Everything had been confusing since I woke up in this cage but one thing was clear. Kheelan was as trapped as me and we would need to work together to escape. He had ensured I had my quiver and arrows when he sent me running, although he knew I was only a beginner, but if I put those smuggled arrows in his experienced hands then our chances of escape improved. I needed to get him back into fighting shape. I could save the questions for later to ask why he set me up to be captured or if he had known he was going to get thrown in the same cage as me when he had done it.
“You have a lot of Marks for a sweet bait that was supposed to be an easy, malleable hostage,” the brown-eyed Fae told me. I supposed he wasn’t going to simply start that distracting fight outside our cage I had hoped to incite. He was close to starting one inside the cage with me.
“Whoever told you I was sweet has terrible taste,” I responded to the backwards compliment that may have been intended as an insult.
“I won’t know how sweet unless I try the honey myself,” he replied, a big hand quickly snaking up to grab hold of my mussed Fae braids.
There was an insult on the tip of my tongue about his sweet tooth, but Kheelan decided to intervene.
“She’s mine,” Kheelan said, groaning as he slowly shifted. I looked over to order him to stay there.
The other Fae moved fast, mouth hitting mine almost bruisingly hard before Kheelan could get in between us. I snarled at him and bit his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. He smashed his lips against my teeth, hands cupping my face to try to free himself. Raising my hands, I two-handed him in the chest and pushed, sending both of us back a few inches. He pulled my hair because one of his hands was tangled, then eyes widening, he released it.
“What did we tell you about biting?” Kheelan said, yanking the other Fae back further with a hand on his shoulder. “She didn’t even know she was a Halfling a few moons ago,” he added, excusing my bad behaviour like I was a toddler with a nipping habit.
“Touch me again and I’ll make sure you don’t have any Halflings of your own,” I warned.
“No wonder Lord Aeric ran off if this is what you two were hiding,” the other Fae said to Kheelan, and then sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, cleaning up the blood I had drawn.
I gave Kheelan an assessing look. Had they run away?
“No, Princess. It’s not all about you,” Kheelan said, groaning again as he tried to move.
“Stop right there,” I ordered him.
The other Fae snorted a laugh. “Will you drop the glamour? She’s not impressed anyway, despite the amount of iron poisoning you’ve withstood waiting for her to wake,” he commented.
“What glamour?” I asked, looking Kheelan over. He was blonde, blue-eyes and pointy-eared with a dimmer glow than usual, but still there. Very much Light Fae looking.
“Princess, is it?” the other Fae asked.
“I hate Kheelan’s nicknames,” I informed him. “Does he have one for you?”
Brown eyes looked me over a little slower. “How about we make up our own, then? I was thinking tiger at first, you are so feisty, but now that I’ve gotten a better look at your claws and teeth I’m going to have to start with Kitten. You’ll grow into the other one, eventually,” the other Fae teased.
I huffed with reluctant acceptance. Two could play this game. “Fine, boy, I guess you have some growing up to do as well,” I said.
“Don’t you think that’s rather plain and completely wrong?” the other Fae complained.
“Guys always think it’s bigger than reality.”
“Loren, don’t engage,” Kheelan advised, swaying where he kneeled.
“Lie down, Kheelan,” I urged.
He gave me an evil look for someone that was about to fall over. “I won’t forget you broke the rules, Princess, or the punishment.”
“Are you going to take away Kitten’s cream?” Loren mocked.
I laughed with confidence. “He thinks he’s going to spank me. Twelve hard swats, wasn’t it? You and what army?” I taunted, leaning over to flick his shoulder with my forefinger and thumb.
“What was that?” Loren asked, staring at my hand with puzzlement.
“The touch of death,” I said. “He’s supposed to drop dead at my feet.”
“You’re kneeling,” Loren pointed out.
“Shut up, boy. Why are you still here?”
“I thought you wanted Kheelan healed?”
I hesitated, biting back a sarcastic reply. “You can do that?”
