Claiming the Prince: Book One

by Cora Avery

  She spat out her tooth and a globule of blood onto Lavana’s scarred face. The burn left by Python’s iron rack had healed into a tight, red line.

  So many scars, she thought with an air of melancholy.

  Damion and Lavana, and now she, too, would be covered with them, though the goblin hadn’t touched her face with the iron yet. He was afraid facial wounds might hinder her ability to speak.

  Lavana’s face twisted. “The spear,” she said.

  “Are you sure?” the goblin asked, waddling on his bowlegs over to the array of iron brands. “It might kill her.”

  Lavana straightened up, taking a handkerchief from the pocket of her over-gown and wiping the blood off of her face. “Let’s find out.”

  “Giving up so soon?” a new voice said from one of the shadowy corners.

  Magda hadn’t realized anyone else was there, but then, she’d been sinking and rising through consciousness so much it wasn’t surprising she’d failed to notice they’d received company.

  Lavana spun, evidently surprised herself.

  “Did you find anything?” she asked.

  The shadows seemed to drift away from him like smoke as he stepped forward. He looked like a warrior or a Prince, except his long hair was strangely pale and his eyes very dark. Pixies with fair hair were exceedingly rare, though not unheard of. But her own amber eyes were considered quite dark for a Pixie. So it was startling to see eyes darker still.

  “Nothing,” he said, black eyes sliding past Lavana and meeting Magda’s.

  She gazed at him through the rippling sheen of pain, like heat waves. Blood dripped from her lips, down her chin.

  “Your cousin is better looking than you,” he remarked.

  Lavana’s hands fisted. “She won’t be very good looking when she’s dead.”

  He lifted his shoulder in a shrug, his gaze drifting away as if he was bored. He had been there before. She remembered his voice now, the lackadaisical drawl, his accent leaving his words slightly clipped. She’d never heard anything like it before. Through her wavering vision, she zeroed in on the strange fabric of his trousers.

  She spat more blood onto the floor. “Leather?”

  This drew their attention back to her.

  Pixies did not wear leather.

  Lavana sneered and turned to the goblin. “Now, do it.”

  “Wait,” the blond stranger said. “Give me a glove.”

  He held out his hand. The goblin snatched up the ichor-gold gloves from a chair. They were the same ones the guard had worn when opening her cell. She’d seen him hand the gloves over after they’d dragged her down the hall into this room. It had not been far from her iron cage, but was deeper underground. There were no vents to the outside—no way for her to tell just how long she’d been in this room. Hours, days, pain warped the time.

  The goblin held up both gloves. The stranger took them, frowning, and flung one of them down.

  “I said a glove, singular,” he said.

  “Forgiveness, master,” the goblin muttered, bowing and backing up.

  “Now the iron,” he said coolly, pulling on the glove. The golden metal tightened around his hand, magically conforming. “The small one, there.”

  The goblin snatched up a nail, long and slender, and held it up to the stranger.

  “Thank you,” he said, plucking the nail from the goblin’s knotty fingers.

  Then he turned back to Magda, smiling gently down at her. When he did so, even through the pain, she could sense it.

  “You’re Lavana’s Prince,” she said.

  He crouched before her. Behind him, Lavana glowered, retreating back by the door.

  “I am a Prince,” he said. “My name is Endreas.” His gaze slid down her. “You look in quite a state. Let me help you.”

  With a graceful twist of his fingers, a sweet-scented breeze swept around her. When it dissipated she was clean, blood and filth gone, rips in her clothes mended, even the tacky sweat sheeting her body had vanished. Though all of her wounds remained, the pain still shattering through her, the simple sensation of cleanliness brought tears to her eyes and choked her scream-strained throat.

  He smiled more broadly—beautifully. “That’s better, isn’t it?”

  It was better. So much better.

  “Magdalena . . .” he said, brushing the sweep of her bangs from her eye.

