by Marian Tee
Since self-preservation was always #1 on her list, Fina had concocted an elaborate story about enemies being after her, hence the need for Estrella to keep their interactions a secret from everyone. And that included the twins, whom Fina knew had never taken to her.
The moment the Fournier brothers were out of the picture, it had become easy for Fina to make herself indispensable to Estrella, who thought the world of her the moment she learned that Fina was once Lysander's mentor as well.
When news about rogue vampires taking Faes hostage broke out, Fina had whispered sweet poisoned words into Estrella's ears about the need for her to personally make a stand. Don't let the twins know or they'll stop you. Our people must see you're willing to risk your lives for us. You must fight bravely! Don't look back!
And the idiot had actually fallen for it.
Fina's plan for that fateful night had been simple. Watch from a distance, wait for the battle to break out, and once the princess drowned in her own blood, she would come running and save the hostages for herself.
But when she finally arrived at the mine, even Fina had felt her blood curl with terror. She recognized the six vampires that had been taunting the hostages. They were all part of Danilo Moretti's inner circle, and for Estrella to go against any one of them...
She had already turned away when she heard the first scream.
And it was a man's.
"I only asked that we speak in private because there is something you must know."
Another icy blast of wind slapped Fina's skin, and with her eyes cast to the ground, she could only see the moment paws turned into feet. She started to lift her head---
"I did not give you any permission to move, spy."
Fina's body shook with fear as she quickly lowered her gaze again. "I'm sorry, Your Highness." She heard the rustling of clothes and realized that the prince hadn't wanted to see him naked. But she was willing to bet it was not out of modesty.
Having known the prince for so many years, and knowing what she knew of Ammon, it was probably because both man and beast had this ridiculous notion about Estrella being the only one to have the right to see Lysander's body.
The thought made Fina burn with rage, and when the prince addressed her again---
"What did you wish to say?"
She was ready.
"The Miller Mine battle..." Years of listening to many a forbidden conversation had taught Fina a lot, and one of it was predicting how people typically responded to a particular situation. "Our people have told you about it?"
Lysander tensed, not having expected Fina to bring up the one thing that had perplexed him from the start. "It's not true, then?" he asked tightly.
"I'm afraid not." Head still lowered, Fina allowed her lips to curve in a smile of secret triumph. She had no idea what the prince was talking about, but it didn't matter. The prince's words from earlier had betrayed his doubts, and all she needed to do was bide her time.
A hand suddenly appeared in front of her, and a moment later the prince was helping Fina to her feet. His touch was gentle, and his voice...defeated. "They were all wrong, were they not? Somehow, none of them knew...it was you who won that battle."
"Your Highness---"
"It is not right for a ruler to take credit for someone else's work. I apologize on the princess' behalf, Fina, and I shall rectify this---"
"No." She held on to the prince's hand. "Please don't do that or she would never trust me again. We cannot afford to have such a rift in these troubled times, Your Highness. Especially now..."
His gaze narrowed. "What about now?"
"I've found where Ivy's hiding."
And the spy started doing what she did best, weaving lies between truths, and the prince listened, too much in pain to know the difference between the two.
It was almost dawn when Lysander and Fina came back to the Moretti compound, and just in time to see another Lyccan princess about to leave.
He strode forward immediately, wanting to know if Matilda had succeeded.
"Your Highness." Matilda's smile faded as he came closer, and Lysander wondered why that was.
"Have you found the person we're looking for?"
"It seems you've found her before I did."
He saw Matilda's gaze move past him...and straight to where a hooded Fina stood.
"I smell a lot of lies on that woman, prince."
And so she did, he thought bleakly. So many lies Fina had to utter...and all for his wife's sake.
15
Estrella stirred to the sound of paws landing on the balcony. "Lysander?"
Silence.
She was immediately and fully awake, her feet swinging noiselessly off the bed even as she reached for the dagger under her pillow. Almost being abducted had taught Estrella not to take her safety for granted, and she made sure she had a weapon handy no matter when and where.
Dawn was breaking outside as she inched towards the balcony doors. Even though it was unlikely for an intruder to get this far into the compound without the alarm sounding off, she simply wasn't taking any chances.
Heart beating hard against her chest, she slowly peeked through the slits---
Oh, thank God.
She rushed out, anxious at the way Lysander, who was still in Ammon's form remained so still. Sinking to her knees, she cupped his face and gazed searchingly into haunted violet eyes. "What's wrong?"
But Lysander only remained silent.
"You can tell me anything. Let me help you. Please." Because she was absolutely convinced something was wrong. She didn't have to read his mind to know he was hurting. She could feel his pain. She just didn't know where it was coming from.
Lysander?
When he still didn't answer her, she slowly rose to her feet and moved back to the bedroom, hoping he would follow. After a moment, he did so, and she was just about to sigh in relief when something invisible and icy struck her skin---
Oh!
