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Chapter Seven
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The Villain's Hero Chapter Eight
At the top of the stairs a central corridor was framed on either side by pretty bedrooms, each still holding elaborately carved beds, the curtains and bedding covered in a layer of dust, but otherwise untouched by time, protected from the elements by the window glass and solid roof. The chest at the end of the bed still held clothing, no more than two decades out of fashion and of rich appointment. The dressing table held hair pins, hairbrush, jewellery, and cosmetics.“What happened to these people?” I wondered.Aien shook his head.The third bedroom was a nursery, and from the scattering of wooden toys on the ground, and the half open drawers, the rumpled blanket in the cot, was evidence that the room had been in use when the house had been abandoned.“Oh,” I said softly. “That is…”Aien closed the door to the room. “They left,” he told me firmly. “The family here left the house together. Perhaps they left due to the monsters?”“There was…” I swallowed hard. “Well, a lot of things h
The Villain's Hero Chapter Nine
Rapunzel emerged from the curtained bed slowly, sliding until she sat on the end of the mattress, her elegant gown rumpled and gathered around her, showing that her feet were bare. “I am a prisoner here,” she told us with wide eyed earnestness. “And have been since the first year of my life.“This is my family home. My father was a landed gentleman with a small farm. Nothing extraordinary, but enough to support his family in comfort. However, my mother became sick, and in desperation, he sought out a renowned witch who lived within Nerith, by the name of Gerveine, who was known to have a magic potion that could cure all ills made of a rare flower.“Gerveine granted his wish, and made him a potion, but in exchange for me,” Rapunzel touched her fingertips to her hair. “As, when I was born, my fairy godmother blessed me with magical hair capable of sewing any wound closed as if it never existed. Gerveine takes a few strands every time she visits, which she sells to kings and heroes headi
The Villain's Hero Chapter Ten
“Up to?” I repeated trying for innocence. “I don’t think I know what you mean.”“Mhm. I was very flattered when your parents named you after me,” Daerton stepped over the bench and sat next to me. “And I have been nothing but proud of the young woman that I have watched grow ever since. But I must admit, never so proud as a few moments ago when you manipulated that fool of a knight into doing precisely what you wanted him to do,” he nodded around his smile. “Whilst preventing him from beating your mage to a pulp.”“I… Ah,” I felt my cheeks heat. “Aien isn’t my mage.”“Darling girl,” Daerton drawled. “As a mage myself, I recognize when another of my ilk becomes a liegeman. I remember the moment that your mother won me as her mage. We were traveling in a wagon, watching your father flying overhead, and she compared her crown to a shackle, and herself to a sacrificial lamb. I realized then that my magic was hers, that there never would be another Queen or King whom I could serve with as
The Villain's Hero Chapter Eleven
He took the soap and lathered his hands generously, before sliding them over my skin. Beneath the slip of the soap, I could feel the slight rasp of the callouses on his palms. As I had done, he stroked over my shoulders and back, down to my waist, before stroking over my chest. His breathing was heavy, and I could feel the throb of him against my back as he moved closer.He cupped me between his legs, his knees bent due to the close confinement of the tub, and I rested my hands upon his knees, feeling the shift of bone, and the tickle of hair against my fingertips. His hands sculpted over my breasts, his thumbs stroking over the nipples.“Oh,” I sighed the moan.“Amazing,” he whispered, his voice catching hoarsely. “So beautiful.”That betraying vocal catch sent shivers of need across my skin, raising my hair. His hand stroked over the soft curve of my stomach to cup me lower, his fingers discovering my secrets. I felt him swallow on his groan.“Tell me…” He swallowed again, fighting
The Villain's Hero Chapter Twelve
I helped Rapunzel to climb down the vines on the side of the tower.“This is not how I imagined this would be!” She complained to me as we descended.“How did you imagine it would be?” I wondered. I had an idea; my head having been filled with the same stories since childhood. “Liam would ride in upon a noble steed, draw his sword, climb the tower, throw you over his shoulder before descending and whisking you away to the castle that he owns that overlooks a beautiful town and possibly a beach?”“Well… yes actually,” she paused in her climb to look at me in surprise. “Isn’t that the proper way of things?”“Hmmm,” I pulled a face. “Not really. I guess. Maybe?”“Really?” She demanded. “That’s your answer?”“I’m… I’m just not qualified to answer the question,” I admitted. “I am a princess, but I’m fifth in line for the throne. My mother is mostly human, but my father is most definitely not. Most of my siblings take after him, although I don’t. And so, the proper way of things really hasn
The Villain's Hero Chapter Thirteen
The door shuddering against the bolt jerked Aien awake. Our eyes met and we smothered our laughter against each other’s skin, our hair tumbling over our faces as we rolled within the warmth of the blankets, laughter turning to kisses.“Daethie!” It was Tarragon on the other side of the door and that broke us apart. “Open the door!”“Shit,” I whispered sitting up in the bed and looking around the room frantically. Aien slid out of the bed in a tangle of long limbs, retrieving his clothing and pulling it on. I saw his eyes go to the door, but I shook my head. “She will see.”This was Tarragon - not servants, but a dragon with a dragon’s canning. A lover hiding behind the door would not be missed.“Under the bed!” I told him before raising my voice: “A moment Tarra! The door is locked for a reason!” I hurriedly pulled the bed to order and hurried to the wash bowl, splashing my face before dashing to my chest and pulling on my clothing.The bathing box was at the top of the chest, and I g
