Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
That was her signal for her men to lunge toward Robert and Torin. Torin growled, charging toward an advancing fairy. Torin released his engraved sword, blocking the hit.
The fairy woman’s gaze traveled to Torin, and she gaped at him, following his movements, and then she slowly turned her head back to me, eyes narrowed. It seemed like her dislike for me had grown significantly stronger.
Sounds of metal against metal, grunts of pain, and growls thickened the air. For this fight to stop, I would have to convince the woman we were not their enemies.
"Wait," I shouted, raising my hands defensively.
Tightening her fists, the fairy woman raised her sword and slashed it through the air with supernatural speed. I dodged her attacks and willed my bracelet to extend. I immediately swung my whip at the woman’s side, not aiming directly at her.
I targeted her arm holding the sword, but she escaped me every time I tried to wrap my whip around it. She was an experienced warrior.
"We're not your enemies," I yelled at her as her sword and my golden whip clashed.
My legs trembled under the strain of fending off her relentless assault. Surely they could see we meant no harm if they were guardians. But how could I make them understand?
"Stop," I shouted, my voice raw. "We're not here to fight you."
Screeching echoed around us as she pulled her sword out of the grip of my whip.
"Then why do you bear the royal fairy markings?" she asked, her eyes narrowing at my exposed neck and shoulders.
Stepping back, I halted with my weapon aimed at the ground. Hayden gave me those markings. And she said they were royal fairy markings?
My heart raced as I glanced at Torin and Robert, encircled by the other fairies, their chances of winning quickly dwindling. I needed to make this woman understand, although my own mating marks baffled me.
"Look closer," I said, gesturing to my tattoos. "These are mating marks, not something I was born with."
The warrior woman hesitated for a moment, her sword wavering. Her eyes searched mine, looking for any hint of deception. But whatever went through her mind wasn’t enough to get us out of trouble. She swung her sword to the side of my body. Twirling, I barely avoided the hit.
“So you’re the fairy King’s new Queen, then? That womanizer,” she said and hissed as she lunged at me.
At the last moment, I stepped to the side, and the woman stabbed the air.
I drew in a sharp breath. “Wait,” I said. “I can’t process everything while you’re trying to kill me.”
She faced me and frowned.
I wasn’t the fairy Queen, but I was a Queen to… I swallowed the dryness in my throat. Hayden. I’d never gotten evidence that he was a fairy, and I’d never seen his true form or royal fairy markings, so I couldn’t be sure that he was the fairy King.
And Hayden was a lot of things, such as a tyrant, but not a womanizer. He gazed at me as if I were his whole world.
I shook my head slightly, unable to connect the dots clearly.
A movement caught my eye, and when I looked over my shoulder, I saw Torin dropping his sword to the ground while Robert retracted his talons and put his hands up. They were surrounded and outnumbered.
Torin and Robert were among the strongest warriors I knew. They had the power to defeat the Uprising Guardians but refrained from doing so. Hurting them would have ruined our chances of getting their help.
Not too far away, behind a pile of rubble, Ashton peeked out, causing me to sigh. As usual, he wouldn’t be helpful now.
With one swift move, the fairy woman used my distracted state and grabbed my shoulder, pulling me down. I could have escaped from this position since Dad had made me practice various times, but I stayed completely still, giving her no reason to fear us.
She turned my body to face Torin and pressed her sword against my collarbone—a breath away from drawing my blood.
I spoke very slowly. “Look, I’m putting my weapon away.”
I willed my whip to coil around my forearm, and a faint “humph” escaped the woman’s mouth behind me.
“Why does this man have the fairy Queen’s sword? Is it yours? That womanizer made you his new Queen, then?”
It proved difficult to even swallow with her sword an inch away from the major veins on my neck.
“Not true. I don’t even know who the fairy King is.” I rushed my words before she cut me. “Please lower your weapons. This is a misunderstanding.”
My heart pounded behind my chest. Would she believe me?
“We've come from the human realm, and I swear we mean no harm."
She regarded me for a long moment, her sword still too close for comfort.
