CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Astrid
Another drop off to the incubus castle gates, like a child being handed over between divorced parents.
“If you need me—”
“You’ll be here, I know, Rave,” I reply, my lip twitching in amusement. I press up on my tiptoes and give him a quick kiss, one that turns longer as he keeps his hands on my hips, not wanting to let me go.
“Don’t go anywhere alone,” he demands, his jaw tightening. “I don’t trust anyone here after last time. If anything happens to you—”
“I’ll be fine,” I promise, stepping away from him and walking through the iron gates. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I feel his sadness and worry through the bond as he watches me walk away, his shadows caressing my arms in a final goodbye. August walks down the stairs toward me, smiling widely. He’s wearing his royal guard uniform, the blue and white complimenting his tan skin.
“Look at you,” I beam, wrapping my arms around him tightly. “This is the fanciest I’ve ever seen you, August.”
He grins proudly, his smile dropping slightly as he looks behind me, where Rave is staring daggers at him. “Come on, let’s go. We’ve been waiting for you all day.”
I turn to wave to Rave, but he’s already gone, vanishing into a dark cloud of smoke.
August leads me inside through the wide entrance, candles lit on either side as we walk down the brick hallway and into the large dining room, where dinner is being served on a long table. Bane is sitting there with his elbows on the table, dark eyes narrowed as he listens to something my father is telling him. He’s to the king’s right, with Axe on the other side and Kai next to him. Sometimes, I wonder if Bane is Zython’s favorite. They all look up at the same time, all four of them smiling. Bane stands and slides the chair out next to him, smoothing his black tunic while waiting for me to take my seat, his dark eyes on me.
“Here she is,” Zython croons, smiling up at me. “And looking beautiful as ever. What amazing genes I have.”
“You are a very modest man.” I grin, smiling at Bane before sitting. “How are you all? What have I missed?”
“Nothing much,” Kai replies, smirking. “Just the usual drinking and debauchery. Such is the life of a creature of lust.”
Axe slaps the back of his head. His brown hair is tied at his nape in his usual leather band, showing off his sharp cheekbones and strong jaw. “You aren’t meant to tell her the truth.”
“I think she knows what we’re all like by now,” Kai replies, his eyes darting to Bane. “Except for this one. He’s quite the mystery these days.”
“Besides his rope fetish—”
“That’s enough,” Bane growls, his eyes flashing amber.
My eyes widen. Rope fetish? He likes tying up his women? My mind roams back to when Rave tied my wrists with his belt and later pinned me down with his shadows.
Yeah, I can see why he’d like that.
Zython clears his throat and stands. “If you’ll excuse me, Princess, I have a council meeting I have to attend. I’d love to have lunch with you tomorrow, if you’re free?”
I nod. “That sounds lovely.”
He kisses the top of my head as he passes me, and we all watch him leave before turning back to each other.
“Pandora was here,” Axe smirks, eyes darting to August. “You just missed her.”
“Why did she leave so soon?” I ask, reaching out to grab some grapes from the platter on the table.
“She and August had an argument,” Kai answers, telling me the gossip.
I arch my brow at August, but he says nothing, a muscle in his jaw working. If he wants to tell me about his love life, he will. Reaching out, I touch his arm, silently reminding him that I’m always here for him if he needs me. The tension in his shoulders lessens a bit. “Come on, it’s your birthday tomorrow. We should be celebrating.”
“Yeah, and if the witch doesn’t want to fuck you, we can find someone else. You’re a member of the royal guard now, and can have your pick of women.” Kai smirks, looking toward Axe. “Time to bring out the pixie bottle, brother.”
It’s so weird to hear about August having casual sex because he used to never be like that. But I guess we’ve all changed.
Axe’s green eyes widen. “With Astrid here? I don’t fucking think so.”
“What’s the pixie bottle?” I ask, intrigued.
“It’s alcohol infused with pixie dust,” Bane explains, his eyes narrowing. “Very rare and usually gifted to incubi when they come of age.”
Pixies, a rare lesser fae, are the smaller fairy types that humans thought we all were before the veil opened. They all hid deep in the forests and glens.
“It will be a night you won’t forget,” Kai promises, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. His eyes then turn to me. “But yeah, Princess, maybe you should stay home.”
