by N. M. Howell
Trey sighed and rolled his eyes. “That’s fine, whatever.” His voice was hurried, menacing. She missed the old Trey.
“Now that you’re here, we can be together again,” he said. “Would you like that?”
Rhea’s heart erupted in her chest, swelling wildly at his words. She nodded furiously, wanting nothing more. “Yes, please. I want that so bad.”
The nagging at the back of her mind grew stronger, muffled screams telling her something that she couldn’t decipher. Was that her own voice she could hear? She shook her head, ridding her mind of the noise.
Trey pushed himself away from the wall and began pacing the room. Rhea couldn’t take her eyes off of him. He finally stopped and turned to her, his expression dark.
She wanted to know what was going in on within that mind of his. She wanted to hear his thoughts, to know his dreams. She wanted to make them all come true.
“I’m glad that we found each other, Rhea,” he said.
Her heart swelled even more. His words made her feel so special, so loved. She wanted him to say more.
“I think you and I will make a good team.”
Rhea beamed. “I think so, too,” she said. “I can’t think of anything else I could want more in this entire world.”
The boy grinned, his eyes sparkling in the firelight. Rhea could see her own reflection in his eyes as he met her gaze.
“I need you to promise me something,” he said, stepping closer to her.
His chest pressed up against hers, his hot breath warming her skin. He leaned in, the soft flesh of his lips grazing her own, and she sucked in a soft gasp. She shivered and leaned in, pressing her lips to his. But before she could kiss him fully, he pulled away. He turned and began pacing again, his hand rubbing his chin in deep thought as he walked.
Her heart ached. She wanted to reach out and pull him back. She wanted to hold him, to press herself up against him again. To feel his hot breath against her skin.
“What do you want from me?” she asked. She needed to know, she was desperate. She needed to understand exactly what she could do for him so she could get started on it straight away. She would pour her very soul into it, whatever he wanted. If it meant that they could be together, she would do anything he wanted.
Stop.
Rhea paused. Did he just say that? His lips didn’t move. She glanced back to his two companions, but surely they hadn’t said anything. The voice was familiar, close.
Trey raised his eyebrow at her confused expression and stepped toward her once more. “What’s on your mind?”
Rhea shook her head slowly. “Did you just say something?”
Trey’s frown deepened. “No, I did not.”
Rhea scrunched her face but finally shrugged. “Never mind, sorry. I was just hearing things.”
Narrowing his eyes, Trey lifted her chin and peered into her face once more. She felt a wave of warmth flooding over her, the same familiar magic that had pulled her to him in the first place. Her mind quieted and her muscles relaxed. She felt perfect, right. Everything was falling into place. This was exactly the place she needed to be, with Trey and his castle. Nothing else mattered.
“What were you asking me?” she asked him.
Trey dropped his hand, stepped away from her. “This is very important, Rhea Greystone.”
Rhea nodded, eager to please him. “I understand.” She just needed to hear him say it, to hear him tell her what she needed to do for them to be together.
“There is a war going on,” Trey began.
Rhea remembered something of the sort, but couldn’t quite pull the memories from her mind. She simply nodded and listened in silence, waiting for more of his words to wash through her mind like warm bath water.
“There are people vying for the throne who don’t belong on it,” he said. His eyes were dark, angry. His voice grew lower with every word he spoke. “You and I are the only people who can put a stop to it.”
Rhea nodded furiously. “We must stop the war,” she agreed. Her voice sounded foreign to her, as if whoever spoke was someone else.
“Good,” Trey said. “I’m glad you agree with me.”
Rhea smiled. “Of course I agree with you, Trey. We’re friends. We are meant to be together.”
Trey paced back and forth again, rolling his eyes.
Rhea waited patiently, hoping that he would return to her, to take her chin in his hands again, or better yet to wrap his arms around her and pull her close.
“In order to fight this war, you and I need to be together. We are stronger together.”
Rhea nodded along to his words, waiting for more.
“Together we can rule the world, but I need your help. For us to be together, you must swear your allegiance to me. I need you to get down on your knee before me and swear to all the gods, old and new, that you will be mine and you’ll serve me until the end of eternity.”
A loud hum overwhelmed Rhea’s thoughts, a strange and overwhelming sensation at the back of her mind that grew stronger. She could feel something pulling at her, drawing her back to herself. She suddenly became aware of where she was, just for the briefest moment. Her surroundings flashed back to normal, the crumbling stone replacing the massive castle room. The roof disappeared but reappeared a moment later. Suddenly the castle returned.
She blinked and looked around herself. She was back in the small room with the flickering fire and the beautiful boy.
“Rhea?” he asked, stepping back up against her, his body so close she could feel the warmth radiating off of him. He placed his hands on her cheeks, holding her face steady as he peered into her eyes. She was flooded with warmth once more and the nagging at the back of her mind subsided.
She nodded to him, rubbing her cheeks against his soft hands. “I’ll promise anything to you, Trey,” she whispered. She leaned forward, wanting to press her lips against his once more, but he held her firmly in place. She fought his grip, pushing forward, desperate to touch her lips to his, but he stepped away.
“I need you to swear to me,” he said.