  Her hair was clean too, no more wet-dog tangles. Silken strands slipped against her skin, causing another sob to rise into her chest.

  “I’m looking for something,” he said, “and I think you can help me.” He rose up so that he was eye to eye with her. “And if you do, I can help you.”

  She pressed her lips tightly together, though they were swollen and aching, but she couldn’t take her eyes from the impossible depths of his. They were so dark and lovely, like the black valleys between the white peaks of the stars.

  “I know you’re hurting,” he said, close enough that she could taste the warm honey of his breath. “I can make it stop.”

  He ran the backs of his cool fingers down her cheek. From his touch, a flood of relief washed down her face, healing her aching lips, eroding the top layers of pain, soothing it away like the ocean cleans marks carved in the sand. She gasped, her eyes slipping shut, tears trickling down her face. But too soon, his fingers left her. The pains reared up again, each one reasserting itself as if new.

  A low whimper left her, a desperate pitiful sound that only seemed to make each patch of burned skin ache all the more.

  “Does it still hurt?” he asked softly.

  Another racking sob tore at her chest, she struggled to hold it in, but she was failing. She didn’t want to hurt anymore. The pain was too much. Her head bowed.

  “I can take it all away for you. Every last drop,” he said, stroking the back of her head. “All you have to do is tell me what you did with the Enneahedron.” His hand slid down her face, lifting her chin. And then the iron nail appeared. “But if you don’t . . .”

  The tip of the nail hovered just beside her left eye. Though it was the smallest bit of iron in the room, its malignant energy pressed against her as if it were a hundred times larger, magnifying all her pains. They seared a million times more than before, like her very soul was being burned. The nail hovered just above her skin, tracing the curve of her face, her lips, her chin. A fresh sweat broke out over her. Her whole body trembled out of control.

  And then the nail disappeared into his gloved fist.

  “I can make it all . . . go . . . away,” he said.

  “Kill . . . me,” she begged, tears flowing freely, lips quivering.

  He gazed at her, studying her for a long moment. How could eyes so dark be so bright?

  And then he stabbed the nail down into her thigh. She pitched back, screaming. The iron flooded her, a thousand white-hot knives slicing up her leg.

  He clamped his hand over the nail, fingers digging into her flesh. Seizing her hair, keeping her head canted back, he pressed his forehead against hers. “I’m not going to let you die . . . Magpie.”

  He released her hair and her leg and very slowly extracted the nail from her body. Blood dripped off the end and began to spread around her wound, soaking into her jeans.

  His bare thumb pressed to the puncture. The pain exploded and she bit down hard, gritting her teeth. And then the sparkling coolness began to seep into her again, washing away the ache until it was almost completely gone. She moaned.

  Catching the back of her neck, his wonderfully cool lips grazed her ear. Healing waves lapped at her bleeding soul. “Tell me where.”

  His mouth swept along her cheek so he could bring his gaze to hers again. The fine arch of his brow, the upturned edges of his eyes, the straight line of his nose, and the steep cliffs of his cheeks, she had never seen anyone so beautiful. She didn’t just want to tell him where she’d sent Kirk and the Enneahedron, she wanted to curl into his lap and lick his neck.

  She smiled weakly, gazing longingly
at his lips.

  Too bad he’d stabbed her with an iron nail.

  “Fuck . . . you.”

  He smiled back at her. “You know, I like you Pixie Raes more all the time.”

  He slammed the nail into her shoulder, knocking her chair back. Her head cracked against the stone. Finally, the pain disappeared.

  “ARE YOU AWAKE?” a voice said from the darkness weighing down on her.

  Her tongue flitted over the empty hole where her tooth should’ve been. The first molar on the bottom was gone, leaving nothing but half-healed, tender gum. Every inch of her, every fiber, every cell, ached.

  “Magda?”

  A gurgling groan escaped her.

  Her thoughts pulled together sluggishly. Finally, after what seemed a long time, she recalled the name that went with the voice.

  “Kaelan?”

