by Ella Fields
“We know,” Landen said, with not a small amount of arrogance. “You poor thing.” I raised a brow, and he smirked. “Don’t worry, you can stay with your queen while we rule it for you.”
I snorted. Though as I stared at him, the humor leaving his face, and then looked at Kash, his dark gaze upon the full tea in my hands, I saw he was serious. They would. Setting the tea down on the desk, I rolled my shoulders. “We can figure out the bullshit later. Right now, we need to move.”
“You’re strong enough to return?” Emmiline asked, observing me from where she sat in the armchair.
I could do with more time to adjust, but the pain had faded enough that I could ignore the lingering aches and spasms. “I’ll be fine.”
“Don’t you think we should wait?” Landen said, surprising me. Out of all my friends, he was the one who seemed to care about Audra, and not out of some sense of duty toward me. Or past lovers, like Kash.
“For what?”
“A better plan,” Kash said. “An army, perhaps.”
“They don’t just appear, and we have little time for preparations. We act, and we act now.” For every minute I was here, Audra was left to rot in my brother’s presence.
I strode to the door when I heard Dace storm down the hall to the study. “The sun king requests a meeting,” he said. “Immediately.”
I scowled. “How?”
“Cross sent word.”
Of course. For reasons I might never understand, one of the wolves hidden here liked the spoiled brat. From what I’d heard, the king had been journeying to Allureldin, as planned with Audra before she’d been stolen, when he’d received news of his lover, Eline, being taken.
He’d returned home, where she now was, thanks to Audra.
“He can wait,” I said and entered the room. I winced, taking a seat behind my desk, my wings crumpling against the chair.
Dace smirked in the doorway, crossing his arms. “We will need to have new chairs fashioned for you.”
“I’ve no intention of staying here,” I muttered, standing. When Audra returned, we would spend most of our time at the castle.
Black feathers floated to the floor. Dace eyed them. “You really believe we can best him?”
“We need an army,” said Landen. “Kash is right.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, staring down at documents that blurred and seemed from another life. A life I’d crafted of my own away from the treachery and backstabbing antics of Beldine. I could return and try to rally enough supporters. Darkness knew there’d be enough to move against my brother. But to even step foot upon the sand of his shores was to invite ourselves to his dungeon.
Which was precisely where I’d rather, and where I needed, to be.
We could fight, and I could destroy him. The act had not granted me the power to do that. I’d always had it. I’d merely left it unused for far too long. But he would be sure to take my heart with him and use her to his advantage, proving that almost impossible.
Through my teeth, I conceded, “Then I suppose we’d better humor the king.”
King Raiden arrived a day later, bringing with him a golden-haired female.
And Nova.
“I owe her a debt,” she said by way of greeting, stepping into the foyer of what had once been her home. “And I always pay my debts.”
Indeed, Audra had done the unthinkable by helping them escape both the glondolin and the king.
I ignored the temptation to rub at my tight chest and met Nova’s eyes. In them, I found nothing but stark determination, and I looked away before I found anything deeper.
I was a selfish bastard. I knew that, but I had no fucking room for any guilt.
Not when I was being eaten alive from it already.
My linkage to the queen had not only wiped out the remaining love I’d had for Nova but it had also spun my attraction to her into dust. Even so, a fondness remained. It was impossible for it not to after the time we’d shared together. I cared enough that I did not wish to see her harmed or dead, which was exactly what Ryle had counted on by bringing her to Beldine.
Emmiline directed everyone to the drawing room, all too happy to have guests for a change, as she took tea orders.
Raiden, his expression void and his jaw set, lingered behind his blond female seated in the wingback chair.
Just the sight of him curdled my blood with the desire to snap his neck and rip it from his arrogant shoulders.
Nova, gazing at me from where she’d claimed the divan, said, “I’d always wondered what those scars on your back were from.” She was not staring at me, but my wings.
They shifted in response, lifting higher when I entered the room and leaned a shoulder against the wall beside a picture of the creatures I’d left behind.
