Chapter 24
ARSE
I’d been working on my tunnel for a good handful of days now because I’d nothing else to do. I’d always made sure to return to Hekla’s room before Bidelia got there so I could greet her and she could let me in to sleep. Bidelia never went back to her room, choosing only to stay where Hekla used to sleep. I figured it was a grief thing. I too felt Hekla’s absence. I hated that I’d left my first decent owner, but I felt that Bidelia needed someone… and I was afraid of the wild. I was too disabled to survive in the open if something happened to Hekla.
Curse my deformity. Curse my very existence. I was pathetic and unworthy of the good in my life.
Tonight would be the night, though. I had my plan. It was an elaborate strategy to get justice for my owner. It would disable her at court, that evil spring whore. Once my plan was complete, she’d rue the day she came here. Once I’d weakened her, it was only a matter of time before the others finished her off for me. I was not evil, but today might make me question that. I was willing to carry that burden .
I walked confidently down the corridors to Hekla’s old suite, now the place of overripe villainy. Instead of turning left toward the suite, I continued down the hall and nudged open a broom closet that Bidelia had left just the tiniest bit ajar. No one had noticed the way it was cracked. Once I was inside, I left the door how I’d found it, hoping no one would shut it. It was my way out, but if I didn’t return tonight, Bidelia would come find me. I trusted the wee thing.
I pushed a box aside with my chiseled arms and entered a tunnel I’d painstakingly crafted. Loosening stone bricks was as hard as shite, but I was a male in my prime! I made it happen. When I’d realized that my wings were never going to grow, I’d built up the rest of my body. If only the females were into muscular mac-tallas. No, it was all about the wings… Big, beautiful, dusty mac-talla wings meant more to them than a strong male’s giant banger.
I snapped myself out of my self-pity and crawled through the tunnel, making sure the box was back in place. I stalked through the walls and crept around support beams to get to my destination. Yes, deformity aside, I was not only strong and virile but also stealthy.
I reached the end where I pushed against a loose stone and lowered it gently to the floor on the other side. The whore princess would not be here; I knew her schedule. She’d likely be at dinner still. I returned the loose stone to the wall once I was out and surveyed my battleground. Oh yes, this would do just fine.
Plenty of clothes to destroy.
The silks, cottons, and satins were mine to chew. They’d be riddled with holes by the time she returned, and she’d know the true meaning of no mercy. I’d have to be strategic, though. I needed to isolate and sabotage the parts of each clothing item that would be the hardest to repair. So I set about my labors and ravaged the clothes in the closet, showing no kindness or compassion. Revenge had never tasted so good.
Once I was satisfied with my revolution, I crept out of the closet to see what else I could destroy. I’d already moved faster than anticipated, and I believed I had more time to destroy all she held dear. I was about to jump onto the bed to see if there was any jewelry I could chew on when I heard heels clicking outside the door.
My very life flashed before my eyes.
I clambered under the bed, rolling like a warrior avoiding a falling claymore, and pressed myself against the wall. I eyed the closet door, but there was no getting over there in time. I’d eaten the bed, and now I had to lie in it. Whatever happened this fateful night, I’d face my destiny with pride.
The whore princess walked in and sat at her desk. She hadn’t noticed the closet yet. That was good. A knock on the door made her shuffle the papers, like she was hiding them. She let in another fae woman, one that I had scented before at the banquet. The blonde who’d been leering at the two-timing prince.
“To what do I owe the… pleasure?” the whore princess asked, sounding less pleasant than she usually did, though it wasn’t much to begin with, was it?
The door closed and the blonde said, “I just wanted to concede to your victory in obtaining the prince’s hand.”
“It was never a competition,” the princess sneered.
“I just thought we could have worked together,” the blonde stated resolutely. “I poisoned his mate. I tried to get her out of the picture, which helped you, did it not?”
“No, I got rid of her all by myself. You can thank your prince for how much he masturbates into the trash.” The princess snorted in an unladylike fashion. She strolled slowly to the glass balcony door by the bed, so I shuffled back silently to put some distance between us.
