2. Chapter 2
2
Chapter 2
Violet
We’d been together for over two decades now and no matter how hard Calum fought his Advisors on this, he’s still being forced to spend the next six months getting to know his future wife. A six-month engagement at the female’s home realm was customary so the male could get to know her family before they moved back to his realm.
Calum had told me over and over again that he’s not going to even give her a chance and that he was going to figure out a way out of this before it’s too late. I told him I believed him but I knew that I was going to be brokenhearted in the end. I had no doubt that he loved me, but that didn’t mean he still would after he spent so much time with someone that had spent her entire life preparing to be the wife of a Sovereign.
Tomorrow morning, he was leaving for the Night Realm.
“Violet, you have my heart,” he said as he cradled my face in his hands.
I tried to hold back the tears, but knowing that this was probably the last time I’d ever be with him was too much to bear.
“Please . . . tell me what you want,” he said as he looked into my eyes, searching for an answer.
I want to be with you forever. I want to run away from this realm and be with you without anyone interfering in our relationship. That’s what I wanted to say, but all I could choke out between the tears was, “I want you.”
I grabbed his shirt, and our lips crashed together. I’d tried so hard to keep it together and have hope that he would come back to me. But in the likely chance that this was the last night I’d ever be with him, all I wanted was to feel every inch of him on me— in me.
I tugged at his shirt instructing him to take it off. In the second that our lips broke for him to pull his shirt off over his head, I ached for his touch. If I couldn’t bear a second without him, how was I to survive six months? Or eternity?
Calum placed his hand around the back of my neck and started to push down. I knew what he wanted. And I wanted to give it to him.
I lived to please him.
He was sleeping soundly soon enough, but no matter how hard I tried to just live in this moment with him, I couldn’t shut my mind off.
I lay there staring at my torn dress on the floor. Calum had literally ripped my dress in half—too impatient to take the time to correctly take it off of me. His strength had always been a turn on for me. The first Sovereign of the Mountain Realm was given the gift of strength, and every Sovereign since has inherited it. All fae were strong, but I’d seen Calum push through a brick wall . . . on accident.
Even with that, he had always been so careful with me. I was a lot smaller than him. He’s 6’2” while I was 5’3” on a good day, and he could snap me like a twig if he wasn’t careful. But I’d always felt so safe with him. I was terrified of him being gone for the next six months.
I’d been so worried about losing him forever, but I was just going to have to have faith in him and that he would find his way back to me. He’d never given me a reason not to trust him. The only way I would be able to get through the next six months was to truly believe he’d come back, without a wife.
I would be nothing without Calum. Ever since I moved into the castle, he had been my whole focus. My father had to devote all of his time to Calum’s father which meant his worry for me only got worse. Since he couldn’t protect me, the only way he felt I would be safe is if I never went past the castle walls. There was enough land to roam within the walls—it wasn’t like I was trapped in a room—but it limited my social access. I had Calum, the only other fae around my age, and Astrid, who was my caregiver and tutor. They were the only ones I had true bonds with. Other than the time I spent with them, and seeing my father and Calum’s parents for an hour at dinner once a week, I was pretty much alone.
Astrid left when I reached adulthood to care for another faeling like she had done for hundreds of years before me so all I had left was Calum. And he could be leaving me forever.
He had to come back to me.
The sun came up too quickly. I barely slept last night because I didn’t want to miss a second of being with him, memorizing every one of his features. His dark brown hair that ended just above his shoulders and had the slightest wave to it. It always seemed a little messy, which made me smile given the grace and authoritative presence he had. Even closed, as they were now, I could never forget what his eyes looked like beneath his thick eyebrows. They were deep brown, and the way he looked at me with them . . . he could get anything out of me with one look.
And his body—he was pure muscle. His shoulders were broad, and his arms filled any shirt he put on.
Calum favored his father in every possible way. Looks, personality, and even the way they treated Celine—placing her on a pedestal and giving in to her every wish.
His having no features from his mother was normal, though. Heirs to the thrones of the realms always have the hair, eyes, and skin tone of the fae of their realm—another way the realms are divided. You could tell by the looks of a fae which realm they were from, and it’s no different for the Sovereign of every realm. When the force of Evidannan’s spell transferred all faeries and creatures to a specific realm, it took fae with them based on their appearance. Evidannan—or the spell—decided that the fae with brown hair, brown eyes, and ivory skin were now Mountain Realm fae. Even though Sovereigns marry daughters of Sovereigns from other realms, the Sovereign’s features overpower their wife’s features when they had faeling.
Thank the gods Calum didn’t act like his mother, but I did wish he didn’t have a blind eye for her just like his father had.
A slight knock on the door snapped me back to reality and told me it was time. No matter how hard it was, I wouldn’t let myself cry while we said our goodbyes. I knew it was just as hard for him to leave as it was for me to watch him leave.
While we weren’t secretive about our relationship, our “affair,” as Celine liked to call it, could never get out because it would have caused a scandal that would ruin our realm. We knew that a few guards from the Night Realm were set to arrive at any minute to help assist in Calum’s travels, so we said our goodbyes in his chambers to ensure no outsiders saw us together.