“I’m a healer.” He pointed to his green jerkin. Most of the rest of them were wearing blue and yellow. “I thought that was why you called me.”
I blushed. I wasn’t about to admit it was because he was the biggest, baddest looking one out there and I had been trying to stir up a fight as a distraction.
Loren’s eyes narrowed on me. “You didn’t know I could heal?”
Kheelan dropped down in between us. For a crazy moment, I wondered if I had really given him the touch of death. Who knew what dark powers I possessed, and with my hidden temper, you may as well give me a flint and strike against a gas tank. I may have screamed a little as I dropped down to check on Kheelan.
He was unconscious.
“Finally,” Loren said, not looking at all worried that Kheelan had collapsed. “Unlock your captive and get me the wound supplies,” he ordered me.
Kheelan gave a soft snore. I glanced away from his sleeping -not dead- body and saw that there was steaming water, rags and clothing piled at the entrance to my cage. I hadn’t even heard the supplies arriving. Fishing the key out of my bra, much to Loren’s delight, I turned around and unlocked the leg shackles from my captured Fae guard, letting him scramble away.
“Is Kheelan ok?” I asked, carrying over the water first. It looked heavy, but I seemed to manage okay. I hoped he had merely fainted from all the excitement, or more likely, the blood loss.
“He’s resting,” Loren said. “You should, too.”
“I only have until morning before they kill me.”
“I’ll wake you before morning,” Loren promised.
“Will you watch them slit my throat like you watched them peel the flesh from Kheelan’s back?”
“The timing wasn’t right,” Loren said.
“I would rather be awake for my last few hours.”
“Kitten, you have a head wound. I will induce a healing sleep if you don’t lie down beside Kheelan right now and close your eyes.”
Oh, another bossy Fae. What a surprise.
“You would have to catch me first,” I said.
Loren grabbed something from his hip and with a snap a short, corded whip flew out toward the barred door and pulled it shut, the skinny end still wrapped tightly around the bar. He efficiently tied the other end of his whip around the bars closest to him.
“Did you wield the whip against Kheelan?” I asked, horrified. The snap still reverberated through me.
“No. I was spared that duty.”
“Whips are barbaric.”
“Yes, Kitten.”
“Why are you helping us?”
“It’s not help. Selvyth has a temper. Kheelan pricked it by misleading him about all the Marks on your neck.”
“They are supposed to protect me,” I said.
Loren looked me over, taking in my bedraggled appearance, grass and dirt embedded in my jeans where I had been taken down, my right cheek bruised and stinging from where I hit myself with the butt of my knife, and jaw clenched against a headache that made it hard to think. His sweet, brown eyes didn’t miss one hurt, caring radiating from him that reminded me of the twins.
“Your Marks should have protected you,” Loren said, holding out his big, strong hands to me palms up. “I won’t let you be hurt,” he promised while looking into my eyes.
I flinched automatically as he touched me with only his fingertips against my temples. The cool touch of his magic was like a cold cloth and I cautiously leaned into it. “The headach
e,” I requested.
He spoke, words still feeling like ice picks at first, then slowly melting, pain flowing from my temples and into his strong hands. I wondered if he had taken the pain into his own body. The moment my headache finally eased to a dull ache, I felt all the exhaustion of my kidnapping seep into my bones. Loren’s hands seemed to be the only things holding me up.
“Lie down, Kitten,” he urged me.
The cage at least had a wooden floor. Giving in, I curled up next to Kheelan and wrapped my fingers in his hair, holding his head.
“Don’t die on me, you fucking bastard,” I whispered.
Loren’s laugh was strangely reassuring. I couldn’t sleep but I kept my eyes closed while Loren cleaned and dressed Kheelan’s back, lyrical words pouring from his mouth. I felt the cool magic tingle against my skin in the air. It didn’t seem to take long, maybe about ten or fifteen minutes.
“That’s it?” I asked when Loren was done, skeptical. The damage had been enormous. I opened one eye to peek. Kheelan was dressed in cloth bandages. His eyes were open and studying me.
“Did you bargain for this healing, little Mouse?” he asked me.
