Faetal: A New Adult Fantasy Dark Prince Romance

by Deiri Di

  "There isn't any reason for me to bleed to death," Mari said. "Would someone please send for the healer?"

  Lady Silvia's laughter peeled through the room. "Oh, do!" she said. "Let's keep this little symbol of my victory alive. Don't you agree, consort?"

  Mari wasn't surprised to hear that. The woman had no reason to want her dead anymore. Vladmir had lost their competition, and Mari surviving would only exacerbate his humiliation.

  Vladmir's face twisted with rage. "It isn't over yet!" His fingers clenched around the dagger.

  "Yes, it is," Mari insisted. She staggered a few steps backward, trying to get out of his reach, stone still in hand. He was going to kill her anyway, and no one would care enough to stop him.

  Chase kicked out, his foot connecting with one of his captor's knees. The elf's leg bent at an angle it wasn't supposed to go. The elf screamed, crumpling to the ground, releasing the arm he had been holding on to. Another elf hooked his arm around Chase's neck and began squeezing, leaning backward to drag Chase off balance.

  "You've lost dear," Lady Silvia said, a sweet smile on her face, a smile, unlike all the others, that reached her eyes.

  "No, not yet," Vladmir said, his eyes wide and maniacal, pupils dilating as he stared at Mari. "It isn't a total loss. Her heart can still break." He glanced over at the struggling Chase.

  Mari took another step back, her head swimming.

  She couldn't faint.

  She couldn't faint.

  She couldn't faint.

  "How do you suppose you are going to accomplish that, darling?" Lady Silvia pouted her lips, curving her eyebrows up to deliver a pleading look that was supposed to look cute but was marred by the malice in her eyes. "Just admit that you've lost. I'll make sure you have plenty to do as my consort, you'll never be bored, but you'll always be treasured."

  "Spare me," Vladmir said, rolling his eyes.

  Chase broke free from his captors, bolting towards Mari and Vladmir.

  Vladmir spat something out, words incomprehensible to Mari's ears. He jerked his hand.

  A tingle ran down Mari's spine.

  Chase stopped. He didn't just stop running. He stopped altogether, his limbs frozen in movement as if he were frozen in time.

  "You're such a failure," Vladmir said, a sneer lifting the corner of his lip. "Peasants are better at magic than you."

  "Enough of this," Lady Silvia said, stroking the fabric of her dress. She turned to face the Queen, still lurking quietly on the outskirts of the room, an observer, not a participant. "We're done. Your Majesty, please recognize my victory."

  "No!" Vladmir said, stalking towards his frozen victim. Chase's eyes rolled in his sockets, and his upper lip twitched, ever so slightly. "I am not finished!"

  The Queen yawned. "Well, do hurry. I am quite bored with this. Either succeed soon or admit failure and accept your lot in life."

  Vladmir stopped next to Chase and placed his empty hand on his cheek. "My dear brother, you stole something that didn't belong to you, didn't you," he said. He glanced back over at Mari. "Do tell me human, how do you feel about this wretched excuse for an elf?"

  The stone in her hand glowed with an answer she couldn't control.

  Chase's eyes fixed on the crystal, his eyelids widening the smallest fraction of an inch.

  Vladmir grinned, the corners of his mouth lunging for his ears in a jerky movement, like a puppeteer was moving his mouth with strings to bare his teeth.

  Mari realized where this was going.

  She staggered forward, taking unsteady steps to close the distance between her and the two men who invaded her life.

  Her side hurt.

  She glanced down. The pressure wasn't doing as much good as she hoped. Her hand was red, covered in blood as she tried to keep it from escaping. The blood trickled through her fingers, creating a long, stretched teardrop on her white dress whose tip was reaching towards the ground.

  "This is your fault, my love," Vladmir said, spitting the words out like they were frogs defecating in his mouth. He lifted the dagger, stepping to the side so that Mari could see every detail of what he was about to do.

  Chase grunted, his face spasming.

  Mari screamed.

  It wasn't a scream of fear.

  It was panic, anger, and hatred.

