17
Alarie
It was entirely too early to be up and ready to leave the house, considering the party everyone had been at the night before and into the early morning. Well, everyone except the Prince. I didn’t see the Prince the rest of the night, after our pleasant little run-in.
Cass only agreed to leave me to go run the morning drills with his team at House Dumont after a very sleepy Rhett promised him that he’d personally walk me to my meeting this morning with the Prince. But Luke showed up only a few minutes after Cass left, already asking questions about what had occurred the night before.
“Tattletale,” I jeered at Rhett.
He shrugged unapologetically. But he looked tense and concerned, too. Luke wrapped me in a hug, squeezing me until I tapped on his shoulder.
“I’m fine, Luke. Let up,” I reassured him.
Rhett hovered to our side and ran a hand through his already disheveled golden head of hair.
Luke pulled me away from his body and stared into my face, firmly grasping me by the shoulders. “I’d heard about the intruder who was dealt with last night, but I had no idea you were involved. Why in the hell didn’t you tell us what happened last night?” he demanded.
I looked at Rhett like Luke was overreacting, only to find Rhett looking back at me expectantly, waiting for a reply.
“Okay, okay.” I threw my hands up in surrender, breaking away from Luke’s grasp.
“You were…” I wanted to say, too busy. Luke hadn’t left Karina’s side the entire night. “Having too much fun,” I said instead.
“Anyway, Cass didn’t leave my side the entire night, and the Prince spoke with Cass and assured him that my safety was taken care of. I didn’t want to ruin the ‘biggest party in the decade’ for you,” I explained.
Rhett pressed his lips into a straight line but seemed willing to accept my answer. But Luke’s nostrils were still flared.
“Luke, can we talk about this later? Rhett has to walk me to my meeting with the Prince,” I said, trying not to sound irritated about the apparent necessity to hand me off from one man to another.
“I’ll take her,” Luke barked, the way he gently tucked my hand into the crevice of his arm not matching his tone.
Rhett willingly backed off.
“I’m going back to bed,” he said. “Night, Al baby,” he joked, half-heartedly.
“This is exactly what Rhett and I were worried about, Al,” Luke continued in a discreet whisper as we walked in the direction of House Heroux.
“Did you have that talk with Cass?” he asked, referring to the talk I’d promised to have with Cass about my nonexistent powers.
“I didn’t have time to, Luke. Look, that can’t be it. No one can know what you’re worried about. One, because it’s not a real thing. But two, because, well, how could they?” I protested.
“What did Cass tell Nik?” Luke asked.
I was intrigued by Luke calling the Prince by his first name, but I knew Luke wasn’t done with his questioning, and he wasn’t going to let me change the subject just yet. I breathed out a sigh.
“He—he told the Prince that he got his wings when he was out hiking with me,” I admitted.
“Fucking hell,” Luke cussed. “This is exactly what we don’t need to happen. We don’t need this getting out.”
“Luke, there is no this,” I whispered.
“If that’s true, then why did someone try to kidnap you last night, Al?” Luke continued.
“I’ve been thinking about it, Luke. What about Stefan? If I pass on some kind of magic through sex then wouldn’t Stefan have been affected too?” I asked.
“Maybe you did impact his magic and he never said anything. Or maybe,” the muscles in Luke’s jaw feathered, “deep down, you never trusted that piece of shit enough to give him any of your magic. I don’t know how it works, Al but...”
We cut off any further argument upon reaching the steps of House Heroux. The Prince was already outside, waiting.
He stood at the top of the steps, his hands in his pockets, his dark hair falling around his piercing green eyes. He took the steps toward us nimbly, one at a time. He seemed so sure of himself as he stopped one step above us.
“Hope you didn’t have too late of a night,” the Prince teased, a knowing glint in his eyes.
“Luke, it’s been—” the Prince purposefully cut off his own sentence, clearly indicating that he didn’t quite agree with the usual refrain “too long.”
“Long enough, yeah,” Luke finished the sentence for him.
And I couldn’t help but stare over at my friend, who was normally so kind and friendly to everyone I had ever seen him around. I furrowed my brows at him, but he didn’t look away from the Prince.
“Well, as much as I love catching up at the High Court, we really must get going.” The Prince shrugged, removing a hand from his pocket. He took a step down, offering his hand out to me.
“Where are we going?” I asked, looking at but not taking his outstretched hand.
“To train,” he answered shortly, nodding at me to take his hand.
Begrudgingly, I stepped up and took his hand, feeling calluses that could have only come from years of holding a sword. I turned back to say bye to Luke, but he was gone.
Or rather, I was gone. I found myself clinging to the Prince in the complete darkness around me. But then it was gone before I knew what was happening. We reappeared on what appeared to be the roof of a large building. The sun was bright overhead, and I heard waves crashing in the background.
