3. Chapter ThreeMelina
Chapter Three
Melina
W e sat under a flower-covered white gazebo away from our guests on a bench with a table holding drinks and small pastries. The sky was turning a dusky blue as night soon greeted us. Most of the guests were inside having cocktails, and it was just my groom and I in this private setting away from where we’d just had the ceremony.
He was gorgeous. Tall and seemingly toned, but not overly so, under a fitted dark teal suit. The color popped against his rich golden skin tone. I was surprised to see him in color. All I knew about the Nodoors was that they preferred neutral tones. Clearly, my knowledge was faulty.
He ran a hand over his dark hair. It was shoulder length and so shiny it looked like silk as it blew slightly in the evening’s cool breeze. I wanted to touch it and feel the smoothness through my fingers, but I had to be reserved. A well-trimmed beard framed full, kissable lips. And those eyes. Steel gray with a dark pupil wrapped in a white rim as if there was a light shining behind them. It gave his eyes an intensity that beckoned to me. Then there was his scent. Not every alpha scent would make an omega go weak in lust, but when you found one you liked, it was hard to forget it.
In the past, Alpha scents have led me to believe I was deeply in love when I never was. My husband's earthy, leather, and cinnamon scent brought something primal out of me, but I had to resist. If I allowed myself, I could easily lose control, nestle into his lap, bury my nose in his neck, and stay there until I fell asleep. I could be content with that, which let me know my omega mind was taking over. It pulled from the pit of my stomach, warming me. I wasn’t supposed to like him. But why did he have to be so handsome and smell so damn good?
Everything about him was beautiful, but there was a coldness around the edges. He hadn’t smiled until I grabbed his hand, and I’d only done that because of my nerves. He didn’t give a comforting presence, which was not surprising considering his reputation. Not that the omega part of me cared much. I didn’t expect to hear his deep accented voice say sweet words. I needed to be suspicious of that, but I wasn’t sure why. My head was becoming too cloudy the longer I was around him.
He reached over and poured a glass of pink liquid before passing it to me. He then poured himself a glass of the spirit and clinked his glass to mine. “To my beautiful bride.”
He thought I was beautiful? That made me happy against my will. Would he still think I was pretty without my glamour magic? Almost every Fae used a level of glamour. Some were better than others. And mostly, every Fae could tell you were using glamour unless you were especially talented. I was. Fae paid me well for it. Beauty was a commodity.
He wasn’t using any glamour, much to my annoyance. That meant he was naturally good-looking, so he was probably cocky. Everything probably went his way, unlike the rest of us, who had to use magic to look beautiful. Glamour was like a shimmery aura around the being. Sometimes, it was strong or slight. It always requires reinforcement and maintenance. Sometimes, depending on the complexity, it requires more power over time. I’d stared hard at him. This male was just naturally handsome and likely never had trouble getting attention, even with his cold-eyed stare. Had he signed up for this arranged marriage? Why would he need to? It made him more suspicious. There had to be a downside to him, and I would not be fooled by another male again.
I nod and raise my glass towards him. “To my handsome groom. Are you as nervous as I am?” I had to start slow. Understand him a bit before I could implement my plan. Then again, maybe I wouldn’t need to. We could both have the same idea of getting out of this affair as quickly as possible.
He shrugged, considering me with a lazy smile. “Less so now.”
Was he flirting with me? I was not expecting him to be pleasant at all. Was he the cold-hearted killer that the rumors claimed? Maybe this was all an act. “Do you mind if I ask you an uncomfortable question?”
The smile in his eyes faltered, and he put his drink down on the table. “You’d like to know if the rumors are true? Am I right?”
I shrugged. “You can’t blame me for asking. It’s important to want to know about the Fae you are marrying.”
He bowed his head toward me, the light in his eyes dimming and going cold. I imagine this was his true face. What I’d seen at the wedding was all a mask. Good. It was better to know what I was working with. “No, I don’t blame you. But know that I would never hurt you.”
