10. The Nightmare Prince
Chapter 10
Eldirard overindulged on elven wine. Sweet and thick, like satin on the tongue, an opposite flavor from the harsh, burning taste of alver br?n ale.
I rolled a crystal flute between my fingers, watching the burgundy drink swirl about. Would Skadi retch with br?n, hate it, favor it? Would she come to love anything in Klockglas more than elven lands?
I snorted and took another sip. What good was it to fret over such things? The moment we were declared vowed, elven women pulled her away from me—to dress her in something more sensible, I was told.
Now for all the revelry surrounding us, I had not spoken two words to my wife. Another rough chuckle slid from my throat.
“These are warm.” Mira leaned forward and touched a clay bowl filled with pale pebbles that looked as though flames were trapped inside.
“I read about these.” Sander plucked one. “Everlast stones, I think they’re called. A guard said it was a gift from the light elves.”
I bristled. There was nothing I wanted from that clan. They could fade away into the far seas and never return for all I cared.
“Light elven use light and flame, and if I’m right, they can trap light in these stones that never fades.” Sander studied one of the stones. “These are their most common trade item. Useful, I think.”
The table descended into a few touches to the stones to test if they were truly warm like a distant flame. I lost interest and took another drink of wine.
The Ever King sat across the table from me, a look of befuddlement on his face. “Is this how fae vows are, love? If so, I don’t care for them and I plan to make ours much better.”
“You’re taking vows, Bloodsinger?” My voice was darkened with drink. “I hadn’t heard.”
“It’s a recent discussion.” Livia draped an arm over her mate’s shoulder, tracing one of the scars on the side of his neck. “It’s not sea fae culture, so I told him we didn’t need them, but?—”
“I want them.” Erik pressed a kiss to her palm. “Every damn way to be bonded with you, I want it, love. But not like this.” The king lifted his own drink and used it to gesture at me. “You’ll be properly placed on my lap through the whole of it.”
“Is it proper to have a bride on your lap the whole time, Bloodsinger?” Sander leaned back in his chair, laughing.
The king’s crimson eyes flashed. “When your bride is my queen, there is no other way to see it done, Prince.”
Livia rolled her eyes, but kissed Erik’s jawline.
Mira leaned onto her elbows over the table, her attention on the somber features of the king’s cousin. “What of you, Hearttalker?”
“Heart. Walker. And what?” Tait had the same red in his eyes as Bloodsinger, but they darkened when he faced the princess.
“Would you carry your woman around like the king during your vows?”
Tait frowned. “I wouldn’t vow.”
“You might change your mind if?—”
“No.” His voice was cutting and final.
Mira cursed under her breath, muttered a few words like fool and sod, then abandoned the table until she joined a crew of Rave, the warriors of the fae kingdoms.
She didn’t look back to notice that Heartwalker tracked every step of her retreat.
Aleksi pounded his drinking horn on the table. “Strange, but I have to agree with Bloodsinger, Jo.”
The sea king narrowed his eyes. “There are times you don’t agree with me?”
I tossed back the last of my wine. “What are you trying to say, Alek?”
“You should be with your wife during the vow feast.”
The great hall of the elven palace was aglow with endless torches and sconces with flickering candles. Tables lined the edges, holding noble folk of Natthaven, Rave warriors, noble houses from the Ever Kingdom, and the royals of our lands.
In the center, couples danced to the beat of drums and curved harps. Servants traipsed between the crowds filling wine and ale for guests. It was a revel of note to celebrate a bride and groom.
It merely seemed the only two who had not interacted were the actual bride and groom.
Starlight hair gleamed from across the hall. Godsdammit. The sensible gown she’d abandoned the courtyard to don was made of blue fabrics, delicate enough the slightest breeze rustled the skirt like sea waves. The neckline was carved out down to her smooth stomach, revealing the sun-darkened tint of her skin and side swells of her breasts.
To make her all the more alluring, coils of designs peeked out across her flesh. Was it paint for the ceremony? An elven tradition? Or had my apprehensive bride inked places of her skin like I’d done with mine?
My depraved mind drifted to the unwelcome desire to peel back more of that gown to see more of those delicate designs.
Bleeding hells. This was meant to be the end, a vow to secure peace, then we could live our lives by all other means quite separate.
Buried in the corners of her full lips was a secret smile, pleading to break free should someone be clever enough to draw it out. Would her laugh be like a song or soft as a whisper?
A courtier from one of the fae kingdoms dipped his chin, drawing her attention.
Beneath the table, a fist curled over my knee. I did not blink as she tipped the crystal flute to those sweet lips, listening as the bastard told her what was likely a dull, arrogant tale.
