Where did you go? (Infatuated fae #3)

21. Caly

21

CALY

I opened the book to an ancient-looking title page that said 538 lilies . Underneath and to the right, there was an embossed mark from the library of the Fates. It was just a normal book.

I didn’t understand. Was there supposed to be another set of instructions in here? Were we supposed to put the book on another shelf and the entire wall would open to a hidden lair? How was this book supposed to be the end of our journey?

I turned the page in utter bewilderment, and the pages began to flip on their own, slowly at first, then picking up speed, until they were whirring to the other side. I tried to read the text, but I couldn’t see it with the speed of the pages. The middle began to glow brightly. Thousands of tiny speckles of light, almost like dust, flowed from the pages and into the air, covering us.

“Listen!” Eli said, now glowing himself. “There’s music coming from it.”

Another few seconds passed, and then I heard it. It washed over me in a calming wave. Beautiful harp music played from the book, slowly growing louder as the light grew brighter and brighter. It would have felt almost angelic had it not also intertwined an air of danger and mystery with each note of music.

The opacity of the pages began to lighten, and a glossy sheen covered them. The pages slowed, and suddenly glasswing butterflies—at least a thousand—burst from the pages, each wing covered with text as they flowed out, fluttering in different directions. The last butterfly remained on the opened page, the words of its wings the only text left.

How

Does

It Feel?

To know

That I

Love you

And

My heart beat so hard, I was certain I felt the scar on my heart rub against my ribs.

Those were words I would never forget. Mendax had spoken them to me at the Unseelie castle. It was the first time he ever told me that he was in love with me. Why had they been written in this book?

Slowly, I moved my pointer finger in front of the butterfly’s forelegs in an attempt to get it onto my finger. The small butterfly lifted off the glowing page, taking flight in the direction of its friends, who were now busy flying around the library. My finger disappeared into the blank page, now textured like parchment instead of glass. Eli gasped, startling me as I removed my finger. It hadn’t hurt, but I had felt a drastic change in temperature through the page. I pressed my fingertips into the glowing blank page and watched my flesh disappear. I removed my hand and set the open book on the floor at my feet and began to press the toe of my boot in.

“Wait! Thistle!” Eli said in alarm. “I can’t just leave her here.” The whites of his eyes rimmed the beautiful amber in alarm. His loyalty was unmatched, even to a floricorn.

“It’s fine. Just go get her and bring her in, but hurry. I don’t know how long this will stay a passage,” I said calmly, even though I felt anything but calm.

Eli ran out of the library.

“Let me go first, and before you protest, it is a request this time, not a demand,” Mendax said, his voice surprisingly soft.

I eyed him wearily. Nothing about that sounded like Mendax.

“What?” he snapped with a wrinkle of his black brows.

“Nothing,” I replied. “It’s just you’ve never been the requesting kind is all.”

He pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “I’ve watched you with Aurelius. He is a good friend to you. He makes you laugh and is much kinder than I will ever be. I will attempt to do better after I kill him. As my queen and wife, you deserve the highest level of respect, and I will slaughter any man or woman who speaks or treats you in any manner that Aurelius would have disliked…aside from myself of course,” he whispered before taking a step back and into the open book on the floor.

“Wha—wait! You can’t kill him!” I shouted as I moved to grab him, but it was too late. Mendax disappeared into the book as if it were quicksand. It pulled the wide parts of him in, morphing him a little as he disappeared. The glow flickered slightly as he passed through but remained bright.

He was gone.

I looked around the library in complete panic. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to see. It wasn’t like Mendax was just going to pop up next to me.

“She’s gone! Thistle is gone!” Eli yelled as he ran into the library.

“She…what? How?” I said.

“I don’t know. I went in to get her, and the room was completely empty. There’s nothing inside it now, including her. Where’s Mendax?” Eli was flustered and disheveled. It was obvious how much he cared about that little mare.