The Villain's Hero Chapter Fourteen
“Daethie,” Aien stroked my hair back from my face. I opened my eyes. It was still dark, and his face was almost obscured in the shadows of the room, picked out by the fragile light of the embers of the fire. “It’s just dawn,” he told me.I rolled out of bed automatically. It had become the pattern of our mornings, to wake early and leave the castle before it stirred to the day and return to have our evening meal in the kitchen with the servants, avoiding anyone who might have noticed our absence during the day. It would not last, I knew. Our absence had to have been noticed. Whilst they could not find us, they could not punish us for our truancy, but sooner or later someone would decide that enough was enough and would go out of their way to trap us on our way in and out, and demand answers as to what we did.Aien slipped out of the room to go to his own as I used the chamber pot and splashed water on my face before dressing, pulling on my heaviest cloak against a morning that I knew
The Villain's Hero Chapter Fifteen
“It’s snowing,” Aien murmured against my hair. We lay naked in the master bedroom, on top of the covers, the fireplace against the wall crackling cheerfully keeping the room warm although Aien was right and fragile drifts of snow drifted past the windows.“So it is,” I agreed, content to lay and watch it fall.The bedroom was vastly different from how it had been just over a month before. The former owner’s possessions had been removed and placed in chests in the attic, and we had wiped the surfaces clean, evicted the spiders, and had well and truly claimed the bed as our own. Our chests of clothing stood side by side against the wall, the lid of mine still open.The firewood was tumbled over the hearth carelessly in evidence that Aien’s arrival with it had interrupted my unpacking, leading to the breadcrumb trail of clothing strewn over the floor and the two of us lazy and naked upon the bed.“We should get up,” he sighed. “Make sure everything is ready outside before the snow sets i
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The Villain's Hero Chapter Fifty
“No,” Ecaeris looked at me in surprise. “No Daethie, I don’t believe you are meant to die. I didn’t believe that Tarragon was destined for death, either. Do you think so little of us all – the Fae royal family, your own parents – to think that we would send Tarragon, your brothers, yourself, and Aien blithely off to die? No,” she reached out and gripped my shoulder. “If that had been in our thoughts, we would have come on the campaign and done all that we could to protect you all.” “Oh,” I crumpled, weeping. “Oh, Daethie,” Ecaeris shook me slightly. “Foolish children,” she tsked. “You never told Tarragon,” I pointed out. “She has thought all this time that the lamb would die to end the slaughter, but there is no end...” Ecaeris winced and blew out a breath. “We did not anticipate that she would interpret the prophecy in such a way, and the intention behind keeping that part to ourselves was to keep the population hopeful whilst we trained her to fulfill her role. She never spoke to
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Nine
We arrived at the stronghold with Shara landing heavily in the courtyard now bare of statues. Shara waited for us to dismount before returning to the air, making the flight back towards the camp. I wondered what she had made of our conversation – she would have heard every word that Aien and I had said, and yet she had remained silent, allowing us to speak with the illusion of privacy.We were immediately surrounded by concerned servants. Much had changed at the stronghold I saw as we were hastened up into the hall. It was clean, the shutters open to admit the light, and the fires and torches lit. There were vases heavy with greenery, bright tapestries on the walls and rugs beneath our feet. The scent of food cooking made my stomach rumble.The stronghold had come alive, like the statues from the courtyard.It was not to Aien’s mother’s chamber that I was led but another, less grand, but only just, and it was more than ample for my needs. In the busyness of the maids who hastened to t
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Eight
I woke with Aien wrapped tightly around me. I closed my eyes tightly against the day and buried my face into his chest, determined to stay and appreciate the warmth for as long as possible. We had arrived back to camp deep into the night, too dazed with exhaustion to do more than stagger into the tent and fall into the nest that he had built…“Why a nest?” I murmured.“What?” He was groggy with sleep, his movements languorous as he shifted against me, drawing me even closer as if he sought to press me within his very skin and bone.“This isn’t a bed,” I told him. “It’s a nest, such as female dragons build for…” I trailed off, vulnerable. It had always been my most dominant dragonish trait, the one behavior that was all instinct and had not been learned.Tarragon had never shown that particular inclination and Shara was too young. Our brothers and father were male, and it had always been a female dragon trait – the males built treasure hordes, whilst female dragons built cozy nests in
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Seven
