Chapter Five. Etan
FIVE
ETAN
I stared at the woman in shock, the impossibility of her existence contradicted before my very eyes.
The Primordials had locked themselves away, disappeared from the world centuries prior to her existence, from the kernels of information I’d been able to gather from my conversations with Mab and those who were the most loyal to her.
Estrella Barlowe should not have possessed the power that Mab claimed to have witnessed, the assertion in the voice of the Queen of Air and Darkness stealing the breath from my lungs.
There was the faintest of tremors to it, the sound so unlike anything I’d ever heard from the Goddess who feared nothing and no one that I felt my head tip to the side as I turned it to stare at her profile.
Estrella and Fallon seemed oblivious to the note of fear that made her voice shake, their knowledge of her short-lived. They didn’t have centuries at her side to understand the implication of that fear and what it would mean for Estrella.
She’d been in danger since the moment she’d stepped foot in Alfheimr, but Mab would never allow something she feared to continue living.
It was only a matter of time before she figured out the best way to eliminate the threat Estrella posed, only a matter of time before she did what she could to rid herself of the competition for power, so no other could challenge her.
There were two sides to Mab. The one that everyone saw, the crazed madwoman who acted without fear of consequences and hurt anyone who stood in her way.
That was the Queen who had nothing to fear; no one could right her wrongs or avenge their families.
That was the woman who had been driven to a cruel, evil glee at the suffering of others.
Most assumed her incapable of control, of containing that side of herself to play the long game when it was necessary to her survival.
But I’d seen her do just that with Caldris, keeping him contained for centuries when he might have otherwise been able to fight back and claim what was his by birthright.
She’d taken her greatest opposition and turned him into her greatest weapon, but whereas Caldris had been a child when he consented to the snake wrapped around his heart, Estrella was a woman.
She understood the implications of such a thing, and fully grasped the fact that there were some fates worse than death.
The glare she graced Mab with was confirmation of that, a promise that she would fight her until the very end. That glare was her death sentence, Mab’s answering smirk her affirmation of a fate signed, sealed, and all but delivered to the Fates themselves.
Movement at my side caught my eye, pulling my stare away from the standoff occurring before me. Had it been anyone else, nothing could have torn me away from the gravity of this moment. From the implication that the future of Fae kind would be decided when these two women decided to go to war.
Only one creature could tempt me from keeping a wary eye on the two women.
My future wife.
Fallon raised her chin, her strong, angular jaw set as her full mouth parted into a gleeful smile.
It was in that moment that I saw the resemblance between her and her mother, the deep, devastating beauty that felt too dangerous to grasp.
I didn’t know that I would ever be able to contain it, to hold her in my arms in spite of the position she would soon play in my life.
She was the kind of beauty that slipped through your fingers, disappearing into the wind like a mirage that couldn’t possibly be real.
I’d seen her at court before this moment, silent and stoic at Mab’s side in spite of the atrocities her mother committed, in spite of the pain she inflicted on her own daughter in an effort to gain the answers she sought.
But Fallon refused any and all attention, gave no answers and showed no signs of the power that she must have had on even a small level, given her lineage.
The moon played off her fair skin, such a contrast to Estrella’s bronze and my own, which was deeply tanned by the sun in my home court.
She looked as if she’d been locked away in a tower without a window, as if her skin had never been given the privilege of stepping into the sunlight, of feeling that warmth on the cool tone of her complexion.
As if she felt my attention, she turned to face me. The smile drifted off her stunning face slowly, her pouty lips pressing into a tight line. Her disapproval should have discouraged me, or at the very least made me wary of the kind of marriage we might have now that the betrothal was set in stone.
Instead, it brought an answering smile to my face, amusement flickering through me like candlelight. While the Fae couldn’t lie, few were so outright with their honesty to allow their every thought and feeling to show upon their face.
Watching Fallon think was like reading the pages of an open book, the words written in neat script for all to see. The very thought of getting to know all her expressions was a promise that would taunt me until it came to fruition.
Even in her disapproval, I’d never seen a mouth so perfectly shaped, her top and bottom lips evenly thick to the point of looking like they had been painted on.
Her lips were deeper than was natural, nearly the color of blood against her pale skin.
I’d always thought the color of Mab’s lips was the effect of painting them with the blood of her enemies, but Fallon contradicted that notion.
I felt certain she only had one enemy in this world, and that was the Queen who had so easily dismissed her in favor of Estrella.
Fallon crossed her arms over her chest, and where another woman might have looked insecure in the motion, she squared her shoulders as she studied me and found me wanting.
The set to that strong jaw indicated the fight I would have on my hands, her entire body tense as she waited for abuse.
Her hazel eyes bored into mine, her hair so dark it was nearly black.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” she said, her mouth parting ever so slightly. Her teeth peeked through, bright white and perfectly straight, with only the tiniest of gaps between the two front teeth, which felt too innocent for a woman staring at me with such disdain.
“Disappoint me?” I asked, meeting her pointed stare.
Most withered under intense eye contact, feeling uncomfortable with the aspect of self-confidence in a world determined to tear us down.