He looked to be from one of Mira’s forest courts where revelry was as common as breathing, and skill with a blade was a foreign notion.
What a sod.
Until he waved his hands with a new bit of exuberance and my wife closed her eyes, jolting like he might strike her.
Dark heat gathered like a knot of jagged iron in my chest. She flinched and I wanted to know why.
A desire for violence burned in my veins, swift and fierce. Wicked dealings were no strangers in my world, but the onslaught of this was a cheap strike from behind, claiming all my rational thought.
I rose from my seat, burdened with a new starvation for answers that twisted low in my gut. I didn’t look anywhere but at the tension in her jaw, the expression that hinted her thoughts had drifted somewhere drearier.
Conversation stalled when I shoved through some of the elven and fae, some addressed me regally, others congratulated me on my vows. I ignored it all and gripped the top of the fae’s shoulder.
He startled. “Oh. Prince Jonas, I was telling the princess of the similarities of the forests of Natthaven to Southern . . .”
He winced, words dying, when I dug my fingertips into the meat of his shoulder.
I pinned him in a grin that was more or less a snarl. “You’ve made my wife uncomfortable and have not taken a pause in your tale to take note. Step. Back.”
He twisted his features in horror, murmured a swift apology, and bowed away from the conversation. Others had taken a cue and gave more space for me to face my wife.
A flush darkened the slender bridge of her nose and cheeks. “What are you doing?”
Wine loosened my tongue. “Protecting what is mine.”
“By humiliating me?” Skadi’s brilliant eyes shadowed with a touch of her own darkness.
If she hoped it would deter me, she would be disappointed—her villainy only drew me in more.
“I am not trying to draw you in,” she said, voice a low hiss.
“Did I speak all that out loud?”
She ignored me and set her full lips in a tight line, then leaned in. Gods, she smelled of candied pomes and ripe berries. I tilted my face, yearning to bury my damn nose in her hair.
Skadi sniffed my skin, then nudged me back, brow arched. “How much wine have you had?”
“A bit.”
“Elvish?”
“It’s delicious. Have you ever tried it?”
She let out a groan and took hold of my arm. The way she positioned us, it would look as though the bride had lovingly linked arms with her groom.
Clever, wife.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To our chamber.”
“Excellent choice.” I stumbled through the doorway.
Skadi’s arm went around my waist and I was certain I would be satisfied if her fingers became stitched to my body. “Elvish wine is known to fuel boldness and bravery, but too much and it makes men like you—who already think a great deal of themselves—reckless and stupid.”
True enough, my head was heavy with grand gestures and declarations I planned to speak against her glistening skin tonight.
When we rounded the corner, I shifted and pinned her back to the wall. Skadi drew in a sharp breath. Good hells, I could listen to the sound again and again, preferably with her body beneath mine, her claws leaving marks on my back.
My grip went to her throat, not enough to hurt, merely a way to touch her, hold her. “That fae did not touch you, but I saw your eyes, your reaction. Someone has touched you and not kindly.” I tugged on her bottom lip with my thumb. “I’ll be needing a name.”
“What? Why would I tell you anything? Especially when you don’t even know what you’re doing right now?”
“I know exactly what I am doing.” My eyes felt heavy. I wanted to fall into bed, her arms and legs tangled with mine, and sleep until the next sunset. “If he is still breathing, I would like to change that, Wife.”
Skadi’s eyes widened. Why did I never consider the dangers of vowing with such a beautiful creature?
Silver rings lined the edges of her ears, all the way to the narrow point. Her fingers were much the same. Firelight gleamed over her eyes, and I took a pause to consider the blue. Brighter than a deep sea, but not so pale they looked like a summer sky. They were like sapphires with shattered silver in the center.
She wanted her fire to remain doused, little did she know her husband had plans to fan the flames until we were both set ablaze.
Then my forehead fell to her shoulder.
Voices surrounded me, spoken as though a thick door muffled the sound. Someone nudged me forward. Were my feet moving? Air shifted, cooler than the corridor, there was softer light.
“All hells you’re enormous.”
I was tossed backward onto something soft and cushioned.
I laughed. “In more than one place.”
Skadi’s soft features hovered close to mine, as though she had me pinned on my back. Was she straddling me? Bleeding gods, I was a lucky bastard.
Until she shifted away and something soft was placed behind my head. “Spoken like a man truly trying to compensate.”
“Only you . . . will know from . . . now on, I suppose.”
Cool air struck my feet. Where were my boots? Next, a weight of fur tickled beneath my chin. Words were a challenge, too muddled to speak.
But I remained lucid enough to catch a soft sigh, then, “Such an alluring nightmare.”