There were far too many, I thought in panic, and they seemed to keep coming from the trees in an endless stream. The small monsters the size of a big man like my father in man-form were so quick, whilst the larger ones followed behind, their dragon-size intimidating.I propelled myself up and forward with my wings, meeting the front-line of the small monsters beyond the ring of stones, as far from Tarragon as I could. The blade of my sword flashed as I landed amongst them. It took a moment for those at the front to turn, and I was already in the thick of sharp legs, snapping mandibles, and spiny carapaces.The moves that I had learned by rote in Nerith but had never mastered flowed through me effortlessly. I dodged, and dove, slicing with Intuin Desparen, carving through legs and bodies, spraying blood and gore in heavy streams that arced from the tip of the blade and rained back down over me, covering me in the foul liquid.As the larger creatures reached the battle, I broke free, so
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Six
I ignored Tarragon, and she sighed in heavy disapproval. “So stubborn,” she muttered in dragon. “You get that from our mother.”“With the four of you on one side, and Shara on the other, I have to be stubborn, or I’d never get my way,” I pointed out.She laughed, the tension between us breaking, and then pulled her horse to a standstill. “Do you hear that?” She asked, barely at a whisper.“Hear what?” I listened intently. The trees around us were still and silent. The rustle of the dried leaf matter and the music of leaves and branches, as the wind stirred through the forest, seemed overly loud. “There are no birds,” I whispered the words realizing that these sounds were normally muted by the ever-moving wildlife. It was as if everything living in the area had left. “There are no creatures in the trees.”“Yes,” she murmured it quietly. “Frightened away or eaten? Dae,” she added solemnly. “I think that we are very close. This may be your last chance…”I raised my eyebrows. “Stubborn, r
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Five
It took a while to pack clothing, bandages, and medical supplies into bags that Rue, Caraway, and Perditha could carry. We rigged straps around Valerian in dragon form in case either Rue or Caraway lost consciousness during the journey. Whilst a dragon was capable of catching a falling rider mid-air, the maneuver required to do so could unseat other passengers. We contemplated having Valerian carry Caraway or Rue in his claws, but doing so for such a long time would cause cramps and impact Valerian’s ability to land carefully enough for his other passengers.Rue and Caraway protested being tied to Valerian’s back like babes, but Perditha and I would have none of it, and they sulked as they knotted the ropes around them. Still, I saw both grip their bindings for support as Valerian, heavy with so many passengers, leaped into the air.The wind of Valerian’s wing strokes blew back my hair and sent my skirts to snapping around my legs and in the field I saw Aien and the few workers who re
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Four
I woke against Aien’s chest, and for a moment thought that we were back in the farmhouse. I was warm and comfortable curled up with him, his heartbeat under my palm and his steady breath stirring my hair. My mind drew a picture of our bedroom there, the sun bright through the window on the scuffed and bleached floorboards, the heavy wooden bed that creaked under our lovemaking, and the little fireplace with its stack of wood laid by ready for a cold day.But the sounds did not match my memory. There was no sound of a farm waking, no birdcall from the trees, the goats complaining about captivity, and chickens squawking about their morning eggs. No, there was the ever-present flap of canvas in the wind, the creak of rope straining under the pressure, and the distant whisper of the river.We were at the camp, I realized as the softness of dream faded into reality. We were at the camp on campaign, and I was in Aien’s little nest in the entrance to Rue’s tent. I would need to rise soon and
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Three
The night was not still, and my tears were interrupted by the sounds of tents being dismantled, hasty whispers and rustles, followed by the creak of wagons and the hollow fall of horse-hooves. Aien and I both stilled, listening. A man called out, challenging those leaving, arguing that abandoning the campaign was cowardice. They called him a fool and encouraged him to join them before continuing undeterred. I gripped Aien’s shirt in both fists and leaned my forehead against the warmth of his chest. He stroked his hands up and down my back. “Perhaps…” He said into my hair. “Tomorrow we may go too, Daethie…?” “Perhaps.” I didn’t want to think about the morning. Lying pressed against Aien, feeling his body against mine with just the finest layers of cloth between us made me ache for him. I was not alone, his desire evident where our tangled legs brought our hips together. I slowly lifted my head, looking up at him. His hand shook as he stroked my hair back from my face and his face sof
The Villain's Hero Chapter Forty-Two
Tarragon was drunk.The knights and camp followers who had gathered around the fire to ease their weariness with food and ale clustered on the opposite side of the flames to where she sat staring into the glowing embers, a jug of spirit held in one hand. Her dragon-nature was on full display in her stillness, the flames echoed in her eyes, and her jaw grimly set.It took a considerable amount of effort and alcohol for a dragon to become intoxicated. I had only ever seen my father tipsy on a few rare occasions, and never morosely so. When our father drank enough to affect himself, he would speak freely of his past, his childhood, and his people, sing the refrains of ancient songs that he only half-remembered, and then he would wrap his arms around our mother and whisper to her in Fae until they crept away to make another sibling for our family.My brothers and Tarragon regularly drank, but only into joviality, until they sang songs of war, or gambled ridiculous wagers, let their knight
