Chapter 9
REDVYR
“We’ll set up camp at the lower part of the Vale.” I pointed to the map, showing Bezaliel where I intended.
“We’ll be farther from the game.”
I shrugged. “We’ll be closer to the fishing at the stream.”
“Fishing.” Brohm sneered.
“It is easier to come by and more sustainable,” I added.
“True,” agreed Bezaliel. “When do we leave?”
“The camp should begin breaking down tomorrow. Brohm, you’ll lead them to the Vale. You and I,” I told Bezaliel, “will take Leifkyn and Dayn to Hellamir for grain and barley.”
“And Tessa, of course,” he added.
“Of course,” I agreed. “She is our best liaison.”
“And you once said she would become a burden to our clan.” Bezaliel grinned as he folded the map on the table and handed it to Brohm.
“That was when you first brought her here,” I argued. “I came around.”
“And here you are, bringing another light fae beauty into the clan.”
My body stiffened while he and Brohm grinned at each other.
“I did not bring her here,” I argued. “Wolf brought her and now I’m stuck with her. The council has made their decision.”
“Which you heartily agreed with when they suggested she stay with us through winter.”
“It is our oath as beast fae to help strangers in need.”
“Indeed,” agreed Brohm, still grinning. “Especially pretty ones.”
“Just what are you two getting at?” I demanded, arms crossed.
“You fancy her.” Bezaliel shrugged. “It’s not a sin. She’s quite fair.”
“Very fair,” agreed Brohm.
A growl vibrated up my chest, and I realized it wasn’t because of their teasing but because I didn’t like them noticing how fair Jessamine was.
“Lord Redvyr?” Bes’s soft voice drifted through the tent flap before she pushed inside the council’s tent where I often met with my men. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
Jessamine followed Bes inside, and my entire body locked tight at the sight of her.
Dressed in a gown and fur-trimmed cloak made for a beast fae female, one that highlighted her alluring figure, I could do nothing but stare.
When I noticed that the other two males were doing the same, I snapped to them both.
“You two may go and prepare as I told you.”
“Yes, Lord Redvyr.” Bezaliel was practically laughing as he exited the tent with Brohm following.
“I will go and work on your gloves now,” Bes told Jessamine. “I don’t work as quickly as Mama, but I promise to make them beautiful.”
“Thank you, Bes. I know you will.”
Then we were alone, and I was still struggling to breathe. She turned to face me, arching a brow at my silence.
“You don’t approve?” She glanced down at herself.
“Why do you ask that?”
“Because you’re scowling again.”
“I have other things on my mind.”
“Like what?”
“Like moving my clan to the winter camp when there’s a sickness infecting creatures across our land.”
“The dryad.” She pursed her brow. “So he was sick. I sensed it. And his eyes had black threads spreading from the pupil. His skin, there was a dark webbing crawling underneath as well. Is it the Parviana plague?”
I’d heard of this disease that had begun with the moon fae and had spread far and wide. The wraith king’s wife was on a mission to cure all of those who’d been infected. But what had taken root in that dryad stag wasn’t this light fae virus that stole one’s magick.
“No,” I told her. “That sickness isn’t what is spreading here in the north.”
“You’ve seen it before then?”
“Not long ago, there was an attack by a small pack of Meer-wolves. These hounds were maddened, in a rage to kill. That is not normal for Meer-wolves. They never attack our kind blindly. Only in self-defense do they kill fae kind.”
She stepped forward, bringing her sweet scent closer. I stiffened again, not liking my reaction to her at all.
“There was a strange madness in his eyes. And his words,” she added.
“What did he say to you?” I hadn’t heard what he’d said.
When I’d sensed her in danger, my sole intent was to tear the threat to pieces. And so I had.
“I believe he intended to…eat me.”
“Dryads do not eat meat of any kind,” was all I could say. “Especially another fae creature.”
“I know,” she agreed. “That’s why it shocked me.”
While I wanted to pretend she must be wrong, I believed her. This wasn’t the first creature that had been infected with this kind of dark madness.
“There have been strange whispers that come from those living in the mountains.”
“Do you know the cause?”
“No.” That was what troubled me the most. “So what is this gift you have that you refused to confess to the council?”
