by Faith Ellis
Shortly following dinner, music started, and the Folk were invited to dance, an activity no fae ever turned down. As the celebration carried on far into the evening, Aiden and I finally slipped away under the cover of the setting sun, which cast shadows all around the gardens. We hid behind the tallest, thickest bushes we could find, and he snuggly locked me in his arms, chest to chest, heart to heart. He was solid and warm against me as I lifted my head to meet his eyes.
"Your mother seems quite pleasant today. Is she happy?"
Aiden sighed. "I haven't exactly inquired. When I questioned her why she felt like this betrothal in the beginning, she just said it would be good. But good for what? It makes me nervous, An." He shook his head. "I know her. She isn't one for sentiment, she never does anything that doesn't provide a beneficial outcome for her, and she always has a plan."
"It's okay, we'll figure it out." I took his hands in mine. They were warm, rough, and twice the size of my own. "We'll keep a close eye on her. My parents are too. If she is planning something, we'll be ready." I shrugged. "Who knows, maybe she just wants you happy."
His hands came on either side of my face, and he leaned in, sweeping his lips lightly over mine first be- fore coming in again, hungrier. I pressed my body against his and met his desire with my own. He tangled his hands in my hair as he parted my lips with his tongue. Soft, tantalizing sweeps, darting in and out of
my mouth. My blood rushed through my veins, and I couldn't remember ever being as happy as this. I never wanted these feelings to end. I yearned for more pri- vacy, but I knew if that happened, things wouldn't end with just a swollen mouth and flushed skin.
Aiden made it impossible to contain myself. Around him, I lost all sense of reason, but it didn't matter, be- cause with him, I felt safe. He made me feel happy and loved. All things that were foreign and unheard of among many fae, especially those of the Second Court. But he was different. We were different. And together, we would change Faery.
"I am happy," Aiden whispered.
Chapter 9 Aiden
The velvet darkness of night covered the sky, dotted with stars like diamonds. The moon sliced into the darkness and bled through, illuminating the night. The gardens displayed their shadows, concealing me and the body on the ground at my feet. The beautiful blooms that had opened earlier today to showcase their beauty were now shut tightly against the night sky. The Folk were gone, everything was quiet, the celebration was is cleaned up, and the gardens were neatly manicured back to the way they were before as if nothing had been celebrated mere hours ago.
Had it even been hours? Maybe an hour.
I pulled the ruby-encrusted dagger from her hip. The chocolate-covered valerian root I had offered An worked quickly and efficiently. It had been so simple to dip it into the chocolate fountain, an easy way to put her to sleep without harming her or causing sus- picion. My stomach turned—I tricked her. Never before had I done such a devious, manipulative thing, not to her! My eyes squeezed tight. This was for her own good.
The dagger slid easily across my skin, separating it so that garnet blood bloomed up. Before the cut healed
itself, I marked the blood across An's forehead, down her arms and legs, and over her abdomen.
I took a step back and whispered, "Vim extermina protegat recondunt." The cut sizzled across my palm, causing me to wince. It bubbled like water boiling in a pot. The parts of Andryad's body I marked alight in odd-colored flames, something like shadows and smoke of a blueish gray, singed in black tips.
Suddenly, they disappeared, leaving only the blood behind.
Boots crunched across the grass, and my grip on the dagger tightened. Metal scraped against metal—twin blades. A warrior. Slowly I turned around, unsure how I would explain this. Deep-blue eyes watched me with eerie precision. Massive wings were spread wide, and yes, twin blades were held in each hand. Her personal guard. Malor's eyes flicked to the dagger in my hand and narrowed. His lip curled, and he moved as though to move a step forward, taking in the scene with his charge, his friend, on the ground behind me. His eyes focused in on my palm as the cut finally sealed to- gether, resulting in smooth, unharmed skin. Some- thing shifted behind his eyes.
Malor ground his teeth. His jaw clenched. "You bet- ter explain faster than I can swing a sword, prince." He practically spit the title at my feet.