I quickly glanced up at Loren. I didn’t remember agreeing to anything. “He said it wasn’t help, so I didn’t bargain.”
“He can lie,” Kheelan informed me.
“Kitten agreed to lay down while I healed your back.” That hardly seemed like a bargain.
“He forced me,” I ratted him out. “I think his magic works a bit like Orin’s mind-sucking.”
Both of Kheelan’s brows rose.
“She’s friends with a brain-eating Fae?” Loren asked.
“Your will,” I clarified. “He sucks away your willpower until you go to bed with him.”
Loren snorted. It was completely undignified, so I responded to it by giving him a scrunchy, bunny-nosed look.
“Kitten, that’s called seduction,” Loren told me. “I don’t use my lips to heal but they are useful for that kind of magic.”
“He doesn’t have to kiss me. He just touches my skin-” I broke off. Now, I sounded stupid.
“She’s a virgin,” Kheelan explained with a sigh.
“Not your problem, anymore,” I snidely reminded him.
“She has six Marks on her and not one of you managed to tup her?” Loren shook his head. “There’s still enough room on your pretty neck for another Mark, Kitten. Should I show you what the other fumbling lads are supposed to do to you in bed?”
I looked at Kheelan while I answered. “I’m getting rid of bothersome Fae, not gathering more.”
“You should think before you bite, Princess,” Kheelan said.
I looked down at his chest, but my Mark was covered by bandages wrapping around from his back. Reaching out, I trailed my fingers over the spot I remembered biting Kheelan. He leaned into it, cool magic tingling between our bodies.
“I hardly think nipping an overgrown boy on his lip is the same as Marking you,” I commented. Of course, I hadn’t meant to Mark Kheelan either when I bit his chest.
“Not thinking is the problem,” Kheelan advised.
“You drew blood, Kitten,” Loren pointed out. “The magic will do as it wants if you present the opportunity.”
“No,” I told them both, eyes narrowing. “I’m disowning Kheelan and Aeric is one spoiled brat too many for me to take another boy.”
“Aeric Marked her?” Loren asked.
“Yes,” Kheelan confirmed.
“Can’t you see?” I asked, turning over and baring the back of my neck where Aeric and Kheelan had left their Marks.
“I see bites, Kitten,” Loren said. “I wouldn’t know the power behind them without tasting you.”
Kheelan grabbed my shoulders and pulled me down to lie with my back against him, licking my neck over his bite, then trailing up to suck my earlobe into his mouth, right where he had found my weakness last time.
“Stop that,” I hissed at him, trying to wiggle loose. It shouldn’t be so difficult with him injured.
“You are not leaving me, Princess.”
I kicked back, hearing him grunt when I got him at the top of one of his knees. “Did you forget that you told me to run?” I muttered. “We’re going to work together to get out of this mess you created and then we’re done, Kheelan. I don’t ever want to see your face again or I’ll show you exactly what Aeric taught me about archery through your rotten heart.”
“Do you need assistance, Kheelan?” Loren casually asked like I hadn’t threatened bloody violence to an already injured Fae.
“Don’t you dare,” I warned Loren. “This time if I bite, I’ll be sure to get your carotid.”
“I think the Kitten threatened to kill me too,” Loren said, sounding thrilled to be included.
I elbowed Kheelan and he quickly grabbed both my hands and twisted them behind my back, binding them with his icy magic. Loren came around our bodies, trailing a freezing hand up my legs that left them bound together from the knees down to my ankles with his magic. Their powers were both cold to the touch but I could feel the difference between them, like the subtle changes between two snowflakes.
“This is going to end poorly for both of you,” I threatened, only my mouth left to fight them.
Loren made himself comfortable lying down in front of me and pulling my hips, so my pelvis aligned with his, one large thigh riding over mine to lock me in place.
“Kitten, do you know how to purr?” Loren asked.