  All rolled into one. It was the kind of cry you hear out of the mouth of a girl who has accepted reality and disconnected from it in her decision to do what was necessary to save someone she loved.

  Vladmir jerked, turning back to look at her, surprised by the horrific noise she made.

  Ignoring the dizziness and the throbbing in her side, Mari lunged.

  As she bolted the last few steps, closing the distance between her and Vladmir, Mari twisted, throwing her arm back as if she was going to throw a baseball.

  Vladmir tried to bring his arm up, but he was too slow, caught off guard by his surprise, and the violence and determination of her approach.

  Mari brought her arm forward, bringing the full weight of her momentum into the rock as it connected with Vladmir's face.

  He fell, and Mari fell with him.

  Vladmir landed on his back, blood flying from his crumpled nose. Mari landed on top of him. Her hand that was supposed to be keeping pressure on her wound pressed against his chest, and she lifted herself into an upright position, knees embedded in the grass on either side of him.

  Vladmir's face contorted in pain, shock, and rage. Mari could see his fingers curling around his dagger, clutching it.

  Mari braced herself, lifting the rock over her head.

  A shock ran down her spine, more painful than any she had experienced. There was a loud crack as a hairline fracture ran through the crystal in her hand.

  Vladmir grimaced at her, blood-stained teeth showing in an expression that could have been a smile. His arm with the dagger lifted off the grass.

  Large black spots began to take over Mari's vision.

  Mari brought the crystal down and smashed it against Vladmir's forehead.

  Then she lifted it and brought it down again.

  And again.

  As she tried to lift her arm a fourth time, a hand grabbed her wrist, stopping her. The broken stone fell from her hand. Her arms tingled, and she slumped to the side, falling off of Vladmir.

  Arms caught her before she hit the ground.

  Mari couldn't feel anything, and there was a dull roar in her ears.

  "What did you do?" Chase whispered, brushing her hair away from her forehead.

  Then, there was nothing to see but blackness.

  [ 14 ]

  Mari woke to a bright light. Her eyes watered as it took up the center of her vision, the only thing she could see.

  The room slowly came into focus, and that terrifying light turned out to be an overhead fluorescent, bright and blaring. She was in a bland space that had four walls. The most exciting thing about them was that they weren't interesting. They didn't have the vine-covered natural design of the elven hallways -- they were beige. On one wall was a picture of a sailboat. In the corner was a TV, mounted near the ceiling. There was a door that was paneled in fake wood.

  Mari lay in a long bed covered in a thin cheap sheet. There were metal bars that ran along the sides of the bed. There was a clear plastic bag hanging next to the bed, filled with liquid. A tube ran down from it to Mari's arm, a needle holding it in place.

  She was in a hospital.

  Mari sat up, propping herself up on her elbows. There was a numbed pain in her side, and her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton balls. Her hand went to her side and found bandages under the hospital gown. She could see a leather strap of a bag hanging off the side of the bed.

  Someone, probably Chase, had brought her back to her world and then just left her there.

  There was a dull ache in Mari's chest that couldn't be removed by drugs as it wasn't a pain that belonged to her body. When she followed Vladmir, she believed that it was her storybook ending
, that this was her Prince Charming. The reality of it and what had happened ate at her like a bad dream that made her wake up crying.

  Mari took a deep breath, flexing the sheets in her hands as she tried to calm herself. She didn't have a broken heart despite feeling like she was broken as a person. She wasn't a corpse.

  The door to the room swung open.

  Mari's heart leaped up to her throat. Maybe Chase hadn't just abandoned her here like a pair of worn shoes or like a girl who violently assaulted his brother.

  "I know," Cathy said. "But you know that--"

  She cut off when she saw Mari sitting up and awake.

  "She's awake!" Cathy said, holding the door open for Mari's dad. "Oh, honey, we were so worried."

  Mari's dad rushed in, the dark circles under his eyes accented by deep lines in his forehead that hadn't been there before. He sat down on the edge of the hospital bed.

