Chapter 52 Reyna
REYNA
For the second time in as many days Reyna finds herself in a significantly dangerous situation.
The Dragon-Fae turns back to face her, and it takes all the resolve she can muster to keep her knees from wobbling as she takes two big steps away from him.
When he held her co-worker by the collar she hadn’t been thinking about her own safety, only his.
But now she’s locked in a room with the Dragon-Fae lackey of a mentally unstable Fae Princess who is Paramyr to her secret boyfriend. Yeah, she’s fucked.
He's probably here to kill her. Aerin Tolvare probably sent him here to kill her.
The words leave her mouth before she thinks them through. “Are you going to kill me?”
Malice frowns. “Are we safe to talk freely in here?”
Reyna furrows her brows in confusion but nods. When he still doesn’t speak, she elaborates, “This is a healer’s office. The rooms have wards for privacy.”
“You are a healer?” The surprise in his voice makes her want to hit him. She forgets she is supposed to be scared.
Instead, she gestures to her robes. “Yes, I’m a healer. I know, so hard to believe from a pathetic little Human. Get over it.” Reyna should have bit her tongue. She should have felt a modicum of self-preservation. She doesn’t.
The Dragon-Fae narrows his haunting blue eyes, assessing her.
“What did you think you’d find me doing at a walk-in healing clinic?” Reyna goads.
“I did not know where I’d find you; I followed your scent from the apartment,” he explains. Reyna balks. He followed her scent? From a place she hasn’t been to in over forty-eight hours?
Reyna’s heard little about Dragon-Fae, reclusive as they are, but enhanced senses seem particularly of note. She’s surprised she hasn’t heard about it before.
“And no, I’m not going to kill you. A certain Prince would have some choice words to say if I did.”
Choice words. As if losing Reyna would simply cause Khortland a tantrum.
Like she’s a doll. Anger heats Reyna’s cheeks but she does everything she can to ignore it.
Instead focusing on the fact that despite Khortland’s protection, it would only take one wrong move for her to end up dead at the hands of this creature.
“I assume there is a reason you are here, if it’s not to kill me,” Reyna pushes, crossing her arms over her chest. A voice in her head distracts her from Malice’s answer.
[We just got an alert of a crime at your office, are you okay?] It’s Khortland’s voice down their bond.
[Call them off, it’s a false alarm. Say it was a glitch in the system or something,] Reyna responds.
[What is going on?]
[Malice is here.]
[What is that brute doing there? Is Aerin with him?]
[It’s just him.]
[I’m on my way.]
[No, Khort, it’s too risky. It’s fine. I’m fine.]
[I’m on my way.]
Reyna’s protests fall against the wall Khortland puts up. His magic allows him more control over their blood-bond than Reyna has. She can’t keep Khortland out of her head, even when she desperately needs to.
“Well?” Malice prompts her.
“Erm…” Reyna stalls.
The Dragon-Fae brings his hand to his nose, squeezing it, and murmuring “For fuck’s sake,” to himself, before opening his eyes and training them back onto her.
“I was threatening you, your life, your family’s lives, everyone you’ve ever known, your entire Human settlement, this clinic.
” His deep voice sounds bored. Perhaps his initial threat had been delivered with more vigor, but the message hits her all the same. Like ice in her veins.
Reyna swallows around the lump in her throat. “Right,” she barely gets out. “And what exactly would I do to earn such wrath?”
“I can see why the Prince likes you,” he grumbles. “You both are utterly useless.”
Reyna wants to protest, but her self-preservation wins out this time.
“Hear me this time, Human; I won’t repeat myself again.
” Reyna squeezes her sides, nodding. First her deal with Aerin and now this?
“Your loyalty to Aerin Tolvare will be above all others. Including your Prince, your family, your friends. You will do nothing to betray her. In taking the locket from her, you are agreeing to this.” His voice rings like a toll bell on Reyna’s life.
The locket. Khortland talked about giving the Princess an item of jewelry for the magic to be held, the magic that would turn her Fae.
“Ultimate loyalty? Indefinitely? I don’t even know her!
What if she’s evil? What if she commits atrocities?
” Reyna wants to mention that the Princess isn’t exactly stable.
That she turns creatures into small animals when upset.
The murderous look in Malice’s eyes forces Reyna to swallow those words.
“If you accept the locket then you accept all of her. And if your loyalty is broken, mark my words, little Human, I will torch everything.”
Reyna has no doubts Malice is telling her the absolute truth.
Khortland swears they can trust Aerin. For the first time since she started her affair with the Fae Prince, Reyna wonders if he has her best interest at heart. Or if he is just as blinded by the Tolvare Princess as Reyna herself is blinded by him.