Wait… she got rid of Hekla? Was the prince truly framed?
“Though now he’s run off because of your little games,” the blonde said through her teeth, clearly irritated.
“He’ll be back. He won’t want to risk an execution. ”
Execution?
“I’ve also come to make a request. I wanted to get your blessing first. It’s not in my nature to step on toes.” Hesitantly, the visitor paced over to the whore princess.
Oh, I had to keep myself from laughing at that one.Not in her nature, my arse!
“Spit it out,” the princess snapped.
“I’d like to be appointed as a mistress. I think that if we were to team up, we co—”
My eyes nearly popped from my head when flowering vines sprouted all about the princess and wrapped around the blonde. From my limited vantage, I noticed she had seeds sewn into her clothes, which was where the vines originated.Tricky whore, this one!
“Don’t touch my shit,” the princess hissed and slammed the blonde through the glass door with the vines.
Holy shite!
I couldn’t see the blonde. I had no idea if she was even on the balcony. There was another knock on the door, making me jolt in surprise.
“Your Majesty,” the princess said, and I saw her curtsey.
“Quit the act. It’s just me,” the queen snapped. “What have you done?” I had to assume she was referring to the giant pile of glass and puddles of blood.
“She was conspiring against the throne,” the princess replied lightly.
Pffft!
The queen was silent for a while, then she said, “I’m asking once more. When will he be delivered after the contract is fulfilled? I’m not making this sacrifice for nothing.”
“You are such a paranoid thing, aren’t you?” the princess remarked snidely and waltzed over to the office, which was next to the closet. I waited for the queen to follow her, but she stayed out of the room, hovering in front of my escape route.Shite!I turned to face the balcony. It was now or never if they discovered my assault on the closet. I thought that the worst-case scenario would be the princess standing on a stool and screaming if she discovered me. Now, I was certain she’d make mac-talla soup out of my fine arse.
I launched through the hole in the balcony door, taking care to avoid the broken glass. The blonde wasn’t out here. Had she fallen? I climbed to the edge of the balcony and took a deep breath. If I landed on the hedge below I might not die. I might get skewered, but I might not die.
For my prince and court, I said nobly and jumped off the balcony—right into the arms of the prince’s sister, who was spying just under the eaves.
Before she could say a thing, the shriek of ten thousand ban-sìths erupted from the whore princess’s room. “MY CLOTHES!”
Mission accomplished.
HEKLA
I stirred from a kiss on my cheek but tiredness had me growling and rolling over. It wasn’t even dawn yet. Who woke before dawn? A deep chuckle caressed my ear, a handsome noise that went straight to my sex, but I still wasn’t moving a damn inch. Another kiss landed on my cheek, then another, then another…
“Ahh!” I sat up, growling louder and looking around wildly. I finally recognized the laugh and turned to see my fae mate grinning down at me. My brain caught up with my body, and I joined in on Belenus’s laughing as he helped me to my feet.
“The bats are taking one last pass at the nuckelavee, and then we’ll leave,” he said, nodding in the direction of the creature’s body.
“Are they going to be good to go after…” I asked quietly and tactfully while executing an explicit hand gesture to ma ke my meaning clear. Belenus released another burst of laughter and quickly covered his mouth.
“Nofre says they’ll just have to deal with it. It won’t be as bad since they ate their fill earlier. They’re just unwilling to leave good blood behind after starving for so long,” he explained, grabbing the rest of his gear. He winced and added, “Though I have to say, the blood doesn’t look that good. That thing’s full of black blood. Eugh.” He shuddered.
I grimaced myself, praying it also wouldn’t make the bats sick. “Hopefully it tastes like licorice.”
“Now I will never be able to eat licorice again. Thank you, my alpha,” Belenus said with a snort as we wandered to where the shifters planned to meet us. An unexpected scent—a putrid one—wafted to me, and I gagged before I could even start in surprise. I’d know that smell anywhere now.
“Fear gorta!” I hissed to Belenus and whirled to chase the scent.
