19. Lira
19
LIRA
I sat up, and the room spun. A wooden table sat across from the bed I was on, and several candles were lit, casting warm light inside the sparse room. There were no windows, which made me think I could be in a cell. But the frosty-blue sheets, dark-gray fuzzy blanket, and cloudlike pillows and mattress contradicted that thought.
Sprite, are you okay? Tavish connected, his concern hovering heavier than the covers over me.
A door opened, and I jerked my head to see Tavish enter with a lantern in his hand.
My breath caught. Somehow, he appeared more handsome than ever.
His skin was almost as pale as snow, but it had a healthy gleam that hadn’t been there in far too long. He hurried over and dropped onto the bed next to me, examining me with stormy eyes that held hints of starbursts that I hadn’t seen since he was a young boy.
“Where did the guards take us?” I croaked while trying to make sense of it all.
He set the lantern on a table next to the bed and pulled me into his arms.
A jolt of electricity shot between us, but there was no pain… just pleasure.
“They didn’t catch us.” He kissed the top of my forehead, holding me tightly. We’re safe.
Relief crashed through me, and I relaxed and burrowed my head into his chest, feeling the hard curves of his muscles against my cheek.
How? I swallowed, my throat dry and achy. They were right on us.
We reached the divide of the Seelie and Unseelie lands, though you couldn’t tell anymore. The Seelie have grown plants and warmed up the area since they forced us from our homes. But that didn’t matter because Unseelie magic is still tied to the earth. It rejuvenated Finnian and me enough for us to assist Eiric in handling the guards… though that’s now a point of contention between your sister and us. His displeasure flowed into me. She isn’t thrilled that we killed the guards, but we couldn’t risk them informing the others that we had traveled onto Unseelie soil. They’d have known we hadn’t left the island and would’ve sent more guards to search the area, making it more difficult for us to leave.
My stomach roiled. Even though I understood that Tavish and Finnian had felt it was necessary, the thought of some of my people dying at their hands rubbed me wrong. Killing people isn’t always the right way to handle things, especially if we want to bridge the gap between the Unseelie and Seelie so we can have a future together.
He sighed. They were trying to kill Finnian and capture me. What did you expect us to do? Let them? This is the same conversation we’ve been having with Eiric.
I coughed and winced, the dryness of my throat hurting more than I anticipated. I need water. My magic still hadn’t recovered. How long have I been out?
We just got settled about ten minutes ago, so not long. You didn’t get a good rest because we had to carry you, so I’m not surprised you still feel unwell, he answered, releasing me to stand. I’ll fetch you something to eat and drink. We need to be at full health when we leave here.
I’ll go with you. If Eiric was upset with them, I needed to help de-escalate the conversation. Eiric already struggled with my allegiance with Tavish; the worst thing that could happen was for her to feel alone and uncomfortable. I pushed the covers off me as Tavish frowned.
You aren’t well. You shouldn’t—
Don’t. I climbed to my feet and tried to stand upright without swaying, though the ground wobbled. I need to go out there for E. I had no doubt she was worried about my current state as well, and seeing me would mean more than Tavish relaying the message that I was awake.
His forehead creased with worry, and he rushed around the bed to wrap an arm around my waist and steady me. The jolts of electricity thrummed between us. Though his arms were strong, he exhaled and said, “I despise that I can’t carry you. Despite my magic strengthening here, my body hasn’t fully recovered.”
My heart expanded with warmth from how much love I had for him. This is more than perfect.
We headed toward the white door he’d entered through. I noticed a closet full of clothes and a door to the left that led to a massive bathroom. Where are we? This place was nice, but it also reminded me of a basement back on Earth.
He opened the door and led me into a long, narrow hallway with four doors on each side. The room we’d come out of was at the end of the hallway. The other end opened into a sizable room. Lanterns hung between each door, lighting the area for us.
This is the Unseelie secret underground living quarters, created in case we needed to hide from an unprompted attack or have our guards use the passage to attack the Seelie without warning. He flinched. Sort of like your secret passageway behind the walls of your castle.
Even though I hated that they’d had a way to attack us without warning, I was happy that Tavish was so forthcoming with me, especially since I could feel his guilt. I appreciate your honesty. I squeezed him, my legs becoming a little steadier. But I’m confused. If you had this, why couldn’t you hide when the Seelie attacked twelve years ago?
We moved down the stark white hall.
The entrance is outside the castle, in the royal garden. We’d been expecting a visit from the Seelie royals, including their guards, to discuss the future. We assumed it was to make official the agreement that the two of us would wed and unite Aetherglen as one kingdom once again. We weren’t alarmed until guards kept entering with no sign of you or your parents. When we understood it was an actual attack, it was too late. We didn’t have time to escape and hide here. Your parents used the goodwill established during years of meetings to skin our wings and take everything from us.
