Callie
“Keep your Fae hands off me!” I shouted at the women in front of me.
They had been scrubbing and bathing me for over an hour and, even now, wouldn’t let me rest as they groped my body with their cold, bony hands.
They were attempting to salve and bandage my wounds, but I couldn’t take anymore. My body was still in fight mode, unable to relax. They were all predators to me, no matter how small and innocent they looked.
“Miss, we need to apply the salve, it will heal you and stop the burning that I’m sure you’re still feeling from the nocturneye. Please,” one of the lady’s maids asked sweetly.
So that’s what those dreadful creatures were called, nocturneye.
The small silk nightgown they had put me in rode up my thigh, showing more sunken burns as I kicked her away.
“You will not touch me!” I screamed as I tried hopelessly to clamor off the floor while the others held my arms down.
“Miss! Please stop, or we will have to bathe you once more. You’re bleeding everywhere again!” whined the small elfish woman as she looked to the others for help.
“Leave.”
His voice was like a rumble of thunder breaking through the room.
“She is bleeding again, Your Highness. She will bolt if we let up—her adrenaline is still peaked,” the red-haired maid pleaded.
“Leave,” he repeated, not taking his eyes from me.
The maids didn’t hesitate to follow their master’s order, rising off the floor in front of my cage to sprint out quickly.
I leaped up, finding new panic at being trapped alone in a room with the prince.
As if by his command, the door closed on its own, and the clink of a lock echoed across the walls of the large bed chamber.
“Get out. Now,” I commanded, frantically looking around for some type of weapon, but his room was empty other than a few basics.
I settled on a large bronze candlestick that sat on one of the nightstands, hastily collecting it in my trembling hands.
“This is my room,” he stated, casually crossing his arms.
“Send the maids back in, or I will bludgeon you with your own candlestick!” I shouted wildly, feeling feral from fighting the nocturneye and the maids with no rest.
His beautiful blue eyes suddenly danced with challenge. His entire person began to fade as faint charcoal smoke rose around him.
My back was slammed against the wall, my arms pinned together above my head, as he reappeared directly in front of me.
“You—” I growled through clenched teeth as blood whooshed in my ears.
He pressed his body against mine as the wall dug painfully against the wounds of my back.
“How did you know to stab the nocturneye under its wing?” he cut me off.
His hard body dwarfed mine as his hard eyes trailed my mouth. His face was still expressionless, but his eyes sparkled with a dangerous fire as he bent his tall, muscular form to further cage me in. Had it been anyone else in that moment, the steady pressure would have been a calming relief, but it wasn’t anyone else. It was Mendax, and it somehow seemed to set me off more, feeling the heat of his hard body pressed against me. The contact sizzled my burned-out nerves.
“I saw where you had stabbed the winged man at the ball. They were both winged. It was a calculated guess,” I bit out as I struggled against the palm that easily held both my wrists.
He smiled wide. The action changed his entire face into a disarmingly alluring man as the scar on his cheek dimpled. That was the most expression I had seen of him since the rooftop.
“That sounds exactly like something an assassin would say.”
“I am not an assassin. If I was, believe me, I would have already killed you by now!” I shouted, pushing my body defiantly into his as hard as I could.
The closeness and feel of both of us pushing our bodies together felt like an electric shock to my frenzied system. I felt everything.
“I think I underestimated whoever sent you to distract me,” he rasped as he continued to push his frame against mine.
My eyes flickered shut with the feel of his ungodly firm body pressing against me, and the clean scent of dark vanilla and amber clouded my senses.
“You ought to have allowed the lady’s maids to help you. You’re bleeding all over my wall.” His warm wisps of breath ghosted across my face and neck as if it were fingertips touching my adrenalized skin.
“Good, I hope I stain it,” I bit out softly.
“Get on the bed so I can bandage you, and you’ll stop bleeding all over the place.” His husky voice trailed across my collarbone like soft velvet before he cleared his throat.
“I will die before I let you touch me,” I snarled, still fighting against what my body seemed to crave.
“As you wish, pet,” he whispered as he pinned me tightly against the wall.
The hand that wasn’t holding my wrists reached out and slowly parted around my neck like a caress, his thumb on one side, fingers on the other.
