Chapter Four #4
Then, the law changed. It was decided that men were free to abandon the children fathered with war wives, and after Papa died—struck down near the Rajadom border—that’s exactly what his father did.
My natural grandfather claimed my mother and I were no responsibility of Papa’s and refused to give us the home, money, and land he willed to my mother.
Left with nothing and now unable to take any other work, we moved to a tiny, broken-down pit in the Galley, and Kirwan entered our lives.
“Ah, Alisdair,” I breathed. “Yes, more, please.”
A deep, primal growl rumbled from the depths of his throat. The erection digging into my thigh got impossibly harder—begging for entrance.
“Oh, that’s so good,” I panted, chest heaving. “Alisdair, yes.”
“Louder,” he ordered, picking up the pace to my rising cries. “Tell me what you desire. Beg for it.”
“I want— Oh, Alisdair, I want—"
The choices my mother had to make. The pain she went through. The father I never got to know. Our lives were ruined before our very births—
I moved down, fixing on a faint, half-moon scar on his chest.
—all because a thousand years ago, a selfish, power-hungry bastard ripped his heart out, and now... my mother didn’t sing anymore.
“—to drive the next strike through your real heart.” My smirk mirrored his own— Or it did.
His triumphant grin melted away. “I want to know why men such as yourself are so easy. So simple.” My laugh was loud and harsh.
“You truly believe all it takes to control a woman is a flaccid cock and a few fake orgasms.”
My foot came up and kicked his shoulder. Alisdair smoothly ducked the strike, pulling out of me in the process. “Let that be a lesson to you, King of Blood and Pain. You cannot use sex to get what you want from me.” I threw my skirts down, straightening in my seat. “This bird won’t sing for you.”
“Hmm.” Alisdair reclaimed his space. In a blink he was dressed. Truly, within the space of a blink, his clothes vanished from the floor and reappeared whole and new on his body. “You are a mystery, Princess. One I intend to unwrap.”
I heated under the obvious double meaning. “You have the length of this carriage ride to do so. Good luck.”
He didn’t rise to the challenge, or if he did, he didn’t see fit to tell me.
We lapsed into a heavy silence; the air charged with the memory of what happened between us.
Yes, Alisdair Shadowsoul was the handsomest of men, and he knew exactly what to do with the face and body the All Mother gave him—but I wasn’t a fucking little bird.
No man would ever put me in a cage.
We lapsed into an uneasy silence. More so uneasy for me since Shadowsoul fell asleep half an hour in.
He is no concern of mine. What I need to do is figure out how I can get back to Meli, Mama, and my faywens, and explain to them that we need to track down the crown princess of Lyrica and force her to give my body back.
That was the only path available to me, because getting Alisdair Shadowsoul to give his heart to me—the real me—and speak my name was the impossible nonsense of a curse that didn’t want to be broken.
How was he to speak a name I couldn’t tell him while living in a kingdom of people who didn’t know it?
Your first name is given by your parents, but your second is given by your fame, acclaim, or reputation.
The name Shadowsoul was given to him by the world.
It was obviously not a second name he would’ve chosen.
As for me, I have done and achieved nothing in my true life. I did not yet have a second name for him to speak, and as for my first, the name given on my day of my birth—my parents saw fit to choose an old, ancient fae name that fell out of favor centuries ago.
It was not a name that was guessed, stumbled upon, brought up in casual conversation, or heard on the wind while walking through the market square. He was never going to speak my true name, and that was just the practical reason why the curse couldn’t be broken the way it was intended.
The harsh and brutal reason was I couldn’t win the heart of a man who didn’t have one.
No, my only choice is to go home, protect my family from Kirwan, and then together Mama, Meli, and I can find a way to track Emiana down and get my body back.
I nodded to myself—satisfied. Don’t worry, faywens. I’m coming home.
My forehead pressed to the window, watching the endless, unchanging landscape. Something appeared in the distance, tightening my brow.
Dark, ominous clouds rolled over the horizon, blotting out the sun, and we rode directly toward them.
Shadows and gloom bled inside, making the solitary corner of the carriage, and the man reclined in it, all but disappear except for his too-bright eyes.
The endless sea of white began to break up, giving way to an overgrown barrier of wood and death that stretched as far as I could see.
A forest.
Tangled, knotted, weeping trees pushed and grew over the other, allowing no entrance to fae or animal. The carriage jarred—throwing me roughly to the side when we forged through anyway, slipping through the trees on a path I couldn’t see.
“What is this?” I squinted through the branches but there was nothing to see. The scant view of the sky granted through the bare branches revealed nothing but black clouds. “Is this a shortcut to Lyrica?”
No reply came from his side of the carriage. My throat tightened—anxiety rising.
“What’s going on?” I demanded. “You said you were taking me back. Is this the way to Lyrica or not?”
Noise came from him then—a deep and clear laugh.
