We left the warded grounds at dawn. On the way, Morph explained the hierarchical levels at Elysium and I tried to commit everything I could to memory. It wasn't exactly difficult, the levels I mean, but trying to keep all the important names in my head was the start of a headache. Morph felt it would be useful if I learnt more about them before I actually met them, so it would be easier to interact with the people and I couldn't help but listen. He was trying to help me. Nyx and Bren had made up, well, not to be haughty but I think she might've taken my advice because they were back to being all smoochy mushy lovey dovey and I was beginning to regret the fact that I'd intervened. We rode and only stopped for bathroom breaks(which was mostly me and hell if did not I feel embarrassed every time). After a whole day of riding, I felt extremely sore and exhausted but we didn't stop for camp. At the end of the second day on the way, I lost balance and fell off my hors
Dameon She knew I was here, even if I cloaked my presence. She didn't find me though. She found him going up the stairs with that pretty creature and it was written all over her face, what she thought they had gone up there for. If she had her Fae hearing, she would know she was going up there to set a cot in the room. I can smell what they are. It's driving me insane. I would kill him... but in his eyes, I see a beast lurking within, waiting to be unleashed. He is not a regular Fae. He is something more. He and the rest of them she now sees as family. Each one of them, their auras look very different from the rest of their kind. He's come back. I need not look to know he's by the stairs, watching her like I am. Only the weak wouldn't be able to sense that much amount of energy around them. Fools such as the ones in the tavern. His glowing eyes are looking around the unimpressive inn, for me, but he can't see me. There is laughter and I look to where
I watched the scene unfold through Zephyros's eyes. I eyed the man who looked very much like my father and the woman who stood beside him warily. I smelled the blood of the villagers on them and there was murder in their eyes as they took my mother in and me. I almost laughed. Did they really think they could harm our people and leave this place alive? Such display of foolishness. I looked to my mother who regarded them with calculating turquoise depths that I knew were older than the grains of sand on the earth. Her eyes narrowed to the young male and the blood on his ivory jacket and back to his mother. I frowned when she made no move to rip their hearts out for what they had done. "Bloody wench!" The man spat at my mother. A growl escaped my throat as the beast in me rattled. No one insulted my mother, much less a puny creature like this one. I began to step forward but my mother slanted her eyes at me in a way I had seen her look many a times. "What are you doing?" I growled
I clutched his jacket hard and placed my head on his chest as i felt the familiar dizziness. I closed my eyes tight, expecting the wild wind and the jumps but none of it came. In its stead, there was gentle breeze. I cracked one eye open and closed it immediately. We were still moving through places, at great speed. How was it so calm and gentle when the last time... Ah-ah. No, he did not! He had done all of that on purpose! His grip on my waist loosened and at the sound of claps and low voices, i knew we had arrived. I detached myself from him like he was plague and angrily smoothened my already smooth dress. I glared daggers at him and he regarded me with his usual cold expression and maybe even annoyance. Well, i had apologized. For the one bad thing i did, i apologized, and him? He was too haughty to apologize for anything he had done to me or said and he could as well go jump off the nearest cliff or a high mountain because i did not care anymore. I gave my bac
Lord Vas paced about in his study with his arm folded and the other touching his chin. He would occasionally pause mid pace and narrow his eyes at me then begin to pace again. Zephyros had explained where i was from and everything else I had made known, only leaving out a few facts I suppose I was supposed to tell myself. My back hurt from sitting in one position for two hours but if I was not sitting that way, I would have fallen asleep. Well, I had. Thrice now. I had found my head twice on Zephyros's shoulder and the side of my mouth wet. I had drooled on his jacket. Twice. Embarrassed, I had apologized and he merely gave me an odd look. I wondered why he had not pushed me off of him or glamoured the drool off. Maybe to spite me because every time I looked at his jacket, my cheeks burned with embarrassment. The third time, I had been nodding off on the chair, just the way I was seated. My eyes drooped lower again and my breathing evened as I was beginning to doze
The door swung open while I still stood by the huge mirror, looking at my bruised neck. I turned away from the mirror swiftly as soon as i identified it to be Zephyros. He might hate me but he sure would not like the bruises on my neck. The Lesser Fae at the revel might think he was rough with me or they might even imagine worse things like intimacy and copulation. At one of the courtesan houses i had passed by at Avalor, i had seen one of the whores wearing a collar around her neck and the male was doing things with it that i would rather not remember. "Da--" I started off to the bathroom to wait it out, by it i meant the slow healing i had but Zephyros sifted in front of the bathroom door and leaned against the door with folded arms and eyes narrowed. "You are acting strange."He noted. I wrapped my hand around my neck, hoping to hide the bruises. "How so?" I asked, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. "You are--"His eyes slid down to my ex