  Mari looked at her parents, and the pain of a fairy tale gone wrong seemed small and insignificant in comparison. They lost a daughter and only just now got her back, broken but wiser for it. Mari had been selfish, stupid, and inconsiderate, and the evidence of it was written in her father's face.

  Cathy began fusing, pushing the button on the bed that caused it to fold up on an incline, giving Mari something to lean against other than her elbow. Cathy plumped some pillows behind Mari's back and then began tucking the sheet in around her.

  "Mari," her dad said, putting his hand on top of hers. "What happened?"

  Mari glanced between her dad and her stepmother.

  As guilty as she felt, there was no way she could tell them anything.

  "You won't believe me," she said, looking down at the bed.

  "You can tell me anything, Mari," her dad said.

  It wasn't true. Imaginary friends were one thing, but an entire fictional world where she was the center of a sadistic game was only going to buy her a ticket straight into a straight jacket. She couldn't tell them. Despite that, Mari knew she still owed them something else.

  "I'm sorry," Mari said. "I'm sorry I worried you, and I'm sorry I ran off. I thought... I... I wasn't thinking and... and it is my fault." She pointed at the bandages on her side. "This was my fault. I didn't want to know what was going on... I wanted..." Mari took a deep breath. She had thought all of these things when she had been locked up in that tiny cell and then later, when she finally accepted what was going on between her and Vladmir. It was hard to say them now, to parents who would never know or understand it. "I wanted something that wasn't real. I'm sorry if I hurt you."

  Cathy sat down on the bed next to her and wrapped her arms around Mari's shoulders. Her father leaned forward and kissed her on the top of her head.

  "We're just happy to have you back," he said.

  "But even so," Cathy said, squeezing Mari's shoulders with her solid fingers. "The cops want to talk to you about who stabbed you. Do you remember his face?"

  "Cat!" Mari's father protested. "She just woke up."

  "The sooner they know what's going on, the sooner they catch the guy," Cathy argued.

  "It's ok," Mari said. "Whatever you want." It didn't matter. All she had to do was omit the pointy ears, and Vladmir would look like a fashion model with hair that belonged in a shampoo advertisement. He had no reason to be in the human world. They would never catch him.

  But if he did come to bother her again, she would have the police ready to grab him.

  Mari's parents smiled at her.

  Mari smiled back, imagining Vladmir being hauled off in handcuffs.

  "The doctor says you are recovering well," Cathy said. "You'll be ready to go when school starts up again!"

  Mari's smile faded.

  Her last year of school before college. Back to the humdrum pattern of calculus and AP classes, tests, and the horrible trial of trying to find a date to the prom.

  “Oh, before we forget, you had this with you,” Cathy grabbed the leather strap of a bag and lifted it up to put it in Mari’s lap. It was heavy. “It’s empty, but since it was with you I thought maybe you’d want it.”

  Mari grabbed the bag.

  On the outside was a note, with the words: I’m Sorry.

  There was something round and large inside of the bag.

  Did Chase leave her something?

  She flipped up the lid of the bag and her eyes went wide.

  It wasn’t empty.

  It was the dragon egg from the market.

  [ Epilogue ]

  The weeks until her first day of school passed without incident. Mari spent the time looking for mushroom circles and harassing uninterested fairies with questions they didn't want to or couldn't answer. Every time she saw black hair, she took a second look, searching for an elf that wasn't there.

  When she stood in line to get her school books on her first day of school, Mari didn't smile, even when the plump administrator counted off the number of back-breaking volumes she would have to lug around. She scooped them up in her arms and trudged off to find her new locker and dispose of them.

  "Mari!"

  Mari turned to the sound of that familiar high pitched cry, almost sung like a song instead of shouted.

  Stephanie, her bubbly brown-haired friend who believed that math club was the most fun you could have in an afternoon, ran up to her.

  Mari gave her a one-armed hug, the other arm straining to balance the heavy load.

  "Let me help you! I already got all my stuff squared away," Stephanie said.

  Mari smiled and turned so that Stephanie could get at the top layer of books. Her friend pushed her glasses up on her skinny nose, reached out, and snatched the notecard that held Mari's locker number and combination.