“Shit!” Belenus said and followed me. The closer I got to the fear gorta, the more I could smell someone else nearby—Ferrer. In a clearing, the bat-shifter was pointing away from the forest while aggressively shooing off the undead faery, who finally turned to leave. There was no way he would have known what it was.
“FERRER, COME HERE!” I commanded and waved him over in a panic.
“The fear gorta is leaving, and it doesn’t look happy,” Belenus said through gritted teeth. “Ferrer is cursed now. I have no idea what to do about this.”
I looked at the departing corpse but couldn’t verify his observation for the life of me. How could a fear gorta look anything other than unhappy? Ferrer then sped over to me in a blink, and I took a step back in surprise.
“Ferrer, what did you do to that thing? Did you feed it?” Belenus rubbed his temple with his fingers and asked in a lower voice, “Were you polite to it? ”
The male frowned and tilted his head in confusion. “It came toward my people, but when I approached it, it shoved a bowl in my face, so I told it to leave. We don’t have food to spare, and I didn’t like the look of it. Wasn’t edible either.”
I resisted copying Belenus’s temple rubbing. “Did it touch you, Ferrer?” I asked with a light growl.
“Yeah, patted me on the shoulder. Took rejection rather well, but I still told it to leave my people alone,” he answered, brushing his hair from his red-brown eyes, the color of dried blood.
“Well, you just got cursed,” Belenus said with a frustrated sigh, moving his fingers to squeeze the bridge of his nose. Ferrer gave him a skeptical look and crossed his arms.
Is it just me or has he bulked up since eating? Eventide asked.
No, I guess they recover pretty quickly? Maybe as fast as wolves? Maybe faster? I replied, and she hummed thoughtfully. Speed seemed to be a boon for these folk; they definitely moved faster than wolves. I wouldn’t be surprised if they healed just as swiftly.
“What is the fear gorta’s curse?” I asked Belenus since Ferrer didn’t seem concerned in the slightest.
“Well, Ferrer here is going to experience some pretty bad luck and never-ending hunger until we get that curse lifted. Shit, I wish I had known there was one nearby! I should bring some game back for us, mate, and use the leftovers for any other encounter.”
“If you say so.” Ferrer shrugged and started strolling off with his hands in his pockets.
“You’re not hungry, Ferrer?” Belenus called out to him. Ferrer laughed and waved him off, disappearing into the trees to return to his people.
“Maybe it’s because he just ate?” I pondered out loud. “Will he survive the trip back to the castle, Belenus?”
“I’ll make sure he does, but it’ll be a challenge. We’ll get him extra meals and make a litter if he gets too weak. The bad luck will be a problem. Shit, I wish we’d gotten here in time!” he snapped, furious with himself.
“Should I go feed that fear gorta? Get us some good luck again?” I offered, patting him on his arm. He shook his head aggressively.
“Do not go near that thing now. It’s going to be cranky as shit. Let’s… just get people going. We can only march til dawn, and we’ll have to find them cover by sunrise.”
I kept an eye on Ferrer while we traveled with Eventide at our backs, but he seemed to be doing just fine. If anything, he appeared to be thriving. The sickly pallor had left his flesh, leaving him with the healthy light skin you’d expect from a people who never saw the light of day. His eyes were vibrant, and he moved with purpose, confidence, and grace. He was a rather good-looking male. They all were actually.
I pondered their ears and directed a question to the other leader, “Nofre, have your people always had pointed ears? All the shifters I know have rounded ones, like humans.”
The bat-shifter, strolling next to me as healthy as Ferrer, said, “Humans? We have so few references to them… Per your question, over the hundreds of years, fae from the Autumn and Winter Courts would find themselves in the Night Court for one reason or another. They’d either been exploring or entering the door on a dare but were almost always fated mates with one of us. We treated them like royalty so they’d stay, but that usually wasn’t necessary. Most volunteered to stay, thinking we couldn’t go back with them. If only we’d known…” He looked thoughtful, but not regretful.
“So they bred heavily into your line. I guess it makes sense that you look a little like fae,” I replied.
