76
“You’re crazy, witch, if you think I’ll let you do it,” I hissed, suppressing the urge to seize her by the throat and squeeze until I felt her tracheal cartilage shatter under my fingers.
This time, my family did not react with fear to my grim tone. In fact, they showed the woman the same disapproval as I did.
“What you propose, Queen Aloiv,” Father said in a dark voice, “goes against all our principles and the Spirits’ will.”
“It would be like rape,” Mother said, uttering the last word with indignation.
The Queen of the Witches’ expression grew even harsher. “It is the only way to remove the Abomination’s claws from your daughter.”
I placed my hand on my belly with a fierce yet distressed grimace, fingers flexing as if mimicking the talon of a hawk that wanted to gut me.
I felt Araton’s inquiring gaze on me. “Has it ever been done before?” he asked no one in particular.
“Of course not!” Mother exclaimed, lurching upright and moving toward the eastern windows. “It’s a sacrilege!”
My brother clenched his jaw, clearly suppressing the urge to go after her and comfort her, and focused on Queen Aloiv. “So how do you know it will work?”
“Because we will add our magic to your ritual,” she replied confidently, and her wooden and ivory bracelets lightly snapped against each other as she extended an arm to indicate the elders.
The very idea of being touched by their power again sent me a wave of nausea.
As taut as a bowstring, my father took a long moment to peer over at me, as if trying to recognize me beneath a hideous disguise. “Will my daughter be in any danger during this . . . procedure?”
The Queen of the Witches’ expression turned grave. “There are risks.”
Araton held onto the top of our mother’s throne with one hand, tapping his fingers on it. “Such as?”
The woman took a deep breath, glanced briefly at my mother, then looked back at my father.
“If we are mistaken and the princess isn’t under a spell that makes her believe she is the enemy’s mate, breaking their union and binding her to another elf could cause such trauma that she might fall into an eternal sleep. ”
I almost couldn’t stop a scornful laugh.
“Blessed Spirits . . .” Mother gasped, pressing one hand to her heart. “Erech!” she then shouted in anger.
He, too, seemed almost ready to explode with anger. “I’m starting to believe my daughter is right to call you crazy, Queen Aloiv.”
My brother, instead, didn’t bother to stay calm at all.
“If that happens, nothing will stop that monster from kidnapping her and performing experiments on her unconscious body to find a way to lift the spell Nauriel cast on the Crystal. Because, in case you’ve forgotten, even if the bond between them is broken, my sister remains the keeper of the Crystal and the only means for the enemy to take it back. ”
“That’s why I said there are only two things we can do, Prince,” the Queen of the Witches retorted.
“What’s the second one?” I asked through my teeth, the darkness roaring at me to prove to that woman that nothing could remove it from inside me.
Aloiv watched us one by one with a stern expression, as if she knew we would not like what she was about to say. “We will force Lady Calien to choose a new keeper for the Crystal,” she announced.
Then she snapped her fingers, and the Crystal appeared at the center of the semicircle formed by the elven druids and the elderly witches.
Father leaped up from the throne, shouting, “ How dare you!”
He yelled something else, but his voice didn’t make it to my ears. My entire focus was on the Crystal floating above the wooden support, on its many points, on the white glow emanating from inside it . . .
“Take it.”
I gasped, my gaze darting past the Crystal.
Mornon was standing opposite me, across the support.
Scared, I glanced around to check if others could see him, too. But no one appeared to be aware of his presence: The druids were disputing among themselves and with the elders, my father and the Queen of the Witches were shouting at each other, while Araton attempted to soothe our mother.
“Nauriel,” Mornon called me, his voice so deep it seemed to come from the bowels of the earth, so dark it made me shudder. It excited me. “Take the Crystal.”
Against my will, I resumed staring at the Crystal like a jaguar sighting its prey. An unbearable tingling washed over me, spurring my arm muscles to stretch toward the starry gem. I clenched my jaw until I heard my molars creak, my fingers shaking from the effort of resisting Mornon’s command.
“ Take it,” he ordered again, so hotly that he took my breath away. “And come to me.”
The pine green of his irises was so vivid that it captivated me, his stature so majestic that it made me feel overwhelmed.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him, even though I was trying so hard. For in truth, I wanted to look at him. And I wanted to obey him.
I wanted to take the Crystal.
I wanted to go to him, wherever he was.
Until the Queen of the Witches’ rough voice crept through the mist of shadows that had enveloped me, Mornon, and the Crystal. “. . . and you, Prince Araton, should become the new keeper of Calien’s Crystal.”
