Even through the darkened distance, she saw the hues of his rose-gold eyes crystallise into sharp weapons. She bit down on her cheeks and joined him at the horse.
Before a squeak could leave her, he’d reached down, snatched her hand, and hoisted her up onto the horse.
Callie held her tongue and shifted around to find a somewhat comfortable position. Impossible, she realised, as she was on the curved tip of the saddle, wedged between that and Rain’s lap.
He clicked his tongue, and the horse started its trot.
Pushing aside her nerves, she made sure to study the moat as best she could before it slipped behind them into the grounds of the castle, and she took note of the woods and meadows surrounding them.
But it wasn’t long before she saw it in the distance.
The High Court wasn’t as far from the castle as she’d thought. In the distance, the moonlight danced over the lake and the laughter tangled with the screams from the walls atop the hill.
Rain tightened his hold on Callie when the hill came into view, as though worried she would throw herself off the horse in fright.
But she reached for his hands and gripped hard, unable to keep the horror from her face.
Going back there was the stuff of nightmares. Her nightmares, at least. And they visited her often.
“I’m not sure I can do this,” she whispered, her voice almost cast away in the breeze. “I can’t go back there.”
“Yes, you can.” Rain’s voice was firm, not comforting. “And you will.”
He flicked the reins, and the horse lunged from a trot to a gallop. With a shriek, she tore her fingernails into Rain’s hands and cringed back against him. Her first time riding a horse should have been slow, careful, and steady—not a race to the place that haunted her dreams.
“Slow down!” she screamed. “It’s too fast, it’s too fast!”
“And you, my dearest wife, are too conniving.” Rain caged her against his leathered chest with a solid arm. She could have sworn his grip was tighter than before. “If I wanted a scheming wife, I would have married one of my own.”
Callie tried to pry his arm from her waist. “It’s not my fault you think so little of humans! We’re not all sweet, you know.” She beat down on his arm, but he was unflinching. “And I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about! Please, make it slow down!”
Rain yanked the reins and the front of the horse rose up in the air. Callie slammed back into Rain, a cry tearing through her.
“What are you doing!” she screamed, eyes shut tight. “Let me down! I want off this bloody horse!”
Rain whipped the reins and the horse landed back on all fours. Callie grunted. The back of her head smacked against his chin. Dazed, she drew her knees up to her chest. It did little good with his arm still locking her in place.
“Why did you do that?” she groaned.
The horse took up a trot again.
Rain leaned into her hair, and hissed against her ear, “You have been lying to me, human. How long have you been meeting with my son?”
“What?” Her blood ran cold, and she craned her neck to stare up at him. “I—I haven’t been. And I didn’t lie, I just…”
The stone of his face threatened to crack. She swallowed under the heat of his furious stare.
“I didn’t even know who he was until tonight,” she pleaded. “And I’ve only met him twice, not on purpose either. I didn’t tell you because I was afraid you would take the library away from me. That’s the truth. I swear it.”
Rose-gold shone down at her, as hard as rocks. “What would you swear on, human?”
“It’s Callie,” she gritted, hands gripped tight onto his arm. “You know my name, you’ve said it before. And as for what I would swear on, it doesn’t matter. You’ll either believe me or you won’t, and nothing I can say will change your mind.”
Rain leaned closer, his breath disturbing her loose hair and tickling her neck. “You are wrong. I listen to your reasonings, and I consider them before I make any decisions that affect you. I am not the monster you think me to be.”
Callie scoffed and faced the path ahead. “You just tried to buck me off your horse for meeting your son.”
“I frightened you as retaliation to your hiding of truths,” he said.
“Like you haven’t hidden truths from me.”
There was a challenge in her voice and in the gaze she threw back at him. Rain didn’t react to the challenge. He fixed her place on the saddle, and they trotted onwards to the court.
By the time they arrived, after settling the steed near the lake and climbing up the path, Callie’s golden dress had shifted into lumps in some places, and her hair wore twigs and tousled knots from their ride. She suspected most of the dishevelling had happened when Rain terrified her on the horse.
Still, she flattened out hair as best she could and stuck to Rain’s heels as they entered the High Court. It was much the same as she remembered.
Humans were packed together in a sweaty mob on the grand marble platform. Fae slipped between the enchanted humans, steering them into faster dances that spilled blood from their shoes, and shoving maggot-riddled fruits into their mouths.
Callie shuddered and touched her fingers to her new choker. The fruit had looked normal to her before, when she was one of the cursed humans.
Now, she saw the rotted flesh of apples and pears, the sour mush that oozed from their sores, and she knew that the choker had shielded her from the glamours of the court.
Her hand reached for Rain’s back, but his leather armour was too tight to grip onto. He stopped and glanced back at her, the iciness still hardening his capturing eyes. Yet, pity reached out his hand for hers, and she held onto his fingers for dear life.
All around them, fae swept themselves into dances of low bows and mesmerising curtseys at the sight of Rain. He spared none of them a glance, and escorted Callie down the walkway to the thrones on the dais.
It went unspoken between them, but Callie knew she couldn’t sit with him. The thrones were for fae only, and so she settled herself on the step at his feet and took in the revealed horrors of the hall.