Her posture straightened, her chin taking on a defensive tilt. I couldn’t help but smile. “I have already said I do not wish to tell. That includes to you.”
“If you are a part of this clan, then I am now your lord. You are beholden to tell me.”
She didn’t respond, clamping her jaw tight.
“You do not like to speak of your magick,” I teased.
“I do not.”
“You were trying to use it on the dryad, weren’t you?”
Her gaze snapped up to mine. She seemed about to pretend that she hadn’t tried, to lie to me. But then she answered, “It didn’t work on him. Not for long.”
“Dryads are god-touched,” I informed her. “They are able to resist fae magick more than others. They are also not entirely like us, their minds more linked with the earth and nature than the fae world.”
“I am aware,” she stated with some superiority. “But I wasn’t going to simply lay down and die.”
“Of course not. I was there. I didn’t let you die.”
She went silent again, her expression unreadable, her green eyes glittering.
“This man your father sold you into marriage to. What was his name again?” I remembered his name.
It was imprinted in my brain. For if ever I laid eyes on him, I planned to rip his head from his body.
Still, I asked for his name, not wanting her to know how absolutely intently I had memorized every word she said at the kella’mir.
“Lord Gael.”
There was disdain in her voice when she said it. Good.
“Who did he want you to harm for him?”
She gulped nervously. “I am afraid to tell you.”
I stepped closer, basking in her sweet scent now, and crossed my arms. “Why?”
“What if you tell him? And he becomes angry because my family wishes him dead? Then he might target me to get back at them.”
“Do I know this male?” My voice had dropped, my tail twitching behind me.
“Everyone does.” She dropped her gaze.
“You will tell me, Jessamine. As I have promised to protect you from these Mevians, I will do the same from anyone else who would wish you harm while you are with my clan. Besides, I would not tell this secret. But I am the lord of this clan, and I must have all of the information in order to protect them as well.”
“You promise you will not share this information?” She met my gaze again, a plea in her worried eyes.
“Of course. Who is it?”
She blew out a shaky breath. “He wanted me to kill the wraith king. King Gollaya Verbane.”
If she’d slapped me, I wouldn’t have been more stunned. “Goll?”
She blinked nervously. “Do you know him well?”
I scoffed. “Yes. He is the wraith king. I am a beast fae lord. Of course I know him well. How does this magick of yours work exactly? How would you get close enough to kill a warrior like Goll?”
“I am not telling you,” she snapped, her voice rising. “Besides, it doesn’t matter. As soon as Lord Gael professed what he intended for me to do for him, I left him in my family’s garden. Then I packed my bags and fled that night.”
I stared, openly fascinated. “Did this Lord Gael promise nothing in return for you agreeing to murder the King of Northgall.”
She turned away, wringing her hands. “He did. He promised me a castle of my own near the Nemian Sea. A staff so that I could live independently of him. That I’d only have to do my wifely duty to bear him an heir then I could live my own life freely.”
My frame locked up again, a rumble of disapproval vibrating in my chest, an itch to seek out this Lord Gael. But I managed to keep calm, stating evenly, “Instead, you chose a life as an outcast from your own family, a life on the run.”
She was royalty, and yet she’d been working in a tavern, living like a commoner to earn her daily bread and shelter. It was rather shocking to discover.
“What else could I do?” She scoffed, turning back to face me. “I wasn’t going to actually attempt to kill the wraith king.”
“No. You wouldn’t have been successful, anyway.”
“My magick is very powerful,” she stated with confidence.
“I’m sure that it is. Even though you won’t tell me what this gift from the gods is.”
“Are you laughing at me?”
I was indeed smiling. “Only at the thought of you getting anywhere near King Goll and thinking you could do him any harm.” I mused for a moment, wondering why she was so secretive about this gift of hers. Following my instinct, I asked, “Does this gift of yours involve seduction?”
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t say a word. I chuckled. “If that is so, then you needn’t worry. You’d never have gotten near King Goll. He would never be alone with any woman but his queen.”
She blinked, her brow pinching. “I’ve been told that wraith kings often have many women. Concubines.”
“Wraith kings of the past like his father, yes. But not this one. He’d have suspected something of you if you tried.”