Steadying myself in my heels, I looked up to see a twinkle of amusement in the depths of the Prince’s dark green eyes. I realized that in my panic in the darkness, I had wrapped his hand around my waist as I clung to the front of his high-necked hunter green tunic. I released the fistful of his tunic and pushed away from him.
“First time traveling?” he asked, the only remnant of his amusement a slightly quirked eyebrow.
I refused to let him ruffle me.
“Very observant of you. Where are we?” I asked.
He ignored my sass, drawing his eyes purposefully up from my four-inch stilettos to the top of my head, which, even in heels, was a foot or more below his own.
“The M,” he answered.
The Emerald Court on the Emerald Isle. That explained the ocean nearby.
“Seeing as how you are not dressed for any real training today, we’ll just have to talk through some things first,” the Prince noted.
I noticed that his green tunic was tightly fitted, clinging to the curves of his muscles. But there were no weapons on him that I could see. He didn’t look like Cass had that morning, strapped down with so many weapons I’d lost count.
“And what, exactly, is it that I need to be dressed to train for?” I asked, determined to maintain my composure.
“Your powers. Now tell me about them,” he replied, putting his hands in his pockets and beginning to pace.
“That’s easy. I don’t have any,” I responded petulantly, already knowing where the conversation was going.
“That’s not what your boyfriend said,” the Prince retorted.
I had called Cass my boyfriend just the night before. But something about the way the Prince said “boyfriend” made me bristle.
“We don’t agree on this particular issue,” I replied.
“I’ve heard that you have shown some aptitude for shielding,” he continued to press.
I had thought about it over and over again. How Stefan had lunged for me. How he had been inches from me. I should have felt his hands wrap around my arm, but instead, he had fallen back, hard, like he had run into a wall, an invisible wall…a shield. But I had only told Luke, and maybe Rhett, about what had really happened with Stefan that day. Not even Cass knew.
“How did you hear about that?” I asked, too curious to be irritated.
“How do you think Jay was able to get to House Mouchard so quickly and search for that piece of filth?” the Prince said, answering my question with his own.
I knew the Prince had traveled himself and Jay to House Mouchard that day. They had been the ones who discovered Stefan and Lila Tragon were missing. I did not want to talk about Stefan.
“Then tell me how Cass came to get his wings,” he ordered casually, seeing that I was not going to offer more on that subject.
He didn’t raise his voice. He barely showed any emotion at all around me except for the occasional slight amusement at the irritation I couldn’t seem to hide around him. He had the kind of commanding presence where he didn’t need to yell or try to intimidate. His bulky, carved physique, too big to be pure high fae, was intimidating enough, especially when combined with his cool command, which came from the certainty of knowing his orders were going to be followed.
I calmed myself, reminding myself that this was my first day on my new job. Maybe the Prince’s demeanor was some way to throw me off, to test me. If that was the case, then I had probably failed. I had definitely let him get to me. But what he was asking was a bit of a personal story, especially to tell the Prince of Valencia, who had done nothing but act like a prick since the first time I had spoken to him.
“Cass and I went hiking. He got his wings. Then he flew us home,” I replied succinctly.
A muscle in the Prince’s broad jaw fluttered, and I felt a small sense of satisfaction rise in me at managing to irritate him as much as he irritated me.
“And what were you doing when Cass got his wings?” he asked.
He pulled a red apple out of a dark shadow to his side and took a big bite, waiting for my response. I stared, wondering where the apple had come from. He threw the half-eaten piece of fruit up in the air next to him and it disappeared into darkness again.
Show off.
“You might as well cut to the chase, princess. You won’t leave here today until I know the full story,” he said.
“That’s not my name,” I replied crossly.
“Then what is your name?” he spat. “Alarie? Mandy? Al? Any of the names your throng of little lordlings call you?”
I pursed my lips into a straight line, thinking of all the names the men in my life called me. He was awfully informed about my personal life already.
“I don’t care. Call me whatever you want,” I retorted. “You can call me sugar tits for all I care.”
I regretted the words as soon as they came out of my mouth. I was failing miserably at maintaining the High Court mask I had perfected over the last year. Already, my potty mouth was showing. Something about the Prince galled me. He stepped closer to me, purposefully staring down at my breasts with an appreciative gaze.
“You don’t seem that sweet to me,” he mused, rolling the words around in his sensual mouth, a glimmer of amusement crossing his face.
“So just tell me,” he demanded, all signs of amusement gone. “What were you doing with Cass, princess?” he added.
I huffed out a resigned sigh. “I was underneath him.”
He looked at me expectantly, waiting for more detail.
“I was naked. We were, ya know, in the middle of doing some stuff,” I said generically.
“And his wings appeared before, during, after?” the Prince asked, not missing a beat.