A fae woman with weeds growing from her feet took a complacent human into a veiled alcove. But the human paused at the drapes, as if remembering the screams that often came from them. Callie watched as power overcame him, and he went into the dangers of the alcove.
She looked down at her heeled sandals and waited for the screams.
Why would Rain bring her here? There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that it was more than their first official outing together, to introduce her as his human wife.
There was more to it.
There had to be.
Because the screams soon came from the alcove, and Callie crushed her hands to her ears, trying to block out the sounds that stirred bile in her stomach.
Rain was fae. Calculative, cruel—and scheming.
Callie wondered if he was showing her the fate she’d avoided. The fate he himself took her away from. Was it that he meant to remind her how cruel her life could have been without him? If he expected her to suddenly beam up at him with eternal gratitude and adoration, he had another thing coming.
Callie was more determined than ever to escape.
But when…
The stink of hot flesh slithered through the air like wispy snakes. Callie peered up at the dancers, where cackles and cries came from.
A ribbon of smoke caught her eye, and fae parted all around it, some cheering at whatever was on fire.
She shifted on the step and straightened up, like a meerkat. Then, she caught sight of what was burning.
A girl, no older than Angus, spinning around in circles wearing hot coals for shoes. Her screams brought tears to Callie’s eyes, and she spun around to plead with Rain for her safety.
Before the words could choke out in sobs, Rain gave a slight shake of the head. A warning. A command.
Sit there and stay silent.
She couldn’t bea
r to look at him, or the girl who danced herself to death. Callie turned to the side and faced the drapes of the nearest alcove instead.
A moment later, the drapes parted and the naked waiter slipped out from between them. Painted lips shimmered, and he locked eyes with her.
Horror unfurled in her gaze as he slowly let a feral grin take his face—and she realised that his lips weren’t painted at all.
Fresh blood was smeared all over them and stained his teeth orange. With a wink, he left for the crowd of dancers, Callie’s gaze tracing him and his long spidery hands that held up a metal tray.
She watched him move between the crowds, and weave around the clusters. Every so often, he would look up at her as though to make sure she was still watching him. He liked that. His grin grew more feral each time.
Then, his tray stopped above a handful of human dancers by the far wall. The same wall she used to try and find refuge at when the music was too fast and the fae too cruel. A hiding spot, of sorts.
The waiter found her gaze again, winked, and this time he truly did disappear into the crowd. She couldn’t track him any longer. His tray was gone, his hand gone, and she was left to scan the wall where she’d last seen him.
The coils of dread inside of her warned her away from searching. But the waiter had wanted her to see something. She was sure of it.
And then, she knew it.
Orange hair, like the early flames of a soft fire, rustled near the wall. Curled, crisp, and mop-like.
Callie couldn’t breathe.
The air had been punched out of her at the sight of Meghan. Meghan, still in the hall, still in the enchanted dance. Still trapped.
Callie shot to her feet and staggered off the step.
“Stop.”
Rain’s voice boomed, seeming to echo throughout the hall and bounce off the walls. And it did. Many of the fae stopped what they were doing at his command. It wasn’t a moment before they realised that he was speaking to his human wife.
“Sit,” he said with a cold, lazy authority.
Chest heaving, Callie blinked away the tears and stared at the burnt red hair in the crowd.
Meghan looked up at her, and the betrayal crumpled her sweaty face.
Callie could do nothing as her friend spun her back to her and danced away—away from Callie’s sight.
Hands balling into fists, she slowly turned on him. Like the first times she had seen him, he was draped over the throne, bored, disinterested in all that went on around him. But his glittering gold eyes betrayed him. He looked at her so hard that she wondered if the force of his stare could make her body explode on the spot.
She sure felt close to exploding.
Callie took a purposeful step toward him, her fists trembling with rage and terror. Her lips peeled apart to bare her teeth, and she hissed at him with every fleck of fury and wrath that had ever existed within her, “What the fuck is she doing here?”
Slowly, Rain rose from the throne.
His hand rested on his sword, but the sharpness of his look alone was enough to cut her down.
The crowd hushed all around them, some whispers and giggles of delight buzzing through the hall.
Callie stood her ground.
“What the fuck is she doing here!” she bellowed, and swung out for him.
Rain dodged the hit easily.
“You monster!”
It happened so fast, Callie didn’t quite know what he did.
She’d lunged at him, ready to hurt, ready to kill—ready to die.
Rain had snatched her against him, touched his finger to the choker, and whispered a cruel sounding word from a language she didn’t know.
Then, everything went dark.
Rain had almost reached the rusted iron gate of the castle when Callie woke up, slung over his shoulder like a bag of grain. Before the clang of the gate came, Callie erupted into a shriek and pounded her fists against his back.
Rain didn’t so much as flinch.
Every hit that connected bruised and burned her fists, but he seemed to feel nothing.
“Let go of me!” she howled, as savage as a cornered stray. Her entire body thrashed on his shoulders, so wildly that she didn’t care if she fell to the stone path. “Don’t touch me, you freak!”
The gate rattled when it had opened fully, and in a blink, Rain hauled her off of his shoulder and tossed her into the courtyard.