I splayed my hands and slowly crouched to set the dagger on the lush grass. Darkness didn’t hinder our fae sight; we see everything clear as day. "I'm pro- tecting her, Malor, you need to listen to me. I doubt
we have much time. I'd wager Queen Mable has spies ready to check in and report when the deed is done."
"When what is done?" He stepped closer, but I knew better than to show fear.
I kept my ice at bay; if I was defensive, he might have wondered why.
"What did you do?"
"Only what you see. She's just asleep—valerian root." Malor's brow furrowed. "Queen Mable revealed the truth to me. She did have a plan after all." I ran a hand through my hair, pulling strands loose from the leather thong. It wasn’t surprise I experienced, it was resentment and self-loathing. I knew better.
Malor shifted and drew his swords back a little. His wings relaxed, but he kept them high, off the ground. "Surely you didn't expect something different out of your mother, princeling? You would know Queen Mable better than any of us, but even I know she's ma- nipulative. She runs her entire court based on fear and manipulation. She encourages Folk to fear her wrath. Or worse. And you assumed, what, she wants the best
for you?"
He was mocking me. Heat filled my chest, clawed up my throat and over my face. My fists clenched and unclenched. "Are you finished?"
He smirked. "For now." He twirled the twin blades and flipped them into their sheaths across his back. "So what happened, then?"
“Queen Mable gave me this." I pulled out a small vial of a weird, solidifying smoke. "She told me all I had to
do was slip it into An's drink. The queen's and Erlking’s as well."
Malor reached for it, turning it this way and that. "What is it?"
"I don't know. I've never seen a poison like that be- fore. But it feels wrong. Almost otherworldly."
Malor eyed me and grinned. "She thought you'd choose her over Annie?"
"Beg your pardon?" Did he just call her Annie?
He ignored me. "So what did you do exactly, when Queen Mable told you this?"
"The only thing I knew: I went along with it. I didn't say anything that was an outright lie. I told her I under- stood exactly what I had to do. And I did. But it wasn't what she thought." Desperation wrapped a thick hand around my throat, and I stepped closer to Malor. "We have to get An out of here. I just cast a spell over her to conceal her, protect her, and make her forget every- thing. We can hide her in the human realm. At least until we figure something else out."
Malor didn’t smirk at this. He didn’t laugh. In fact, his face grew serious, and he looked past me to An sleeping peacefully on the luxurious glade. His eyes flicked back to me, and they've deepened a darker shade of blue. He crouched to retrieve An's dagger I had sat in the grass and straightened before he handed it to me.
"Alright, princey. Let's get my princess somewhere safe." I accepted the dagger and nodded my thanks be- fore tucking it safely into my boot.
Chapter 10 Andryad
Everything is quiet in the kitchen. A bird sings sweetly beyond the window, calling to a mate nearby. Malor's blue eyes shift between us, gossamer twitch- ing, and he finally pipes up way too cheerfully, "So yeah, I agreed with his decision personally. And from there, during this whole mess, we stayed pretty well connected. He kept me updated on your status in the mortal realm, and I kept him in the loop of things hap- pening between the courts."
I swallow. When I speak, Aiden turns back to us. "So, Aiden, you've been here all this time?"
He lifts one shoulder. "For the most part. Here, watching you in the mortal realm, slinking about the courts wh
en I felt it was necessary and semisafe. Hav- ing gone against her, Queen Mable would kill me if she caught me. And you needed me. At least, for now."
"How'd she know it was you?" I ask.
Malor is the one to scoff. "Queen Mable is far from stupid. Then there was the magic itself. Aiden reeked of it as soon as he left you in the human world. She had placed spies around the First Court palace—we got you
out just in time. All hell broke loose. Once we left the human realm, we rushed back to warn your parents." His blue eyes drop to his hands. "It was chaos. The king and queen were assassinated, and the First Court was overrun." His curls shake. "There was nothing I could do. Aiden and I left to regroup, and here we are."