“You want the blow-by-blow detail?” I asked sarcastically.
“Yes,” he answered crisply.
I breathed a big, beleaguered breath.
“Fine. We went for a hike outside of Vlaise. We ran into some wasps and ended up having to jump into a nearby pool of water.”
I decided to skip ahead.
“Cass’s hands and mouth were on me. I was…” I squeezed my eyes tight in frustration. I could not believe I was having this conversation with him.
“Well, I was a little distracted, because it was about the same time that I…”
He rolled his tongue across the front of his bottom lip, raising his eyebrows at me.
“That’s when I felt the shadows over us. It was his wings. They had come out of nowhere.”
The Prince appeared appeased at my description.
“Is there anything else or anyone else I should know about?” he asked.
I looked at him tight-lipped, crossing my arms.
“Luke. Luke Bellamy,” I clarified.
“Funny. Your boyfriend didn’t mention that one,” he teased.
I had never told Cass about how Luke came into his full powers. The first time Cass showed up at the High Court, he had asked me if Luke was my boyfriend, and I had been able to say honestly that he was not. The subject of the nature of my relationship with Luke had not come up with Cass again, however.
“Similar circumstances?” he pried, showing some of his amusement.
“We were fucking, if that’s what you mean,” I replied crudely, becoming irritated at him being amused at my expense.
“And he gained his powers back while you were fucking?” the Prince asked, mimicking my dirty mouth.
“Yes. We were in the ocean.” And then, remembering that the Prince had seemed irritated by Luke, instead of veering away from his questions, I decided to lean into them.
“My legs were wrapped around Luke. It was hard to keep up, my orgasms were crashing into me wave after wave, but at some point, he began to glow, really glow, and then I was glowing too,” I gloated.
The Prince took a deep breath.
“When was this?” he asked.
“The Summer Ball at House Bellamy,” I replied.
“Anyone else?” he asked.
I sighed, exasperated.
“Rhett Rein,” I conceded.
“Again, fucking?” he asked, his enjoyment at taunting me returning.
I took a deep breath in through my nose.
“Yes.” And then, before I could catch myself, I said, “Well, not exactly. I was with Luke.”
“So you and Luke were going at it, and Rhett somehow got his powers back from that?” the Prince asked, puzzled.
I pursed my lips together.
“Not quite,” I said.
He waited for me to explain.
“If you really need to know, I was with Luke and Rhett…at the same time,” I admitted.
I definitely saw a glimmer of amusement in his dark green eyes at this confession.
“But I didn’t end up having sex with Rhett. We just did…stuff,” I finished lamely, losing my nerve.
I glared at him, daring him to ask for more specifics about what kind of “stuff.”
“And that occurred…”
“Right after the Summer Ball,” I answered.
“I really need to get out of the M more,” he teased. “I’d heard that House Bellamy’s galas rivaled the High Court’s, but if I’d had any idea…”
I crossed my arms at him.
“Anyone else I should know about?” he asked again.
I thought about Jay. I would not share that secret with him. And there was even less proof than there was with Cass and Luke and Rhett that I had any influence over Jay’s powers.
“No,” I bit back.
“Well, unless you want to do stuff with the entire Valencian army…” he said.
I stared daggers at him.
“No?” he chuckled, amused by himself. “I didn’t think so,” he said, tilting his head dismissively, like it had been a real possibility. “Okay, then we’re going to have to figure out how to tap into your magic.”
We? I wasn’t going to do stuff with him either.
Seeing the look on my face, he retorted, “Relax, princess. I don’t need whatever magic you have between your legs to get my powers back. I still have mine,” he bragged. And to prove his point, he traveled to the other side of the rooftop and back in the blink of an eye.
I was burning with anger. I wasn’t ashamed of what I’d done with Cass. Or Luke. Or Rhett. But why did I have to do this with him?
“I wasn’t offering,” I retorted.
“Well, don’t rule it out just yet, princess,” he teased.
I groaned under my breath. He was never going to call me by my name.
“What does any of this have to do with me being a senior counselor for House Heroux?” I asked.
“Your first priority as senior counselor for this House is to learn how to use your magical abilities. You will train with me. And if we are successful on this first task, then senior counselor to House Heroux can mean whatever you want it to mean. The resources of this House will be at your disposal,” he promised.
Disbelief roiled through my body. If he truly meant what he said, then I had bargained for much more than a promotion as senior counselor to High Heroux. I could do anything I wanted, become anyone I wanted, with the resources he offered. It was an opportunity I could not have even come up with in my dreams.
“But until then, princess, you’re my magical guinea pig. And one way or another, I’m going to figure out how to get that magic out of you,” he said resolutely.
There it was. He didn’t care about me. He just wanted to find a way to use whatever magic he thought I had.