Bane leans back in his chair, studying me with his head slightly tilted. “I won’t be drinking so I can guard her.”
His dark eyes land on me, and a shiver goes down my spine at the look in them. Bane has a way of making me feel both extremely safe and on edge. Maybe because there is an attraction there, and I was trying to pretend there isn’t.
“Or maybe I’ll be the one guarding you,” I reply, and Bane smirks.
“I’m in,” August says, and I feel his eyes lingering on me.
Kai brightens, a slow-spreading smile taking over his face. “It’s settled then. Everyone, get ready. We are getting fucked-up tonight.”
Axe groans, scrubbing his hand down his face. “Father is going to kill us. But I do need to feed.”
I forget sometimes that they need the lust to survive, and the clubs they go to provide that.
“You and me both. We’ll blame it on Astrid,” Kai replies, winking at me. “He won’t get angry at her… she can do no wrong.”
Rolling my eyes, I stand and leave to get ready. Not wanting to disturb Bree, my maid here for any help, I do it myself, choosing a black dress that ends halfway to my thighs and a pair of black boots. I leave my hair down, the ends caressing my hips with each step, and my face bare, except for a dash of color on my lips. After sliding my ruby dagger into the sheath on my thigh, I go in search of the men. I pass Bane’s room first and stick my head inside the slightly open door. His room smells slightly of spicy incense. “Bane?” I call out.
“Come in, I’ll be out in a second,” he calls back from his bathroom. Hesitantly, I step inside his bedroom, my nosiness winning out.
A large window showing off the beautiful night sky draws my attention first before I take in his masculine bed, covered in black sheets and brown furs. Next to his bed, my eyes widen as they land on some red rope intricately tied in patterned knots. My mind roams back to Kai’s comments about Bane liking ropes, but this seems like more than that, the knots appearing like well-thought-out art instead of the rough tying up I was picturing him being into. Picking it up in my fingers, I’m examining it when Bane steps out, his hair still wet and his body bare besides a pair of dark trousers slung low on his hips. His body is a masterpiece. Tattoos cover every inch of him, but it doesn’t distract from his muscled stomach and strong, developed arms. He’s a warrior, there’s no denying it. His eyes flash amber as he takes me in from head to toe before looking at the red rope still in my hand. I drop it onto the bed like it burns me.
I clear my throat. “Sorry, I just came in to see if you were ready to go.”
“You guys ready?” Kai calls out, and I quickly stand. Bane gestures for me to leave first, with him close to my back. We meet with the others and head out, zipping right to the front of Lust, Kai with his damn bottle of pixie alcohol in his hands. The music is loud as we enter, skipping the line like we usually do for some VIP treatment. We take our usual table by the dance floor, and all stare at the rainbow-swirling bottle in front of us. I’m not going to lie, I’m tempted to have a little taste.
“No,” Bane decrees from opposite me, his dark eyes narrowed.
Glasses appear, and Kai starts pouring.
August looks over at me, teeth dragging along his lower lip. “I agree. We don’t need you getting into any more trouble than you usually do.”
My jaw drops. “I’m a grown fae, and I’m going to try some.”
Picking up a glass, I slide it over to Kai, whose eyes go to Axe, who shrugs. “Just a taste.”
So I get a shot-sized amount while the rest of them, aside from Bane, get a full glass. Staring into the swirling rainbow, I’m the first to taste it, the sweet flavor exploding on my tongue and making me moan. “Okay, that is good.”
My head starts to feel light, and my shoulders relax, tension draining from my body. I feel Bane’s eyes still on me, unimpressed. “Why do you hardly drink?”
“He’s a control freak,” Axe answers for him, smirking.
In and out of the bedroom, apparently.
I don’t realize I say that out loud until my brothers start laughing loudly.
Goddammit!
Wincing, I sit back in my chair and risk raising my gaze to Bane’s. His eyes are flickering amber, the only sign that my words affected him. “And what makes you say that, Princess?”
Shifting in my seat, I take another sip of the pixie goodness for some liquid courage. “Kai commented about you being into ropes, so…”
Some pretty women come over and distract August, Axe, and Kai, leaving Bane and me to finish the conversation alone. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything,” he replies, watching me take another small sip.