The helplessness Malor must have felt then and the sense of loss, I imagine, were overwhelming for him, and he turned into survival mode. I get off my chair and grab Malor's hand, pulling him along, as I walk around the counter and take Aiden's hand in my other. Malor's deep-blue eyes and Aiden's bright jewels watch as I look at these two males I love so deeply.
"Thank you," I say with all the sincerity I can muster. They risked everything, sacrificed, just to keep me safe.
"Now then…" Malor aims to ease the tension, clap- ping his hands and rubbing them together briskly. He raises perfectly groomed blond eyebrows. "When do we start this training I've heard so much about?"
Malor turns all business as he explains some of the strange-looking, yet familiar, training tools. I remember practicing back home in the First Court castle. Malor, being the son of the chief of knights in my father’s army, has been around weapons since he was born. He is an excellent and gifted soldier. I think his natural fae ability includes precision and predisposition for com- bat, but it is uncanny, preternatural. Malor taught me basic skills growing up. He was trained early and taught
me as he learned. I am decent with a sword, but what I need goes beyond decent to defeat Mable.
“Swordsmanship is fine among mere Folk," Malor starts. "But we need you to tap into your fae abilities. We need to understand your ability and learn how to use it, hone it, and control it."
I have never done so, never truly had the need to, since they banished me to the mortal realm. The burn- ing in my core I’ve experienced, and I’ve seen the fire at my fingertips once or twice. But never have I been able to use my ability or call on it myself. Truthfully, I’m not sure what it means in regards to my ability.
"I plan on coaxing it out by forcing you to rely upon survival instincts. Think of it as scaring it out of you, if you will." Tugging on his gloves, Malor winks a blue eye at me from beneath a drooping curl. I stick out my tongue playfully.
The sun shines on the field to our left, and a light breeze every so often catches the grass and overly tall wildflowers, sending them dancing to a slow melody. Aside from us, the only sounds are the bubbling stream and a sweet-sounding bird calling its mate among the trees.
We gather the items Malor brought: knives, swords, shields, gear, and wear and set them in a neat pile nearby. Malor helps me lace up some knee-high black combat boots while Aiden practices his swordsman- ship in the center of the field behind our house.
Our house.
Malor watches me as my eyes drift toward Aiden, knowing his fae ears hear every word we speak. "We also have another problem. We're certain the queen knows you're in Faery. Aiden told me about the wraith. If Queen Mable didn't know before, she does now."
I arch an eyebrow in silent question.
"She has pulled back all of her warriors and lackeys from the mortal realm and seems to have them con- glomerating around her court, as if for an added need of protection. She likely assumes we plan to fight her." He waggles his eyebrows, huffing as though it were comical. His wings stretch wide as he stands. They glint and sparkle in the sunlight before he tucks them back in tightly between his shoulders.
"Let her know," Aiden growls from the field as he glides through drills with himself. A heavy red aura hangs around him. He's not controlling that today, ap- parently. "It makes no difference. We’d never have the element of surprise against her anyways." He grunts as he jabs his sword at an invisible opponent. "Everyone in Faery follows her or dies, and the first one to have a hint of Andryad would have run straight to her." Stop- ping his movements, Aiden cocks his head and looks toward the sky as it douses his face in a warm glow. "Besides, we plan to face her head-on. Not stab her in the back like cowards."
Malor looks to me as Aiden continues his prac- tice. My nose scrunches as I look at the different train- ing tools littering the grass in front of us and consider each one.
"If that’s the case, I better get started on training,” I say as I pick up a long, curved blade and trace it with my fingers.
"Well, let's start with some swordplay. Maybe I can make you angry, and you will just lash out," he says with a lazy grin. "It used to work rather well." He shrugs.
We walk to the center of the field just as Aiden moves out of the circle and mumbles under his breath, "I'm going to check things in the courts. I'll be back. Don't wait up."
My heart drops a little in my chest at his leaving. I feel as if, with Malor here, he has begun distancing himself. Couldn't he train with us? What was in des- perate need of his attention at this moment?