“We had hoped our pups would escape the curse of our colony, but they were all born as bat-shifters. They were never born pure fae.”
“Well, now you’re not alone in the world, Nofre. You have kingdoms that will help, I know it.” I didn’t need to force confidence into my voice. It simply was the truth .
A hissing, demonic growl came from behind, and I turned to see a shifter returning with a prize from a hunt. I paled when I saw her quarry and blurted, “I will give you much larger, juicier prey if you hand that over to me! I will go hunt right now! Can we trade?”
“What’s happening?” Belenus turned around and said, “Oh. Yes, you’d better hand that over before she goes feral.”
The shifter frowned and eyed what she intended to drink dry. “Is this a sacred animal?”
I grimaced, not sure if I could put it in a way they’d find acceptable. These people were forced to drink their own kind. I had to assume that pets wouldn’t mean a thing to them.
“Not exactly, but the species is… unique. Please, let me get you better prey. Let’s trade.”
She shrugged and handed the mac-talla over to me. I gripped the fussing creature and let it throw its tantrum while I heaved a colossal sigh of relief. I gave Belenus a pleading look and held out the mac-talla so I could go hunt. He shook his head and kissed me. “I will get the kill,” he insisted and shifted into Escort. The blond wolf loped off to find something more substantial for the shifter, and I nearly wept from his sweetness.
He is so good to us! Eventide sobbed.
I nodded silently, a touch emotional now, and directed all my attention to the stressed-out creature in my arms. It had chomped down on my wrist and froze, not understanding why I wasn’t letting go of it. “I’m not going to hurt you. I just kept you from getting eaten, little mac-talla. My name’s Hekla.”
The little mac-talla didn’t even blink and I sighed, resigned to my next idea. I brought it up to my unbitten ear and tried to get it to bite that instead of my wrist. Maybe I could get it to bond and talk to me, build a little trust here. I shook the creature a little in encouragement, but it merely opened and erratically fluttered its wings.
“Come on, bite my ear so we can talk,” I said, nudging its mouth toward my ear. Feeling eyes on me, I glanced over at Nofre, who was giving me a very strange look. “No, I’m not crazy, Nofre. Stop staring at me like that,” I growled. “These creatures create mind-links with their… ‘owners.’”
At the mention of owners, the mac-talla bit my ear and then decided not to let go. I took a deep breath and managed to keep walking with the colony. I didn’t want to make any sudden movements or it could take some of my ear with it. I could only imagine how stupid this looked to the shifters behind me.
“Fine, mac-talla, you can hang on all you like. I’m not going to hurt you, and you’re going to realize that this is all very silly.”
Are wild mac-tallas like the domesticated ones, though? Eventide asked.
That’s a good point, and now I’m a little worried, I replied.
Luzia ended up on my other side. “Do you need help with your lunch?”
I sighed and pressed my lips together in a line. I was about to say no when a large group of armored fae warriors on horseback, perhaps fifty, stopped to block our progress.
“HALT!” I ordered the colony and studied the fae in the front, the one with a subtle glow much like Queen Fedelm’s, except his light shone in a shivering silver. His hair fell over his shoulders in an inky waterfall, draping well past a silver-dusted face, one almost as pale as the bat-shifters. His eyes were like the cool branches of a blue spruce, but his scrutiny was colder.
He snapped something in fae, but when I gave him a confused look, he promptly switched languages. “State your business in the Unseelie Court!” he commanded, issuing his challenge in a loud, kingly voice.
“My name is Hekla Himinn, vessel of the Sky Gods!” I returned with as much dominance as I could muster. “I have been tasked by the Sky Gods to return Their first children to the Realm of the Humans. We are passing through the Unseelie Court and Winter Court in order to achieve this!” I couldn’t imagine I looked very imposing with a living mac-talla earring, but I did my best. “We mean you and your people no harm. We are merely travelers.”
Escort, Eventide said, mind-linking our mate. We’ve been stopped by authorities. Maybe around fifty soldiers.
Almost there, Escort replied, angry.