Reluctantly my eyes flickered shut at the contact. He began gently at my collarbone before slowly caressing his open palm up my neck and closing just under my jaw.
I wriggled against him, trying to escape his hold, but each shifting movement seemed only to encourage him.
My eyes flew open. When had I closed them?
The feel of his hard arousal pressed against my stomach, a startling reminder of what was happening.
“Touch me, and you will regret it,” I threatened as his forehead pressed against mine.
Why did it feel so right being pressed against him like this?
“I believe that to be true with every fiber of my being,” he whispered with a conflicted look.
The room blurred together as everything started to spin.
I was going to faint.
“Stop it! Are you trying to impel my mind? Stop!” I pleaded.
“I’m not, Callie. You’re losing too much blood. Your human body has fought too long.” He pulled away suddenly, looking concerned. “Get on the bed and lie down so I can patch your wounds. Do it, or I will make you,” he stated, leaving no room for protest.
I had no choice anyway; I was about to collapse.
Only once he felt my body go slack in agreement did he step back so I could walk to the bed.
The edges of my vision blackened, and I lost the fight, dropping the candlestick I still held, and as I fell, my body went completely limp.
Strong arms caught me. My head lulled backward until something gently shifted, and my cheek brushed against warm fabric.
This close, his clothes smelled of black amber and cedar.
It felt like my body had been laid on a cloud. Maybe I had died finally. My body gave out, and now I was resting on a cloud in heaven.
“Stay with me, pet, your body is just in shock.”
I peeled open my eyes to see he had carried me to his bed. The few candles that remained lit in the dark room illuminated the wrinkled displeasure in his beautiful, pale eyes.
“Why put me on your bed if it displeases you so much?” I breathed, still feeling his arms under me.
“Human’s lives are so short and fragile. The weight of that has never quite occurred to me until just now,” he whispered as if to himself. “Lie back now and let me address your wounds or I will crawl inside your mind and force it,” he threatened.
I had no choice. Not that I ever stood a chance of fighting the towering Fae male, but now even less so. I wasn’t certain I could even sit up as the lack of adrenaline sapped all my energy.
“Stay awake until I tell you otherwise,” he growled irritably.
I startled, having drifted off.
I felt his warm hands gently ghost up my bare ankle.
“Stop. What are you doing?” A tremor pirouetted in my voice.
“I’m searching for your wounds. Settle down. You are safe now.”
Why was his voice suddenly so rough?
“Yes, of course. Safe at the hands of the Unseelie prince who wants me dead and just attempted to kill me?” I scoffed, trying to pull my leg away from him while I fought to keep my eyes open.
“Stop fighting. I promise that your life is not at risk outside of the trials. The rest of the court would overthrow me if they knew I deprived them of the entertainment of witnessing you die.”
I heard the smile in his voice. It sounded foreign, as if it didn’t show up often.
“Besides, you are the one who aims to kill me. At least you shall be rewarded if you succeed.”
“I am not trying to kill you, for the last time, Mendax, I just—”
Scalding pain shot through my body, jolting my eyes open. The feel of something cold dug against the wound at my thigh.
“I’m sorry it burns, it’s neutralizing the acid. Otherwise, it will continue to eat at your skin,” he said gently as he pressed a cotton cloth to another hole at the top of my thigh.
I fisted the black bed cover and bit down on my lower lip in pain.
“Why are you helping me when you are the reason I have these wounds in the first place?” I asked, rising on my elbows to get a better look.
He stood at the edge of the bed, holding my bare thigh, and my other leg lay just on the other side of him so that he was positioned right between my legs.
“I’m not sure. I can’t seem to help myself.”
His eyes gleamed in the candlelight. He set my leg down gently and replaced it with my arm.
“This is deep, I imagine it’s going to hurt,” he said, looking concerned.
I stared at him. His gentleness was a weapon I hadn’t seen him wield, not even to his mother.
“Where is the king?” I asked.
His throat bobbed slightly, and his face flushed. “King Marco is dead.”
That was not what I had expected. I moved to sit up while he held my left arm gently.
He bent down to kneel on the floor at the side of the bed. He was so tall he still easily reached me.
My foot pressed against his chest, and I moved it to the side on instinct.