He had already reached for before she could even turn around, and his mouth had covered hers before she could even say a word. With one rip, he had her nightgown into pieces, and by the time her back hit the bed, she was fully naked, and his oversized cock was already sliding in and deliciously forcing the walls of her pussy to widen its passage.
Their coupling was silent and furious, so impossibly torrid that even with her Lyccan strength she still ended up gasping for breath as he pumped into her over and over. The urgent drive of his thrusts had him leaning with one hand against the wall as the headboard smashed against it with every plunge of his cock. His other arm was curved under her hips, locking her in place, while her legs dangled in the air.
InOutInOutInOutInOutInOut
Pleasure started to unfurl, and her throat started to tighten. She gripped the edges of her pillow, her head tossing left and right, and as the pleasure burst, the words just kept tumbling out.
"I love you."
But unlike before, the words didn't make him smile or whisper how beautiful she was. If anything, his eyes...they seemed even more haunted now. Harsher. And the strange look stayed even as his body stiffened, his cum began to fill her pussy, and her name slipped past his lips like a broken vow.
Estrella fell back into sleep soon after, and for a long time, Lysander simply stayed by her side, watching and wondering how someone who appeared so innocent could be so damn manipulative.
He had no reason to distrust Fina; the woman hadn't just been his mentor, but she had also literally saved his life during the war.
Estrella, however...
Hadn't he found her devotion to him questionable from the start? Hadn't she seemed too damn sweet to be real? Her deception, albeit harmless, deeply disillusioned him, and Lysander's pain grew as he wondered what other flaws she might possess that he was simply too blind to see.
It was already half past ten when Estrella woke, and she wasn't surprised at all to see Lysander gone. What she did not expect, however, was to find out that he was really gone
, and she could only stare blankly at her sister, more perplexed than angry or offended. "Could you tell me exactly what happened?"
"Sure." Esme did her best to hide her curiosity as she patiently recounted step-by-step her encounter with her brother-in-law for the second time. She had just gotten back from her morning jog, still in Lyccan form, when she saw the Faes come out of the house along with some sketchy-looking chick. She had barked a greeting, just to be polite, and Estrella's husband had walked towards her.
Esmeralda, isn't it?
His ability to recognize her had impressed her a lot, and it had Esme baring her fangs in a smile of approval.
I've received information about Ivy's current hideout, and I need to head back to Coral Springs to prepare my men to go after her. I'm hoping I could leave my wife here in the meantime to ensure her safety. It wasn't too long ago that she survived a kidnapping. I'd rather she sit this one out.
Esme turned to the older girl, saying, "That's it. They left. I had breakfast, you came down, and I passed the message, just like any good sister would."
Estrella slowly sat down. "I...see."
"You know..." Esme cleared her throat. "His words kinda surprised me."
You and me both, Estrella thought.
"I mean, sure, almost getting kidnapped is no joke, but you've survived far worse than that. We've all survived far worse, after what happened at the detention camp. So...what I'm really saying is---"
"No."
Esme blinked.
"You want to know if the kidnapping attempt gave me some kind of trauma, and the answer is no."
"I knew it," Esme exclaimed. "It just didn't seem like you..."
An idea occurred to her then, and Estrella said slowly, "I think that's it. Kidnapping attempts just piss me off now, but the old me would've been terrified to death." It was the only plausible reason for Lysander to leave her like she was some kind of helpless baby that required cosseting and protecting. And maybe that had been true before...but not anymore.
16
Ivy was a Faerie, possessing noble blood and one of the loveliest faces of their race. She would've been the last person for anyone to suspect of treason and treachery, and this was probably why Ivy had found it so damn easy to fool them all. By the time they learned of her perfidy, their realm - the very last refuge of their race - had been razed to the ground, and the Fates once again revealed its fickle nature as the Faes became a stateless kingdom overnight.
A hefty bounty had been placed on her head, but the woman had managed to elude capture...until now.
If Fina's deductions were correct and her sources trustworthy, then Ivy had made camp at an abandoned Chernobyl-like industrial site located several miles away from Coral Springs.
"Since they're here..." Fina placed the red marker to establish the location of the vampires' camp on the digital map displayed by the table's LCD screen. "I suggest we strike from here, which my sources tell me is the one opening they've overlooked."
Alain tapped on the screen, switching map views until it showed the terrain of their target's location. This new layout showed how extremely defensible the area was, and while it could be the reason why the vampires had opted to camp there...
"It's too damn near to our stronghold," he said flatly. Where Faes were, Ivy avoided. That was how she eluded capture all this time...and now Fina wished them to believe the traitor had suddenly made the mistake of doing the exact opposite thing of what kept her alive?
Fina, however, appeared indifferent to Alain's concerns. "Ever heard of reverse psychology?"
Alain didn't even bother to dignify this with a reply.
"Come on, general. When have I ever been wrong?"
"Not once in the past," Alain allowed, "but no one can speak for the future."
"You need to trust me on this, A1. I've been following this lead for months."
