Chapter 45 Malice
MALICE
Three cups of tea and a plate full of pastries later, Malice and Aerin bid Soren farewell on the porch of the small cabin.
They have a long walk back and Malice has a headache, brought on by his intense worry for Aerin.
Worried what reaction he will receive when they’ve ventured far enough away from prying ears, worried because he has no idea how Aerin Tolvare truly responds to bad news.
She can be vengeful and spiteful and selfish.
She sometimes reacts emotionally, with a cold, brutal type of vengeance if provoked.
Now she is a half-blooded Fae Princess with Pack magic and an unestablished pack.
Her own Fae magic is powerful and unusual in a way that seems unnatural.
She is Paramyr to a Fae Prince and holds secrets over him.
She’s in bed with the Vipers of Valtara, to what end Malice has no idea.
Reikan is obsessed with her. Not to mention the precarious blood-bond that holds them both on a short leash.
Malice rubs his face, his head spinning with the sick feeling that even after these months of being with her nearly all hours of the day he doesn’t actually know her.
He thinks, maybe, no one truly does. Thinks that each bit of information is a piece of the puzzle, only he can’t see the full picture yet.
Aerin hugs Soren.
“Thank you again, for the information,” she says warmly. She’s being friendly with him; Malice almost believes her warmth.
“You take good care of that Wolf,” Soren says, “though he might be crazy if he’s agreed to stay with you,” the Alpha jokes.
Aerin laughs. “It’s an easy choice once you bed me, Soren.
” She squeezes his hand, and the Wolf laughs loudly.
Malice stiffens. “Ask Malice, he knows.” Aerin smirks over her shoulder at him.
Malice clenches his jaw at the now well-perpetuated lie but steps into the place she left, hugging his old friend.
“I hope to see you again soon, Soren,” Aerin calls, making her way across the meadow.
Soren pulls back, “I am surprised you did not ask of her,” Soren murmurs lowly, the shifting Wolves in the background making noises loud enough to hide their Alpha’s words from Aerin.
“I cannot,” Malice warns, grasping his friend’s shoulder firmly. He searches those green eyes for information he is both desperate to know and terrified to learn.
“She knows you are near,” he warns.
“And she knows why I cannot get away,” Malice grumbles, pulling his hand from the Wolf. He glances over his shoulder. Aerin is almost to the wall of trees, hardly paying them any mind. Malice is sure her thoughts are focused upon something else entirely.
“She is well, Malice. I will keep her from here, from the city.” Soren steps away.
Malice nods in thanks. “Just for the weekend,” he assures the Wolf.
Soren smiles, pity in his eyes. He grasps Malice’s hand briefly one more time before shifting.
It only takes a few lopes for him to cross the clearing to his pack where they disappear into the forest. Malice hesitates momentarily before he turns on his heel and follows after Aerin.
When Malice catches up, Aerin is lost in her own thoughts. Her eyes are downcast on the barely-there trail. Malice doesn’t know where to begin… With his worries? With the things they know for certain now? With the things they will have to deal with once they return to the Royal Village?
Luckily, he doesn’t have to decide, because Aerin starts their conversation for him.
“No one else can know. Not even Emrys, not right now,” Aerin says, shocking the hell out of him.
“Princess…” Malice replies, warning in his voice. Aerin stops walking, turning her head to look at him. Her golden eyes swim with many emotions, but the strongest among them is pain.
“It would be a betrayal,” she says carefully, “for you to divulge this secret to anyone. Do you understand?” The blood-bond snaps against Malice’s bones, an unwelcome reminder of their tie.
“Thank you, Malice,” Aerin seems to sigh, relief washing through her body. She continues down the trail, and Malice wants to throttle her, grasp her by the shoulders and shake sense into her.
Selfish. Vapid. Reckless. If only he still believed those words.
Instead, Malice says something he knows will hurt her the same way she hurts him with this stupid blood-bond and these secrets. “And to think only a few hours ago, you questioned my hesitancy.”
Aerin’s whole body stiffens before she whirls on him, enough anger and pain in her eyes Malice swallows hard.
“Can you not understand the precariousness of my position?” She says the words evenly but underneath lies a thinly veiled threat.
Malice feels himself tightening: his fists, his wings. But there is no control around Aerin, not anymore.
“Luckily, I don’t need to try to understand, as you will simply bid me into obeying either way!”
“That is not what I was doing!” Aerin screams, louder than he’s ever heard her. More out of control than he’s ever seen her.
Malice loses all sense of his self-control when faced with her rage.
“That is exactly what you did! You move me around your life like a fucking game piece,” Malice roars back. Aerin stomps forward, closing the space between them with fury in her eyes.
“And if I didn’t, you wouldn’t listen!” Aerin snaps back, shoving at his chest with only her physical strength. Malice hardly rocks back on his heels. “You are bullheaded! You are constantly questioning me!” She hits his chest with each insult.
“Someone has to!” Malice interrupts.
“Ugh!” Aerin screams in frustration, throwing her hands up in the air and storming away from him.
Malice follows after her, “You and all your secrets! You hoard them just like the Dragon! And then you manipulate everyone in your life to see only the things you want them to see. But I am here, Aerin! Right fucking here! And I see everything!”
Aerin spins around so abruptly Malice crashes into her. He catches her body against his and uses his wings to keep them both upright. Her chest heaves against his, her pulse pumping wildly. Her eyes flicker across his face, fight still burning through her.
“You ask me to trust you, but you don’t trust me. You don’t get to have it both ways. Either you’re my bonded-mate or my game piece. Which is it?” Aerin snarls.
Tightening his grip around her waist, Malice pulls her closer into him. A flush lines her cheekbones, her lips slightly parted as she breathes. The fight leaves him, his other hand pushing a strand of her hair from her face. She is beautiful in her rage.
“I am your bonded-mate,” Malice concedes softly, baring the truth he hates himself for. That despite it all, he cares for her. “But you have to let me all the way in.”
Aerin stills in his arms, her eyes searching his face for the lie.
“I have always kept my secrets, Malice,” a hint of vulnerability crosses her undeniably gorgeous face.
“I’m not asking you to divulge them all, but enough with the masks. Not with me. And not with Emrys. Not anymore.” Malice stays firm in his demands.
“Okay,” Aerin concedes softly.
Malice squeezes her waist and a smile blooms across her face in return.
“What is that?” he teases. Aerin schools her features immediately, but then she looks up at him through her lashes. He swears the world stops spinning when Aerin Tolvare looks at him like that.
He kisses her. He can’t not kiss her.
Aerin gasps against his mouth before melting into him. Her mouth welcomes his tongue as Reikan chants, [Mine. Mine. Mine.]
She pulls back, a wry smile on her face. “Do you think Soren would be upset if we used his little cabin for a bit longer?”
Malice shakes his head no.
He doesn’t know how he went from carefully orchestrating a sexual encounter where he hardly touched Aerin, to chasing after her as she laughs and squeals through the woods. But his cock is throbbing behind his pants, his headache is gone, and for once, Malice just doesn’t fucking question it.