Mendax
I watched Callie closely.
Every time the carriage hit a bump, her cleavage shifted, making it hard to think straight. Had we not been sitting across from my mother, I’m not certain I could have resisted her in the tight red dress she wore. It hugged every curve of her soft body like a glove. The parts it didn’t hug, I imagined in my mind, and it was almost too much for me to take. She smelled like amber and spice, not her usual lavender.
They had accidentally used my soap on her instead of her own.
Gods, did I like the way she smelled with me all over her.
I especially liked how every other Fae tonight would smell only me when they were near her. They would know she was my pet.
I was losing the fight my soul waged against her. Every breath she took, another strand of my fight seemed to perish. Her words—her mind—her soft skin, it was taking over all of me.
I had hoped after I got a taste of her, my mind would finally be free of her, but that proved far from the outcome. As soon as I tasted her sweetness, I wanted—needed—more. Each wall of the fortress in my mind crumbled with her presence no matter how hard I fought against it. It was maddening! If she didn’t die soon, I feared she would be my greatest weakness, and I couldn’t afford to have any weaknesses, especially not with the throne open.
Tonight’s trial would be a fast, speedy death for her. Even now, the blood in my body fought against the idea of her death. I had always wanted to feel something—anything. Then out of nowhere, this human sparked a fire of need inside me where it once had been empty and cold.
“Why again could we not have shadowed to the Faerie court? The girl could have been driven alone,” the queen grumbled as she scowled at Callie across the plush bench.
“Because, as you know, they have wards up to prevent us from shadowing in unannounced, and even though I’m still quite sure, as Smoke Slayers, we could easily breech it, tensions already run high with the elf and Seelie royals already there,” I stated cooly, though my fist clenched just at the thought of the Seelie Fae looking at Callie.
“I could do it right now,” the queen said. Her eyes twinkled with mischief.
I knew exactly what she spoke of.
“You will do no such thing. I will not be bonded. Period,” I barked back.
Callie froze at the mention.
Interesting.
The queen pursed her lips. “I don’t need your permission, dear. As your queen, I can do what I see fit, whether you like it or not.”
Still just a cat, toying with a mouse, even if the mouse was her son.
“I’m right here. Stop speaking about me as if I’m not sitting right in front of you,” Callie bit out at the queen.
Gods alive, she was stunning when she let that fire flow. There was a darkness in her that fueled her flame, and I felt it with my soul.
“You won’t be for long if you speak to me like that again,” the queen growled.
Had I not been her son, I might have missed the flickered eyebrow of surprised respect.
“I will not be bonded to him. I’d rather die than be trapped here with him forever,” Callie spat out.
“That’s sort of the plan,” the queen chuckled darkly before the carriage stopped.
Something uncomfortable bloomed in my chest with her disapproval of bonding to me. I strongly disliked it. Why was she so against bonding to me? How could a human not want the powers she would possess? Most would beg for it.
I quickly escaped the confines of the conversation and helped the women out of the carriage and into the sizable stone castle of the Court of Faerie.
Immediately upon entering, I spotted the separation of the different kingdoms. The elves had surrounded their white-haired king and queen, every last one of them draped in flowing white and gold traditional robes. In the back were a few of the smaller royals, the less important ones.
My eyes caught with fiery gold stares as I took in the Seelie princes at the back of the large ballroom. Remembrance of Callie mentioning their golden fox forms saving her life flashed in my mind. Whatever they wanted with her, they wouldn’t get. She was mine now. They practically glowed amber from being in the sunlight so long. After everything, I loathed them almost as much as my mother did.
I quickly scanned the area searching for the Seelie Queen Saracen or the younger princess but found only the two princes had shown from the Seelie royals.
Good. I didn’t need to diffuse another war between the two queens today.
I sized up the two brothers. Aurelius was the taller brother, though still not at tall as me. Langmure was more muscular, but in a lean “I run away a lot” sort of way. They both wore the typical Seelie dress, all white with a gold crown atop each of their obnoxiously blonde heads. I had refused my crown tonight. They all knew who I was, I didn’t need a crown to evoke what their nightmares reminded them of.
Aurelius downright gawked as his eyes found Callie behind me. I watched as pure desire flooded his golden eyes. His flaxen-feathered wings popped out from behind his back, startling his brother and everyone else in the room as he stared at my pet.
A male Fae’s wings only appeared when they wanted to fuck or fight.
Darkness shadowed the light as my own wings snapped out. I stepped in front of Callie, and the action drew Aurelius’s stare to me with a small smirk as he and his brother walked to the center of the room to meet us, wings still spread.
“So it’s true then,” Langmure stated as he glared at me. To his benefit, he didn’t look intimidated like most. Idiot. “We heard that you held a captive human, but I thought even for you that was awfully low.” Even if they knew more, they wouldn’t admit to anything here at the Court of Faerie.
“We hope that you have been treated well,” Aurelius moved in front of his brother to take Callie’s hand. His broad golden wings almost knocked his brother down.
“I uh—” Callie stared wide-eyed before I shoved her behind me.
“I suggest you go to that far back corner with your brother and stop touching what’s mine unless you want your throat slit, Aurelius. Whatever your interest in the human, it ends now,” I growled.
Langmure’s wings unfurled with a smile.
“How sweet, the monster has fallen in love with the human,” Langmore mocked as he stepped closer to get in my face.