There was a hardness to his voice. It would have felt intimidating if he were saying different words. However, he sounded honest. As if he took those words to heart. “Even if I annoy you?”
He gave a dry laugh, looking away. “Is that what you’ve been told? That I killed an ex because she annoyed me?”
“Something like that.”
He shook his head but didn’t speak, which was less than comforting.
I took another sip of my drink, eyeing him above the glass rim as he spoke. He seemed so calm and unaffected. I wondered if the cold rumor was because people couldn’t figure out the real him. “So, what happened for you to get that type of reputation?”
He picked up his drink again and gulped before speaking. “I lost favor with someone high in social power. She wanted me to be miserable to preserve her reputation. However, her words are more an exaggeration than a lie.” He looked down at his drink, avoiding my eyes.
Wait, so he had killed an ex? There was no middle ground with this. “So, the murdered girlfriend in question is still alive?”
“She wasn’t exactly a girlfriend. I was in a casual relationship with a fellow soldier some years ago. Her name was Mona. Although we weren’t serious, she was still very close to me, as close as my friend Ivan, who you will meet shortly. We were more of a physical comfort to each other due to proximity. Before my now ex fiancée.”
I raised a hand. That was news to me. It seemed I was getting way more than I expected with him. “Wait, you were engaged before?”
He glanced over at me, straightening up with wide-eyed surprise. “Have they told you nothing about me? I thought since you knew about the rumors…”
I rolled my eyes. “The rumors were all I knew. They told me nothing. Didn’t even share an image of you. I only got told your name and that you served in the military.”
He shook his head, taking another sip. “Of course, they would keep you in the dark. If you had no choice, I guess it wouldn’t matter what you know or don't know. I’m sorry, Melina. I have been engaged. But it was a relationship of status, not love, and we ended it several months ago.”
I waved a hand. In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter. If he wasn’t in love, he wouldn’t be suffering now. I’d hate to think I was in the middle of separating two Fae in love. “Not a problem. So back to your soldier friend.”
He cleared his throat. “Well, one day, we attacked a Prinathian-controlled portal. We thought we could win it.” His voice trailed off as his mind went back to that moment.
The portals were a major reason why our two tribes hated each other. The Prinaths controlled all travel between the realms on this side of the Unseelie realm. We decided who went through them and whether other tribes had to pay or trade for usage. Then, some tribes, like the Nodoors were not allowed usage at all. A history of hate did not give them access to anything we controlled .
His shoulders dropped, and I could see he was in pain, reliving this memory. I felt almost guilty for asking. Especially when I was starting to see where his tale was going, I could help him. “Your friend was killed in battle? And maybe you blame yourself for some reason?”
He tossed his head back, breath shaky. “She wasn’t just killed; I killed her by accident. I was aiming at an enemy and fired my weapon, but another enemy soldier pushed her in front of my rifle, and she was mortally wounded. Our weapons were tipped in poison that even we couldn’t heal.”
My heart hurt for him as I looked at the pain on his face. I could only imagine how much guilt, shame, and devastation he went through. I had so many questions to ask him. Was it this accidental killing that caused him to lose favor and have his leaders send him away to be married to an enemy? And why would his ex start this ugly rumor about something so devastating? It was cruel. Heartless. However, this was not a fun conversation for a wedding. I wanted to be annoying, not unfeeling. Knowing this story would make it much harder for me to be as mean as I wanted.
I touched his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
He lowered his head, and his long hair brushed against the sides of his face like a curtain, giving him a mysterious appearance coupled with those steel eyes. “Not your fault.”
“I’m sorry I made you talk about it.”
“You had every right to ask.”
He then removed my hand from his shoulder and kissed my knuckles. My stomach tightened at the touch of his lips on my skin. I felt a little shaky from the contact. It had to be the spirits, right? What was he doing to me? I was lusting after him and now sympathizing, this wasn’t how I wanted things to go. He dropped my hand down on the bench space between us, although he didn’t remove his hand. There was a surprising softness to his skin beyond the hardened callouses that he most likely developed from holding a sword or other weapon.