“I’m sure she’s fine. They probably just moved her,” I reassured him. “Mendax went first. Come on. We need to go before this book stops doing whatever it is that it’s doing.”

I lifted my foot and stepped onto the book—except there was no stepping to be had as my foot touched nothing and continued to pass through. As soon as I lifted the other foot, I fell completely into the book.

In my experience of falling through the abyss, I usually got sick, disoriented, or all of the above. Something or someone hard generally stopped my fall, but this time was different. The fall felt calm and peaceful, less like I was falling and more like I was floating.

At least until I hit the water.

My body hit with a gentle splash. It felt like there was a basket or something behind me, softening my landing. I gasped and gulped as tepid water engulfed my body. My head remained above the water, and the rest of me likely would have as well, but the surprising feel of water caused me to panic and flail like a newborn. I had yet to come across anything friendly in fae waters.

Before my eyes even had a chance to open, the scent of crisp, clean air went straight to my head. It smelled like I was standing on the top of a mountain again, breathing in the freshest air possible. My fluttering eyelids calmed as I inhaled, now almost unwilling to open. I waded in the water, feeling the drag of my now heavy clothes with every circle my legs or arms made. The soft hint of crisp evergreen and sweet, light, floral pineapple wafted under my nose next. Almost reluctantly, I opened my eyes to beautiful, blue-tinted water. I tipped my head up, and my face was doused in warm sunlight. Large lily pads covered the water in big groups of waxy green leaves and stunning white flowers. That must have been what softened my fall.

Sure enough, I pushed the water and turned to see a cluster of giant lily pads behind me, each with at least three or four large, white, multi-petaled lilies that poked out above the water. I scanned the pond. There were so many. There had to be at least?—

538 beautiful white lilies.

I rolled myself onto one of the larger green leaves and sat with my knees up, balancing on my hands as I looked around. It was like I had fallen inside a painting—except I’d never even seen a painting that could possibly do this place justice. Gray, moss-covered boulders lined part of the pond. The sound of gentle flowing water caught my attention. There was a small waterfall that poured into the pond from what looked like a shallow water garden above. Beautiful purple and gold flowers bloomed among the rocks before the water poured gently over the rocks and into the pond filled with water lilies. Full weeping willows touched the edge of the pond, their long, sweeping branches grazing the surface like toes dipping in the water.

The giggle of a woman and a splash snapped me out of my daydream. I looked in the direction of the giggle, but it seemed to be coming from around a bend that was blocked from view by several lush, green grass-like bushes. I didn’t entertain the thought of going to check. I didn’t know a lot of fae rules, but I knew a lot of their tricks, and that was a fae trap if I’d ever heard one. Ignoring more giggles, I looked to the landscaped area around the pond and attempted to figure out the best way of getting to it. The feminine giggles returned, now sounding oddly seductive, and I knew I needed off the water. It was my experience that the more beautiful something was, the more lethal, just like?—

Mendax!

I nearly fell off the giant green pad. I’d been so enamored with the beauty of this place, I hadn’t even looked for Mendax. Did he not land in the same place I had?

A scream shot out from behind the foliage where the giggles had been, and the figure of a blond half woman, half fish was flung into the water with a splash that sent a wave rocking all the lily pads.

Like a black water snake, Malum Mendax emerged, walking toward me with water up to his waist. His slow strides moved the water with each step; his wet hair looked as black as glistening ink. The absence of his armor revealed the wet fabric plastered over his broad chest and shoulders. He looked so dark and out of place in the serene atmosphere. I watched his eyes land on me. I should have yelled or asked if he was okay, but instead I watched, captivated with the way water rippled over the muscles of his biceps and forearms.

He sank lower with each step as his eyes targeted me. Eventually all I could see in the water was the top of his nose and the harsh blue of his eyes as he swam to me like a crocodile about to get an easy meal.

He deftly moved onto the giant lily pad next to me and removed his shirt, reaching over his head and pulling the wet fabric off.

If he was a crocodile, I was a fish with the gaping mouth of a carp, ogling him.