She frowned, her gaze wandering over my chest before it lifted to my eyes again.
“And what of beast fae? Do you have concubines?”
Uncrossing my arms, I stepped close to her, lifting a strand of her magnificently red hair. “Why, Jessamine. Are you interested in applying for the job?”
“Of course not,” she snapped, though she did not back up or knock my hand away. “I merely would like to know what kind of clan I’m being protected by. What kind of lord is in charge.”
Letting the strand fall from my claw, I brushed two of my knuckles up the column of her slender throat, an intimate gesture I couldn’t stop myself from doing.
“I am a beast fae lord, female. I enjoy the taste of cunt on my tongue and the feel of my cock in a tight sheath as much as any male.”
The green of her eyes was swallowed by black as her pupils dilated, her heart rate speeding up, her breath coming quicker from her partly open mouth. A mouth I longed to taste and fill, I suddenly realized with shock.
“You are very…blunt.”
“Beast fae don’t play with words like the fae in your father’s court.
Being direct is the most efficient way of communicating.
” I was mesmerized by the slope of her cheeks, the seeming softness of her skin, the brightness of her eyes.
“So I will tell you directly that I do not collect a harem. Females become angry and jealous. I only take one at a time.”
I let my knuckles slide to the base of her throat then along her shoulder to the fur-lined edge of her gown.
“I like the way this dress looks on you,” I admitted, biting my tongue before I told her I’d rather see what it looked like on the floor of my tent.
She finally stepped away, breaking our contact, dropping her gaze to the ground. “W-will you put me to work in the camp?” she asked, voice quivering. “I would like to be of some use to the clan.”
My entire body was hard, my sole being entranced, and she hadn’t used one drop of her magick on me. I was afraid that if she did, she could overpower me too easily.
I couldn’t allow myself to be weakened by anyone, least of all a skald fae female. Clearing my throat, I stepped around her, trying to knock myself out of the stupor she put me in without even trying.
“You are correct. You must be of use while you’re here. Follow me.”
I marched out of the tent. Already, many of the work and residential shelters were being taken down.
“We leave today?” she asked, hurrying to keep up with me.
“Tomorrow.” I slowed my gait, leading her to Tessa and Bezaliel’s sleeping tent which was near my own. “You can help Tessa breakdown her family shelter. With the babe, this is more difficult for her, though she will refuse to admit it.”
Bezaliel’s woman was a stubborn female. As if to prove my point, I found her with Saralyn strapped to her back, leaning over and digging out one of the corner spikes of her shelter by herself. The bundles of bed furs and storage baskets were already bound and stacked outside of the shelter.
“Tessa,” I called.
She stood and wiped the back of her hand across a sweaty brow.
“I’ve brought you help.”
The sprite that doted on Tessa and the babe fluttered around her and settled on Tessa’s left shoulder.
“Hallizel, this is our new friend Jessamine,” Tessa told the sprite.
I tensed at Tessa calling her our friend, but I suppose if we were protecting her, that is what she was. She certainly wasn’t a clan member.
The blue-winged sprite flitted toward us and hovered in front of Jessamine. “Hello, new friend. You have bright colors. You look like a sprite.”
Jessamine laughed, the sound making my belly twist. “I suppose I do. But I am a skald fae.”
“I have never met one of those before.” Hallizel had followed our clan around since I was a boy. It didn’t surprise me that she’d never met a skald fae.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Jessamine extended her hand.
Hallizel tapped her finger as a greeting then returned to Tessa, landing on the sleeping bundle on her back.
“Thank you for the help, Jessamine” said Tessa. “I can certainly use it.”
Jessamine walked toward her, not giving me even a parting glance. “I am glad to be of use.”
“It seems you’ve been to visit Sorka. That dress is beautiful on you.”
“Thank you.”
Then they set to work, digging out the corner spikes, forgetting about me.
That was good. This is what Jessamine needed.
Some purpose in the clan while she was here, whilst keeping out of my sight.
Not because I didn’t enjoy her being in my sight, but because it brought me entirely too much pleasure.
Forcing myself to turn away, I set out to break down my own tent and get ready to leave tomorrow.