“A long-lost faerie prince,” the king said, green eyes glittering with satisfaction. “How did our queen handle that?”
“She’s not your anything,” I snarled, ignoring the look Landen flung at me from across the room where he reclined over the window seat, arms crossed, appearing effortlessly relaxed.
An illusion. His fingers danced close to his side, where his dagger laid strapped, hidden beneath his tunic.
The king looked as if he wanted to argue—a common desire of his—but he seemed to remember himself when the female beneath him shifted in the chair, her eyes downcast. She was dressed in some type of shift, a vibrant purple with gold tassels dancing along the hemlines and chest, her cleavage on display but half-hidden with a golden, gauzy shawl.
I angled my head when her gaze lifted. “What did the king want with you?”
Her lips parted, eyes darting over my face as though she wasn’t sure she should answer. “I don’t know, my lord.”
“He’s a Beldine prince and no lord of ours,” Raiden said.
I smirked. “Keep telling yourself that.”
His nose jerked, as did his shoulders, pulling back as he dragged a hand over his cropped dark hair. “It matters little, and her name is Eline. Lady Eline.”
Dace, leaning against the bookshelves, coughed to hide a snort.
Raiden glared.
Eline spoke up, confident but soft. “I’ve no idea what he wanted with me. All I can deduce is that the king knew of my…” She halted, licked her lips. “Ties to King Raiden, and of Raiden’s obvious ties to Queen Audra.”
Tension simmered between Raiden and his lover.
Emmiline entered with a silver tray of tea, setting it upon the stone table in the center of the furred rug.
Only Kash pressed forward to prepare himself a cup, indifferent to the eyes watching him as he tossed three sugar cubes into the porcelain.
“Are all of your ears pointed?”
Adding a dash of milk to his tea, Kash said, “Why don’t you come closer and see for yourself, king?”
Raiden grinned, even as his eyes lit with ire. “I can admit you’re not hard on the eyes, but I’ve long discovered I prefer females.”
Kash paused, then slowly straightened, the saucer rattling in his clenched fingers.
Shit. I scrubbed my chin, wincing at the thickening stubble. “Let us get to the point of this visit.”
Nova nodded, resituating the light blue skirts of her dress.
Kash stepped back, then dropped into an armchair, his attention fixed on Raiden as he stirred his tea.
Raiden flicked at nothing on his shoulder. “I’ve come to discuss what is to be done in Audra’s absence.”
Landen’s mouth shifted side to side, laughter glowing in his eyes.
I dragged in a fortifying breath. To finally kill him would be almost as satisfying as the first time I’d fucked his wife, but alas, the repercussions were not worth dealing with. “We must march on Beldine.”
The females exchanged troubled glances.
“We must?” Raiden said, a brow raised. “Look, I came here out of respect for Audra. When really,” he drawled, “I’ve no need to consult with anyone. We could assume she’s lost to Beldine and mo
ve forward without her, but due to our... history.” He smirked my way, and my teeth gnashed. “I thought I’d give her more time.”
Dace shifted to face the window, his hands fisted at his sides.
My words were clipped, my anger growing by the second. “She is trapped under the king’s thumb. Do you not worry about what will become of her?”
“If it were anyone else, most certainly.” Raiden shrugged. “It’s Audra. I’m positive she’ll fare just fine.”
Every muscle clenched, my bones groaning with the need to send him flying through the window.
Emmiline moved beside me to lay her hand upon my arm. Waves of warmth drifted over my skin, as they so often had when I was a youngling coming into a power I could barely control.
“You’re a real piece of shit,” Kash said.
Everyone’s attention shot to him, but not mine.
Raiden’s face drained of humor. “I’d beg your pardon, but I think I’ll just have you strung up in the gallows by your faerie ears instead.”
Teeth grinding, my voice became almost unrecognizable. “Enough. If you won’t help, then leave.” My nostrils flared, my entire body now aching with the urge to destroy him. “And I’d do so quickly.”