“Mermaid,” he offered.

“Huh?” I eloquently asked as I watched him push back his onyx hair. It was like I’d never seen him in the light like this before. Every ounce of him was built like a god.

“Mermaid,” he repeated.

“Mermaid,” I mimicked as my wandering eyes roamed over the fabric clinging to a massive bulge between his legs. What had he said?

He grinned so wide that dimples dented both cheeks.

Had his soaking wet, half-naked body not been enough to cause any and all thoughts to leave my brain, the smile he gave just now would have easily done the trick. I felt my cheeks heat.

What the fuck was wrong with me? Between my legs was still sore from having him fuck the life out of me not hours ago, and here I was blushing at his smile?

“The mermaid was getting a tad handsy for my liking. Some kind of welcoming committee they have here,” he said with a scowl.

“Have you seen Eli yet? Wait, what? It was a mermaid. Wait, did she touch you?” I said as I began to put all the pieces together.

“What if she did, pet?” Mendax asked without a trace of humor in his smooth, granitelike features.

Fury poured through me like molten lava, and I felt my face turn red, now for another reason entirely. “ If she did , then I’m going to fucking fillet her,” I bit out, immediately scanning the pond for her. “I’ve never seen a mermaid before. How do you kill them? I know many aquatic fae regrow their heads—” I stopped when I heard the sound of his low laughter. He had quite possibly the biggest smile I’d ever seen him wear, and I had never heard him laugh so heartily. The mermaid had already been forgotten.

“I told her I already had one pet and wasn’t interested in fish keeping. Then I threw her to the other side of the pond for good measure. If you like, I can bring her to you?” The darkness danced in his eyes. “I think I might really enjoy watching you kill her for touching me. How will you do it?” he whispered seductively with that dangerous smile still in place.

He reached over to my lily pad and tugged me onto his with a slosh of water. He lay back and pulled my arm until I was lying on top of him. My needy hand moved to claim him, brushing over the wet ridges of his stomach before stopping for a quick second to run the side of my finger along the deep ridges near his hips and following them to his groin, where I palmed his stiff cock. His smile faltered but was replaced with a look of happy pleasure. I was hypnotized.

“First, I would remove her hands,” I whispered before I moved to kiss the side of his neck. “For touching what belongs to me .” He sucked in a sharp breath when my hand cupped his balls. Immediately, I was drunk on the power of his reaction. I reached in his clingy wet pants and wrapped my hand around his shaft. His skin was slightly chilled from the pond water. My eyes flickered shut as my sore pussy throbbed and clenched with needy desire. “Then, I would take the blunt end of your dagger—” I squeezed tightly as I jerked my fist over his cock.

“You would use my blade, would you?” His voice was thick and slow.

I moved my hand faster, occasionally grazing my thumb over his tip. “I would. You see I only have a dragon’s claw for a weapon.”

He panted as he moved to grip my wrist and take control, but I gave him a threatening look that urged him to put his hand back down at his side.

“That will be remedied. You need a better weapon,” he breathed. “Then what would you do to her, my hellhound?”

“As I was saying,” I said, removing my hand completely from his length, knowing I’d just taken all his pleasure with me.

He looked angry.

“I would take the blunt edge of your blade and descale her pretty tail. I’ve never really seen the anatomy of a mermaid before, but if she possessed any fins, I would cut those off next.” I pulled my pants down to the middle of my thighs, high on power. I firmly gripped him again and began working his length. The noise that came from him made me grin. While I continued to fuck him with my hand, I grabbed one of his own hands and lifted it until it cupped over my water-soaked underwear. He tried to move his hand over me, and I released his cock, shaking my head no. His hand went limp again as I held it, and I used it to move my panties to the side. “Do you feel this?” I whispered as I pressed his fingers against my slick and sore pussy. “You’ve done this.”

“Oh my gods, Calypso,” he muttered.