Her mind flashed, the briefest memory appearing at the back of her vision. She couldn’t remember what she was supposed to do. She stared at him absentmindedly, blinking. She glanced around the room, trying to remember where she was.
Trey snapped his fingers in front of her face. His voice grew angry, his words aggressive. “Swear to me that you’ll be mine, that you’ll serve me until the end of eternity.”
“I…”
She knew there was something she had to do. She wanted to do what he said, but part of her held her back. Why? They were friends. This was where she was supposed to be. Rhea fell down to her knees and opened her mouth to speak, but her words faltered in her throat. She raised her hands to her throat, gripping it tight, wondering where the words were. Why weren’t they coming out? She needed to speak, to swear her allegiance to him. What was stopping her?
Trey’s anger flared. His wolf jumped up beside him, his fangs visible and his growl menacing. The faery, who had once been dainty and beautiful, was now angry and pixie-like, pointed teeth exposed as she also growled.
Rhea looked up into Trey’s eyes, frantic and afraid. What had she done to anger him? She didn’t want him to be angry, she wanted him to be happy. She wanted them to be together.
She opened her mouth once more and choked on her words. Her eyes burned with tears, and she fought with her own body, desperate to swear her allegiance to him. It was all she wanted to do. It was all she needed to do.
A burning heat overwhelmed her; no longer the soft warm energy that had enveloped her before, but a prickly burning sensation that stung her skin. It pummeled into her, weaving its way through her very core. It was pulling the words out of her, intoxicating and entrancing. She wanted nothing more than to let the words come out so it would stop. She choked on a breath, trying so hard to say what he wanted her to say. She shut her eyes and willed herself to say it. With one sharp breath, she finally began
to speak.
But before the words came out, a loud blast sounded from behind her. She was pulled momentarily from her reverie, her attention snapping to the door behind her. Her surroundings wavered, the castle suddenly replaced by the crumbling ruin of the hut. She gasped, stepping backwards.
Five tall figures stepped before the firelight, casting long shadows across the room. Trey groaned and stepped back, his two companions jumping before him to protect their master.
Rhea suddenly became aware of what was going on. The magic that lured her there was the magic of a god. She noticed now that Trey shone with an otherworldly energy, and his two companions were his guardians.
She had fallen into a trap. She cursed herself for being so stupid.
The wolf and the faery stepped forward, blocking the way between Trey and the five figures who now stood before Rhea. She glanced up at them and recognized them as her guardians.
Her mind slowly returned to her, and panic filled her very core. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the spell she had fallen under, to wash out the traces of the hypnotic trance she had fallen victim to. The magic lingered, but she did everything in her power to flood it out of her. She fell back against the crumbling wall and slid to the floor, her hands pressed against her chest as she fought the powerful magic of the god before her.
With a renewed sense of herself, Rhea looked up into the eyes of the boy she had nearly sworn herself to. He looked down at her, his eyes angry and menacing, the intoxicating blue now replaced by an angry crimson red. She still recognized him, but she didn’t know where from. Pushing herself up, she met his gaze, her own eyes narrowing.
“Who are you?” she demanded, stepping forward. Her guardians held her back, placing themselves between her and the god.
His eyes flared, his magic filling the room with a pressure so strong it nearly crushed her bones.
“I’m the god who almost enslaved the princess.”
12
Trey’s smile lasted a mere moment before faltering.
“Who are you?” he asked Rhea’s guardians. His voice was steady, but a half octave higher than it had been before.
“Who the hell do you think we are?” Roan growled. He stepped forward, placing himself between Rhea and Trey, blocking Trey’s view of her. His muscles heaved, his shoulders nearly hulking out of his shirt. He looked twice as big as his normally did, and more animal than human.
Rhea’s head still spun, her mind locked in a daze. She was aware, her senses having returned to her, but she was still struggling to piece together how she had gotten here. One second she was walking through the woods along the stream, the next she was here. How had she gotten inside? And where exactly was she again? Her head hurt.
Rhea closed her tired eyes, breathing in deeply and letting it out steadily as she tried to allow her nerves to calm down.
Her guardians positively seethed, their bodies tense and their tempers raging. Rhea didn’t understand for sure what was going on, but she knew well enough to stay away from them when they acted like this. She’d spent long enough on the streets to recognize when someone was about to lose it. If she were Trey, she would have run away at the first sight of them. She had a feeling that this wasn’t going to end well.
Trey’s warm energy still caressed her skin, and she rubbed it away with the palms of her hands. Her forearms burned, but at least her mind was clearing. She leaned against the wall, the cold damp stone rough against her back. She wanted to turn and leave, to run back to camp, to get away from the strange place, but looking to either side of her, there is no way to escape.
Taelor stepped beside her, his hand firmly on her shoulder. He didn’t make eye contact or even glance back at her, and she wished that at least for one second he would look at her. She had left after an argument with him, and by the strained look on his face, she knew that she had made a mistake by leaving.
“Taelor, I’m…” she began.
His hand twitched slightly on her shoulder, but still he didn’t look back. His eyes were fixed on Trey, his brows pulled together in a look of sheer hatred.