He wasn’t what I expected which made my plan difficult. Did I even need the plan anymore? Maybe I should just give in. He didn’t seem so bad. I desperately wanted a real, honest love, and maybe this marriage would somehow give me what I’d longed for.
Wait, what if this was all a lie? Why would others believe such a horrible rumor about him killing his girlfriend so easily? Was he so cold-hearted that others thought he would kill someone who annoyed him? Something had to be wrong. I couldn’t just give in. He was Nodoorian and a former soldier at that. A soldier who had killed my kind. He wouldn’t just give in to me freely. I didn’t know much about the other treaty marriages between our kind, but the little I heard was that they weren’t easy and, for some, fatal. The success rate so far was half. And success was not saying much since the longest marriage so far was not even a year.
No, if he played nice and gave me a sympathetic story, there was an underlying motive. I had to play it smart, this was the exact reason I didn’t want to be in this position. I was way too na?ve when it came to the male species. Always had been. I was too gullible, and my heart paid the price. And here I was again, falling right into his trap. He was probably just placating me and saying what he wanted me to think to get his way. It was so obvious the Nodoors would use these marriages to worm their way into some form of control. I was just a tool for him to get status and a way for the Prinaths to keep the peace. What I wanted didn’t matter.
I tried to move my hand back from under his, but he tightened his grip, giving me a quizzical look that felt slightly playful. “Where are you running off to, Melina?”
Gods, how my name sounded on his lips made my core tighten. It shouldn’t be this easy for him. “Uh, nowhere.”
“I’ve got a question for you.”
“Do you?”
“You’re beautiful, have your own business, are in a high class. Alphas, hell, any Fae, should have been lined up to claim you. How did I get so lucky?”
I snorted. “I’ve been unlucky in love. I fall too easily for the wrong ones.” I gave him a suspicious, narrow-eyed stare.
He rolled his shoulders back, unfazed by my unspoken slight. “Well, that ends here.”
“We don’t know each other to know if that’s true.”
He reached down and popped a pastry in his mouth. “You need to think positive.”
I could think positively, alright. I was positive this Fae was not here just to find the love of his life. But I was sure he wouldn’t admit that. “You don’t miss your home? You don’t think this whole arranged marriage thing is archaic? ”
He lifted his hand off mine, and my skin instantly felt cooler. Not in a good way. It was as if my body wanted his touch. I was fine before now. However, I ruined it all the moment I took his hand.
“Of course, I miss home, but I consider this marriage a privilege and a duty to preserve our peace. And you’re attractive, and so far, likable, so it makes things easier, no? I’m open to what this brings.”
He smiled so widely that his eyes almost closed. It was stupidly adorable; it had to be an act. He couldn’t go from cold to friendly as quickly as a snap of the fingers. I’d be a fool to ignore the signs. Initially, I thought I could get him to agree to a plan to make this marriage fail. We could say we tried and then parted ways to live happy lives. However, he was talking like a soldier. As if this was a mission, he couldn’t fail. Something told me I wouldn’t have his support. I’d have to go at it alone. And if he honestly wasn’t the killer, we thought, I could annoy him without getting hurt.
“So, you’re fine with this marriage? You are open to falling in love with someone you were forced to marry?”
His smile faltered. I caught him pretending again. Perhaps this smiling face was a mask for the authentic Aaron. One who was as cold as they said. “This is our duty, Melina. And if we are nice to each other, it can be a good duty for our kind. Love is not part of what we must do. Let’s just build a good partnership.”
I could have crumbled apart. I wished he hadn’t said anything more. He all but said that this marriage was work and not emotion. That sounded as appealing as spoiled fish. “That’s not how I think. I, we, deserve love. It’s cruel to force us into this.”