I stumbled forward in the thick darkness and tightened my hold on Nyx's hand. I heard a snap and torches lit the cave, leading a path downwards into further darkness. Small stones were scattered about and the rocky walls had carvings, writings and symbols on them. "Where are we?" I whispered, yet the cave carried my voice around in echoes. "Before we built, we lived in caves." She laughed and the orange hue of the torches danced in her silver eyes when I arched a questioning brow at her that said, 'Just how old are you'. "Not me Danae. By we, I meant the Fae and everyone else but first, the Fae." I released her hand and started to walk towards the carvings, tracing each drawing on the cold wall with my finger tips. There were writings under the carvings, similar to the forgotten language but this was more complex and I did not have all the time in the world to separate each character and put them back together again. So I looked at the carvings instead and found
"This is prepostorous!" The winged man said and spat at the floor beside him. "Fae can not lead us!"Voices rose from around the hall,arguing, but that's what they all were. Just voices. I was frozen momentarily, hearing my blood rush in my ears. There was a crown on my head and as feathery light as it was, I felt the weight of it on my shoulders. My head. My body. Everywhere. I couldn't. It was too much. I started to lose sense of where I was as the edges of my vision started to darken due to the loss of air. I didn't want it. I didn't want to. I gasped as I tried and failed to breathe. I had heard of such illnesses but it had never occurred to me that it could exist. I was panicking and I knew I was going to pass out if I didn't breathe soon. Something slammed into me and I cried out. My body felt like it was being crushed underneath boulders and at the same time, it felt like I was being stabbed. The hall left my view momentarily and in its place, I saw the earth. The lush greenn
I stood before a large oak tree with my back turned to Zephyros. He had brought me here a moment ago after taking me from Tymon's without my permission. I had predicted something like this. His restraint burned to ashes the moment he saw me in the fighting leathers. I just hadn't predicted he would bring me to the middle of nowhere i could recognize. I felt him behind me,a steady wall of heat that threatened to warm me up from the inside,dare i let it. I closed my eyes as a familiar thrill built up inside me. I could not afford for him to smell my need. Control. I needed to control myself else my skin would light up again. It was difficult but with ice in my core and steel for bones, i turned around and met his predatory gaze with cold eyes. "Why have you brought me here?"My question came out as a song,silencing the birds that chirped in the air and the wind that howled in the distance,each word coming out an octave higher than the last. He gave me a knowing lo
"Why?" I asked with a yawn. My joints and muscles ached from the transformation and the cold. I held the quilt tighter and waited for her reply. She was silent for a long time and I found myself already dozing before she finally said, "Rest. You are tired." I did not protest as her voice was a lull on its own. I fell into dreamless sleep and for the first time in years, I felt like I was being looked after. I awoke shortly after to the sound of raised voices outside my room. I squinted at the brightness and looked out the square window. It was morning already yet I felt like I hadn't slept in days. The voices grew louder, causing my focus to shift from the window. I stared at the door and lifted my right hand. I cocked my head slightly before pointing at the door and glamouring it without so much as a thought. The voices grew distant until all i could hear were the birds chirping from far away. I sighed and drew the covers over my head. I dozed, only to be awoken by something slamming
Zephyros "You will go and bring her back this instant!" My cousin yelled again and I cringed inwardly at her foul display of childishness but made no effort to reply her. I gripped my pen hard yet not enough to break it. I had cut down men, impaled my enemies on stakes, burned lands and lands that housed creatures that threatened my kind, surely, a cranky woman... Or three cranky women were nothing to me. "The situation at Gantreth?" I question Bren, scribbling down a message for their scrawny leader. As per tradition, to visit a land, you must notify and gain permission first. Showing up and tearing down their gates would have been easier but Father refuses violence. I am a creature of violence and he continuously tries to hold me down. You're brooding. You should go bring her back, Zephyr. I didn't need to look up to know Bren was frowning down at me. I could hear it in his voice. Feel him in my head even. I frowned mentally at him and pulled my mental s
