Chapter 43
Veylor
We pulled up to the closest township. The crowd was bustling at the night market.
Everyone was either selling food, jewelry, or doing other assortments of shopping. In the Shadow Court territories, people preferred twilight or night. We were used to the darkness but there were daytime dwellers too.
Behind me, Oryx's shoulders hunched, his knuckles whitening as they gripped the cart's wooden edge.
The scaled tip of his tail coiled twice around Vesper's middle, cinching the leather of her corset until it creaked.
Her fingertips traced the tail's ridges absently as she scanned the crowd, the silver studs on her jacket catching the same moonlight that gleamed in my own.
He was worried, and I felt Vesper’s worry also as her arm clung to mine. Oryx had been a monster for years, feeding on livestock, animals in the forest, drinking their blood to stay alive.
While he never drank from fae, goblins or any fairies that I am aware of because he did not take a liken to their taste, everyone feared him. The sight of him was beyond anything like the lands have ever seen and these lands do have many… strange things.
Vesper clutched my arm more firmly, and I leaned in closer, brushing my lips against her forehead. I appreciated this new side of her, more open to me and relying on me as if I had become more acceptable to her.
Perhaps it was the bond pushing her toward me, but I had worked my hardest to get here.
If I had to get on my knees to lick her cunt and go days without release again, I would.
I couldn’t wait to rut her like Oryx did.
"Darling, worry not. My word still carries weight here—if I declare Oryx an ally, none will question it." I tugged the reins, bringing our restless stallions to a complete stop before the gathering crowd.
Vesper squeezed my arm once more. “And what of me?”
Her voice was hesitant and unsure. I didn’t like that about her, she was always so sure about herself, but I enjoyed knowing that she was looking to me for guidance. She wasn’t sure about herself in this world, and we wanted to show her it really wasn’t all that bad.
Her one experience with the vampires was truly my fault.
I caressed her cheek with the back of my glove. “All will be well. Just as we practiced, alright? Oryx will be with you at all times and he can take them all with just a swipe of his tail, isn’t that right?”
Oryx growled and stood up in the back of the open carriage. “I can do more than that. No one touches our pet.”
Vesper leaned her head back and stared straight up at him. “You’re the bestest.”
I stepped down from the cart, the cobblestones beneath my boots still warm from the day's sun.
The chatter of the marketgoers filled my ears, their eyes curious as they landed on our unusual trio.
I could hear the whispers, the murmurs of "Veylor" and "monster" and "what is that? " But I paid them no mind.
I had a purpose, and I would not be deterred.
Turning, I held out a hand to Vesper. Her fingers, slim and cool, slid into mine, and she stepped down beside me. Oryx followed, his massive form unfurling from the cart. The crowd gasped, some stumbling back, others frozen.
“It’s the monster!” One stepped forward. “Veylor, what is the meaning of this? You save us then come to bring us danger?”
Murmurs started floating through the crowd and I pulled down my vest in disinterest.
"People of the Shadow Court," I began, my voice raised. “Or, once was the Shadow Court.” Chuckles from the back of the ever growing crowd echoed through. "I have been alone for many years, coming to understand my powers, limitations. With that I have stayed away, to ensure your safety.”
The crowd grew silent and took gazes between my two lovers behind me.
"Before you stands Oryx," I announced, my hand sweeping toward the towering figure at my back.
“Wasn’t that one of the casualties,” a male said from the crowd. “An innocent one?”
His friend nodded. “He must have named it after him, in memory perhaps.”
I gritted my teeth, and continued, "born of my power to keep me from loneliness.
Though he has hunted the beasts of field and forest to sate his thirst, not once has he turned his hunger upon any who dwell within the Shadows.
You have shown wisdom in giving him a wide berth during his times of need, and I have kept a vigilant watch to ensure no innocent has suffered by his hand. "
The people sputtered, the voices rose.
“Why did you not come forward and tell us?” Someone shouted.
I opened my mouth to speak until I felt Vesper’s hand on my back. “Lord Veylor does not have to speak to you on why he does things. He set you free, did he not?” Vesper’s lips drew into a thin line, her shoulders squared as she carried the confidence I was starting to lack.
“And who are you?” A male goblin came forward, his hunched posture making his already diminutive stature seem even smaller.
Moonlight caught the oily sheen of his dark gray skin, stretched taut over a bald, pockmarked scalp.
His black nails curled from his fingertips like polished black talons, clicking against each other as he gestured.
Beneath a heavy brow ridge, unnaturally long eyelashes thin as spider's legs, framed unblinking yellow eyes that bore into Vesper.
She took a moment to recalculate her words, obviously taken back by the creature. “I’m Vesper. A human who came through a portal, by accident. I found Oryx and I am now his trainer.”