Trey’s wolf stalked back and forth in front of him, snarling threateningly at each of her guardians in turn. His eyes were sharp as he studied his opponents, reading the energy in the room and trying to decide when and how to attack. The air prickled with electric energy, the tension in the room rising so high it pressed on Rhea’s temples and gave her a headache.
Finally, after a long, tension-filled moment, the wolf sprang back into his human self, a tall, muscular man with sharp amber eyes and lightly freckled skin. His shoulders slumped down slightly as he turned his back on them and padded back to Trey, taking his place by his side. It was a gesture of submission, and it set Rhea back. The tension in the room lowered as Roan stood down slightly and Trey’s eyes went wide. He shot an angry look to his shifter guardian, and then turned to his faery. Her eyes were menacing, her razor-sharp teeth dripping with saliva as she growled at them. But she also took a small step back.
Trey’s mouth hung open as he then squared his shoulders to face Rhea and her guardians. “This isn’t over,” he snapped.
He then turned and walked away down the length of the stone room. He and his guardians walked straight to the stone, practically evaporating into thin air as they disappeared into the shadows. Rhea had to blink her eyes and do a double take just to make sure that he was no longer there.
She felt incredibly guilty but confused at the same time. She hadn’t intended to get herself in this mess. All she had wanted to do was get some fresh air and clear her mind. She had some serious explaining to do though, she knew that much.
When it became clear that they were safe and that Rhea was no longer in danger, the energy calmed and her guardians turned back to her. They all stared at her, a mixture of disbelief, anger, and disappointment across all their faces.
“I’m sorry,” Rhea finally said. That’s all she could come up with. She wasn’t sure what else to do but apologize. She realized that wandering off had been stupid, even though she hadn’t gone far.
“We better get back to camp,” Grayson said, his voice gruff. He was frowning, his eyes dark and stormy and serious.
Rhea nodded her agreement and turned to follow him out, allowing him to lead her back through the crumbling front door of the hut.
As they walked in silence, Rhea turned back to look at the building. Once again it was a crumbling mess of fallen stone, no roof—not the castle she had believed it to be. How strong must his magic have been for her to have believed everything he said. She shook her head, dread filling her suddenly. She had been completely mesmerized, fully hooked under his spell. She’d been about to do something so stupid she hardly had the heart to admit to herself that she had been so weak.
They all walked in silence back through the woods, darkness setting in once again as they proceeded under the heavy forest canopy. There were no stars above, just intricately woven branches and dying leaves. She followed the crunch of their footsteps around them, Grayson leading them on different path than the one she had first taken.
Her eyes slowly adjusted, and though she couldn’t see much of her surroundings, she could see the expressions on her guardian’s faces. Grayson and Taelor both looked angry, as was to be expected. Arry and Keaven appeared much more sympathetic and hung back with her as they walked. Roan was his typical neutral and relaxed self, though she recognized disappointment in his eyes. He stalked forward in front of them, his stride long and steady, seemingly unfazed by it all. He really did move like a lion, and even in the darkness she could see his skin glowing with a reddish hue. He’d nearly shifted into his animal form in the hut, and it looked like he hadn’t quite returned to his human self yet.
Rhea shivered from the cold as they neared the camp, the events of the evening finally setting in. The air hung damp around her, goosebumps prickling her arms. She pulled her sweater tight. Her sweater was so thin it hardly did anything to keep her warm.
>
When they finally arrived, they settled around a small fire that Grayson busied himself with lighting. Rhea sat on the small rock and held her hands in front of the flames. The damp had set deep into her bones and it took a long few minutes for her to finally feel warm. She shuddered, not from the temperature but from the weight of what she had just nearly done.
She finally looked up sheepishly to her guardians, her expression soft. She’d already apologized. She knew she was foolish for wandering off. There no sense harping on it. All she could do was move on.
“Who was that?” she finally asked.
Taelor’s eyes narrowed. Leaning forward, he gazed into the flame. “That was Trey, son of Aelon.”
His voice echoed around him, sending another shiver up Rhea’s spine. Her mouth nearly dropped.
“I didn’t know Aelon had a son,” she replied. She ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head slowly at his words. “How can Aelon have a son?”
“Aelon had a son just as Aeris had a daughter,” Taelor said. “We haven’t seen much of him, but now that his father is trying to take the throne, it seems Trey has decided that he’d rather have it for himself.”
Rhea groaned. “Are there any gods that don’t want the throne?”
She felt defeated, as if every one of her own kind were out to get her. What had happened to the gods to make them such an evil race? She wished she could rip the magic from her very core, to be human or fae or anything else except one of the gods.
“What do you know about Trey?” she asked. Rhea wanted to know more about the god who’d nearly enslaved her. If she was going to be strong against her enemies, she needed to understand them. It became quite clear that she was so unfamiliar with her own world, and she needed to rely more heavily on her guardians than she ever could have imagined.
“Well, he’s cunning, to begin with,” Taelor said. He eyed Rhea, his gaze impenetrable. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“I gathered that much,” she said. Her body shivered, the cold night air frigid against her back as the wind picked up, blowing the heat from the fire away from her. Smoke billowed into Taelor’s face, and he bowed his head against it.