My heart ached. I hated that my parents had done that to his, but something must have prompted it. I’d been so focused on the wrong actions they’d been taking against Tavish that I hadn’t asked why they’d attacked the Unseelie and relocated them twelve years ago. If I could go back, I’d ask for their side of the story. Tavish… I—
You have nothing to feel bad about . A sad smile flitted across his face, and he kissed the top of my head. You saved my life and helped me escape. None of this is your fault.
Even though he was right, I felt as if I had somehow attacked him along with my parents. But that was preposterous. Still, my father’s words repeated in my head— People are responsible for the decisions their royals make . I’d argued with him about that, but here I was, feeling like I was to blame just as much as them. Why was my mind beginning to change, especially since I truly believed that Tavish shouldn’t be held accountable for his parents’ actions?
We reached the end of the hallway and stepped into the gigantic room. There were four oversized dark-gray oval couches and a huge silver chandelier with twenty candles on the intricately thorned vines that spiraled around it. A large table that seated twenty stood behind it, and Finnian and Eiric sat across from each other in the middle, a bowl of sunburst fruit, bread, and water in a clear pitcher placed between them. My stomach grumbled, and my tongue felt like sandpaper in my mouth.
I picked up my pace, untangling from Tavish, desperately needing water. I fell into the seat next to Finnian and snatched his blue crystal glass from his hand.
When the first drop of water landed on my tongue, I immediately felt better, but it wasn’t close to being enough. I downed the entire thing and set the empty glass back on the table just as Tavish sat beside me.
“Better?” Finnian quirked a brow.
Tavish reached for the pitcher and refilled the glass while I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
“A little.” This time, when I responded, I sounded like my normal self and not like a frog back on Earth. “I didn’t realize how dehydrated I was.”
“We were walking in the woods for hours.” Eiric took a bite of fruit. “We were all dehydrated, especially after Finnian’s stunt with the Seelie guards.” She leveled a deep, hateful glare at him, the type I’d seen from her only once before.
It’d been right after her parents had adopted me, and we’d gone to school. I’d struggled to fit in, and a boy had asked me if I was from this planet. Eiric had torn into him in a way that had made me petrified of her, but it hadn’t taken me long to realize she was protective of her family. And the guards were part of her family because she was training to be one of them, and they were Seelie.
My stomach dropped. Her eating wasn’t necessarily a good sign. She liked to eat her emotions more than I did.
Tavish placed the glass of water back in front of me, and I didn’t hesitate to drain it. He swiped a sunburst fruit that reminded me of a lemon but was twice the size, along with a piece of brown bread. As soon as I put the glass down, he handed me the food and refilled my glass.
Chuckling, Finnian leaned back in his seat, placing his hands behind his head. “It’s nice to see Tavish serving others. When we get back to the castle, maybe he can cut down on his servants since he now has such capable hands.”
As soon as Tavish placed the glass back in front of me, Finnian yawned and said, “Can you hand me another piece of bread?”
“Go fly in a volcano,” Tavish sneered. “The only person I tend to is my mate.”
My heart skipped a beat. I loved when Tavish made it clear that he did certain things only for me. He made me feel special.
When I took a bite of cold bread, a sweet honey taste hit my tongue. “Where did you find this?”
“It was in the ice chambers here.” Tavish smiled. “My parents ensured that our food would survive here for hundreds of years if necessary.”
Eiric scowled, chomping on her bread.
“I’m just glad to see our little featherling has healed.” Finnian winked. “I’ve missed all the trouble she causes.”
I snorted. “We just escaped a castle and were chased by guards. I think we can all use a rest before the next adventure.”
“Amen to that.” Eiric lifted her water up at me.
“A men?” Tavish tilted his head. “That doesn’t make any sense. A is singular and men are plural.”
“Unless the man has multiple penises.” Finnian stroked the beard that had grown during his time in captivity. “Would that work to make it plural? Does the penis make a man singular or the actual head?”
Tavish rubbed his temple. “Is that a relevant question?”
“Wait.” Eiric inhaled sharply. “There are men here who have more than one penis?”
I didn’t know if I was exhausted or just having a hard time following the conversation. Either way, I wanted it over. “She just meant she agreed with me. Amen is something humans sometimes say when they agree with someone. It has religious ties that don’t translate here in Ardanos.”
“That’s a strange word for people to use, then.” Finnian pursed his lips. “And, sunscorched, if men could have multiple penises, I’d definitely be one of them. Alas, we only have one here. Do some humans have more than one?”
Eiric crossed her arms. “With how arrogant you are, you have to be compensating for something. I bet it’s rather small.”