I heard Nova swallow as Eline stared up at Raiden with beseeching eyes.
After a broiling half minute, Raiden sighed and rolled his neck. “What would you have me do? Beldine’s king is a creature with power beyond anything of our kind.”
“Give us some of your best warriors,” Landen said, lifting a knee and leaning forward to rest his arm over it. “Rally Audra’s too, being they are momentarily under your command.”
I was tempted to punch him for reminding the king of what he stood to gain from Audra’s absence.
Raiden looked at me, lips twitching before curling back to show a glimpse of teeth. “I’m failing to see what is in this little quest for me.”
Fury burned every gritted word. “The female you supposedly love returned home safely.”
A sly smirk brightened his eyes, his fingers curling over his cheek. “But then she would be reunited with you.” His lips pursed. “I don’t find myself enjoying the idea of that.”
Kash cursed, and I lunged, grabbing the king by his pretty ruffled peacock shirt. “Listen, you entitled fucking—”
Dace yanked me back by my almost healed wings.
I hissed, pain flooding and ricocheting through every healing bone and muscle, and shoved him hard enough to send him sailing out of the room to the hall.
“Goodness me.” Raiden chuckled, and I spun back. “Settle down, faerie prince. No need for dramatics.” The mirth faded, his expression turned solemn as the temperature in the room settled, and his tone earnest. “Indeed, I will accompany you, and I will bring my best warriors.” Looking at Eline, he said, “Because yes, I do care for our queen, and because she rescued the mother of my unborn babe.”
I looked at his lover, who was staring vacantly at the tea setting, quiet yet evidently tense. Then back at Raiden.
Dace brushed the sleeves of his black tunic. “Congratulations, asshole.”
Emmiline dipped her head, smiling. “How long?”
“It has been nearly five moons,” Raiden answered for Eline.
Nova was quiet, her fingers winding in her lap.
With any pregnancy, whether it be royal or Fae, there would be mixed feelings. Joy, so much joy that the accompanying fear could become debilitating. As there was too high a chance that babe would not survive infancy if he or she was born.
It slithered into the room now, and I unfurled my aching wings, stretching them. “Are you to stay behind, Eline?” I wouldn’t suggest it. The choice was hers. But I had to know so I could prepare.
She nodded, eyes lifting to watch the feathers at my back as they slowly quit rustling.
“Of course, she is staying,” Raiden said.
Howls cleaved the air, the sentinels—wolves in the forest beyond the estate—whistling to signal someone’s arrival.
Emmiline made a gesture, and I waited with the rest of our silent guests as she soon delivered two more inside.
Ainx and Azela.
They dipped low upon entering the drawing room, dressed in their uniforms, hair windswept as though they’d raced against time to get here.
“You’re going back?” Ainx said, his jaw taut. Then he added, “My lord.”
I nodded, gazing at Azela, who tucked her hands before her and pulled her shoulders back. “We wish to come with you.”
Beneath my breath, I groaned, “Fuck.” Audra would lose her damned mind for allowing such a thing, but then again, she was the one who’d struck a bargain with the descendant of the darkness.
Kash bit his lips, and Landen stared at Audra’s head guards as though weighing how long they’d survive.
“This is not a war,” I said.
“Did you not ask for warriors?” Raiden asked.
But all I heard was, “Why haven’t you punched me in the face?”
It took extreme willpower not to indulge the imaginary request. “We take them as backup to distract and also make the king think twice before acting.”
Raiden grinned down at Eline’s braided hair. “Smells like an unavoidable battle to me.”
“You would wage war against your own people?” Azela asked before I could make the king’s head explode out of his fucking nostrils, and I didn’t miss the way she now stared at me.
With a healthy dose of fear and wavering uncertainty.
I didn’t hesitate, barely drew half a breath, before looking at her and saying, “For her, I’d wage war against anything that stood between us.”