  “You’re not well,” he said.

  A humorless chuckle scraped out of her throat. Breathing hurt, thinking hurt, hearing hurt. She allowed her eyes to close, but it didn’t make a difference. Open, closed, they hurt. It felt as though all the blood was drying up in her veins.

  “I believe you’re going to die soon,” he said.

  “Oh?”

  “Death has a particular scent.”

  “Does it?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Did you have a plan to escape?”

  A plan? Oh, yes. The rats. Half a plan at best.

  But even as she thought it, the rest began to coalesce. Only one hitch, she was far too weak to accomplish it. Maybe Kaelan was right. Maybe she was dying.

  “Magda?”

  “Yes,” she croaked. “I had a plan.”

  “Tell me.”

  “It won’t work.”

  “Let me decide that.”

  In halting, too-short breaths, she explained it.

  He was silent for a time after she finished talking. She drifted, skimming the edge of consciousness.

  “Well, that might get one of us out,” he said.

  His voice pulled her back to their dark, stinking cell. A mad thought flitted through her head. Why not tell Endreas where she’d sent Kirk? Then all of this could be over—one way or another. But who was she kidding? This would be over, and soon, if Kaelen was right.

  “I don’t know who you are or why you’re here, but you should go,” she said.

  “I would, believe me,” he said. “If I could communicate with the rats like you can, but I can’t.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t think I have it in me—”

  “I can help you.”

  A brittle laugh escaped her. “The last man who said that to me shoved an iron nail into my leg.”

  “They haven’t fed me in days, Magda. We’re both going to die in here if we don’t do something. We . . . have to trust each other.”

  Her eyelids resisted her attempts to keep them open. “I’m thirsty. I don’t think I’ve ever been so thirsty.”

  “Focus, Magda. I don’t know when they’ll be back, or if they’re coming back. Obviously, they didn’t kill you, so they didn’t get what they wanted.”

  “No . . .” She gave up. Her eyes closed and she began to sink into that quiet inner darkness.

  “Magda.” Something hit her in the head.

  “Ow.” She grimaced, snapping back to wakefulness.

  “You can still feel pain, so you’re still alive. Can you come closer to me?”

  A spark of fear flared up in her. “To the iron?”

  “Yes, to the iron. And to me. Open your eyes. Look at me.”

  With what felt like her last ounce of strength, she peeled back her eyelids and shifted her head.

  “Here,” he said. “I am here.”

  Her neck protested, but finally, she found him. Through the film of exhaustion and the swaths of darkness hanging heavy around them a pair of vivid green eyes shone. Slowly, the rest of his face emerged. Something about it struck her as familiar—the upturned eyes under a straight, low brow, the steep elegant cheekbones. Yes, something was familiar, and yet, she didn’t know him. A face like that she would remember.

  A groan left her throat and she allowed her eyes to close again. “Another Prince. Gods save me from all the Princes.”

  “You are not happy to see a Prince, Mistress Rae?”

  “The last one was not particularly charming,” she said. Then it struck her. “You don’t have brother or a cousin, do you?”

  “I have no family,” he said.

  “The shape of your eyes is the same,” she said.

  “Who?”

  “Endreas. The one who I saw with Lavana. Her Prince.”

  “I don’t know who Endreas is, but until recently, I was supposed to be Lavana’s Prince.”

  “Well, it looks like she’s found one she likes better.”

  “Good,” he said. “I wasn’t going to let her claim me.”

  “No?”

  “No. I’m not going to be claimed by any Rae. So before I save your life, we should have that clear. I am not a commodity that can be owned or sold or taken.”

  “A liberated Pixie Prince.” She smiled, as much as she could, which wasn’t much. “No wonder you’re locked up in here.”

  “If I heal you, if we manage to escape, then you must swear that you will not attempt to . . .”

  “Seduce you? Capture you and throw in my dungeon until you submit to me?” She wanted to laugh, but didn’t have the energy for it. “Gods, I’m tired.”