A few of our guards would be going with Calum, and while they were capable of stopping any danger within the Mountain Realm and the Ice Realm, which they also had to travel through, once they crossed the border into the Night Realm, they were as good as defenseless.
Every realm had creatures and faeries that roamed, some good and some bad. But from what I’d read in our history books and the stories Calum used to tell me to freak me out, there were no worse monsters than the ones in the Night Realm.
We were always told that evil came out at night. That the monsters in our nightmares hid in the dark. Yeah, that pretty much summed up the Night Realm.
Along with the few Mountain Realm guards, my father would be with Calum. My father’s duty transferred to Calum when Calum’s father died.
“I love you, Violet,” Calum said, as he knew it was time for him to go. He cupped my cheeks and kissed me one last time before he transferred out of his chambers.
“I. . . love you too,” I said to no one. This wasn’t the last time I would see him before he left, but it was the last time he would acknowledge my existence.
When I went downstairs to tell my father goodbye, I would be nothing but the Commander’s daughter. Nothing to Calum.
Calum stood in the courtyard, trying one last time to reason with the Advisors, telling them that he would be able to protect the realm on his own, but they wouldn’t listen.
I knew one way he could put an end to this.
Rip apart every one of those pretentious dicks, command obedience from everyone watching and take control of the realm. It’s his birthright. One show of his power would be enough to prove he was able to protect the realm without an alliance with the Night Realm.
He wouldn’t be the first to go against Queen Mother’s rule, and she did nothing to the last Sovereign that took control without being “of age.”
But Calum wouldn’t do it. He’s too good.
Again, what did I do to ever deserve him?
As I watched Calum from a respectable distance, my father walked up to stand at my side, looking ahead in his military stance with his hands behind his back. This was the only way he ever appeared when he was in public.
My father was handsome with long, light brown hair that he always kept neatly braided down his back. His brown eyes were kind, but I hadn’t seen him relaxed enough to show that since Calum’s father’s death. Now, they were always alert, looking for possible threats of danger.
Even though, as fae, he shouldn’t age, it seemed like the stress of his station had given him slight wrinkles on his forehead and around his eyes. He always seemed tense now.
“Little bird,” he said as he looked ahead, “I need you to be careful while I’m gone.”
“What do you mean?” I was puzzled. I may have gotten comfortable here since I was with Calum and no one would dare to do something to me in fear of angering him, but I knew my place. I was female. I must keep my head down and do as I was told.
“I mean, I need you to avoid Celine,” he whispered so no one could hear us.
“Father, she hates me. What do you think I’m going to do? Ask her to tea?” I rolled my eyes as I questioned him. I was being nothing but a smart-ass, but his request warranted it.
My father whipped his head around, breaking his stance. I knew he was serious because I’d never seen him like this around others. “I mean it. Without Calum and me here, I fear what she may do to you.”
I just looked at him, confused, unable to muster up words. She’s horrible, yes, but would she actually hurt me?
“Stay in your room. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I worry about your safety. I’ve already spoken to the servants. They will bring your meals and anything you ask for. Please, little bird. Do not leave your room,” he said as he pleaded with his eyes.
That really was a lot to ask. Six months confined to my room? No days spent outside in the sunlight? I would go insane. But I could tell how important this was to him. “I won’t, Father.”
Then he hugged me and walked over to Calum. I couldn’t tell you the last time he hugged me. We weren’t close at all. I loved him, and I knew he loved me, but he had always seen me more as something that needed protecting than someone who needed a personal relationship with him. He held his emotions in most of the time and only let them out when I did something that made him fear for my heart or my safety.
A hug from him worried me more than it comforted me.
Calum gave me a quick glance before ducking into the carriage, a glance no one would notice if they weren’t looking for it. I watched their carriage until they were specks past the castle gates. I looked over to where Celine was standing; she was staring at me with such hate. I thought about what my father said and decided it was best if I got to my room as quickly as possible.
The worst part—I had to think about where my room was. I hadn’t been in my room in a decade. I’d slept in Calum’s bed every night since we stopped being secretive about our relationship. The servants had moved all of my things to his chambers.
I wondered if I should get my things, but no. Father said go to my room. I could send a servant to collect my things.
I walked as fast as I could, but it was a long walk. Two staircases down and six halls, I really wished I could transfer. Luckily the castle was built on a mountain, so even though my room was lower than the main floor, I still had a window. My room was right above the servants’ quarters. It was the last floor before the rooms descended underground.
I reached my room, quickly closed my door, and locked it. As I looked around my room, I acknowledged how plain it was with nothing more than the necessities: a small, wood-framed bed, a desk with a small chair, an armoire with one handle missing, old wooden floors with wood paneling covering the walls and ceiling. A door on the right wall led to a small bathroom. Even though the entire castle was made of wood, my room felt different. The rooms of the castle were large with glass doors that were kept open most of the time with huge balconies overlooking the mountains and rivers. Oversized fireplaces made of black and gray stones that always had fires burning in them were the focal point of every room. Gold chandeliers and accents brought lavishness to the castle.
My room, on the other hand, felt like a suffocating box.
I had been living a fantasy with Calum. Without him, I was nothing but a servant in the Mountain Realm.