“You liar!” I pounded the glass. “Take me back. Take me back n—!”
The carriage put on a burst of speed, throwing me back and burying me under a mountain of tulle and silk. Wildly, we raced through the forest—hitting every stone and tree root. I screamed under the wild jostling—trying and failing to hang on to something. Anything.
Another bump and my face smashed against the window... that’s when I saw them.
Rapidly shifting, racing figures moved through the trees, heading straight for us.
For as long as I lived, I’d never find the right words to describe the sight before me.
Fangs. That was what I saw first. Horribly overgrown, lethal yellowed fangs forced from a jaw that couldn’t hold them—dripping with drool.
Tufts of fur grew in tangled patches on their skin.
Claws the lengths of their forearms erupted from their fingers, and their eyes. ..
In their eyes lived pure madness.
“What are they!”
“The Taken.”
I was shocked to hear him answer, then even more surprised when he pounded the top of the carriage.
We began to slow.
“What’s going on? Why are we slowing down? We can’t stop here, those things are coming.” My cries fell on uncaring ears above and below. “We have to get out of here!” I turned and made eye contact, locking on to the beast’s rage-filled orbs. Doubling over, I threw up.
The carriage rolled to a dead stop—a lone beacon amidst the oncoming storm. Shadowsoul grasped the handle.
“Don’t,” I rasped. I couldn’t say how I knew. Call it instinct. Name it a being’s deep-seated will to survive, but those creatures weren’t meant to be faced. In their presence all had to run. Run and run and run, and never stop.
Alisdair stepped out, uncaring of my pleas. I crawled through vomit. Snatching the handle, I slammed the door closed after him—scream leaking through my teeth. I was afraid. Whatever those things were. Whatever unholy demon had created them, I’d never been more afraid in my life.
I yanked the door shut just in time. The world set on fire.
Bright white heat exploded in my eyes, burning through my retinas and imprinting its power in my brain forever.
I swayed—blinded—and tipped over, falling against the door which did not bother to hold me. I dumped out on the frozen ground, eyes huge as the sight looming over me.
The creatures—the Taken—thrashed on the ground, slowly consumed by the flames.
Their screams pierced the dead forest and my gut, nearly causing me to be sick again, and above it all stood Alisdair Shadowsoul—laughing loud and free as fire rained from his palms, consuming all, and everyone, in its path.
Something flickered out of the corner of my eye, drawing my head up.
A flower?
I questioned but that was all it could be. Beautiful, delicate, and out of place, a small purple flower pushed through the frozen earth—unfurling satin-kissed petals before my eyes.
Alisdair’s laughter cut off with the heat. He ceased his magic, dropping his hands, and the cold raced in—shredding through my dress.
Huddling on the ground, I held myself—fighting not to look at the dying creatures, but unable to look anywhere else. Shadowsoul killed them so quickly and easily, and with such enjoyment. That was a good thing. There was no question they were racing to kill us all but...
“Such power,” I rasped, lips trembling as I met his eyes. “What are you?”
He smiled. “The flowers,” Alisdair said. It took me a second to realize he wasn’t speaking to me. “Take care of them. Now.”
“Yes, my lord.” The carriage driver jumped down.
I didn’t have a chance to ask what was happening before he raised his hand, and the beautiful purple flower wilted into dust.
“Let us away.” Alisdair reached for me. “It doesn’t do to dwell in the Taken’s territory.”
I smacked his outstretched hand. “Get it through your fucking head! I’m not going anywhere with you!”
Pushing up on my feet, I ran. Past the carriage driver, the lead carriage, and a host of guards.
“But, my sweet little bird,” Alisdair called.
I darted around the watching, still guards—jumping over the rising roots and frozen dirt that made the beginnings of a forest path.
Up ahead, the trees grew closer together, their branches reaching to embrace each other for warmth. They cut any chance for the carriages to get through, or pursue me.
“Olene, Meliora, Gisela, Jaclan, and Savia,” I shouted. I shot through the trees, opening cuts on my face, neck, and hands forcing my way through. “I’m com— Ahhh!”
I pitched forward, teetering on the edge of a sudden cliff. Bugged, wide eyes beheld the long, long... long drop.
My foot slipped, and I fell. “Ahhh!”
Claws snagged my collar and bits of my skin. My dress stopped dead while the rest of me kept falling, pulling my bodice sharply against my throat. I choked—cutting off my scream.
Alisdair pulled me up and to him, crushing me against his chest. Instinctively I threw my arms around him—holding on to the only sure, steady thing as my sudden brush with death crashed over me.
“We’re here.” I shook with his laugh. “Welcome to Lumenfell. Your new home.”
“No,” I whispered, taking in the sight before me. It can’t be. This simply can’t be real.
Falling to my knees, I slid out of his grasp. Vomit rose up my throat again, ejected from my heaving stomach. “Oh, Meya... What have I gotten in to?”