Chapter 10 – Silence
Chapter Ten
Silence
“ S he’s in love with the orc.” Hex frowns at his cocktail.
“Did you think this would be easy?” I laugh mirthlessly. “Nothing with our wife is easy.”
“Because we hurt her,” Hex says, swallowing large mouthfuls of the human ale.
I scoff, but he might be right.
I’ve had many years to stew on the events of our wedding day.
There was a considerable amount of controversy about whether our union was binding without it being consummated. My gut churns, recalling how the Seelie council demanded we fuck our wife when she was barely conscious, let alone in any state to be touched intimately.
Ali was too honorable for her own good. Unseelie can lie, but she refused to back down and spoke nothing but the truth.
The damn foolish woman.
“Are they far enough away that they won’t spot us?”
Hex’s head wobbles side to side. “They probably won’t. Gods, you’re impatient.”
“Don’t act like you aren’t,” I grumble, pushing myself off my barstool. “Is there a bill?” I ask the woman with something in her eye. She’s been continually fluttering her eyelashes. I believe she might have some type of irritation in her cornea.
Her breasts spill from the top of her corset as she leans farther over the bar, looking a bit like an animal poised to attack. I take a step back. Things are much different from the last time I was in the human realm.
“It’s on the house.” She grins, tapping her bright red nails on the wood.
“That means paid for,” Hex tells me, already in motion toward the door.
I follow without another word and ignore the huff that comes from the female siren.
We’ve employed many tactics over the years to find our wife. Hex has spent more time in the human realm because the court was never willing to be without my gifts for long.
It’s fine.
I’m more than capable of looking after myself, even if I don’t understand all the human customs.
“I wish I knew what bloody state we’re in.” Hex glances both ways at an intersection.
I do have basic knowledge about the human world. There are books and educational materials, even in Faere. I’ve been to the human realm, but not for over twenty years. It looks very much the same as what I remember and also completely different.
After the debacle at our wedding, Hex and I were not allowed to leave court at the same time.
Sure, we could have left at any time, but it was better to let those in charge believe we were loyal to their cause.
We were very closely scrutinized for many years as they tried to determine if we played a part in Ali’s escape.
If we had, we bloody well would have gone with her, now wouldn’t we?
We had no choice but to stay close. If, by some stroke of bad luck, they found Ali before we did, then one of us always needed to be at court to help her escape again.
It’s the same reason I never left. If we’d defected, they would’ve immediately known where our loyalty lies.
And if they found her after we were gone?
I shudder to think what could have happened to her.
That woman has no idea the hell we’ve suffered over the years, but it doesn’t negate her suffering.
Any mated couple being apart for so long would experience extreme discomfort.
Hex gives me an expectant look.
“Don’t look at me,” I scoff. “I haven’t been in the human realm?—”
“I know that,” he snarls.
“Have you lost their trail?” My mouth falls open.
Hex is one of the best trackers in the Seelie Court. The fact he’s half kraken means that, even in human form, he can pick up trails with almost no effort. His skin acts much like his suckers in monster form.
“The orc must be on to us,” Hex snarls.
“Did you recognize him?”
“The orc?”
I nod. “Atlas Angari, the former horde leader of the Northern clan.”
“The one who was rejected because of his heritage?” Hex scratches at his brown beard.
“Indeed,” I agree. “He has extensive battlefield experience.”
“He’s all brute strength,” Hex hisses, spinning in a circle.
“He’s obviously not,” I say, scanning the darkened street. “Allow me to find us some useful information.”
It takes three tries to find someone with knowledge of where Ali and Atlas reside. I’m strangely relieved to learn they live independently of one another.
I’ve never been particularly enamored by my gifts.
Once you recognize how often beings lie, it’s impossible not to become jaded.
Unlike most of my kind, I rarely get visions of the future.
Almost never, in fact. My gifts extend to an unmatched ability to force the truth from anyone.
If they’re especially weak minded, I can relive past events through their eyes.
Seelie fae might not be able to outright lie, but we are taught from birth how to stretch and twist something until only a sliver of truth remains.
Or, perhaps, that’s only with royals and the higher families.
Either way, it made me quite enchanted to see my wife refuse to exploit her ability to outright lie.
I’ve had many years to replay the events of our wedding day, and each time I have, I’ve become more disheartened. Ali had to know my gifts couldn’t force her to be truthful.
She’s far too altruistic for her own good. I’m practically giddy to see if that’s still the case.
“Come along, you pouty fucker.” I clap Hex on the back, leading him toward Atlas’s home. It’s the closer of the two locations and their most likely destination, according to my gut feeling.
The row of three-story houses are so close together, they touch.
“Is this normal?” I ask, eyeing Hex.
He’s been known to have a bit of a hair trigger.
I’m more calculating.
It’s a necessity of my birthright.
“I suppose it is for a town limited by the sanctuary ward. They’d need to keep the majority of the houses small.
I believe these are what you call townhouses.
They’re all independent, meaning they don’t share living space, only exterior walls.
Well, and I suppose one interior wall, since his unit is on the end.
” Hex sighs. “How do we intend to get inside?”
“I’ll use my magic, of course,” I say, chuckling.
He’s so melancholy, it’s difficult to understand where his head is at.
It’s not like we weren’t aware she’d moved on.
The nature of our bond assured we were aware of that the moment it happened.
We’ve had many years to come to terms with it, but it still fucking hurts.
Although the pain was likely muted due to our being in different realms.
I step up to the door with the numbers the ghoul mentioned. My hand glows a pastel green to signal my magic. My hand immediately vibrates higher, indicating an additional lock or protection I wasn’t anticipating.