The eyes were a window to the soul, a reminder that our bodies were nothing but flesh, and that the real pain came from within.
“Estrella is far too important to marry the likes of you, no matter how beautiful you may find her,” Fallon said, earning a grin from me. A grin that I usually suppressed when trapped in this court of darkness and gloom.
“She is beautiful,” I said, taking a step toward my future wife.
The one who had been so willing to save her friend that she’d sacrificed herself to an arrangement, to a loveless marriage decided by the mother she hated so clearly.
That hatred extended to me as well, if her glare was any indication.
I raised my hand from my side slowly, watching as she finally broke eye contact to study the movement.
She stood her ground, lifting her chin as my fingers ghosted over it.
My thumb found her bottom lip, the plump flesh parting as I drew it down to get a glimpse of her teeth again.
I wanted her smile, the devious grin that had graced her face at the prospect of Estrella besting the Queen of Air and Darkness, who Fallon believed me loyal to.
Instead, she bared her teeth at me, jerking her head back from my touch.
I let her go, running my tongue over my bottom teeth as her snarl gave me my first glimpse of her pointed little fangs at the corner of her mouth.
“But I am far from disappointed, Princess,” I said, holding out a hand and leaning forward into a courtly half bow.
Fallon sucked her cheek inward, hollowing out her face slightly and making her angular features even more striking in her distaste for me.
She cast one last glance toward Mab and Estrella, the two of them staring upward toward the night sky.
With a sigh, she lifted her hand and placed it in mine, allowing me to draw her into my side and escort her back to the palace of Tar Mesa.
We took a few steps, ascending the stairs and entering the doors that the guards pulled open with a dramatic flourish.
“I am far more concerned with understanding why you believe Estrella to be any more important than you are,” I said, continuing our conversation in the absence of Mab’s prying ears.
Fallon scoffed, her condescending sneer making me want nothing more than to wipe it off her beautiful face. She’d come to learn that her attitude would never be met with violence, not with me, but I would still show her all the ways I could own her.
She would just enjoy them.
“Everyone is worth less than Estrella,” she said as we climbed the stairs, casually leading me to the rooms she’d been given as hers during her time in Tar Mesa.
At the time, she’d probably thought this would be her final home—that she would either remain here as her mother’s prisoner or die here.
Instead, she’d know the grand opulence of the Summer Court, of breezy fabrics and bathing pools with flowing water in every room carved into the hillside that kept us sheltered from the worst of the sandstorms. “It isn’t an insult to myself to admit as much.
I would not necessarily say the same of another. ”
“Perhaps she is worth more to you, but I will not allow you to make less of your importance. No matter the circumstances that led us here, you are to be my wife now, and I’ll not allow anyone to insult you.
Not even you,” I said, pausing in front of the door at the end of the hall.
Fallon faced me, expressionless, as if she couldn’t decide how to react to my statement.
“You don’t have to pretend that you care.
You don’t even know me, and we both know this marriage will be nothing more than a political arrangement,” she said, her voice soft.
It was her reminder to herself, of exactly what this was, and I appreciated that she wanted to go into our situation with clearly defined roles.
“Is that so?” I asked, raising the hand that did not hold hers and touching my thumb to her cheek. I dragged it over her high cheekbone, reveling in the tiny hitch of breath that caught in her lungs.
“What else could it possibly be?” she asked, her whisper barely audible in the abandoned hallway.
I shrugged, taking my hand back and releasing hers from the hold of my other hand.
“It may be an arrangement,” I said, emphasizing the word she’d chosen.
“But that doesn’t mean we cannot enjoy said arrangement.
” Fallon had no way of knowing what I’d done, or realizing that I’d been the one to put the idea in Mab’s head.
Playing games with Mab was a strategy, a slowly evolving plan to make her believe the decision had been hers and hers alone, and that offered me anonymity where Fallon was concerned.
If she knew the truth, I had no doubt she would fault me for her newfound situation, even if I’d done it with her well-being in mind.
Mostly.
Fallon did not yet know how to play that game, but I’d had centuries of manipulating the Queen of Air and Darkness to benefit my people.
Fallon would be the first time I used that ability for something that wasn’t entirely selfless, arranging a wedding that Fallon had played right into.
I would keep her safe, and that eased some of the niggling guilt I felt over what I hoped to gain in the process.
I placed my hand on the handle to her door, turning it and shoving the door open before stepping out of her way.
It was a room I’d spent my fair share of time in, getting to know Fallon through the space she kept as her own when she was gone and I was attempting to avoid her presence in Mab’s court.
She moved to pass me, making her way through the door and pausing only when I leaned in and placed my mouth at her ear.
“And you will enjoy it,” I added, stepping back from her suddenly as she gave me a wide-eyed stare.
She drew in a deep breath, her shock palpable as she moved into her room on shaky legs.
She didn’t so much as meet my stare as she swung the door closed behind her, sealing herself off into her place of false safety.
I grinned at the back of the door, running a palm over the wooden surface before I turned on my heel and stalked toward my own rooms.
The best part of hunting within the Shadow Court?
My wife wasn’t going anywhere.