The fae surveyed the colony. “We were under the assumption they were locked in there,” he said. “They’ve not wandered for centuries. Why now?”
“I’ve not been given that answer,” I replied and raised my chin. “I simply must do as the gods dictate. My mission is one of peace. I’m saving them from extinction. They were starving to death because all the game migrated. They will not be on your lands again after we’ve left.”
Escort ran over the hill, dumped a fat, dead fowl at the she-bat’s feet, and shape-shifted into Belenus to return to my side.
The man scowled in surprise. “A Summer Fa— Is that the prince of the Summer Court? Why would you be involved? You understand how bad this looks, don’t you?” the fae snapped and climbed off his horse. “Why didn’t you reach out for permission and an escort?”
“King Nechtan,” Belenus acknowledged sternly and strode forward to grasp his arm in greeting. “The vessel of the Sky Gods is my mate. We left in kind of a last-minute emergency situation. There was no time to go through the proper channels.”
That wasn’t quite true, but this king didn’t need to know about our personal issues. Though, the issue with the summer queen did put us in a hurry. I adjusted the weight of the mac-talla on my forearm, which was starting to ache from the odd position. Belenus cast a quick look at my situation, and my face burned in embarrassment.
I’ll explain later, I growled in a mind-link.
The king scrutinized him. “If I didn’t think you much better than the summer queen, perhaps I’d be less inclined to believe you. This is still highly unusual. I can’t let you pass without an escort, but I do need to have more details for my report,” he said while adjusting his black cuirass, a dark warning in his tone. He turned to another warrior who had a countenance as grim as his king’s. “Slaine, keep an eye on things here. Leave the travelers alone.” Slaine nodded and didn’t utter a word as he dismounted with the rest of his men.
I looked to Nofre and gestured to his colony. “I sense the king wishes a private discussion. I’ll trust you to keep things peaceful here until we return,” I ordered, and Nofre nodded much like Slaine had.
“I’m… honored,” Nofre stated, but he continued to stare at the mac-talla, and his lips twitched ever so slightly. Eventide gave a withering sigh in my head, and I silently echoed her.
Belenus, King Nechtan, and I wandered out of earshot of our parties. “What is the winter king doing in the Unseelie Court anyway?” Belenus asked curiously. “Though I do understand winter is overseen by them.”
King Nechtan sighed, “The unseelie are putting more resources into the Autumn Court right now.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, a habit that reminded me of Belenus, and added, “They’re investigating suspicious activity between autumn and spring.” His frown deepened. “It’d be nice if things just stayed peaceful. We’re all quite tired of dying over nothing.” He then gestured to us with an irritated expression. “And once the unseelie received reports of unknown travelers and hundreds of individuals appearing out of nowhere— you —they requested I divert my men. I just happened to be in a meeting here, getting updates on the Autumn Court.”
Belenus scrubbed a hand over his stubble and nodded, deep in thought. “The activity in the Spring Court, that doesn’t happen to involve their royal family, does it?”
“Why do you wish to know?” the king asked, narrowing his eyes. Before Belenus could reply, understanding lit up the king’s expression. “Ah, your… intended. We heard. Now I am very confused.” He gestured to us both. “You both are mated, but…” King Nechtan began, then turned to me. “How is it that you’re mated and not the princess? You are not one of their princesses. ”
“We’re fated,” Belenus growled out before I could say anything. “I’m not marrying that spring wretch.”
King Nechtan snorted dourly. “Runaway lovers? Good luck with whatever marriage contract you had.”
“Not runaways,” I snarled, offended. Granted, I’d run from Belenus, but that was when I thought he’d betrayed our future together. “We’re returning to put Belenus on the throne.” Belenus shot me a warning look, but I showed him a canine.
“That wasn’t wise to divulge to another court, Hekla,” he scolded.
“I’m not playing by your broken fae rules anymore,” I spat back, then I sent a challenging glare to King Nechtan.
