently some hours later. “Are you?”
“That depends.”
My legs, still wound around his waist, tightened. “On?”
“Did you mean what you said?” He rose, his hair, freed from its tie, falling around his face. “My queen.” He pushed some hair out of mine, studying me with bright eyes and flashing teeth. “Eternally my queen.”
Wiggling beneath him as he thickened inside me, I smiled. “Yes.”
Horses shifted and snorted, singing birds and quiet chatter drifting to the trees as I walked outside the tavern and made my way to the stables.
Eyes, too many of them, fell upon me before quickly darting away.
I frowned but continued, running into Azela as one of the soldiers brought me Wen.
Her lips were pinched; her eyes careful not to connect with mine as I took the reins from Markus. “Majesty,” he said without looking at me, bowing low and then walking off.
I watched him go. Understanding slow to dawn, I turned to Azela. “Was it that obvious?”
She coughed, patting Wen. “Just… um, loud, Majesty.”
Darkness swallow me.
I sighed. “Everyone heard?”
“I’d not be surprised if they did.” She lifted her head, her uninjured eye laughing. “If I may be frank, some were making bets on whether the tavern would rock to pieces.” She then added, “I heard it was raining dust.”
Lovely.
My nose twitched with annoyance. With nothing to do for it, I stuck my boot in the stirrup and swung up onto Wen, determined to ignore any whispers and laughter.
Then I hissed, wincing as I tried to get comfortable in the saddle. “Oh, fuck.”
Azela couldn’t hold it in and burst into all-out giggles, waving her hand as she mumbled, “Sorry, I’m so sorry.”
My lips curled, but I shook the smile away and headed for the growing crowd of people readying to leave. Zad was already there, his head thrown back as he laughed at something one of his stupid friends said.
When he saw me, his eyes turned feverish, but he only nodded. “Good morning, my queen.”
Eternally my queen.
Words of the vow, yet they’d now taken on a whole new meaning. It took considerable effort to keep my tone aloof as I muttered, “So it is.”
A snort from Landen had Zad reaching around to punch him, but the chuckling male was too quick, darting away to his horse.
I rolled my eyes and gave my attention to Garris while he filled me in on today’s plans.
After a moment, I stopped him. “Where is General Rind?”
Zad cursed, and Azela looked over, her expression pained. “He was gravely injured.”
“Answer the question,” I snapped.
Even Landen’s head lowered as a strangling silence descended upon our assembly.
If you let them see your heart, do not complain when they tear it apart.
I shoved my mother’s voice away and steeled my shoulders. “Does he live?” I was glad the question was steady, almost flat.
Garris answered. “No, my queen. He requested we leave him.”
On the battlefield where many noble idiots like himself wanted to die.
I nodded, and we started to file out.
The leather of my gloves creaked, my fingers clenching and unclenching the reins as I remembered the times Rind had snuck me sweets while on duty. The unflinching loyalty he had for my father and our family—when it was not deserved.
He’d had no other family, no partner, no offspring. He’d served us for his entire, long, tedious life. It shamed me to wonder if it had contained much in the way of joy at all.
Zad rode quietly beside me, shielding me from requests and questions, but somehow, his presence was all the comfort I needed. Words were often completely useless.
Zad’s silence ended a few hours later when we’d stopped at a lake to wash and allow the horses to drink. “We need to talk.”
“About?” I splashed water over my cheeks and rubbed.
He threw a glance around, but I’d chosen a nice cozy spot on the opposite bank, wanting to be alone. It was bad enough we’d had to travel for days, let alone having to endure so many people’s company, their aches and scents and grief and exhaustion.
I needed to be alone.
I gave him my eyes when he didn’t respond and found him staring at me. He searched my face, seeming to be waiting for something.
He’d be waiting a while. “What?”
His lashes dropped to my neck. You couldn’t see the marks left from his canines, but I could feel them. I was willing to bet he could too, somehow. “I want you.”
I fell to my ass. “You had me so many times I lost count.”
Crouching beside me, he reached over to brush his fingers along my jaw. “I’ll always need more.”
His touch was feathers and velvet, but I pushed it away. “We need to get home.” I’d heard, and had now seen firsthand, that the need for those with his magic to fuck after feeding was brutal. But it could last for days, depending on how drained he’d been. “Besides, I didn’t even know Rind was dead. I was so caught up with you and your silent tantrum.”
Zad grimaced. “I hadn’t known either. The number of fallen are still being accounted for, Audra.”
“That’s beside the point,” I said. He knew what I meant. It didn’t matter we hadn’t been extremely close, or that he was mixed; Rind was still family.
He nodded in understanding.
I looked at his pants, where he was tucked and hard against his leg, as a dif
ferent worry infiltrated. “You won’t seek another.”
“I’ve no need. I can control myself.”
“Did we… enough for that to be true?” My lashes fluttered as my eyes swam up his huge frame. “Or are you merely placating me?”
Before I could meet his eyes, his hands were gripping my face, tilting it up for his mouth to open mine and his tongue to enter. “I wouldn’t dare lie to you,” he said, gruff and terse, pulling back just enough for his words to sink between my cracked lips. “I’m fine. Just a little hungry.”
“But you can wait.”
In answer, he kissed me again, this time with his lips only, soft and sigh inducing. “I can wait.”
“What did you need to talk about?” I asked when he moved to the water and rolled up his sleeves. “Or was that it?”
He stared down into the murky blue depths, then said, “I no longer wish to talk about it. What of the king?”
“I have no idea.” He plunged his hand into the water, trying to catch a fish, I realized when he did it again. “All I know is that I need out of this marriage.” Zad stilled at that. “Only, I’m not sure how.” He knew what the rules were, what I was up against.
“He won’t agree to it.”
I knew that. “He committed treason. He has to.”
“It’s gone too far for it to be that simple anymore, and you both know it.” His hand broke through the water again, and he cursed as he missed a darting black blob.
“What am I to do, then?” I hated saying the thought aloud, but I needed to do something.
Raiden had one-upped me, bested me, for the second time. I was no longer sure if I was merely an idiot who’d been tripped by love yet again, or if he was more cunning and calculated—more dangerous—than I ever could have known.
Zad’s voice was soft as he said, “I’m honestly not sure, my queen.” He plucked his hand out of the water a few seconds later and turned to me with a squirming clay fish within his fist. “But for now, we eat.”
My nose crinkled, and I laughed as the fish flapped about and wiggled free, landing on the grass and bouncing.