My blood itched—screamed—to break his neck, even though it would cause a small war we couldn’t afford to be in right now. The Court of Faerie was supposed to be neutral territory.
I had been so focused on Langmore in my face that I hadn’t noticed Aurelius had moved behind me and pulled Callie to his side, gripping her close.
Her eyes connected with mine, full of fear and something else I couldn’t place.
“Remove your hand, or you are as good as dead, Aurelius,” I warned.
Darkness seethed and smoked from my every pore as it clouded the room.
“As you’ve brought a captive human to the Court of Faerie, it is our duty to make sure she gets back to the human realm safely. We have every right to take her Mendax, and you know it.” Langmore smiled smugly, clearly enjoying this.
The entire room was hushed, frozen and tense as they watched us. We had walked right into this.
“She comes with us. Let’s go,” Aurelius said as he moved Callie toward the door.
She was stunned as she stared at me. Far too weak to do anything against the strong Fae male. Even if he had not had the strength gifted to Fae royals, she was no match for him.
His hand snaked around her middle as he pulled her back against him and toward the door, his wings spreading wider the more his hand touched her body. He leaned down to whisper something against the crook of her neck, and the golden feathers trembled.
Seeing the other male touch her sent a thundering crackle of rage through me like nothing I’d ever felt.
Every vein in my body vibrated with the unbridled need to get him away from her. What if they took her away from me?
Letting out a snarl, I grabbed Langmure’s head and ripped it from his body.
A loud crack broke the air as his spinal cord severed. Smoke flowed from my hands like a tornado, shredding Langmure’s Seelie body and sending pieces of him everywhere. His gold blood speckled the room and every person in it.
I would not let them have her. War or not.
I shadowed behind Aurelius, now the only living Seelie prince. The room gasped and screamed, knowing how strong you had to be if capable of shadowing in the Court of Faerie itself.
I reached out to grab Aurelius’s throat, and he struggled to wrap his wings protectively around Callie. How saintly of him.
It made me feral seeing him attempt to shield her from me.
She was mine.
He was the only one I would hurt.
“Enough!” shouted my mother as she walked closer to us.
She grabbed Callie and pulled her away from the Seelie. Even her grabbing Callie sent a bolt of protectiveness through me.
“We have every right to take her home Queen Tenebris,” he stated, staring at the human before he turned his attention to me. His wings strained as they were now spread so wide. “You have killed the crown prince of Seelie. Over a human. You have just started a war you will not win. You don’t even have a king,” he threatened, breathing heavily.
He was right, and I knew it.
I was going against the Fae laws in keeping her captive. He had every right to take her and return her to the human realm.
I saw the lust in his eyes though. Humans were like an exotic prize to most male Fae, and this was no different. He was taking her for himself.
“We are bonded,” I stammered quickly.
“What?” the queen and Callie gasped in unison.
“We are bonded. NOW mother! Do it now!” I urgently demanded as I spared a glance at my shocked mother.
She was quick, though, and didn’t hesitate for a second to grab both of our hands. She closed her eyes as the entire room darkened.
“No! Please! Stop!” Callie fought desperately to free herself from the queen’s grip as she looked between me and the Seelie.
I didn’t care.
Even if only for a few hours of my life, she would be mine in every way.
My heart squeezed unfamiliarly at the thought of her being tied to me for the rest of her short life.
The room swirled and darkened as lightning flashed and thunder rumbled inside the room. The crowd screamed as smoke, thick and heavy, swirled like a squall surrounding everyone.
Energy crackled. I felt something swell in my chest with a shock. It felt like lightning shot through my system and straight into Callie’s as it left us both struggling for air.
The smoke cleared, and the darkness in the room receded.
“We are bonded,” I panted, freeing my hand. “She is my future wife now, Aurelius, and I can and will do anything to her I like,” I said, stepping chest to chest with the Seelie prince with a deeply satisfied grin.
Something inside me felt filled, no longer hollow. It felt like an amber moon glowed through my skin.
“No! Please,” Callie pleaded. She ran to where I stood and grabbed my arm, shaking it frantically. “Please! You can’t do this to me! I want to go back! I don’t want to stay with you!” she cried harshly, and something newly built inside me broke with her words.
Of course she wouldn’t return whatever brainless feelings I had formed. She had been conditioned to kill me as an assassin.
The Seelie had been right. I had just created a war over a human, and that realization finally unraveled me. Her poison had completely invaded me.
I felt unhinged with fury at the realization that I was falling in love with her.
I looked to my mother in a panic needing her gone more now than ever. “Start the trial now. If she completes them, she will be returned unharmed to the humans, bonded or not.”
“But then ho—” the queen argued.
“Now!” The walls rattled as the room shook with my intensity.
Everyone flinched and hid except for the queen and Callie. Aurelius had already disappeared red-faced.
The human stared at me disbelieving, but I saw it. Hidden behind her tears and pleas, her angry fire fought to emerge. Fought to unleash itself upon me.
I knew in that very moment I was so deeply in love with her, and she would be the one thing capable of my demise. The weak point in my unbreakable armor. I stared at her, and it scared me to death. It scared me to death what I wouldn’t do for her.
I clenched my fists so hard I felt my knuckles strain in an effort to be free from my skin.
“The second trial starts now. The game is afoot,” I growled at her as we shot daggers into each other’s eyes.
She had ruined me, and I would make sure I ruined her.