  “Swear you will never try to claim me and I will heal you, and then we can both escape this cesspit.”

  “I swear,” she said.

  “That was quick.”

  “Someone has a high opinion of himself.”

  “Every Rae wants a Prince.”

  “And every Prince wants a Rae,” she retorted. “Or maybe there are exceptions.”

  He huffed. “You must move closer. The iron will prevent me from healing you completely, and I am weak, but I should be able to stop you from dying.”

  “I can’t move,” she said.

  “If you want to live, you must. Just lift your arm above your head, and I should be able to reach your hand.”

  Both of her arms were limp as dead snakes. She shut her eyes.

  Move, damn it.

  Inch by aching inch, her arm slid across the floor and upwards.

  “You have to straighten it out,” he said.

  “I’m trying.” Pain tore through her as she pushed her arm straight and even managed to scoot her body closer. Blackness cut across her vision. And then his hand closed around hers.

  She flew, soaring out of her pain and high above it. Strength surged through her, firming the flaccid muscles, lighting up her sluggish mind, purging even the iron weakness, so much that her stomach actually growled with hunger.

  Only when he ripped his hand away did she realize that she was taut with exhilaration, sparking from head to toe and deep down, gasping for breath, as though she’d been running for days. She rolled over and pushed up to her feet.

  Flat on his back, Kaelan panted. He was pale and wide-eyed.

  “Are you all right?” she asked, edging closer. The force of the iron pressed against her, but she felt temporarily inured to its malignant power, as if he’d given her some kind of shield against it.

  “I’m fine,” he said, raking his hand back through the thick shag of his light hair. Another Prince with blond hair, though his was dark gold where Endreas’s had been platinum. “I’ve never healed a Rae before.” His emerald green eyes met hers. “Is it always like that?”

  The only time she’d been healed by a Prince was when Endreas had done it. The two experiences could not have been more different.

  “I don’t know,” she said, crouching down by the grate. That’s when she noticed that the brand scars on her arms were gone. Not just healed, but vanished. She ran her fingers over her skin. She hadn’t known it was possible for the marks of iron to be healed.

  “What is it?” Kaelan asked.
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  “Nothing,” she said, focusing on the grate again. “Are you going to be strong enough for this?”

  He sat up, gazing at her. A thin scar hooked under his left eye and traced along his cheekbone. Rather than detracting from his Princely good looks, it somehow made him more beautiful.

  “You look strong enough for both of us,” he said. “You look . . . I didn’t think I’d be able heal you so much.”

  She tapped her nails against the floor near the grate in a short pattern. “You may not wish to be claimed by a Rae, but you were made to heal them.”

  The big black rat reappeared at her summons, poking his twitchy little nose between the holes of the grate. Behind him, dozens of beady, glinting eyes peered up at her. She smiled. Her message had gotten through. He had brought his friends.

  She pressed her fingers to the top of his skull and imparted the image of the gloves into his mind, followed by a mountain of bread.

  As soon as she took her fingers away, the rat zipped out of the grate and squeezed under the wooden door. She watched him go and then reached down to press her fingers to the next rat. She glanced up at Kaelan, who was watching her guardedly.

  “I don’t suppose you have any more bread,” she said.

  His lips pressed.

  “We’ll just have to find some other way to reward them,” she said, sinking into the rat’s mind, “if we survive.”

  AS THE ROOM filled with the din of dozens of rats gnawing and clawing at the soft shale floor, she fixed on Kaelan again.

  “How did you end up here?” she asked.

  “I told you,” he said, hovering in the midst of his cell, frowning down at the rats. “I refused to be claimed by Lavana.”

  “But how did she come to capture you in the first place?”

  He was grim. “I don’t know. Ever since I came of age, I’ve taken care to stay hidden from”—his green eyes darkened—“Raes. But somehow she discovered me. I think she used some Elf magic.”

  She chewed her lip, keeping one eye on the door. “Why do you think that?”