“Can you feel how my body needs you?” I lifted his hand and pushed his fingers into his mouth and pulled my wet underwear back up. “It’s because of you that I feel this way, and if anyone ever came between me and that feeling, I would kill the both of you.”

“You are fucking perfect ,” he groaned, latching onto my eyes with a menacing stare and slowly licking me off each of his fingers.

He was still able to talk too easily, so I pumped his cock harder, using my other hand to work the top half of his cock, squeezing over the tip. I was so turned on, I could barely take it. I peeled back his underwear and spat on his cock as I made eye contact with him.

“Then I would insert the point of my blade just behind her head, with the flat side resting on her dorsal fin.” The breath of my words dusted across his skin. “I would listen to her apologies as I cut along her back, from her pretty head down to her lustful tail.”

I bobbed my head over him, sucking and humming. He was so close to coming. He groaned as though he were in pain and grabbed a fistful of my hair. He slammed his cock to the back of my throat, causing me to gag. My eyes watered as I made eye contact with him.

I let him continue this for a moment before I bit him.

He cried out and went to knock my head off him, but I had already lifted my head out of the way. I calmly lifted my pointer finger and waved it.

“I am the one in control now, and you’re going to have to be a lot faster than that if you want to take it from me,” I stated.

His dark eyes ignited as a small grin turned up one corner of his beautiful mouth. He understood my words and made a dramatic show of putting his hands behind his back.

Slowly—so slowly—I lowered my mouth back onto his cock. The second my hot mouth covered him, he let out a moan. He wasn’t going to last another minute. I sucked and bobbed, running the tip of him over my tongue as my hand worked the rest of his cock. He moaned louder and lifted his hips. I felt his cock twitch as he filled my mouth with warm, smoky liquid. I tightened my lips around him and removed my mouth, making sure I got every last drop.

I sat up, still maintaining eye contact with him, and spit my mouthful of his cum into the blue pond, wiping the corner of my mouth with my pointer finger.

“Thought I’d let the bitch know, I got the job done,” I growled.

Mendax stared. “You murderous little wench. Where have you been all my life?”

I giggled and moved to lie beside him when something big moved under the water in front of us.

I knew it had been too good to last.

Mendax fixed his pants and pulled his weapon free. I followed suit, moving to grab mine, but my fingers landed on the fabric of my shirt at my shoulder and not my bag.

“My bag.” I’d left it at the library. “It has my weapon, the scrolls, everything.”

Large bubbles rose up from the water in front of us. It swam under the lily pad and rammed into it. Water poured onto the sides of the large green leaf. Suns only knew what lurked in these waters. Had this been a setup? Had my father sent us on a wild-goose chase for a book that would send us into the pond of a horrible water monster that was sure to devour us? I knew he hated me, but this seemed excessive, even for a monster like him.

More and more bubbles popped at the surface as the shadowy figure rose toward us. Mendax kneeled at the edge with his blade poised at the ready.

Blond hair parted like a mop as it cleared the water, and Eli’s face came into view. “Surprise!” he laughed.

Mendax swung at him, and I had just enough time to kick out at his forearm to stop him from taking Eli’s head off. Mendax’s hand opened under the pressure of my kick, and the weapon fell into the water, sinking quickly to the bottom.

Mendax turned to me with furious eyes. There was a good possibility that had I not just given him head, he would have tried to kill me right then. I grimaced dramatically. That now made two of us without a weapon.

“Hey!” Eli shouted at Mendax. “You saw it was me before you swung!”

“Oops,” said Mendax flatly.

My mouth fell open in realization of how close he’d just been to killing us both. “You know, he and I are still tied. That means you just tried to kill me,” I snapped.

Mendax rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic. I wasn’t going to kill him. I was just going to give that pretty face a few new scars to match his chest.”

“Ha-ha-ha. Funny guy.” I rolled my eyes. “Did you land underwater?” I asked Eli.

He grinned a boyish, charming grin. “There’s a nice—uh—mermaid that direction that”—he coughed to clear his throat—“was very excited about my arrival.”