He reached out to pat my hand, and I took no comfort in it this time. “You seem like a smart woman. I think you fully understand this situation. Our feelings don’t matter. I don’t intend to deceive you, even if it might be to my detriment. I think it would be cruel for us to pretend this is anything more than a political arrangement. But we can have fun, and I can make you happy, even if love is never part of it.”
My eyes stung, tears threatening to betray my strong demeanor. Why was I so hurt? I knew what he said was true from the start. It was the reason I tried to run away. However, maybe I thought in the back of my mind that he would see me and want to try for real love. I thought that my glamoured appearance would sway him into falling in love with me, but that’s never worked before. It was a silly thought. He didn’t like me. Why else would he rule out emotions and love already? He was telling me indirectly that he wasn’t interested, but he would suffer because of his duty to his people. And since he was such a nice guy, he’d be polite about it. He was saying that he wanted to be my friend but nothing more.
“I don’t understand; why are you so against what could happen in this marriage?”
He sighed, his eyes going hard. Was this the face of what so many others saw? The face that made them believe he was cold enough to kill a loved one who simply annoyed him? “I don’t do relationships anymore, Melina. I’m sorry. This is a political arrangement for me. Nothing more. ”
Heat crept up my cheeks; I felt embarrassed by the letdown. Who wanted a loveless marriage? Why had he stopped caring about love? Was it because of what happened to his fellow soldier? It didn’t make any sense. I suppose it was back to my initial plan. I had to find a way to get free from this marriage. He could be fine with not being in love, but I couldn’t.
Before I could think of the next thing to say, we were interrupted by an event hostess that dinner was ready. Once we entered the banquet hall, all eyes were on us. Some with pity, some with hope. It all felt overwhelming. The space was beautiful, bright white with intricately carved molding on the walls, marble flooring, and gold and white furniture. I would have enjoyed the elegance if this had been any other time. The food was good, I suppose, but I could barely taste it. My mind was spinning with what my next move would be.
I wanted to hate Aaron, be angry at his words, but he was likable. The more we chatted, the more I liked what I heard. Even my parents and siblings seemed to like him. They were almost relieved. They didn’t know the truth. I could already guess that my mom would insist he would change his mind; this was part of the problem.
“Mel?” a female voice called.
I blinked, realizing I had turned my head to stare at Aaron. How long had I been gazing at him like that? He was busy talking to his friend, Ivan, on the other side of the main rectangular dining table. And I was left to drool at his profile. I was not doing this correctly at all.
Aaron looked back at me and squeezed my hand reassuringly. Reassuringly? What did I need that for? Why did I like it?
“Girl, hello?” called the voice again.
Startled, I looked across the table to find Lila glancing at me with confused eyes. “You okay?”
I grabbed my glass of water and gulped it down. “Yup, I’m great. Were you saying something?”
She twisted her lips, not believing me. “I was saying, I like Fae weddings. You get to eat dessert whenever you want, so there’s no waiting to cut the cake, and the dance floor is open the whole time, so you can get up and dance and then come back to your table to eat some more. And the alcohol is flowing strong.”
I nodded absentmindedly. All I knew were Fae weddings, so I didn’t know what else a wedding could be. I’d been to the human realm many times. I stayed a while to study different glamour and magic techniques, so I wasn’t a stranger to other human customs, styles, and slang. That brought a thought to my mind.
“You said humans have honeymoons, right? Little trips after their wedding where the husband and wife go somewhere fun and get to know each other better.”
Lila tilted her head from side to side. “Technically, they should already know each other. It’s mainly a time to have sex and relax.”
That seemed to pique Aaron and Ivan’s attention. “Tell me more of these honeymoons,” Aaron asked. I side-eyed him, but he seemed genuinely curious.
What was with him? He went from cold to warm to cold again. I couldn’t keep up. Meanwhile for me, I was becoming more frozen by the minute. Which was a shame because I was certain sex with Aaron would be a good time.