  "This way!" she sang out and flounced off, leaving Mari to trudge after her. "You're right next to me!"

  "How was your summer?" Mari asked. Stephanie's parents took her on a whirlwind tour of Europe, something that Mari's father would never be able to do on his teacher's salary.

  "It was amazing!" Stephanie said. They reached the rows of brown lockers, outside and protected only by an overhang to stop the rain. Like many schools where it didn't snow or get colder than sweater weather, Mari's school had open-air hallways and lunch benches that were completely unprotected. On one of the few days it rained in the winter, students got to eat in the classrooms rather than sit in the rain. "I have pictures to show you. It was so amazing, we went to the Louvre and toured wineries in France. I wish you could have been there."

  "So do I," Mari said, sighing. Seeing the sights in Europe would have been preferable to what she went through.

  "How about you?" Stephanie asked, twirling the knob on Mari's locker to the combination and then pulling it open for her.

  Mari shoved her books into the locker in one big pile. Once they were out of her arms, she began arranging them. She liked to have them in order of class schedule, so it only took her a few minutes to swap them out.

  "Well... I..." Mari started, wondering what she should say. She was drugged? Kidnapped? Stabbed and then dumped in a hospital to wonder what happened—left never to see him again?

  "Oh, oh, oh! I forgot!" Stephanie interrupted, grabbing her by the arm and forcefully twisting Mari to face her. "Don't look."

  "What?" Mari asked.

  "We got new students! Brother and sister. Last year transfers, kind of crazy, huh? Must have done something horrible and got kicked out or something," Stephanie stared over Mari's shoulder. "Their parents must have loads of money for them to get into another school this late in the game!"

  Mari's heart jumped, knocking against her ribcage. She yanked her arm out of Stephanie's grasp and whirled.

  Standing several locker blocks down was not Chase.

  Pale skin and willowy features let Mari know precisely who the new girl was, even though her hair was an auburn instead of a rich green.

  Mari scowled as Gin caught her gaze and winked.

  What was she doing there? She was Vladmir's pet, the onl
y reason she could be there was on his orders, and there was no way that his orders could be anything good.

  "That's not very exciting," Mari said, slamming her locker shut.

  She turned back to find Stephanie staring at someone else.

  The locker next to her was open, the door blocking the upper body of the guy Stephanie was making doe eyes at.

  Mari glared at her friend. Stephanie had a habit of getting all giggly over any high school boy who was even remotely attractive. As much of a geek as she was, she didn't go for boys in glasses like her. She went for the jocks and the pretty boys. Judging by the look on Stephanie's face, it was likely that the guy who had a locker next to her was Mike, a pretty, popular one that Stephanie had declared her undying love for. Not that she would ever have the guts to talk to him.

  Stephanie started sidling away, eyes still locked on the guy.

  Mari grabbed her wrist.

  There was no point in standing in the shadows and acting scared.

  "Hey," Mari said, grabbing the edge of the open locker door and dragging Stephanie forward. "This is Stephanie."

  When she pulled the locker door back, she was met with black hair, blue eyes, and pointed ears that only she could see.

  Chase shut his locker.

  "I'm Chase," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. His face flickered with indecision, and he opened his mouth as if he was about to say something. He glanced over at Stephanie and then turned and hurried away without another word, fitted jeans hugging his hips.

  "Oh my god, super freak," Stephanie hissed. "But who cares? Dibs dibs dibs!"

  Mari crossed her arms tight across her belly.

  It was going to be a long year.

  Author’s Note

  Ooo I love writing these notes.

  This is another one of those books that I wrote and wrapped a whole lot of my heart into. In my real life, some serious shit happened to me and I had to dive into the question of - how do you know how to trust people? How do you know when someone is lying to your face for the sake of their own entertainment?

  These used to be pretty hard questions for me to answer, as back in the day I had shit all for social skills and have spent a significant portion of my life living in the different realms that populate my head. When I first met someone who doesn’t give a flying frack about lying to people, it was a rough lesson. I’m not going to write about the details of that here. I’m going to save it for the end of the third book.