Chapter 14
Bland foliage in shades of green and brown blurred past the window of the royal carriage as it bumped along a snowy road in the mountain region of the Human Kingdom.
The Mountain Kingdom capital lay close to the Human border, and the magical barrier separating the two kingdoms took little time to cross.
It’d been years since Fawn had seen the Human Kingdom.
She once thought she missed it, but now it struck her as dreary and lifeless.
Naomi sat across from Fawn and Dean, peppering the king with questions. He answered each one with practiced patience, indulging the excitable woman.
She asked a lot of things about the Garden Kingdom. Even though she’d lived there for a time, Warren had advised her not to venture out much because she was human.
Fawn couldn’t imagine how betrayed Naomi felt by the man she’d loved for years. She put on a brave face, but Fawn sometimes caught her staring off, eyes glazed with unshed tears. You couldn’t turn love off just because the other person shit on it.
The fact that he’d slept with Fawn while engaged to another woman made her want to resurrect him just to kill him twice.
“I don’t know if our cottage is still available,” Naomi admitted. “I never went back or paid rent after coming here.”
Dean waved a hand dismissively. “You’ll have a set of rooms in the palace.” Naomi made a choking sound, and he chuckled. “Did you think I wouldn’t protect you too? You saved Fawn. Anything you want or need is yours.”
Fawn’s heart pounded against her ribs. This powerful fae king wanted her , a half-human with nothing to offer him in return.
She’d made an effort to open herself up to him as he asked, but she kept her heart guarded.
He needed her for the bond to keep his bloodline strong, not because he wanted her as a person.
They’d only known each other a day, and every time he showed a piece of himself, she liked him more. Did he like the pieces of her she allowed him to see?
Naomi stared out the window, lost in thought, and Dean leaned over, his lips hovering near Fawn’s ear. “What are you thinking?”
She’d rather eat a fist full of rocks than admit her worries to him. “Whether or not your family and friends will accept me.” Not a complete lie.
Dean pulled back and gently forced her to look at him. “My friends will love you. As for my family, they don’t even like me. Their opinion doesn’t matter.”
Naomi hummed to herself, preoccupied with the passing scenery. Fawn lowered her voice so as not to be overheard in the spacious carriage. “Why don’t your parents like you?”
Dean straightened, and his fitted shirt pulled across his muscular biceps and chest. “They expected perfection, and I fell short.”
Fawn searched for the right words. What kind of parents told their child they weren’t good enough? “No one is perfect.”
His hand flexed against his thigh. The subject upset him, but if they were to marry, she needed to know everything about him.
“My father expects excellence, demands it. His punishments were harsh when I was young, but turned brutal when I hit my teens.” The king’s eyes glazed over, lost in a memory. “When I turned fifteen, a family friend stepped in. From that day forward, the punishments stopped.”
Fawn laced her fingers through his, and he glanced down at the contact. “I don’t know you well, but from what I’ve seen, you’re a good man.”
His mouth lifted on the side. “I can’t promise you’ll like everything you learn about me, but I swear I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy.”
Fawn leaned her head on his shoulder, feeling the truth in his words. “I know you will. I’d like to make you happy too.”
He kissed the top of her hair, melting the ice around her heart a little more. “You already do.”
She lifted her head and met his piercing gaze. “You know next to nothing about me.”
Dean’s eyes bounced between hers. “You have no idea what you did for me when we were young.” Fawn tried to make sense of his declaration.
She’d never seen him a day in her life before yesterday.
“Around the time our bond snapped in place,” he started to explain, “the worst of the punishments started. Those were dark days for me, and you were my only source of happiness. I’d be locked in my rooms, sinking into darkness, and then you’d laugh.
” He placed his hand on his chest. “I held on to the feeling, knowing one day I’d get to hear it too. ”
Words evaded her. She remembered the feelings of desperation and loneliness that would flicker in and out. Had she known a boy suffered on the other end of a magical bond, she’d have done whatever she could to enjoy herself and send him everything she had.
“When I thought you’d died, so did my hope at a happy life.
My soul was long gone, following yours around the afterlife, while the gods trapped me here in an empty shell.
I wanted to join you, wherever you were, and begged the gods to let me.
