Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Shadow Court
Freya
I smooth down the housekeeper uniform, which is too long and sweeps the stone floor of the narrow corridor that runs behind the palace kitchens. Muffled clangs of bronze pots, the scrape of knives on wooden boards, and the clipped shouts from the cooks drift through the wall.
I wrinkle my nose. “Moon save me, who did I steal this outfit from? It stinks of cheese.”
“Rose cheese. You could invent a new flavor, love.” Daire glances at me through half-hooded eyes.
“What are you doing?” I peer down at him.
Daire is dressed in a silk ivory tunic and breeches.
I was relieved that Aurelius had left on my bed the woolen lavender cloak, which is now draped over Daire’s tunic between his wings to keep him warm.
It felt like an apology.
Possibly, a reset.
Aurelius will need far more than that cloak to make things up with Daire, however, after what happened to his melted crown.
Daire also picked up the golden dragon brooch, however, which marked him as belonging to Aurelius’ inner court. He turned it over in his elegant fingers thoughtfully, feeling the weight of it, before he pinned it on like a commitment and a promise.
Aurelius himself has been keeping his distance, and if I’m honest, we have been keeping ours from him.
Everything that has happened feels too raw.
Daire has simply been avoiding our dragon. Instead, he has snuggled happily reunited with Five on my bed.
Aurelius has barely stopped working. He stays up all night, as if he is a vampire. I have sneaked out of my bedroom to place a blanket over his shoulders, as he’s slumped over his piles of papers on his desk.
Some nights, he’s been missing from the royal nest altogether.
What the fuck is he doing?
It has been difficult not being able to cuddle in bed with him.
Plus, my pain for Lanlin is too great. I can sense his through the bond. Daire and I have comforted him as much as we can. But it’s not enough.
Missing Lanlin and knowing that he is suffering, while I can’t do anything to stop it, has been agony.
I can’t lose any of my Alphas. But how do I protect them in this pitiless court of enemies?
Daire molds the mess of honeyed dates between his fingers. “I’m trying to recreate our wedding breakfast for Bat-face. He needs something special, aye?”
“I wish that we’d been able to see him sooner.”
Daire drops the sticky mess, which if I squint looks like a honey and date bat cake, onto the wooden tray next to my other stolen treats of olives, grapes, figs, and a round loaf. I am also proud of the full jug of goat’s milk that I stole from behind the cook’s back.
I also added a red rose, which I took from the vase next to my bed to mirror the lotus that Lanlin gave to us.
Aurelius is still adding a fresh bouquet of roses to the vase next to my bed, which he is stealthily leaving in my room each night.
Daire licks his fingers. “This isn’t the same as when I was locked in Aurelius’ dungeons, and our daft dragon made it part of your duties to bring me food.
He’s soft like that. You do realize that he was making sure that we saw each other, knowing that we were soulmates, even though I was being punished for… ?”
“Attempting to assassinate him with a butter knife.”
“Or with an overripe peach.”
I burst out laughing. “Wasn’t your seventh attempt with a ribbon?”
“Oi, it was a good garrote…until it snapped.” He bounces to his feet, grabbing me by the arms.
He is laughing now too.
“How did it take Aurelius so long to realize that you were only playing with him?” I giggle, as Daire spins me around the tray like we’re dancing.
I should have known that talking about his assassinations would be a turn on for my fae.
He’s buzzing. “Aurelius truly believed that he was defeating you each time.”
“Never underestimate a dragon’s ego. The only time that he has won against me was in Rune Forest, and he needed an entire army behind him and a sneaky ambush to do it. Although, when he started to rate my assassination attempts out of ten, I did think that maybe he’d guessed I wasn’t serious.”
“Have you forgiven him yet?”
Daire’s expression becomes grim.
He pulls back from me. “Sin hasn’t forgiven me, has he? It’s not as easy as saying a few words. It’s all in the actions, and I understand that. Let’s just wait and see what Aurelius bloody does.”
My throat is tight.
“Fair.”
Daire glances up and down the corridor. “Why don’t you let me take this risk?”
“Because you’re more recognizable than I am, and it’s not as easy to steal a uniform that hides your wings.”
“But I thought that we’d planned to keep our heads down until—”
“It’s been over a week. We’ve been camping out safely together in my bedroom. Plotting. But I can feel our darkness’ distress, hunger, and agony through our bond. He can’t last much longer. The cowards are starving him. Did I abandon you when you were in the dungeons?”
“Of course you didn’t. Why would you? I’m brilliant. Look, you have more experience at sneaking into dungeons than I do, but Sin would kick my arse if I let our Omega be put into danger.”