I blinked rapidly, pulling myself free from the power of Mornon’s eyes. His hold on me slackened just enough for me to whisper, “No.”
His expression turned lethal, furious.
I held his gaze with all the determination I could muster, then turned to my family and Queen Aloiv, who had fallen silent and were watching me cautiously.
“ I am the keeper of Calien’s Crystal,” I said menacingly.
“The enemy bears your blood, Princess,” the witch replied in an openly accusatory tone.
“And you his.” She turned to my parents and Araton.
“Any magic aimed at protecting the Crystal will be useless as long as it remains linked to her.” She glanced back at me.
“The more time passes, the more opportunity the Abomination will have to persuade you to undo the spell you cast on the Crystal to keep him from having it.”
“I will resist him,” I said, fists tight at my sides. I looked at my family with a resolved expression. “Even now, I am resisting him.”
Behind me, Mornon gently rubbed his nose against my hair. “Are you sure?” he whispered in my ear.
It took a monumental effort to stay impassive after feeling his warm breath puffing against my cheekbone.
“Sister.” Araton descended the steps with the evident intention of approaching me, but at the last second, he halted just over two feet away.
I didn’t hide how much that second thought had hurt me.
He swallowed, equally afflicted, then stated, “If I became the keeper of the Crystal, the risk would be greatly reduced. And I would be in no danger, for the enemy knows that if he killed me, the spell would turn unbreakable and everlasting.”
I widened my eyes, shocked by his naivety.
“Do you know why I’m not in his clutches right now?
” I hissed viciously, so everyone would understand how senseless the Queen of the Witches’ plan was.
“Because he derives pleasure from playing with my feelings. Because he likes to use our bond to bring me to my knees—”
Mornon grabbed me by the hips, pressing his body against mine as he whispered, “And you love to kneel at my feet.”
I held back the moan that rose in my throat at the memory of my tongue running along its erection to its turgid, red tip, welcoming it into my mouth and sucking it.
“But if the Crystal is bound to you, Araton,” I continued more spitefully, “who are nothing to him, Mornon will take you and torture you. And you, at some point, will give up.”
His face twisted into a grimace of resentment.
I didn’t give him the chance to reply, and, addressing the others, I added emphatically, “I have power over him.”
Mornon let out a low chuckle, and the vibration of his chest against my back made me shiver imperceptibly.
“I am his mate,” I said with growing anger. “And he would never hurt me.”
“Really?” Mornon mocked me, beginning to circle me slowly.
“I’ve already hurt you a lot. Every smile, every look, every touch was meant to hurt you here”—he touched my forehead with one finger, then moved to my heart—“and here.” His eyes, glittering with wickedness, never left mine.
“Imagine how much more harm I could do you, in how many other ways . . .” He stopped at my side, facing away from me, and a perverse curve barely touched his lips.
“Harm you willingly accepted. Harm you want.”
My breathing grew heavy.
Heavy with wrath. With lust.
Heavy from the urge to attack him. From the need to possess him.
Succubus of Mornon’s gaze, I only realized I had zoned out when Queen Aloiv spoke to me in a stern tone.
“Unfortunately, Princess, you’re just fooling yourself.” I glowered at her, and she stiffened further. “And the fact that you’re convinced you have a hold on that demonic creature makes you even more dangerous than I thought.”
Mornon tried to stroke my cheek with the back of his fingers, but I flinched away with a look of disgust and shot him a rancorous gaze. He responded with a hint of a smirk.
The next moment, he was no longer next to me.
I blinked convulsively and inhaled deeply, as if a boulder had just been lifted from my chest.
The Queen of the Witches glanced at me as if she were perfectly aware that the enemy had been by my side until that point.
Nonetheless, she didn’t reveal it and turned to my father.
“We will take the Crystal away and keep it hidden until you come to us for the two rituals.” She gave me a sharp look. “It is not safe with her.”
I looked down at the steps, feeling both dejected and as angry as ever.
“So be it,” the King of the Elves agreed after what felt like a century to me.
Sovereign Aloiv and the elders vanished into a swirling mist. Our druids took their leave, exiting the room amid worried murmurs.
I didn’t move. I wanted to do something. I wanted to say something. But the unfolding events had petrified me.
“It is the only way, my daughter,” Father said softly.
I snapped my eyes up to him, and he instinctively drew back against the throne’s backrest.
Another gesture that felt like a stab.
Unable to bear my family’s fear and disappointment any longer, I abruptly turned and hurried out of the room.