I snorted out a laugh, and Eli smiled wide, flashing his straight white teeth. No, I didn’t worry about him finding another woman to pine over. He had the charming, charismatic, confident, polished look that made most women fall over themselves. He could have been a complete asshole with the way he looked though, and women would still fall over him. It made it even harder for them to forget about him once they realized what a good person he was, not to mention one of the most amusing and affable.

“I left my bag in the library. It had my weapon and the scrolls in it,” I confessed to Eli.

Always positive and optimistic, he frowned for a quick second before shrugging it off. “We are already here. I don’t know why we would need the scrolls.” A wide smile suddenly graced his face. “And I think it was fate that you don’t have a weapon on our arrival. It means you can’t kill Zef without talking to him first.”

“Calypso once made a bomb from cabinet knobs and blew up my bathroom. You are a fool if you think she is somehow less dangerous without a weapon,” Mendax declared with a hint of pride.

“Have you seen Thistle?” I asked Eli.

He shook his head. “No, but I’m sure she’s supposed to be wherever she is. It will be okay,” he stated, apparently having restored his faith in the Fates.

Mendax rolled his eyes. “I’m getting out of the water before I drown Eli,” he growled.

Eli and I shared a look.

“You called me Eli,” the Seelie prince gloated. “I knew you couldn’t hate me for so long.”

Mendax’s upper lip curled. “Believe me, I can hate you forever. It was a slip of the tongue and nothing more.”

Eli waded away from the lily pads toward the grassy edge. “I don’t know,” he called over his shoulder. “Sounds a lot like you might be starting to like me. This is the beginning of the Seelie and Unseelie faes’ reconciliation, I can feel it.”

Mendax dove into the water and swam toward Eli like a shark.

“Look, Cal, he wants to play in the pool with his new bestie,” Eli sang with a laugh.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Need I remind you that he tried to lop your head off about five minutes ago?”

Eli chuckled and let out a high-pitched scream as Mendax moved closer. The lighthearted fae swam faster to the bank and climbed out in a humorous panic.

I pushed myself off the lily pad, feeling the water warm against my skin after my brief absence from it. I stepped into the squishy mud before the bank and had one foot on the grass when the other foot pulled free, leaving my mud-lodged boot in place.

“Shit! My boot.” When I tried to step back to put my foot back into it, my foot squished into mud, and I fell in as water rushed over my head. Mendax returned to the water and attempted to help me out, but instead I took him down with me. Eli’s laughter from land rang out like bells as Mendax and I struggled to find my boot. Now laughing myself, I took off the only boot in my possession and hurled it at Eli in the grass. “Stop laughing! You’re not helping,” I called out.

Mendax erupted from the water so coated in brown, watery mud, he was unrecognizable.

I fell into the water laughing. Hearty belly laughs pushed out of me until I was accidentally gulping so much water, Mendax had to help me out of the pond. My stomach hurt from laughing so hard as I lay on my back on the soft grass, completely covered in mud with one sock on and a missing boot. Every time I looked at Mendax, I lost it all over again. Even he was having a hard time not laughing at this point. Never in my years had I felt as light and as free as I did right then. Be it my denial about losing one of them for good or the feeling of accomplishment at being within striking distance of my end goal, I had no idea, but whatever it was, I never wanted it to end.

“Oh my. I take it you’ve just arrived?” came a snooty male voice.

Our laughter died as we looked up at an old man with a gold-rimmed monocle and long crimson robes, similar in style to that which my father had worn on the boat with us.

“Ugh, yes. We are here to see—” Eli politely began to respond.

“Have you checked in yet?” The gray-haired man interrupted.

“No. Where would one go to do that, sir?” Eli asked.

The man made a face, obviously completely put out by our existence. “Come along. I’ll take you. Hurry along, would you? I have a game of chess I’m terribly late for.” He tossed his red robes behind him as he took off, urging us to follow.