The Fae were not uncomfortable talking about sex or being sexual at all. We were known to have sex parties in our realm and others. I wasn’t embarrassed either, but I was more curious about how to take advantage of a honeymoon for my plan. We could go to the human realm, and I could escape like I initially planned. Lila had friends there, and I was sure they could help me get adjusted.
“We could go to the human realm for a honeymoon,” I suggested, avoiding Aaron’s eyes. Something felt like he could see my plan swirling in my brain if I did.
As soon as I said the words out loud, I realized how selfish it would be. Maybe my family would be okay, but what if Aaron got accused of making me disappear permanently like some of the other treaty-married Fae? With the awful rumor he already had attached to him, it wouldn’t be a leap. The thought of doing that made me feel sick inside.
“I’d like that,” he replied cheerily. “I’ve never been to the human realm.”
And more guilt stabbed in my stomach.
“Oh,” Ivan exclaimed. “Can I come? I’ve never been either.”
Aaron frowned. “The honeymoon is for fun and sex for the husband and wife; why would you go with us?”
Ivan wiggled his brows at his friend. “Care for an extra husband, Melina?”
I noticed Aaron tense from the corner of my eyes. He didn’t like that. Was it an act? No. He was too good. However, why would he care if he wasn’t interested in me in any romantic sense?
I looked back at Ivan, who was busy giving Aaron a playful wink. It seemed I should take lessons from him on how to annoy Aaron. Were they friends? “I think one husband is enough, thanks. Get yourself a wife.”
Ivan nodded. “Good idea, Melly. I see some beautiful Fae here I could honeymoon with.”
Melly? I frowned. This guy was unhinged. I barely knew him; how dare he shorten my name?
Aaron rubbed his forehead. “I don’t think that’s how it works, and did you just call my wife by a pet name?”
My wife. I was being called all sorts of things I was not used to. However, his calling me his wife gave me butterflies in my stomach. Gods, he was seducing me without even trying. This was the path to me getting hurt if I fell for him. Especially when I knew he would not love me back.
Ivan raised his hands in surrender, a jovial look on his face. “Do you mind the nickname?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Not at all, Ivy.”
His amused look dropped. “I don’t think I like that name.”
I thrust my chin out, glad to make my point. Movement turned my attention back to Aaron, who was leaning toward me with a mischievous look. “Wife,” he began, “I can send him back if you like?”
I really should have hated it when he called me wife, but it sent a little tingle of delight to my core. As the night went on, I realized that annoying him would be more of a challenge than I thought. I needed to separate from him and think, but the wedding party would not end. Fae loved to party, and wedding celebrations were notorious for being long. We could party until dawn. It seemed even for an arranged marriage between strangers of former warring tribes.
I found a moment to escape and use the restroom beyond the banquet hall. I quickly entered one of the small bathrooms, just as extravagant as everything else in this building, and stood in front of the circular gold-trimmed mirror. I was glistening slightly with sweat from all the dancing and drinking. Aaron, although more reserved, did not seem to want to go home. He didn’t pressure me to end the night. He just maintained his mask of compliance. Saying all the right things, slow dancing with me when the time called for it and inquiring about me as if he were interested.
It was overwhelming and confusing. “Mind yourself, Melina. This is all a game of manipulation on his part. He wants you to give into this stupid, loveless arrangement so his people can succeed. You have to be smarter. You are nobody’s pawn.”
A knock at the door interrupted my talk with myself. “Please pick another room. I am using this one!”
“It’s your mother!”
I rolled my eyes. “I stand by what I said.”
“Melina, let me in right now.”
I sighed and unlocked the door. “It’s very small in here. Must we talk now?”
My mother, Aurora, pushed past me and looked in the mirror, patting her long brown locks, which were pulled away from her face. I looked significantly like her; except she was a couple of inches taller. She was in her eighties, but she barely looked older than me; such was the aging process for Fae. Once we arrived at adulthood, the aging slowed down considerably.
“I heard you tried to run away last night,” she stated, still looking in the mirror.
