Chapter Seven #6
I spun around, my head whipping this way and that. It was that sound again. Despite what Eadaoin insinuated, it didn’t sound like lustful noises. The noise was both close and far away. Like the whisper shared across the room that’s trapped in a dome and escapes to you.
It sounds like...
I pressed the heel of my palm to my racing heart. “Heartbeat.”
Thump-thump.
My feet moved on their own power, carrying me to the end of the hall. I touched the cool stone blocking my way, announcing a dead end, and slid to the right. Stepping lightly, my slippered feet told no tales.
My hand reached the end of the wall where stone was supposed to meet stone... and slipped through.
I couldn’t stop a smile. It was clever. So very clever. At first glance, all you saw was three, bare stone walls—nothing special. Only by getting close did you see that two corners didn’t quite meet, leaving space for a secret.
I pulled back and darted into an empty storeroom. Moving quickly, I upended my pockets, removed all the stolen trinkets, and hid them away behind an old, battered tin bucket. That done, I returned to the secret entrance.
Wedging my shoulder through, I squeezed in—coming out into darkness.
I felt around blindly. Stone. Stone. Stone. Air.
My hand fell through the air, finding a break in the wall. Shuffling forward, my foot hit the bottom step. Maybe this was it? This was where Alisdair hid the boy.
Thump-thump.
Or something else.
A heady mix of nerves, surprise, and excitement sped my pulse and quickened my breath. I didn’t dare to believe I’d ever find Shadowsoul’s cursed heart. Such a thing never entered a mind consumed with finding a way home. But what if I had stumbled upon it?
Our lands have been at war for over a century.
My father died on a battlefield fighting to see the heart found and destroyed before it wiped out our home.
Now the army had its sight set on my sweet, dreamy little brother, Jaclan.
Tomorrow I would run away and leave this land of winter and ice behind, and with the heart in my pocket, tomorrow could also be the day the war between Elva and the kingdom of Wind and Wild ended.
I pressed tight to the wall, climbing higher—climbing faster.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
A faint glow filtered down the winding passage—signaling a torch ahead, and something that needed lighting.
I was running then. Bursting to the top of the stairs, I came to challenge with a large, oak door with brass panels, a brass knob, and a small keyhole.
Thump-thump! Thump-thump!
The beating heart was deafening. It called to me. Demanded me. Needed me.
I reached for the knob. “Dare I hope...” I grasped and turned.
The door swung open to my cry of delight.
Pushing it open, I took a step.
THUMP-THUMP.
The world spun on its head.
I barely got a scream before I was shoved against the wall, and the door slammed shut—snuffing out my glee like the light blown out behind Alisdair’s eyes.
“Tsk, tsk. Naughty, naughty.” Alisdair molded to my body, slipping his legs between mine.
He snapped his apart which tore my feet off the floor and pressed both my thighs to the barrier blocking my escape.
“A lost little bird will find the most interesting places to land, but I confess, I don’t much care for where your curiosity has taken you tonight.
” His eyes flashed. “How did you get in here?”
“I walked,” I lofted, smirking despite the fact I had not a single advantage over him. “Now it’s my turn to ask a question. What’s in that room?”
“None of your concern.”
“I’ve made it my concern.” I shoved against his chest. “Get off! I’m going in.”
“I think not.” Alisdair waved a hand, and the door dissolved.
“No!” I cried, but it was already too late. It melted into stone, leaving no entrance, no room, no mark. “Argh! Tell me the truth, Alisdair. Is he in there!”
“He?” His brows smoothed out. “Aww. I see. This is about your pointless, irritating quest to be that fox boy’s champion and borrowed mother. How very stupid.”
My face heated. Kicking and wiggling, I strained to get my feet between me and his body so I could kick the bastard through the wall!
“It isn’t stupid to fight for the protection and safety of those with none!
A kingdom isn’t measured by how it caters to its strong, wealthy, and privileged.
It’s measured by how it gives voice to the voiceless, stands up for the vulnerable, and does what’s right for all people, instead of what’s convenient for some. ”
I scoffed. “But I wouldn’t expect you, Lord Beast, King of Blood and Torn Throats, to grasp such a simple concept. You’re too stupid.”
A beastly growl ripped from his throat, chasing a shiver up my spine. “You are a special breed of hypocrite, Princess. You dare to lecture me on the measure of a kingdom and its king?!”