“You’re not letting me do anything.” My eyes narrow. “I may be an Omega, but I am a wolf and an equal to any of you. You don’t get to treat me like a damsel or tell me what to fucking do.”
Daire’s eyes blaze with desire. “On the holy fae, you are a force of bloody nature. I’m sorry.
My Wolf Queen, tell me what to do. We made a deal for me to serve you.
My heart learned your name long before my lips spoke it.
I have waited a lifetime to find you, my soulmate.
I worship the ground beneath your bloody feet, love.
Let me serve, and I will spend my last breath proving that I was always meant to belong to you. ”
My eyes widen.
My core throbs, while I imagine just every way he has already served me in our nest this week.
My cheeks flush.
Yet something nags at my mind at the intensity of his declaration.
“Last breath?” I whisper. “I already believe you. You do belong to me.”
When Daire prowls forward like an ancient trickster fae from the stories that I was taught to fear with his shimmering wings outstretched, my heart speeds up.
When I back against the wall, he reaches to grip my chin.
Daire tilts up my head, and our gazes meet.
I am wrapped in his wild scent of frosty oak and sunshine.
I wish that I could nuzzle my face into his feathers.
I whine.
Daire’s lips quirk.
He raises his thumb to trace it over my lips.
I lean into his touch, desperately needing more. My lips tingle.
“Please…” I whisper.
Daire leans closer, his breath ghosting over mine. “It’s so bloody good to see your beautiful face, love.”
My brow furrows in confusion.
Then he is kissing me, and all thoughts are driven from my mind. His kiss is passionate and tender. His tongue curls around mine, and he clutches at my shoulders.
His wings cocoon us in our own dark world.
I moan, melting against him.
I kiss him deeper, demanding more.
He cups my cheek, before tracing downwards, memorizing the outline of my face.
He kisses me more fiercely, and I cling to him.
At last, he pulls back. “One thing is missing from our Bat King’s dinner.”
Daire’s expression becomes determined, as he draws away from me. He bends over the tray and snatches up the burnished clay cup of goat’s milk.
He blows on the thin layer of cream on the top, before drinking it.
“Hey,” I snatch at his arm, “greedy fae. That’s not for you.”
Daire finishes the cup, wiping at his mouth with the back of his arm. “Sorry, but I needed somewhere to collect the blood.”
I stare at him blankly. “What?”
Daire winks. “My blood is the best drink in the realms, better than any wine. I’m bloody delicious.”
I blanch. “Go fuck a troll.”
“Thanks for the offer but not right now, thanks.”
I shove him in the chest. “You’re not bleeding for Lanlin.”
“Why not, after the way I betrayed him? After he’s lost everything because I put those buggering shackles on him?”
I don’t have an answer for that.
I wet my lips. “If we smuggle you into the Guild…”
“We just agreed that was impossible.” Daire bites his wrist, which is not marked with the snowflake bond mark, gnawing with his sharp teeth.
I wince. “I can spare a little blood. I’ve got enough, right?
On the sacred ash, I may have been acting like a lazy arse, curling up in the nest with you this week because…
I’ve been going through withdrawal myself.
” Daire’s expression twists. “I didn’t realize how addicted I was to being bitten.
Vampires are dangerous. They trap you, as much as fae do with their blood.
Lanlin and I are bonded now; I can sense it. It bloody hurts to be apart from him.”
“It does,” I murmur, hugging myself. Then my lips quirk. “If you’re going to suffer pain for our pack, however, then I’ll give you pleasure.”
Daire grits his teeth, ripping deeper into his skin; his lips glisten with scarlet. “Hmm, kinky.”
I fall to my knees on the hard floor in front of him because I love to be the one to shock him.
He may be more experienced than I am, but I’m learning.
Daire gazes down at me with darkening pupils.
He licks his lips clean, before holding his wrist over the terracotta cup. His blood slowly drips into the cup, while I drag his breeches down.
Daire’s cock is already at half-mast, as I ease it out.
Daire struggles not to moan, biting his lip. “Fuck, love.”
I look up at him through my eyelashes. “Shall we see if you can come before you’ve filled that cup? If not, you’re going to have a long, hard day ahead of you.”
“My merciless Queen.” Daire groans but he sounds delighted.
I grasp the base of his cock, slowly stroking up and down to tease him.
He widens his stance, steadying himself.
When I cup his balls through his breeches, his breath hitches.
I lean forward, licking over the head of his cock.
“You’re killing me, love,” Daire hisses.
“Am I?” I flutter my eyelashes at him, innocently.
Then I kill him further to distract him from the pain in his wrist.