I huffed. I’d have to talk to Yosef about keeping his mouth closed. “I wasn’t running away; I was going for a short overnight stay.” In the human realm. “Lila and Yosef ruined that and wouldn’t let me leave the house. They even escorted me here.”
“Good. Do you have any idea what trouble you would be in if you were caught escaping this marriage? Do you care nothing about your family?”
I crossed my arms, looking away from her reflection in the mirror. The last thing I needed was another lecture. It didn’t matter anymore. I was already married. Of course, I cared about my family. I had one moment of panic, but I knew the likelihood of me getting through the portals to go to the human realm was very low. I was just mad. No one seemed to care what I was sacrificing. My heart and mental wellness meant nothing to them.
“At least he’s handsome,” my mother began. “Not everyone was guaranteed visual compatibility. Will you appear to him without your glamour?”
I instantly wanted to say no. No one knew what I really looked like anymore, not even my family. They knew I had scarring that never healed, but they hadn’t seen the damage in many years. It was permanent. I knew that if they had a full grasp of what had happened to me, they might be more considerate of my feelings with this whole arranged marriage.
“Maybe I should show him my scars. Then he’ll want to end the marriage and be arranged with someone else.”
My mother gasped, turning to me. “Even with your scars, you are beautiful.”
“You’ve never seen my scars recently, Mother.”
“Because you won’t let me, Daughter. But to your partner, your alpha, you must be forthcoming.”
“It’s not like we’re in love. This is all superficial.”
“True, and you trying to find a way out won’t work. You are lucky, and so is he. He seems like a good man. It could have been so much worse. He has an architectural background and can even work at our firm.”
“Do you care about him being a possible murderer? Because I think that’d be of most importance to you for your daughter. Or that maybe he’s going to use me for political gain?”
My mother dropped her shoulders and walked closer to me, placing her hands on my shoulders. She looked at me with a mixture of sadness and love that made me regret talking to her so harshly. “He’s not a murderer. We’ve done our best to look into his background and found nothing substantial. We will also keep an eye on him. Your well-being is important to us, and if I could have stopped this arranged marriage to a Nodoorian, I would have. I was beside myself when you were kidnapped. I didn’t want this for you. We did what we could. The best we could get was to stop them from forcing you to move there and pick someone compatible with you.”
Now, that was information I did not know. Had there been a discussion about sending me away? I shuddered to think if I had to leave everything I knew, including my business, to live in, essentially, enemy territory.
“Thank you,” I said with a slight pout.
She nodded, smiling slightly. “And as for him using you, well, we wouldn’t be surprised if he was going to use this opportunity to gain a foothold into leadership. He was a high-ranking soldier, after all. However, you are smart and charming. Whatever his career goals, his love for you will go beyond that. I know you can make it happen.”
The resolve in her eyes gave me little comfort. She expected me to be so loveable he would remain loyal to me. I never had a history of having genuine relationships. Her faith was misplaced.
Before I could tell her that, a loud roar from outside the room broke our attention.
“What was that?” my mother cried.
I paused in front of the door. It sounded like an animal. And not a familiar one. It also sounded very close. It roared again, even closer. It was a bellowing sound, low but wheezing. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, chilling me.
I locked the door.
“Mel.”
I raised my hand to quiet my mother. We also had no communication devices to call for help, and there was no window for escape in this tiny room. I did not need that thing to know we were there.
But it was too late.
Something heavy slapped against the door, rattling it, and I choked back a cry, taking a step back toward my mother.
Another bang against the door. Then, several more. The animal call grew louder and more drawn out as if it were getting frustrated. It was horrifying. The door would crack soon, and then we’d have no safety. How did it know we were in here out of all the bathroom doors in this section? Were others around? I balled my fist. My fighting skills were limited, and they included magical defense and offense.
Well, I did want out of this marriage. Maybe it was going to happen. Because if that unknown creature on the other side of the door got in, I would probably die.