"I don’t care where you’re from,” she said. “Only the royal fairy family members are born with those markings or acquire them by mating into the family. You're one of them, whether you admit it or not."
Her sword pressed against my throat, the cold steel threatening to bite into my skin. An icy chill traveled down my spine, and my next breath hitched in my throat. Torin stood as still as he could, but I noticed a slight quiver in his hands.
His intense gaze lifted from the spot where the blade scraped my neck to my eyes, and he nodded as if reading my mind. He was letting me handle the situation, but by the twitches of his jaw muscles, I could tell he would pounce at the fairy woman if needed.
"Then explain the fairy Queen’s sword. Why is it in the possession of this man?" the fairy woman spat.
Well, I wouldn’t be able to give her a good enough explanation to keep my life, I guessed. Willa gave the sword to my father, but how had my biological mother obtained the sword, then? As far as I knew, she was imprisoned.
I opened my mouth to speak, searching for words that might save us.
But a low rumble echoed through the air, and my heart threatened to shatter. My chest tingled with the feeling, and the hairs on my arms pricked up in reaction. My eyes widened as I took in the sight before me.
A group of fairy warriors that seemed to outnumber all of us marched toward us at a rather leisurely pace.
Hayden led the way. But he didn’t look like the Hayden I knew from the werewolf kingdom.
His long, white-blond hair flowed like a silken waterfall down his shoulders, each strand shimmering with a glow that seemed to dance with magical energy. His ears, slender and pointed, stuck out to the sides. That must have been a distinct mark of his fairy heritage.
Greyson’s ears were more rounded, and I had to guess it was because his mother was a human. Torin's vampire ears only extended and became pointy at the tips, but Hayden's jutted out.
Any doubts about Hayden’s true form disappeared and were replaced by the image of a muscular fairy warrior etched in my mind forever. He had given me fairy mating marks that were also royal. What exactly was Hayden in the fairy realm?
The fairy woman focused on Hayden and his approaching entourage, lowering her sword to the side. Her face turned ashen, and she wiped her free hand on the bodice around her waist.
I looked again at Hayden, and his unhurried, predatory walk toward us escalated my pulse and sent a cold shiver down my spine. Barely anything covered his upper body, and I stared at the markings that now adorned his powerful body.
They were tribal tattoos, matching mine, intertwining and thick. The markings covered almost his entire body, at least where I could see his bare skin.
Royal fairy. The words rang in my ears as he neared us.
My mate marks itched and tingled uncomfortably, so I lifted my hand to the crook of my neck to rub them.
His attire was battle-worn yet striking, with interlocking metal plates adorning his bare chest and providing additional protection on his right arm. A single tight-fitting glove adorned his left arm.
His overwhelming aura rolled over me—dark and dangerous, causing goose bumps to prick on my neck. Hayden was in his true, beautiful form. But underneath his allure lay an unmistakable intensity, a sense of darkness. The man who’d marked me was capable of unfathomable wrath.
My muscles were so stiff I couldn’t move as I stared at my mate.
His piercing gaze found me. His mouth moved, and the wind carried his words to my ears. “Come to me, my Queen.”
My heart raced as I stared into Hayden's eyes. He stretched his arms toward me. For the last month, I knew he’d been concealing his true nature and hid secrets from me, but witnessing his true nature still terrified me.
Hayden’s men, at least the ones in the front row, didn’t show any tattoos. They wore lots of leather, seemingly thicker than the clothes Torin found in the rubble. They looked ready for a war.
The fairy woman sheathed her sword. “So you’re mated to this jerk instead?”
“He’s…my mate, but—”
“Then it still doesn’t make a difference for us,” she snapped. “That’s the fairy King’s son.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“Anna.” Torin’s warm hand touched my bare shoulder, sending more electric jolts to my chest. “We won’t be able to fight them today.
We have to run.” A guttural roar reverberated among the ruins, causing me to gasp.
Looking over my shoulder, I saw Hayden stare at the spot where Torin’s hand rested on my shoulder, and then he sprinted toward us, followed by his men.