“The ropes were all beautifully knotted…”
He nods, his lip twitching. “Interested, are you? It’s a style of decorative bondage.”
My now empty glass sits on the table, and heat pools in my lower stomach. I’m glad I didn’t have any more because no one told me it would make me fucking horny. Or is that just the conversation? An image of me tied up in that red rope flashes through my mind before I can clear it. Bane orders two glasses of water and hands me one. “Thank you.”
“How do you feel?” he asks, watching the others being dragged to the dance floor.
I lean closer to him, and he does the same. “Don’t let me drink any more of it.”
He laughs while his shoulders shake. “I told you. But no, you wanted to be stubborn.”
“I just wanted to try it, and now I have,” I say, shrugging. Turning, I watch as August dances with a pretty demon, looking away as she starts to grind her ass on him.
“He had no chance with you… you need to let him move on,” Bane says quietly.
Sighing, I shift to his side of the table, taking Kai’s seat so I can be closer to him. “What do you mean? He’s been moving on for a long time now. He just sees me as a friend, which is how it should be.”
“You’re his first love. If he had the chance, he would still want to be with you… trust me.”
“Pandora—”
“A distraction,” he says, his eyes going to the dance floor. “If you told him you wanted him right now, he would jump at the chance.”
“He’ll meet his mate and be glad we didn’t work out,” I say, watching him laugh as the demon whispers something in his ear.
“Not all of us meet our mates, Princess,” he replies, pushing a long lock of hair off my face.
“August will, and she’s beautiful,” I reply without thinking, freezing when I realize what I let slip. “I mean, that’s what I think will happen.”
Damn this pixie drink .
Bane studies me briefly, and I purposely look anywhere except at him. “We should dance. You might get lucky and find someone to tie up tonight.”
His fingers tighten on his glass, but he says nothing, his mood darkening. Then, he stands and offers me his hand, pulling me to the busy dance floor.
“Prince Bane, dance with me,” a woman purrs at him, her red eyes giving away what she is.
Not wanting to cockblock him, I step away with a wink. “Enjoy yourself. I’ll be fine.”
For some reason I don’t want to acknowledge, I leave so I don’t have to watch him with her, finding myself at the bar, ordering some wine. My skin strums with magic as lust swirls around me. I feel alive but also fucking horny. I’m considering zipping back to Rave and jumping him when I see a familiar face out of the corner of my eye.
Laurel.
The Shifter King’s seer is a woman I spend a lot of time thinking about. The few times I’ve seen her, she wouldn’t even respond when spoken to, and she appeared haunted. Broken. She nods her head to the ladies’ bathroom, and I quickly follow her there, closing the door behind us.
“Are you okay?” I ask, noticing the usual bags under her eyes. Her brown hair is tied back in a ponytail, and her skin is pale.
“I don’t have much time before he notices me gone,” she says, letting me hear her soft, almost childlike voice for the first time. She pins me with her dark, empty eyes. “I had a vision of you last night.”
A shiver ghosts down my spine. “Aren’t you a battle seer?”
She nods. “But I see all. Just like you.”
“I’m not just a matchmaking seer?” I reply in a dry tone.
Her lip twitches slightly, and so quickly, I almost don’t see it. “Things change from tonight. Trust your mate. He will not betray you.”
“What about my vision of him draining my magic?” I ask, needing to know this answer.
“Visions change with different pathways, Astrid. The future is fluid. Each choice made changes outcomes. Even if he may have thought to use you at one point,” she replies, gently taking my hand in hers. “Trust him.”
How am I meant to when she says it like that?
“You want me to tell him I’m a seer,” I whisper.
She nods. “Own who you are. Change starts with you.”
Then she disappears, and Bane knocks on the door. “Princess? Are you okay?”
Rolling my eyes, I open the door and face him. “I’m fine.”
He releases a breath and rakes his fingers through his hair. “Fuck, I thought maybe someone took you.”
Imagine if I were just in here trying to go to the bathroom in peace, and he was out there panicking.
“Nope, still here. But I think I’m going to head home,” I say. “I’ve had enough fun for the night.”
“Good. Let’s get the hell out of here,” he replies, looking more than ready to leave.
Things change from tonight.
Her ominous words worry me more than I want to admit.