Those brown eyes were focused on the pull of my t-shirt over my generous breasts as I struggled against Kheelan’s binding. My bite on Loren was already healing, a faint, red impression of my teeth, hardly distraction from the lips that had tasted like mint and a hint of sweetness. A strong, cleft chin and prominent nose that looked to have been broken at least once were paired with dimples as he smiled at me, catching my study of his face.
I hissed.
“Not quite,” Loren said. “Do you need me to pet you first?”
Kheelan released my ear, made tender by his teeth. “What kind of preparations did Selvyth make?”
“He tripled the guards after he saw the number of Marks,” Loren answered, absently thumbing over Eloden’s Mark at the front of my neck.
“How many archers?” Kheelan asked, fingers playing with the shoulder strap of my bra.
“Three dozen.”
“Are they as good as Aeric?” I whispered my own question, gasping as Kheelan snapped my bra strap. “Ouch, fuck you,” I muttered.
“Loren has you bound up so tight that I would have to tickle your rosebud if that’s what you want,” Kheelan whispered in my ear.
I shivered. No way should that threat turn me on. I was mad at Kheelan. My body had to catch up on that fact.
“Are Kitten’s Marks going to come for her?”
“Yes,” Kheelan promised. His hand was trailing down my side, inching closer to the waistband of my jeans.
“Aeric?” Loren queried.
“I couldn’t stop him. Selvyth chose his bait well,” Kheelan admitted.
“Why would Aeric come here if he ran away from that asshole?” I asked, trying to get a word in edgewise.
The thought of Aeric’s back flayed by his sociopath father made me sick. It was worse than seeing gentle Orin’s chest laid open yesterday. Aeric was arrogant but he also had a kind of tender protectiveness that made him feed an apple to a rat he feared because it was my pet.
“Selvyth will never stop until he has Aeric back,” Loren answered, slipping a hand under the bottom of my shirt. “Giving Selvyth exactly what he asked for is what any loyal son would do under the circumstances.”
Lord Asshole was going to get a hell of a lot more than he had bargained for when Aeric showed up in the company of my Marks.
“You fucked everybody over,” I whispered, realizing with awe what Kheelan had put into motion.
He and Aeric had run away from home for reasons I hadn’t heard yet, but with a father li
ke theirs, I was sure they were more than valid. The psychopath chased after the only son he cared about and somehow he had gotten Kheelan to help him, but the aid Lord Asshole was going to receive was really a double cross.
“How did Lord Selvyth find Kitten anyway?” Loren asked as my mind tried to come to grips with everything Kheelan had set up. Loren’s fingers played over my navel, making me suck in a breath at the almost ticklish, soft touch.
“And why did you give me to Lord Asshole?” I said. “There could have been a different way if you had said something to us.”
“Selvyth’s spies found Aeric and it led to you,” Kheelan answered. “We’re lucky that you didn’t get kidnapped earlier before I could ensure I would be here with you. One of the human slaves almost had you eating out of her hands from the way she tells it, the night we waited for you at the rink. If we had left you to your fate, I doubt there would have been anything for Aeric to rescue.”
“None of you said anything,” I responded instead of expressing any gratitude. Kheelan had set me up, no matter his underlying purpose. “I had her cult card and could have ended up a statistic, asshole,” I muttered, trying to wiggle free of the hands making their way lower on my body. I still would be a milk box warning if I didn’t get out of this cage.
“Dain would have stolen you away if he had gotten a whiff of Selvyth’s plot. You may not have found that a better fate, Princess.”
I shivered. “Better I choose my fate than have it forced upon me.”
“Is this Dain a strong enough Mark to challenge Lord Selvyth?” Loren asked.
“He won’t be going after Selvyth when he figures out what I’ve tricked him into doing, but yes, he is a dark enough nightmare to give even Selvyth pause,” Kheelan answered.
“Dain is going to kill you, but it won’t be my fault,” I said in realization. Kheelan had forced Dain’s hand by using me and the Claim. That had to be why he was so insistent on it yesterday, pushing me with taunts. Aeric didn’t have to rescue me and face his father alone.
No Faerie Tale Love (Faerie Series Book 1) Page 29