Again with that stupid nickname the spymaster alone insisted on using, in spite of Alain's blatant dislike for it. She made him sound like a fucking steak sauce, and one of these days, if she kept on pushing him this way, he might just choose a neckname especially for her as well.
Only his would be straightforward, and his nickname for her would rhyme with itch.
Which, ironically enough, was also something Fina has desperately had for the prince for years, Alain thought distastefully, but never managed to get Lysander to scratch.
On the other side of the table, Aluin was feeling similarly pissed. Fina had actually dared suggest earlier that he and Alain stay behind to guard the princess while she and Lysander went to war. Who the fuck did this bitch think she was, with the way she was calling the shots? She might be a hell of a good spy, but spies did not soldiers make, and she had to be the dumbest thing alive to think otherwise.
When Aluin turned to his prince, he didn't even make the slightest attempt to conceal his feelings on the subject. "I think this plan is shit, and if the princess---"
"The princess," Lysander bit out, "was raised to become some man's arm candy, nothing more." He saw the way disapproval glinted simultaneously in the twins' gazes at his callousness, but he forcefully pushed all feelings of guilt aside and told himself he was doing the right thing. "It would be lunacy to involve her in this, and we might as well execute our own soldiers if we let her play god with our people's lives."
By the time he finished speaking, the beast inside him was in the same black mood as the twins. Its displeasure stemmed from Lysander's disparaging words for his own mate, and their opposing views made him feel like his soul was being torn into two directions.
He stalked out of the conference room without a word, knowing that he might need to put space between him and everyone else. Ammon was threatening to run amok, and he found himself snarling back to remind the beast who was in charge.
My honor demands I speak the truth, beast!
With what he now knew about Estrella, and with Fina looking to him to set a rightful example as their prince, he just had no fucking choice---
The beast inside him roared out a warning, cutting through his thoughts, and his head shot up.
That was when he saw Estrella standing at the opposite side of the hallway, and the look on her face told him she had heard everything he said.
Estrella quickly pinned a smile to her lips the moment her husband came striding towards her. Stay calm. Act normal. And no matter what - don't cry. Because if she did, then she might as well tattoo the words 'arm candy' on her forehead.
Lysander could feel his facial muscles freezing at the thoughts that were running through Estrella's head. But whether it was the truth or she was simply faking it...he just didn't fucking know anymore. And when he finally reached her, his mind remained a fucking blank. Did he comfort her or confront her? Fuck himself over so he could keep fucking her?
Everything was all fucked up---
Why couldn't she have stayed as pure and bright as the Star she used to be?
And when he finally reached her, he could only force his lips into a smile as he simply uttered her name.
"Estrella."
But that turned out to be a mistake as well.
"H-Husband." She fought to keep her smile from wobbling as her head reeled. Lysander had always liked to call her a lot of things, even back when she was just a gawking eighteen-year-old fascinated by the depth of his knowledge and bowled over by his good looks. Ma belle etoile, he had called her then. And when he came back as her mate, he had taken to calling her other things. My Star. My wife. But one thing he had never done was to call her by her actual name, and that he had done so now...
It hurt. It just...hurt. It didn't feel right, coming from him, and it made her feel she was now like everyone else, was no longer special like she used to be.
She looked up, and his eyes...they were still haunted, but now she was no longer confused by it. Because now, after what she heard---
It would be lunacy to involve her in this, and we might as well execute our own soldiers if we let he
r play god with our people's lives!
Now, she knew why he was hurting, too.
On her way back to Coral Springs, she had been so optimistic and determined. In her mind, she had imagined asking Lysander if she could be included in his plans for Ivy's capture, to which he would of course say yes. Domenico aside, Lysander alone knew just how much this kind of work meant to her. Not even the twins, who had fought by her side for over two years, knew about her dream.
But Lysander did.
And for him to say such things---
"I'm sorry you had to hear that."
The apology just made everything worse. He might as well have said he truly believed everything he said was the truth, and because this was Lysander, Estrella found herself regressing, doubting herself as she used to.
The ordinary, talentless princess, not as smart or beautiful, not as brave or strong as any of her siblings - how could she have forgotten, how could she have been so arrogant to have forgotten who she really was?
Lysander's words had to be true, she realized painfully. People looked up to him, a man whom many described as the finest warrior of his race. That was just the kind of prince he was, and so if he believed she would only be a hindrance to their plans---
Estrella saw Lysander start to speak, and she quickly shook her head. "You don't have to explain. You know these things better than I, so it must be as you say." The words rolled down her tongue without trouble. She had seen the light now, and it shamed her, when she thought of how she had been acting while he was gone, making decisions for an entire race like she really knew what she was doing.
Everyone must've thought I was so full of it. Laughing at me behind my back because they knew all the good things that I made happen were probably a result of pure dumb luck and several strokes of good fortune. God, I was so dumb to think I could really rule in Lysander's stead. The sheer pretentiousness...
Lysander couldn't help flinching upon hearing his wife's mental self-castigation. Stop thinking things like that---