Finnian’s jaw dropped. “It is quite large.” He stood and readied to drop his pants.
Tavish snarled, “You’d better not do what I suspect you’re doing. Friend or not, I will kill you if you expose yourself to my mate.”
“It would’ve been nice if you’d threatened him like that when he killed the three Seelie guards.” Eiric wrinkled her nose.
“They were trying to kill me.” Finnian rocked back on his heels. “What would you do if an Unseelie guard attacked you?”
She bared her teeth. “Kill them like I want to do you.”
Wow. I figured there was tension, but nothing like this. I should’ve known better, and they were putting me in the middle, even if they didn’t mean to. “Which is why all three of you are in the wrong.”
“What?” Eiric dropped her hands into her lap as her eyes widened. “How am I wrong when they killed some of our people?”
“Because I view both Unseelie and Seelie as my people now.” I straightened my back.
Our fated-mate connection expanded as Tavish’s love flowed through. He leaned toward me, a faint smile on his face.
“Which means we should learn to live harmoniously. Neither side should be killing the other unless it’s inevitable.” I took the time to look at Tavish, then Eiric, stopping with Finnian.
Finnian nodded. “Exactly. The guards tried to kill me, and I merely defended myself.”
“Someone has to make the first move toward peace between us.” I lifted my chin in challenge. “Why can’t it be you? After all, you claim you have a big penis. Prove it.”
A deep, menacing growl came from Tavish, followed by rage flooding our bond. “I’m not kidding, sprite. I will kill him if—”
“For crying out loud, it’s a saying.” Eiric rolled her eyes. “She didn’t mean for him to actually show her his dick. She meant for him to prove he’s brave by taking the first step and not killing guards.”
“Then the others would know we’re still here.” Finnian bit his bottom lip. “I did that to protect us so we could get out of there.”
And that was why, even though I was disappointed in them and wished they hadn’t killed anyone, I wasn’t mad. Peace between Unseelie and Seelie wouldn’t be an easy change, and I was asking a lot of them. “But maybe next time, just knock them out. It’s not like they can locate us in a hidden spot underground. The other guards know you were injured—they could assume we still haven’t left.”
“They did see us in Unseelie territory.” Tavish scratched the thick scruff on his face. “They could narrow down the search area. Right now, they’re probably searching the woods where they lost track of us.”
Eiric slammed a hand down on the table. “They’re still our people, and your father started the feud, so quit pretending you’re innocent.”
“My father?” Tavish straightened and bared his teeth. “He didn’t do anything . The Seelie came into our kingdom and randomly attacked us!”
“Is that the story you’ve convinced yourself to believe?” Eiric barked out a hard laugh. “That’s pathetic.”
Of all the times for Eiric to decide to be the mouthy one, it’d be now. Normally, I was the one who impulsively spoke without thought, but for the first time, I could see both sides. “He can’t lie, E.” My appetite had vanished, and I turned to face my clueless fated mate.
No wonder he held such hatred toward the Seelie.
“Is that the story Eldrin told you?” His cousin had retrieved him from the Seelie and perverted the situation to make Tavish believe he’d saved his life. I had no doubt he’d played additional mind games with him. After all, Tavish had been such a young boy… not even yet a man, though the responsibility of ruling had fallen to him.
“Why would he lie about that?” Tavish shook his head. “Neither my father nor any of his guards had left Unseelie land in weeks. There is no way anything they did could’ve been mistaken as a threat. He’d gotten sick weeks before, and he recovered but continued to act strangely. None of us could figure out what was the matter.”
Eiric gestured to the room. “He could’ve used this place to go to Seelie lands, and you wouldn’t have been aware of it. You just told us that.”
“Mother wouldn’t leave his side for long, and I was learning to handle the business of the kingdom while he recovered. I had control of the guards with Eldrin assisting me.” Tavish’s determination flowed into me, confirming he believed every word. “There was nothing we did to even hint at war. Even then, I was planning on a future with Lira by my side. I would never have risked the peace within our grasp.”
“If that’s the case, why were Gleann Solas and Tìr na Dràgon’s skies covered in darkness?” Eiric leaned forward, watching Tavish’s every move.
Tavish spat, “Is that what your king and queen led you to believe? Did you not see the sun each day rebuking their claims? They had to be masterful with their words in order for you to not believe what you saw.”
My heart stopped because I could feel the truth in his words through our bond. He didn’t believe his father had done anything. I didn’t want to tell him and change his perception of the man he loved. I feared what that might do to him. He loved and cherished his parents, but I thought he knew what they’d done.
He felt the change in our bond, and his gaze landed on me. He whispered, “What are you hiding from me?”