Callie slammed to the stone floor with a crunch. The pain that exploded in her arm didn’t stop her from scrambling to her feet and running at him. He side-stepped her and watched with molten gold eyes as she slammed into the now-closed gate.
“You’re a liar!” she screeched, rounding on him again. “You’re a liar!”
“I cannot lie.” The low growl of his voice should have made her flinch. “Only you can, human.”
She ran at him, and this time Rain kept his lazy stance. A grunt escaped her as she smacked into his chest. Then, she staggered back and threw out her fists at his face. Punch after punch, he evaded, until his patience snapped and he swung out his leg, stealing her balance.
Callie hit the floor, a furious scowl twisting her face.
“You lie all the time,” she snarled up at him. “You’re more deceitful than any human I’ve ever met, and I’ve met plenty of foul ones. You,” she hissed, getting to her feet, “are the most despicable rot in this world—in any world.”
Loose from her hair, the crown slipped down the side of her face. She fumbled with it, then yanked it out so hard that strands of hair came out with it. Callie didn’t care. She threw it at the proud prince as fiercely as she would a dagger.
How she wished it had been a dagger…
Rain turned his gaze down at the crown, and watched as it rattled at the silver toes of his boots. He picked it up and peeled her loose strands from the golden leaves and threads.
“Why is she still there?” Callie’s face went a sickly shade of red, in danger of turning purple any moment and exploding all over the pretty courtyard. “Why didn’t you save her from the dance!”
A devious smile on his cruel face was her answer.
Callie choked on a breath of disbelief. But how could she disbelieve? He’d proven himself time and time again to be the monster she thought he was.
A week of civility between them didn’t change that. A lifetime of being a fae couldn’t be wiped away from who he was.
Callie gathered her skirt and ran up the stairs. She couldn’t stand the sight of him, the cruelty in his eyes, the pride on his lips. She couldn’t stand to be near him.
The vines shut behind her once she was in the room.
Hard, she dropped to the stool in front of the vanity table and tore out the pins from her hair. The dress-up was something she’d done to please him, not herself. Something she couldn’t bear the thought of any longer.
What good did it do her to please her captor, when all he did in return was torture her? He was the twisted child and she was the ant under the magnifying glass. Nothing she could do would change that.
The vines curled at the doorway, and Callie turned her watery glower on him in the mirror. His quiet anger still sat on his face like a stone mask as he tossed her discarded crown onto a tree stump.
“In the conversations you had with my son,” he said, peeling off his gloves finger by finger, “did he tell you about my first wife?”
Callie spun around on the stool, hands gripped tight on the weak fabric of her dress. A snarl distorted her face.
“Is that a threat?” she spat.
Rain nodded, but not in answer to her question. In answer to his own.
He let his gloves slap down on the stump with the crown, then pulled off his own from his head. “Angus told you how she died.”
A shrill, unbelieving laugh rattled through her. “Is that what waits for me?” The tears couldn’t be kept at bay any more, and fell freely down her crumpled face. “Death in the High Court for what? For hating a loathsome beast who tricked me
into marriage? Is that the punishment that I’ll face for your wrongdoings?”
His eyes flashed dangerously. “My first wife was a traitor and disloyal to the honour of our family. She is a mere memory, cast beyond the reach of grief or mourning.”
“How can you speak about her like that? As if she was nothing—no one? She was a person!” Callie kicked from the stool. “Did you even love her?”
“No.” Rain tilted his head, his face shuttering to a flicker of confusion. “Love to the fae isn’t the same as what love is to humans. You lead short, fickle lives, and fill it with as much meaning as you can hold on to. My kind do not feel the need to pretend in order to be fulfilled.”
She thought of Angus, his son, and the woman in the portrait who was most certainly not human. “Are you even capable of love? Or compassion, or anything that isn’t from the darkest pits of your kind?”
“When a fae loves,” he said carefully, reading her with a flickering expression, “it is so rare that it is eternal. And lethal.”
“You don’t love me.” It wasn’t an accusation, just a statement. “So when I do something that you don’t like or agree with, you’ll kill me like you killed your first wife. And you won’t hesitate.”
“I am a killer, by nature, by law.” His face went blank. “I am the Prince of War, the High Paladin of the South Kingdom. I do not hesitate.”
Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline and she blinked an incredulous look at him. “Was that supposed to make me feel better, or make yourself look better? Because it didn’t. It made both worse.”
Rain advanced on her slowly, the leather of his sleeves creaking under the pressure of his rippling anger. “It is a warning,” he said. “Betray me, and there will be consequences. It is the price to pay for a marriage to fae.”
Callie pointed her finger at him as though it would protect her. “A marriage you wanted, not me. A fake marriage, built on lies and deceit.”
An amused smile played on his lips, but it wasn’t strong enough to wipe away the fury swarming behind the veils of his eyes. “Like all marriages, I am sure.”
Callie shouted a curse and threw a jar of glow-worms at him. He side-stepped and the jar crashed against the wall.
Feared Fables Box Set: Dark and Twisted Fairy Tale Retellings, (Feared Fables Box Sets Book 1) Page 22