The king gave me an assessing look. “I take back what I said about the contract, Prince Belenus. Good luck with your mate. Might be she outshines you on the throne.” He pressed his lips together, almost like he was suppressing a smile, but with his grim countenance, it was hard to tell.
“Back to the Spring Court…” Belenus prompted, sending me a look that told me I was due for punishment.
Bring it on, Eventide dared. I’ll let Escort punish me any day.
I cleared my throat and tried hard not to laugh. She must have said it loud enough for Belenus to hear because his ears turned ruddy.
Can’t take that back, Escort retorted—severely.
The king returned to the prior topic. “As you know, the Autumn Court married into the Spring Court. Now that the Spring Court is trying to marry into the Summer Court, there’s concern that there will be an imbalance of power. Even though both the Autumn and the Winter Courts fall under the unseelie’s jurisdiction, it doesn’t mean that we can ignore this instability.”
“What makes you think there’s a power change? It’s marriage, yes, but is there evidence of conspiracy?” I asked, adjusting the mac-talla’s weight again, which earned me a threatening growl from the creature. Its dusty wings fluttered again out of stress.
Someone just kill me, I groaned to myself. A fine representation of a future queen I am.
“I cannot ignore this any longer. Pray tell me why there is a pregnant mac-talla hanging from your ear. Is this a Sky Gods… task?” the king asked skeptically, bewilderment subtly breaking through his dark expression.
“Pregnant?” I blurted and glanced in the direction of the angry thing. “Is that why you’re so wild right now?” I asked her. It didn’t reply.
“Her pouch is full,” the king pointed out.
Oh. Indeed, I had not noticed, and I made a note to be much more gentle with her.
I muttered my explanation. “Well, a child of the Sky Gods was going to eat her, so I traded her for better game. I have a mac-talla back at the castle, and I couldn’t bear to see one get devoured. I tried to get her to bond with me, but she never let go.”
“I used to breed them,” the king said, looking nostalgic.
“By all means, keep her if you want. Just don’t kill her. Look, you don’t even need to breed her. That’s half your job done right there,” I said, trying to sell him on the idea. My arm was getting really tired, and my ear throbbed.
“Perhaps I will make sure she develops them safely and release her,” King Nechtan agreed. I breathed a sigh of relief when he pressed on her jaw to release me, keeping her in an expert hold. Something softened in his bearing as he regarded his new charge.
I touched my ear and found the blood I could smell. I wasn’t sure if she bonded with me or not, but I highly doubted it.
Belenus sighed, rubbed a hand across his forehead, and said, “Back to Hekla’s question about the power balance…” He leaned over to press a finger to my ear, healing it in a blink. I smiled gratefully at him.
“Right,” the king replied, returning to his stern demeanor. “Belenus, I don’t know if you’re aware of our own history with the Sky Gods. The unseelie and winter fae wanted nothing to do with the witches that used to be here. To make the story as brief as possible, they caused trouble, and the gods returned them to their original realm—forcefully. With sightings of them trickling back in over time, we weren’t about to risk the gods’ wrath by welcoming them after their banishment.”
“Their children just recounted this story…” Belenus said with a furrowed brow. “The timing of this subject is unexpected.”
“We’ve detected signs of witchwork along our borders, especially between autumn and winter, and some of our diplomats have returned with disturbing stories. Sightings of rot-witches, mostly,” the king expounded. “Either the Autumn Court is remiss about removing them or they’re working with them. This is what the unseelie are investigating.”
“We haven’t seen any on our borders… but perhaps it’s a matter of time.” Belenus looked anxiously at where the colony was waiting. “We need to get a move on. I have to return to my people and kick that spring princess out of our territory.”
King Nechtan’s frown turned thoughtful, and he tapped his fingers on his thigh while shifting his weight. “I think I will call her Skye,” he said, staring down at the now-calm mac-talla and petting her. He paused for several more moments, clearly ruminating, before he calmly stated, “I will have to escort you out, but perhaps you’d like further assistance with your endeavor? The removal of spring from summer would ease the Winter Court’s fears.”
Belenus’s jaw didn’t drop, but I could easily imagine it through his serious mask.