18. Mendax
18
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I t felt nice to be enveloped in the darkness of Arcanus Lane. I felt at home in the shadows and the unseen and had spent far too much time in the harsh sun during these travels. Not having my full powers made me feel weak and helpless, something I’d never experienced before. I didn’t like it. Feeling the shadows lick at my darkness made me feel more myself than I had since I’d been in Unseelie.
I was ready for this to end. I was absolutely sick and tired of wandering around like a bunch of helpless sheep. It was not my idea of an enjoyable time watching my queen with another man. Though even I had to admit that it was quite obvious how much he cared for her—in a very nonromantic way. He’d seemed to have changed his intentions along the journey, and it was clear even to me that he really didn’t have any thoughts past friendship with Caly. I wondered if that bothered her or if the timing of it all truly had been mutual. It didn’t matter. I was still going to kill him.
I had been quiet on this journey, watching and waiting for when it would finally come to an end. I knew Caly better than both her and Aurelius combined. She was going to fall on the sword. Somewhere in her troubled mind, she thought that I would actually let her go, that I wouldn’t know her duplicity. She had already shown me all her fiery, wicked little cards when she’d stabbed me in Unseelie the first time. Since then, I’d watched her closer than she could ever begin to imagine. I’d picked up every little tell she possessed. It was like she didn’t even want to hide it from me. Every time she talked about one of us dying or what was going to happen when we were in front of the Fates, she touched the pendant on her neck with her sister’s ashes. If she thought I would let her leave me again, she was grievously mistaken.
I happened to glance in her direction and watched her mouth move, unbeknownst to her, as she silently read all the bricks she could as she walked. I didn’t believe her father was trying to get rid of her in the same way she thought it. He could have crushed all three of us like beetles on the boat had he wanted to. No, he loved her. I could see it on the ship when he wouldn’t look at her—couldn’t. I recognized that feeling from my own experience with her, though for much, much different reasons. He sent her to the human realm to keep her safe—from what, I had no idea. Perhaps he thought he was saving her from me, that sending her to the human realm would be better than being bonded or tied to the Unseelie or Seelie prince. No doubt he hated us, me in particular. My family was mostly responsible for their kind even having to go into hiding— of course he didn’t want her with me. But much like Caly, he didn’t have a choice either. She was mine.
We walked in silence, each observing the various words on the brick path. The soft clops of the floricorn’s hooves on the path were like the ticking of a clock—or a bomb—counting down the seconds until our deaths. Aurelius fussed with the little pony like a fucking mother hen. It was a shame he hadn’t had that thing with him this entire journey; it might have served him well to not have been so annoying.
The dark edges of the land seemed to move alongside us. Every stretch of path we walked expecting to see farther into the distance only proved us wrong, showing us nothing. Even I couldn’t tell what, if anything, lay on the other side of the hazy darkness. It was all I could see. A moonlit sky, broad and silver, and a brick path that seemed to go on for an eternity, though I could see nothing around it and only a couple hundred feet in front of us.
This continued until eventually the darkness cleared enough to see a decent-sized house standing alone in the night. The bricks dead-ended right in front of the house, transitioning into a large gray stone walkway that led to a circular driveway of small rocks and stones with a tall, empty, and chipped three-tiered fountain in the middle of the circle. Iron gates were open on either side of the driveway. The house was black as night with ogival archways and pointed lancet windows. It was not particularly large but shockingly grand.
“Look.” Caly pointed to several of the clear-winged butterflies we had seen before. They were a lot harder to see in the darkness, but their glassy wings reflected the cast of the moon, causing a glittering effect everywhere they fluttered.
“We must be in the right place,” Aurelius said. “Look at all of them.”
We had paused at the very end of the brick path to take in the surprising house. It was quiet inside, with no movement. It was obviously inhabited though, by the looks of the immaculate estate, not to mention the warm glow of yellow lights that shone through the windows.
“This isn’t exactly what I had expected, though now that I think about it, I’m not exactly sure what I expected to be the headquarters of the gods and Ascended.” Aurelius shrugged.
Caly sniffled. “No matter what happens inside, please never ever doubt how much I love each of you. You have both changed my life in so many ways that I’m not even capable of thanking you each properly.” Caly began to tear up.
“Stop, Cal. This isn’t goodbye. We will find a way to get out of this alive.” Aurelius pulled Caly in for a hug, but Thistle neighed and moved between the two of them so only their upper bodies were able to hug. Thistle was growing on me fast.
“But what if…what if this is goodbye? We don’t know what’s going to happen once we get inside those doors,” she said softly.
Son of a bitch . She was definitely going to take herself out when it was time. I could tell by the way she teared up. They were the kind she had when she was going through something really hard and couldn’t share it with anyone. I had seen them before. Stars’ sake, was she out of her mind? She wiped at her tears and wrapped her small hand around her sister’s ashes.
I was so furious, I wanted to rip the necklace off and choke her with it. What the fuck was she thinking? No one was going to take her away from me but me!
“Okay, well, I guess no reason in getting upset quite yet, huh? Just know I love you both so much it almost hurts.” She gave half of a fake smile and turned toward the door.
Aurelius and I locked eyes. He knew something was up too.
“We are following your lead,” I stated. She had no idea how sincerely I meant that.
The blond hellhound turned back one last time before she got to the large black door and stepped up to me. She pulled my face down and kissed me so deeply and sincerely, I almost believed it was our last kiss. I felt the tear drop down her face and onto our lips. This was her goodbye.
I pulled her full lower lip into my mouth and bit, hard. She gasped and pulled back with flashing eyes. Mine had remained open, watching her. I must’ve looked angry as Kaohs. I was pissed off. Anyone that tried to hurt her was an enemy, and that included herself in this moment.
She pressed against me and kissed me again. Harder, needier. Her blood sang across my tongue, and I immediately felt my cock stiffen. I wanted to bury myself inside her and teach her a lesson in messing with what was mine.
“Go to the door before I take you on the front porch of your daddy’s house,” I ordered.
She pulled away, but her eyes were full of heat. She pressed her lip with her finger and turned to face the door, lifting her hand up to knock.
The door slowly opened with a deep creak.