Homes in Faere do not have locking mechanisms. In general, fae are honorable and would never think to steal or attack someone in the sanctity of their own home.
However, the same cannot be said for royal families. Assassination attempts occur in the Seelie Court even before the fae reaches maturity. My first two kills were murderers sent to dispatch me and my younger brother.
I carefully twist the knob, and the door opens without resistance. It’s dark, but we step into a living room.
“Shall we explore?” I ask in barely more than a whisper.
“No, we should each take a sofa and try to get some sleep.” Hex sighs, leaning down to unlace his boots. Once they’re removed, he eyes the two couches. One is small, with only two seats, and the other is extremely long, with what appears to be a bed on one end.
Humans have extra beds in their living rooms? Who knew? Not me, but I will make good use of the convenience factor.
“You’re going to sleep on this one?” Hex mutters with a huff. The cranky fucker sure doesn’t seem excited that we’ve found our wife after twenty-plus years of searching.
“I’ll even share the quilt with you,” I say, grinning.
He raises a hand, flipping me off, and lies down with his feet facing the top of the long, bed-like section.
“Good idea,” I agree, grabbing the blanket from the back of the couch. I lie down on the bed on the end of the couch, which puts my feet near his, before tossing the blanket over both of us.
“It’s going to hurt a million times worse being this close,” Hex grumbles, rolling onto his side. He crosses his meaty arms over his chest.
“Indeed,” I agree, because he’s right. The agony that comes any time Ali is intimate with anyone but us will rip through the bond even more severely with us so close together. “Perhaps they’ll take the night off? It’s been a while since she was with anyone. It’s likely their relationship is new.”
Prior to the agonizing pain we felt only hours before the beacon of her magic glowed, it had been close to three years since she was intimate with anyone. We were still recovering when the orb lit up, indicating it could portal us to her location.
Hex picked up the magical relic in the human realm nearly twenty years ago. We fed it the remaining scraps of bloody gauze we held on to from our wedding day and waited.
Nearly twenty fucking years of waiting.
I was sure he’d been swindled, but it led us here. It just took a bit more time than we were hoping.
“You’re too optimistic for your own good,” Hex says, shaking his head. “She smells even sweeter than I remember.”
“We’re going to win her back,” I declare.
“We never had her to begin with.”
Well, that’s true enough. “Is this about the orc?”
“I didn’t think she’d actually be in love with anyone. She hadn’t had sex in years. I thought we’d have a chance to gain her affection. That won’t be easy because of him. She doesn’t need us. She doesn’t even want us.”
I nod.
We’ve discussed this extensively back in Faere. She’d been with someone a handful of times over the years, but that was some time ago. Now that she has something brewing with the orc, it certainly does put a wrench in our plans to win her back.
However, I have faith it can be done.
We haven’t spent the last twenty-three fucking years celibate for nothing. I’m going to make that woman love me if it’s the last motherfucking thing I do.
“Do you hear that?” Hex snarls, leaning over with his face only inches from mine.
I was dead-ass asleep three seconds ago. I very unceremoniously slap him in the face while trying to get my bearings.
“Motherfucker,” Hex says. “I should have seen that coming.”
I grumble a quick, “Sorry.”
Hex pulls back, and I sit straight up. My head cocks to the side as I listen intently to the sounds of my wife fucking another monster.
“I’m going to spank her ass one of these days,” I say absently as I rub at my chest. My brain is still fuzzy with a sleepy haze. I gasp as I twist until my feet hit the floor. “I can hear it, but I can’t feel it.”
“I can’t either,” he says, shaking his head as he stares at the ceiling. “You know what that means.”
“She’s taken him as a mate.” I don’t think. I don’t allow Hex to stop me. I stomp my way to the stairs and follow the noises.
“Gods, yes, keep strangling my cock just like that, little one,” the orc growls.
Well, that’s a side of my wife I’ve never seen, but I greatly enjoy the view. She’s on her hands and knees while the orc fucks her from behind. Her tits sway as her pinkish-blonde hair bounces with every savage thrust of his hips against her ass.
She whimpers, and her arms seem to give out. Her top half lands against the mattress as her eyes squeeze shut.
My chest aches with the urge to bite her, to dig my fangs into her soft flesh so that I can experience her pleasure as if it were my own. She shudders through her orgasm, and I watch with zero shame.
That’s my fucking wife and my goddamn soulmate. The universe is convinced that woman is my other half. I’ve had bouts of doubt over the years, but the yearning I feel toward her proves it’s true.
I’m not expecting the mini blade that makes its way toward my jugular. Luckily, I sidestep in time to watch it dig into the wood of the door.
That would’ve stung .
It likely would have required quite a bit of healing time too. My eyes fly to Hex to ensure he was as fortunate, and he’s holding a blade between two bloody fingers an inch in front of his cheek.
“Impressive,” I say, chuckling darkly.
“Get out,” Ali hisses. “Why are you even here?”
“We’re here for you, darling wife,” Hex says, tossing the blade into the door, next to the one that nearly took me out. “We’ll be in the living room. It’s time for a family fucking meeting.”
“Out,” Atlas snarls, covering Ali with his body. His muscular frame is littered with scars and proof of his time in the horde.
“You know, in the times I suffered the soul-crushing agony that felt like it might tear me in two, I’d still choose that over the numbness now that you’ve claimed another.” My gaze falls to my bare feet as I spin, heading out without another word.
Really?
What else is there to say?
I guess I am an idealistic fool.