I shrug it off, rolling my shoulders to prepare for a fight. Once Aiden is gone, Malor wastes no time and does not hold back, testing my memory and skills in sword fighting. I dodge and dish back whatever he throws my way. Early in, I can tell he is disappointed that I am doing so well, making his job harder. My mus- cle memory, even after my time in the human realm, seems to be in perfect working order.
After hours of practice, the clouds in the sky begin to thicken, and Malor speaks over the clashing of metal on metal. "He loves you, you know."
This causes me to stumble and allows Malor to dis- arm me, my sword falling harmlessly into the grass.
I sigh, frustration settling over me as I crouch to retrieve my weapon. "Excuse me? I know that! What
makes you feel the need to point it out?" I sputter, re- gaining my control with a parry.
Malor responds with a remise. "You seem uncertain, frankly."
"It's not that." My head shakes. "Why'd he leave?" "I think he's frustrated right now and battling with
the truth himself. Annie, he felt so much guilt for putting you into the human realm, for taking the choice from you. I think to bring that back up just resurfaced that conscience."
"I understand that Malor, I just—" I grunt as I move to the offensive and attack with a lunge Malor expects and evades. "I'm nervous, okay? There's a lot on my mind, a lot I'm not sure I can handle. You guys want me to save all of Faery, and yes, I want that too, but—" I huff, stopping and wiping the sweat from my brow as it drips down, burning my eyes.
"No, hey, I get it."
I concentrate on my footwork as I listen to my friend.
"It's scary, and there's a lot of pressure on you. But we're both here to help and be there for you. We’ll fight by your side until our last breath. Aiden will do any- thing to make up for what he’s done." A sudden shot of pain courses through my arm where Malor has stabbed my shoulder, which heals nicely thanks to my fae in- stincts to heal and protect. I don't have a chance to cry out or understand that pain has been inflicted on my body.
"Mal! You did that on purpose!" I have the urge to stomp my foot like a child.
He throws up his hands in submission. "Just trying to provoke, An, it's not like we have centuries for your ability to reveal itself." He sheaths his sword at his side. "I guess we can call it a day. Your mindset needs an ad- justment before we can proceed."
I huff at that and throw up my hands. The sun is al- ready setting, and stars are appearing over the field.
"I'm going harder on you tomorrow, though," Malor promises as we trudge back to the house, his wings spread wide and wrapped around us until we get to the door, a comforting gesture. I am sweaty and in desper- ate need of a shower and fresh clothes
.
He stops me short, with one hand on the door han- dle. "Look, just be open with Aiden, okay? He's really missed you, and regret is a dangerous thing to hold on to. He comes off as coarse and all that, as you well know, but he really needs you. And you need him. You need to share these fears with him, and he needs to un- derstand that you don't blame him."
"I get it." I nudge Malor's side. "But now you're here, and…well. It's weird seeing you guys so close without me."
"Annie, if Aiden and I are close, we are close be- cause of you." He drapes an arm lazily around my shoulders. "Please, if it weren't for you, I wouldn’t be able to stand the uptight bastard."
I bark out a laugh.
"C'mon, I need some wine and a hot bubble bath."
"Who's the princess, exactly?" I tease.
When we walk into the house, Aiden still isn't back. I drag myself upstairs to rinse off and soothe my aching muscles while Malor lays out some food he brought: fresh fruit, flaky bread, even faery wine. I guess he decided the wine is more important than the bath. My mouth waters at the sight of food, and my stomach protests waiting another second, but I opt for washing off the grime from my skin first.
I enter the large tiled shower in the upstairs master bathroom. Letting the warm water wash over me, I close my eyes and put my hands against the wall. Everything is happening so fast, it feels surreal. All the feelings for these males swirling around my head and my heart, the anxiety building for what is next, and the pressure to understand and use my ability, to over- throw Mable, save my Folk, and lead them to a better life…
Can I do it? Am I worthy of such leadership?
I already miss Aiden. We were starting something before Malor came back to me.