The goblin straightened. “A human? Why would it listen to a human, humans can do nothing!”
Vesper growled and my lip twitched.
I cleared my throat. “He will only listen to her now. Oryx has grown an attachment and this monster can speak. In fact, we prefer if everyone will stop calling him that entirely and call him by his name.”
The crowd continued to talk amongst themselves until another person yelled from the back.
“Are we going to get reimbursed from our livestock then?”
Vesper scoffed loudly and crossed her arms. “You are going to charge the once Lord of the Shadow Court, the male that brought you your freedom from all courts so you may govern yourselves for cattle?” Vesper stepped toward the crowd, pulling on Oryx’s leash.
Oryx snarled, snapping his jaw. “You are going to be so ungrateful as to make his Lordship pay you tiny flecks of gold for your freedom while others sacrificed themselves by his hand and he must suffer the guilt?”
While there was pain in me from the words he said, he understood how I felt. I don’t know if I appreciated that he knew or if I wanted to fully explain to the both of them what had happened.
The goblin stepped forward. “We are not unappreciative. We are sorry.” He bowed his head. “We fear the…Oryx. We have only seen him while he is in a frenzy.”
Vesper hummed and pulled on Oryx’s chain. She bent down to lean closer to the goblin who only stood up to her waist. “He only drinks human blood now and… desire.” She smirked. “I don’t think anyone here will have any problems.”
The goblin and the rest of the crowd gasped in shock.
And now I’m hard.
Vesper rubbed underneath Oryx’s jaw and his tail whipped back and forth. “He will be leashed when he is in town. He will listen to me and if you wish to speak to him, you speak to me first. Ask permission. There will be no touching him or we will consider it a threat.”
Oryx growled fiercely, "Anyone who lays a hand on Vesper will be destroyed."
I sighed and shook my head. So much for subtleties.
The play was a disaster. No one could concentrate due to the stares from the actors and the constant look of the crowd’s eyes directed toward us.
Perhaps I should find a spell that would glamour us all but that would take time since I have never done such a thing.
As I guided Vesper and Oryx toward a food stall, I ran my hand down my face and handed over coins so Vesper could eat. Watching her practically drool over the food, I knew that if my future bonded mate was hungry, I had to make sure she was fed.
Vesper moved through the market with newfound ease, her shoulders relaxed as vendors nodded in greeting.
Whether their kindness stemmed from genuine acceptance or the looming shadow of Oryx at her heels, I couldn't say.
But watching her smile, I realized it hardly mattered—she belonged with us now, and we were all she required.
If she wanted a friend, I would fucking make her one.
I muttered to Oryx to guard her, then slipped away through winding alleyways toward my destination.
The cramped bookshop had been my sanctuary whenever I sought forbidden knowledge—whether crafting ancient magik or pursuing lichdom…
its shelves tended by a fae older than any I'd encountered in all my centuries.
He wielded no magik, no special skill other than collecting ancient books, known folk lore, histories that have been passed down by word of mouth.
That is what I wanted the most, this mating lore I had never heard of.
He could laugh in my face and say nothing of the sort existed and it was only for the humble to know. A fake religion to bide their time before death, something to believe in.
But I had to know.
Was there something that pulled Oryx, Vesper and I all together?
And if there was, how do I seal it?
At last I found myself in a dim alley marked only by a single guttering torch. A bell tinkled overhead as I pushed open the door, releasing a cloud of ancient paper dust that filled my lungs while aged floorboards announced my arrival with every step.
“I could hear you coming a mile away,” the voice said gleefully as he came up the aisle, holding a book by his side.
I rolled my eyes. “If that was so, why are you not here at the register ready to hand me what I needed?”
Amaris sighed and rested against the desk. His once dark hair was now streaked with gray, a testament to his advanced age for a fae. Apart from his hair, he showed no other signs of aging, which was typical for our kind.
"I'm not certain what you're looking for. You know I don't possess any mind powers," he said with a sly grin, placing a book of apocrypha on the desk. "Is this what you need?"
“No,” I drawled. “I’ve come to ask you about bonded pairs. Mates.”
Amaris' eyes widened, his breath catching. "Who better to ask than the keeper of forgotten knowledge to the courts?" he said.
Amaris exhaled slowly and gestured toward a weathered table in the corner. A teapot steamed over a small blue flame, its heat causing the ancient wood beneath to groan in protest. Two delicate cups waited expectantly beside a plain cream pitcher and a chipped sugar bowl.
“What exactly do you want to know, lord Veylor?”
I settled into the chair, waving away the steaming cup Amaris offered. "Everything you know. Leave nothing out."