“What’s that supposed to mean!?”
“Your kingdom is barbaric!”
I don’t know when we started shouting, but we were each doing it as well and better than the other.
“Mine? Ha!” My insane shriek of a laugh blew his brow up. “You slaughter people as soon as you look at them, and treat my body as your personal buffet. What right have you to speak ill of my people?”
“I have the right to speak ill of anyone who looks upon you and sees anything less than absolute magnificence,” he threw back.
“They stole your magic because you’re a woman, but you are magic itself.
Your body will carry our children. Your wisdom will lead our people.
Your nights in my bed will soothe me at my most savage.
“Your people are worse than barbaric for underestimating you. They’re plain fools.”
My heart pounded my rib cage, banging its reply against his chest. My jaw worked trying to form a response, but he did it. He struck me silent.
Did Alisdair truly see me that way? Magnificence? Magic itself? Did he hate the summer fae all the more for what they did to me?
A million blushing thoughts raced through my head, then... he smirked.
Red descended on my vision.
“Enough,” I bellowed. “I am sick of your games. Your manipulations. You don’t believe a single word of the nonsense you’re spouting. Not a minute ago, you were calling me the fool!”
Alisdair barked a laugh. “Both and all of those things can be true.”
A snarl peeled from my lips. The beast curse was changing me, because my growl was positively feral. “I said enough. No more games. Tell me where the boy is now.”
“How about this—?” Alisdair snapped his fingers, and I fell.
“Ahhh— Uh!” I bounced off silk and cotton, shocked to find myself in our bedroom.
On our bed.
Alisdair bore down on me, planting his hands on either side of my head and grinding his middle between my legs. A moan fell unbidden from my lips.
“—I’ll tell you where the boy is if you ask nicely.” His cock found its home, pressing against my entrance. “Very nice.”
Grinding my teeth, I fought my body’s reaction to him. I inhaled a deep breath and let it out slow. When done, my smile returned.
“All right. I’ll be nice.” My hand snaked between our bodies. “Downright sweet and pleasant.” I reached between our middles, and squeezed.
Shadowsoul stilled.
“Easy now, husband.” I pressed the knife tip to the back of his neck. “I’ve got you by both ends.”
“A dagger?” His voice was calm. “Here I was believing we hadn’t yet come to the point of needing props in the bedroom.”
My lips curled in a semblance of a grin.
“We need this one. I helped myself to Eadaoin’s while she was busy feeling my backside.
You see, I realized my mistake was stabbing you through the empty, rotted cavity where your heart used to be.
I should’ve stabbed you where it hurts, and now that I know you do hurt. ..”
My grip tightened on his testicles, ripping a groan from his chest. “I will stab this through your neck, and rip out any chance of you spreading your demon seed, unless you tell me where the boy is”—the words pulled out of me—“and what’s in that room at the top of the tower?”
“Little bird—”
I dug the knife in, feeling it pierce the skin. “Now.”
“No.”
My grin melted away. “Excuse me?”
“I said no.” He sighed. “Oh, my queen. When will you learn to stop bargaining when you have nothing to offer?”
“Nothing to— I will do it!”
“Go ahead.”
“This isn’t a bluff,” I cried, shaking. “I’ve stabbed you once before. A second time won’t weigh heavily on my conscience.”
“Undoubtedly.”
“Tell me where the boy is,” I burst out. “Tell me or you won’t be having any sons of your own!”
He blinked lazily. “A lesson, Princess, once you start shouting your threats instead of delivering them, you lose all sense of authority.”
Snarling, I crunched his soft, fleshy bits to burst—
Or at least, I tried to.
My hand wouldn’t move. Neither hand would move. I lay stiff and frozen, mentally shouting commands at my nonresponsive body.
“Oh, little bird.” Alisdair slid free and unharmed. “You are a unique and marvelous specimen. You make it so hard to resist you, but tonight, I must. You caused me no end of aggravation today, and I’m hardly going to reward that with multiple orgasms.”
Reward?! Did this man think he was punishing me by denying me sex? As if I was the wanton minx chasing after him every night!
“You’re done exploring for the night.” He turned his back and walked off. “Take the time to think about what you’ve learned.”
A blanket whipped out of the wardrobe and fell over me. Alisdair slammed the door on my internal shouts.