I bit my lip when I realized I had just moved my legs to either side of him, basically straddling him while he sat on his knees.
His jaw clenched, and a muscle feathered at the sharp curve. His eyes paused at the shadow my nightgown had formed between my legs.
Smoke unfurled from his back, showcasing his wide wings.
It was intensely intimidating, but also—a part of me longed to touch his wings—they were unbelievably beautiful when you looked past the sharp edge. Like their owner.
What would it be like to have such a bad, heartless man want me? To come apart only for me and no one else. I shook the deranged thoughts from my head.
Desperate to dampen the heat lingering in the air, I asked about his dead father.
“I’m sorry. How did he die?”
“I killed him,” he said calmly.
“Is that truly your answer to everything? Just kill it?” I asked incredulously.
He looked up from where he knelt between my legs and into my eyes with icy resolve. He rested my arm over his shoulder as he leaned over and pressed the compress firmly into the wound on my chest.
I hissed in pain and grabbed at his shoulder as I scowled angrily at him.
“You develop a taste for blood when you’re constantly licking your own wounds,” he stated coldly, still watching me.
His wings pulsed, and the dark smoke feathered but remained spread wide at his back.
He leaned back, still on his knees, and grabbed my waist. With one quick motion, he pulled me until my ass was at the edge of the bed, and he had nestled himself between my legs.
It was probably more terrifying to see him in such a submissive position, though I seriously doubted he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me from where he knelt between my thighs.
He still held my waist as his chest pressed against my center, and my hands fought for purchase on his broad shoulders.
“Why did the humans choose you to destroy me?” he asked, his voice void of all malice as his strong hands left my waist to dab more liquid on the bloodied rag.
I laughed despite myself. “They didn’t.” I rolled my eyes as I sat, looking slightly down at his face. “Trust me when I tell you, I am the last person the humans would send to disarm you.”
His hand steadied warmly again at my waist. The other grazed the wound on my chest.
I grabbed his bicep and bit my lip to block out the intense pain.
His mouth parted as he paused to stare at my lips. “Then, like me, they would have underestimated you.”
The room was still for a moment. I watched him work, unsure of what his words meant.
“Is it always dark here? Don’t you ever miss the sun? How dreary,” I asked, struggling to change the subject and not curl up against his large chest.
He was still a horrible monster even if he happened to be kind to me in this moment.
His hands splayed on the sides of my waist as he pulled me harder against his chest.
We were so close now I could see every gray speckle in his sky-colored eyes, feel every fold and wrinkle of his shirt against my body.
Tension crackled like fire in the air. Both of us fought against something forbidden, something wrong.
He cleared his throat gruffly. “It is never truly sunny, but not always night. Just as it is always different shades of day for the Seelie.” He bristled tensely at the mention of the other Fae realm.
He reached up and touched the back of my head. His eyes flickered shut as he threaded his hands in the back of my hair.
“Until this moment, I’ve never known you could crave something you’ve never wanted,” his voice was thick like honey.
I watched his full lower lip and the creases that adorned it as he spoke as if I’d been hypnotized. My thumb found his lips and moved lightly across the soft linear creases. He abruptly stood to his full towering height, startling me, and I shifted to get off the bed, unsure of what had suddenly happened, but he lightly tightened his grip, still in my hair. Threading his hands through my hair, he tipped my head up to look at him. I instantly tensed, ready to fight him.
“You have a wound on the back of your head. Be still, and we will be done quickly.”
I relaxed, and he loosened his grip slightly.
“That’s it. Good girl.” His voice rasped down on me.
“I still hate you,” I said calmly as I stared at the black fabric that covered his large chest.
“I still need you dead,” he said, but his words were said without venom.
After a few dabs of ointment on my head, he finally let me up and guided me back to my cage.
“Take this,” he said as he handed me the black cloud-like comforter of his bed.
I paused to watch him a moment before taking it into my cage. Was he truly giving me his bedding so I didn’t have to sleep on the hard floor?
“It’s covered in your filthy human blood,” he said as he handed me the fluffy bedding.
“What are you—”
“Rest, Callie. The second trial is tomorrow.”
He turned abruptly and left, not returning for the rest of the night.