Azela’s eyes swam, her throat bobbed, and I glanced at Kash.
He slurped loudly from his floral teacup, and I nodded. “Let us prepare then.”
Audra
Beldine was an intoxicating elixir.
It was no wonder humans had once been drawn to this place. The danger, the deadly traps planted throughout the land, were all too easy to ignore when starlight washed over your skin, bathing you in a warm glow that reached the marrow of your bones.
It sang to the darkest recesses of the heart and bade them to swim to the surface. Here, living eternally beneath the bright night sky, it didn’t just seem like anything was possible.
Everything was possible.
And the wine. Darkness save me, the wine was incredible. A drug I couldn’t get enough of, and after days of being careful, only allowing myself one daring glass, I surrendered.
During every meal, it was served, and I happily drank my fill. The time between was spent with the king, outside on the grassy rooftops and battlements, along the hillsides that rolled with the misty river, or dancing through markets, snatching anything my heart desired.
The king laughed again, rich and volatile, and I found myself staring over at his cheekbones, reminiscing of a pair so similar, a pair I missed so dearly. If I’d forced myself to be away from him, away from the rest of my people, for a year, then I was to do anything that lightened the heaviness their absence pressed upon my chest.
The last thing I’d expected was for the king to grant me such a thing, but with every passing day, the time he spent with me only increased.
“And then what did you do?” I rolled to my side, picking at the array of four-leaf clovers.
Ryle stared up at the dark sky, his laughter ebbing, hands clasped over his chest. “I hit her over the temple with the candelabrum. I intended to do it just the once, but she fought back, her nails scratching at my cheek.” He was referring to a past human lover who’d exploded into a jealous rage after Ryle had been with another from his harem.
“You lost your temper,” I said, smiling.
“Yes, and after two blows to the head, she was dead.”
I sucked my bottom lip. “You kept striking her anyway, didn’t you?”
His head turned, eyes narrowing on my face. “You know me far too well.”
My
smile remained.
He sighed, fingers reaching out to caress my cheek. “I do not find myself regretting many of my actions, but that is one I often wonder about.”
His cool touch was barely there, yet I couldn’t keep myself from growing tense. “Why?”
Eyes upon his fingers as they slowly crawled down my cheek to my hairline, he murmured, “I’ve yet to find anyone who can suck my cock as well as she did.”
I laughed, and his fingers fell away as he watched, smiling.
“Did you enjoy putting your mouth on my brother?”
The question stopped my heart, my laughter, and I blinked at him. Steel and curiosity stared back at me, waiting. “I did,” I admitted.
A minor twitch of his lips was the only reaction. “I wonder what he’s scheming right now.”
I did not wish to wonder. I had hope he was furious enough to stay away and wait until I returned to bestow that fury on me. “I daresay he’s busy healing.”
“You do not think he’ll come for you?”
I picked at some clover, rubbing the velvet pads between my fingers. “I hope not.”
The king hummed, giving his attention back to the sky. “Because we are having such fun?”
I hummed in return, rolling to my back as well.
A smattering of bat-like creatures—elhorns, the king had called them—fluttered above, squeaking with each flap of their membranous wings.
“Zadicus used to have all the fun,” the king said once they’d flown past. “Always plotting with his stupid friends, taking everything I wanted for granted as though to inherit the title of High King was nothing...” He trailed off, and I feared my breathing was suddenly too loud. “They called me the bastard prince, his friends.” I felt his eyes on me a fractured heartbeat later. “Did he tell you that?”
“He didn’t tell me anything about you, about any of this,” I said, flinging my hand wide, clover flying and snatched by the breeze. “You know that.”
His tone sharpened. “Of course, and tell me, how does that betrayal feel?”
I couldn’t resist answering, not when his power vibrated over my skin, a current calling to the storm inside me. “Like I’m a fool who’d been too enamored to open her eyes as wide as they should’ve been. Who’d been stupid enough to trust in something I’d already learned not to trust.”