I snorted. "I know what I look like. You are not it." It rumbled again. "You tell fine jokes, child. Without me, you are nothing. Look closely. Tell me what you see. Who you see." I peered up at its bright eyes. It blinked and its slitted gold turned blue, like its scales... I paused. Those eyes... The time I'd invaded Dameon's thoughts, I had seen me with them but I had disregarded it, knowing I didn't have blue eyes. Looking closer at its hairy scales made me want to touch my hair. They were the same color. I snorted. My mind was playing tricks on me. I would know if I was a... A... I frowned again. What was it? "What are you? Do you have a name?" I asked again. "I am you." It repeated in thick layers. I tried to growl but I ended up making an embarrassing sound. It merely watched me with wise old eyes. How was I supposed to ask it questions if it kept giving vague and odd answers? I rubbed my forehead with my thumb. If it thought it was me
My body jerked as he yanked out the sword, cutting through flesh and no doubt bones. I choked again and coughed as I staggered backwards, staring at nothing but my brother's face. An illusion. It had to be. He was dead. He was dead. I fell on my knees as my surroundings started to darken. Was it getting dimmer or was I starting to black out? I placed my hands on the gash and coughed again. The metallic tang in mouth tasted so disgusting I had to spit it out. I looked up. It was him. Kevan. Grown. Fully grown into a man. His eyes were so cold and distant. He smiled down at me and I noticed the fangs in his mouth. Fangs? The tip of his ears were rounded like a human. His hair was long but not the Fae kind of length. He looked ordinary, yet not. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Bren inching towards him with a raised sword. "No!" I cried. He paused, fuming. "No?! He harmed my mate!" His voice came out in layers, making the ground vibrate. His eyes... T
Nyxaria's lips compressed into a thin white edged line. "No. That isn't right. Maybe... Maybe you aren't feeling well. There can not be Faebane here." I blinked uncomprehendingly. "You think I wouldn't know if I was ill?" I pointed at the entrance. "There is something wrong here Nyx. I am not ill." She made an impatient sound and her eyes narrowed. "You don't understand. It is near to impossible that Faebane be in this building. The security--" I inched forward. "Wasn't the security high in Alfheim as well? Yet, somehow, the entire hall got drugged and had no explanation for it. This," I pointed at the entrance again, " This is an actual explanation Nyx. If there is anything I've leant, it's that there's no such thing as impossible." Nyx's eyebrow pulled together in the biggest frown I'd ever seen on her face and her silver eyes burned with anger. "There is no--" Vivi dove between us and held both her hands up in front of her. "Okay. Okay. Calm your h
I got through training, though my thoughts were distorted. I found it hard to concentrate and I had to apologize to Kyria over and over again. It got harder when at the end of it all, I could not do a thing. "Do not berate yourself about it. You made major progress today. A little more practice and you will be perfect at it."Lord Vas wrapped his arm around my shoulder and patted my head on the way out. "Lord Vas. Lady Danae. My my, isn't this lovely?" Tymon walked in through the huge doors, arms spread out like he was expecting a hug. I cocked my head and Lord Vas retracted his arm that rested on my neck. I heard Zephyros's growl behind me and chose to ignore it. "Tym, you are late." Anya quipped beside me, nose buried in another book bigger than her heart shaped face. The girl-woman never stopped reading. Tym's eyebrows rose and he gave that lopsided grin again. "Am I? The lesson's just about to begin."★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ Having Tymon host me was not
Katherine I toyed with the dagger in my hands as we strode to the stables. The horses were unnecessary but it was one of those days. I wanted my slaves to look upon their Queen. My other purpose was strengthening the barrier again. If Leandros was who my grandmother made him out to be, it would be a smart enough move for him to try intrude my lands now. I could not have that yet. Especially not with the resent losses I incurred with the mission. I clenched the dagger tightly with simmering rage. "How many did we lose?"I asked again. "None came back alive, my Queen." Adrienne answered again for the fifth time. I clenched my jaw. "You have investigated like I told you to?" "Yes, my Queen. Our sources tell me it was the dragon. He burned them alive at once." I swiveled and glared at Adrienne. "Did they not tell us Neradia would be unguarded?! Did they not tell us the one with ichor in his veins would be away?!" I screamed. His eyes widened and he b
The pungent smell of Faerie fruit was enough to make me befuddled. I refused the sixth cup that was offered to me, knowing how good I was at holding my liquor. I sat beside Lord Vas and his family on the dias, sticking to the left side of him and being forced to watch how crude the Lesser Fae really were when Faerie fruit was involved. "I must thank thee, My Lord!"A drunk Sylph with wickedly handsome features grinned and bowed clumsily, nearly toppling over the two Nymphs that he held by their waists. The first with long green hair kissed his face and neck, occasionally pinching her nipples through the thin silver fabric she wore. The other fumbled with his jacket and let out a growl when she could not take it off. She looked down and giggled before grabbing his crotch. "Patience pet." The male growled before moving away with his drunken companions. It was not the first nor was it the worst i had seen that night. I avoided gazing at the left corner of t