11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
My morning with Tor loosened a knot that sat in my gut since my parents mentioned his arrival. We talked for hours, mostly sharing tedious information in typical courting fashion. How he liked to spend his time.
Archery, riding his unicorn, hunting, and enjoying the court life like socializing at balls. His intelligence was fun to play with, though he liked to keep conversations light and easygoing. I appreciated the simplicity in him.
My intuition whispered safe, safe, safe in his presence. And he was.
So why wasn’t I jumping at the chance to drink the blessed waters from my mother’s unity diamond cup and marry him today?
I shared the basics of myself. I liked to socialize as well. I liked to read and draw. I was a fair archer, but hunting wasn’t my favorite. My father loved it and tried taking me on trips with him, but I never connected with the act of shooting for sport.
What I didn’t share with Tor was the wildness within me, choosing to keep the improper side close to my chest.
How would Tor feel about a wife who ran off into dangerous woods to fight goblins?
We’d known each other for a day. We needed more moments like this to commit to an immortal life together.
After we parted, I met up with my mother to look over the plans with the kingdom’s architect, Daven.
The crow fae was a little… eccentric. He was an artist, a visionary, and sometimes a lunatic.
But he saw the vision for Crysia with my mother when she became queen hundreds of years ago.
Nature first. There wasn’t much for me to do in the meeting, but Mother wanted me to be a participant regardless.
“One day you’ll be queen. This is part of that life. You never know. Crysia may one day be ruined, and you will need to rebuild.” It’s a statement she’d told me every year of my life. I wanted to roll my eyes. The likelihood of Crysia falling was minuscule.
We were the strongest kingdom in the Fae realm.
Sure, there were evil forces out there, but we’d kept them at bay for a long time.
Plus, beneath the ground, all around the kingdom, lay my mother’s diamond wall.
In the event of an attack, she’d lift the wall and nothing could penetrate it. Crysia would never fall.
Needing a break from the palace, I took off for the woods the first chance I got.
The forest quieted the moment I stepped past the boundaries and into the tree line like it always did.
The Hallowstags were alive, and based on your energy alone would decide if you needed to be removed or allowed in.
Sometimes that meant you’d be let in and hunted.
Sometimes you just got eaten because its dangerous creatures lived there.
But the Hallowstags aided in those fates.
I waited as the decision was made.
Chirping in the canopies continued, and a breeze floated by. The hair from my ponytail tickled my neck as the forest accepted me.
“Thank you.” I was always respectful and took off for a run through the dappled light.
The wind on my face soothed my thoughts while each contraction of muscles fueled me further into the woods. Here, I could be free.
It took a lot of running and training to tire my body. Feeling the burn in my legs made me smile. I slowed near the edge of a smooth, deep creek, and sat on a rock ten feet away from the water’s edge.
Mermaids didn’t inhabit this section of the woods since they liked to stick to larger bodies of water. The creatures that preferred the smaller rivers and creeks were menacing. They’d snatch any being that was close enough to reach and drag them down for a meal.
The wind cooled the sweat on my face and I closed my eyes, taking in the sounds of the tree tops swaying with the current in the air. It was like being an audience to nature’s dance. A show of what life’s supposed to be like. The ebbs and flow without resistance.
“Does the wind speak to you?” a male asked and I screamed. Jumping up, a hard sapphire stake shot out of my hand, and I reared back to throw it.
My heart pounded in my chest and Rune lifted his hands.
“Prince Rune.” I lowered my spike and fell back to the boulder to steady myself.
He leaned against a tree at least twenty feet away from me. “Just Rune. I am no prince.”
I rolled my eyes. He was a prince despite being denounced by his father. He had a tiger’s eye core alongside the werewolf. Gems were royal. It was the law of the realm.
The legend said our origins and core magic came from a tree. The Heart Tree. It chose the paths of each being and matched their powers. From their mates to the destiny they’d have. Usually the more powerful the cores, the stronger the destiny.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Sorry, I was too busy being scared for my life and ready to kill someone.” I scoffed, my heart was still recovering.
“Perhaps I should wear a bell,” he said quietly, a soft smile on his face. That broke me and I laughed. Rune took that as an invitation to come closer. He sat on a moss-covered trunk of a fallen tree.
I hadn’t forgotten how much bigger he was than Tor. I just tried not to think about it. With him being so close and nothing else to distract me, it’s all I saw.
“I don’t hear the wind. I believe only Fae with animal cores can, and I don’t host any inside me.” There was no use in hiding my powers now. He knew who I was.
Rune closed his eyes, listening as the breeze swirled around us then shot through the trees. I liked the sound of the leaves rustling against each other, but I admit it would be interesting to hear nature’s actual words.
“What’s it saying?”
He slowly opened his eyes but looked away from me. “Dance.”
What does that mean?
“The wind likes to dance? Or we should dance? Why dance?” I was nosey and likely overthinking the singular word. Maybe hearing the wind would drive me nuts.
“When you listen enough, the wind acts as a guide, speaking when you need it. Likely this time it means something will happen at the ball tonight and that I should pay attention.”
That was more complicated than I was expecting. But it made sense.
“It’s not always specific. I must be open to all possibilities.” He smirked, drawing a laugh from me again.
“So, it means anything. What a meddling wind.”
Rune’s smile grew and I froze. He was beautiful. The scars on his face did nothing to hinder that.
“Yes. That,” he said.
I nodded in a lustful daze, then shook out of it.
“What?” I asked like I didn’t already know.
“You’re to be with Tor,” he said with a hint of snarl laced in his words. Like the beast inside him came through when mentioning his brother.
“I am.”
He stared into me, and I felt the weight of his gaze pressing against me as if I were between him and a wall at my back.
Did my breaths hitch just now?
A deep growl rumbled from his chest and I leaned closer.
“We can’t be around each other.” His voice hardened and he shot to his feet.
My mouth watered as I nodded. My hands tightened into fists to keep from reaching out. Why was I feeling this?
We weren’t mates, not that I knew of. Wouldn’t that be a cruel twist from the Heart Tree?
“It’s the werewolf side. He’s feral, primal even. He likes you and you apparently have an unhealthy attraction to danger,” Rune said with a frown.
That cooled the sensations that warmed under my skin.
I was attracted to him because he was dangerous?
That’s it? Not that maybe I enjoyed our chats, and the time we spent when we met.
Yeah, he screamed danger and I wasn’t afraid of that.
Hell, he asked me to keep that side of me lit. Now it was a bad thing now?
“And what does that say about you, huh? Do you get off tempting your brother’s girl with your ‘fuck me’ stares?”
Rune snarled, and I snarled right back.
Were we overreacting? Likely. But he started it and I wasn’t backing down.