Chapter 4 #2
Creepy.
Weakened, my knees buckle.
Unsteady, I stumble to the side. I crash into the wall of shelves. The scrolls, which are carefully gathered there, fall around me like snow.
“Careful,” Maximinus snarls, “those scrolls are more valuable than you are.”
“So sweet-tongued.” I deliberately crush a scroll under my foot. “You’ve poisoned my blood, stolen it, and now intend to feed it to a monster. Anything else you want to do with it? Mix it with your Flaver wine, along with saffron and honey?”
“I’ll leave that to the vampires. You know, your idea with the disguise is a good one.
Otherwise, they would have likely killed you on sight.
Now that Aurelius and you have both created this opportunity, I may as well seize it.
With you playing the innocent pet, we have a better chance to capture a king. Catch.”
I smirk when I actually do catch the item that he hurls at me, rather than it hitting me in the face like he expected.
My reflexes are better than his or any dragons’.
“Shackles.” I frown. “You shouldn’t have.”
“Silver ones. And for once, not for you. At least, not for your wrists. Hold them on your palms,” Maximinus commands.
Warily, I allow the shackles and the snake-like chains between them to rest on my palms.
I shudder at the cursed magic that courses through them.
I have never trapped anyone before.
It wrecked me when War locked the iron shackles around my wrists, suppressing my magic and ability to fly.
Will I be able to ruin another king in the same way? Strip him of his crown?
How do I save my Omega, while saving this new Alpha from my own fate?
“Now, don’t drop them.” Maximinus’ pheromones become stronger.
Suddenly, the prickling magic intensifies around the shackles, sparking across my skin. To my shock, they change shape.
I trace over the new object in unwilling fascination.
They have molded into a mask.
Cold, silver, feathers.
I swallow.
I am uncomfortably reminded of my first date with both Freya and Aurelius at the Carnival of Shadows as equals, or at least, it felt like it.
Cadets and dragon riders.
Mates.
Aurelius and I had worn wooden masks of each other’s faces. And he had called me his Masked Fae.
…You could stand strong at my side in court as a masked adviser. A Shadow King, like me but not me. A symbol of my power…
Had I been an idiot to believe Aurelius?
To swear that I would forever serve him?
Yet a fae never breaks a deal, and I have sworn to serve both Auelius and Freya.
It was Lanlin who destroyed that vision of our future together by attacking the carnival. Now, I will become a Masked Fae but for an enemy king.
Didn’t Lanlin bring this on himself?
“I designed it as dove wings. The half-mask is beautiful,” Maximinus says like I should be thanking him. “Put it on.”
“Pass.”
“In case you missed it, sweet pet, that was an order. Once placed on, the mask can’t be removed until the night that the wolf marries and bonds with the fanged monster.
You can convince him of some lie about your cruel dragon boss at court insisting on it.
Everyone knows how much I hate fae pets.
The Shadow Vampire King will probably be protective of you then.
And on the night of the marriage, the mask will transform back into enchanted shackles.
Get them on the vampire, and you will all be pulled back through a portal to Bael. ”
“Easy as that, aye? Betray the Blood at the most special moment for any Alpha, break his heart, then somehow put shackles on him before he tears out my throat.”
“So, you can listen.”
Slowly, I shake my head. “Nay, I won’t do this to another king. You’ve bloody taken everything from me, and I thought that I could…but not like this. Go on, punish me. Poison me with iron. Make me scream. Send me to the whipping post. Fuck you.”
I stand panting.
By the Shadow Devils, it felt good to say that.
Unexpectedly, I hear a bottle being opened, then smell a foul, metallic stench.
The antidote.
I clench my jaw, closing my eyes.
By the Shadow Devils, I crave…am addicted…to that vile liquid, which can stop the pain and restore my sight for a little longer.
Drinking it would mean that I could protect Freya in Blood Kingdom.
“What a shame,” Maximinus drawls, wafting the bottle underneath my nose, “and I was about to dose you with enough to see you through the next few weeks at least.”
My tongue darts over my dry lips. “Aye, a shame.”
“Especially since this would be your last mission.”
My eyes snap open. “I don’t believe you.”
“Once I have the best assassin in the realms under my control, why would I need you? I promise, do this final mission for me, and I will free you. No more working as either courtesan or assassin. You will be free to live bonded with Freya and Aurelius…for the days that you have left.”
My chest tightens.
That’s everything I’ve wanted since I was brought to this Shadow Court in a gilded cage.
To be free.
Aurelius despises that I work for his uncle, he’s made that clear. He’ll never accept me as pack, while I am under Maximinus’ control.
I am the only royal of the Winter Court. I have a duty to the blood that soaked into the ground and the ashes of my burned land.
How can I honor that if I am in this dragon’s hold?
Still, I hesitate. “What if I don’t?”
Maximinus grabs the back of my hands, raising the mask, until it almost touches my face. “Then I will call your Omega in here right now, before I accelerate the poisoning, until you die in agony in front of her. Your choice.”
Damn him to hell.
That’s not a fucking choice.
I shove the mask against my face.
The silver melds with my skin, leaving only my lips and eyes revealed. I hiss at the strange, wrong sensation of the metallicum magic.
I take panicked breaths. Adrenaline surges through me.
When I reach up and try to prise away the mask, I can’t even get a proper grip. It feels like it is now part of me.
I struggle but then stop, when Maximinus laughs.
He gently takes hold of my chin, pushing open my lips. “You earned this.”
I gag, as the thick, revolting liquid coats my throat like tar.
I swallow with difficulty, wrenching away from him. I bang against the shelves again, choking.
Slowly, the pain recedes. Shapes rise like ghosts out of the dark.
I want to weep that I can see again.
Maximinus pats my shoulder in a way that would be avuncular, if he wasn’t the one who’d taken away my vision in the first bloody place. “There, there. Take your time. It’s better when you’re obedient, hmm?”
“May you go to hell and never have a drop of mead to quench your eternal thirst,” I get out between rasping coughing.
“Dove, you’re not acting very…gentle or soft natured.
Is that how a pet should speak to their boss?
If you’re going to seduce a lonely Shadow Vampire, then you need to become as sweet as honey.
Lanlin Sin has weaknesses that you can exploit; he’s barely able to socially function.
He’s been an outcast for most of his life.
Someone like you with more friends than brains can easily manipulate a loner. ”
Rude.
Also, what does Maximinus think I’ve been doing with him? All these daft dragons? They may have executed me, but I’ve been manipulating them from the beginning.
I chuckle. “Are we talking about the same unhinged vampire who took out half of Bael? Who is infamous for not allowing anyone close to him? A monstrous killer even amongst the Bloods?”
I let out an oomph, when Maximinus whacks a bunch of rolled parchments against my chest.
“Take these,” Maximinus orders. “They’ll teach you the history, culture, and structure of the Blood Court and the secretive Blue Lotus Palace at its heart.
Memorize them this week as you would for any mission.
Study the Shadow Vampire King like you would another mark.
Vampires become drunk on fae blood; it’s ambrosia to them.
Also, anyone who has been as lonely as he has, will become a fae dazzled fool, as soon as a beautiful, harmless courtesan pet like you makes him addicted to your blood.
Once the Omega also captures his heart….
” When Maximinus traces over the feathers on my mask, I flinch. “…you’ll capture his fucking soul.”