Then I felt you laugh on that dais, and I knew that for once, they’d answered my prayers. ”
Silent tears tracked down Fawn’s cheeks, and across the carriage, Naomi sniffled and fanned her face. “I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop,” she sniveled, “but you two are loud.”
Dean continued to watch Fawn, gauging her reaction.
There weren’t enough words in the world to express how she felt.
It killed her that he’d yearned for someone who’d had no idea he’d existed.
She didn’t know if she could push anything through the bond, but she tried to flood it with as much affection as she had.
Leaning into him, she whispered, “I’m glad you stayed. ”
Dean leaned against the carriage and connected with Cassandra while the women relieved themselves outside.
He usually closed his eyes to connect, but he refused to take them off his mate.
Each woman held up a cloak to block the other while they took their turn, but that was as much privacy as he’d allowed.
Through the serpent’s eyes, the brightly colored rainbow leaves and flowers of the palace gardens surrounded him and he blocked out her vision to keep his own clear. “Cassandra.”
“Dean,” his familiar greeted. “How was the coronation?”
He considered Cassandra the closest thing he had to a sister, and he couldn’t hold in his news long enough to entertain her small talk. “I found my mate.”
He felt the serpent’s shock through the bond. “Are you sure?”
“I’m positive. Father’s information was half-right. She is half-human, and her parents died when we were fourteen, but Fawn lived.”
“Your parents saw her death certificate,” she recalled.
“I’m neither an idiot nor stupid, Cassandra,” he snapped. “Either my father lied, or he was lied to. I’ll find out later, but right now, there are more pressing issues.”
“You are an idiot sometimes,” she needled.
He ignored her taunts and pushed urgency through the bond.
“ Someone in the Garden Kingdom hired a man to assassinate Fawn months ago.” He felt Cassandra go on high alert.
“The assassin’s name was Warren Landry—a human.
According to his former fiancé, someone in our kingdom hired him as a warrior and immediately sent him to the Mountain Kingdom on business.
She came to surprise him for a visit, and he confessed his plans to kill Fawn. ”
“Where is the man now?” she demanded.
“Dead. His fiancé killed him when he attacked my mate.”
“Good for her,” approved Cassandra. “Do you know who hired him?”
“No.” Dean scanned the forest around the girls to ensure no one came close. They were in the middle of nowhere, but he’d not let his guard down. “I need you to keep your ears open for anything suspicious.”
“I don’t have ears,” she deadpanned.
Dean couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. “Really?”
“I told you that you were an idiot,” she quipped. “Serpents and snakes do not have outer ears that hear. We have an inner ear that detects vibrations.”
“Still an ear,” he muttered. “How do you understand people speaking to you?” She’d replied in Dean’s mind to things others have said.
Cassandra’s amusement and exasperation set Dean’s teeth on edge.
“We’re mind linked in each other’s presence.
I hear what you hear. Have you never noticed that you hear nothing on my end?
” When they mind link, they can block out the other’s sight and hearing so they’re not seeing and hearing double if they want.
“You’re always in the gardens or the forest away from everyone. You said you hate people.”
“I do hate people—they annoy me.” She hissed. “Do you not find it strange there are no sounds around me?”
Dean concentrated on Cassandra’s senses. Complete silence. Huh . “That would have been nice to know eleven years ago when we met.”
“It doesn’t matter that I can’t hear people when you aren’t around.”
“It matters now,” he said pointedly. “Can you read?”
“I’m going to break your ribs when you return home. No, I cannot read.” Dean smirked when she added, “Idiot.”
“Keep your eyes sharp and call me the second you see anything suspicious, snake .”
Cassandra mentally bristled. She hated being called a snake, claiming serpents were superior. “Goodbye, idiot.”
Dean cut the connection and dragged a hand down his face. Without Cassandra’s help, he’d have to wait to start his investigation when he returned.
Fawn and Naomi started toward the carriage, but Naomi tripped, her arms windmilling on her way down. His mate burst out laughing as she tried to help her friend up, and Dean felt his world narrow to only her.
No one would take her from him, and if they tried, they would arrive in hell one piece at a time.
Naomi took Dean’s outstretched hand and exited the carriage. “Can we please stay the entire night?” she whined. “I’m exhausted.” He’d explained to them that each night they’d only stop for a handful of hours, and neither woman had been happy with the news.