“Well, the lovebirds have arisen.” The deep baritone voice startled Shade. She turned to see who was spying on them, letting go of Dylan’s warm hand. Draden stood in a hard stance at the turn of the hallway. He held a spear in one hand and a heavy-looking sword strapped to his side. His long, blond hair was pulled uncomfortably tight at the nape of his neck and was tied with a plain leather tie which matched the full warrior gear he wore. The smooth lines of his muscles bulged from under the soft material which fit him like a glove. The hardened lines on his face seemed to have softened since she’d seen him at the Santiran Fountains. She hadn’t taken the time to study his face much when he’d taken her to Prince Ursad’s chambers, but now she had plenty of time to take in his features.
“Am I interesting to you, little Princess? Moving on to the next one already, huh?” Draden’s eyebrows arched inquisitively, glancing between her and Dylan. His eyes filled with mean laughter as he snickered.
“What? No, I just….” Shade stammered, caught off guard by the husky guard. His laughter roared around them, echoing down the halls, taunting them. Dylan’s face was blank and hard like stone, not betraying any kind of feelings under his mask. Shade could still feel him tense up beside her.
“Wait a minute, what did you say?” Shade gathered her senses. She was still confused, but now very interested in Draden’s words.
“Which part? About moving on already? I’m single if you really want to know. You aren’t really my type, though. I like ‘em a bit bustier with a spill of red hair, but there is a shortage of fey women around here, so I’m not really gonna be too damn picky.”
Shade’s face rushed in a spill of scarlet. She wanted to slap the guard but restrained herself. Her curiosity was too much to bear. “I meant the part where you called me ‘little Princess.’ Why did you say that?” She waited, her confusion playing around her eyes. She was hoping he wasn’t going to continue to joke around.
Draden’s face turned serious then. His hard stare bore into her like a stake which turned and turned her insides to a messy mush. His smile was gone, replaced by the hard, thin frown which made him look incredibly scary.
“Paying attention, I see. Yes, Shade, I said ‘little Princess,’ but you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” He approached her, tilting his head to stare her down. Shade now had to tilt her head back and straighten her stance to stand just even with his chest.
“You remember what I said at the Fountains, right? About your father? I did know him—I was his second in command, first lieutenant. I knew him well.” He eyed her, daring her to speak.
Shade gulped as she tried not to look away, determined to not back down. She felt him testing her.
“What was his name?” Shade pressed her lips together, biting down on her lower lip. She could feel the sweat build up and her heart racing as she stared right back at him.
Draden sized her up with his hard, stormy, blue eyes. His face softened as he chuckled and backed down. Shaking his head, he reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“You are a stubborn little brat, aren’t you? You’re just like him. His name was Verenis. He was the King of the Southern Realm of Faerie.” He watched her, pausing for a moment for her to take in the information.
“The Southern Realm. The Seelie Scren Court of Faeries is rightfully yours, Shade. You are his only heir. He was a Changeling, capable of changing appearance to whatever it was he wanted. Powerful magic is almost unseen in the fey, these days. Do you know if you have inherited these abilities?” He waited, watching the shock fill her eyes as she listened. She weakly shook her head and turned to look at Dylan, whose eyes were wider as he struggled to remain stoic.
“I—no, I don’t think so.” She felt her knees weaken as they threatened to collapse. Dylan took her arm and led her into one of the many rooms which lined the halls. He brought her into what looked like a small library. It was filled with dusty books, hardback, leather-bound volumes the likes of which she would expect to find in an expensive collection. Dylan guided her to a small cushioned couch. She slid down onto the soft, old velvet and let her head fall between her knees.
She hadn’t expected anything Draden had said at all. The doubt filled her mind and made it difficult to breath. Should she believe him? Was she really a Queen of her own Faerie Realm?
Chapter Seven
“I DON’T BELIEVE it,” Shade whispered.
“Believe it, girl,” Draden snickered from the entrance of the room. “There is nothing but truth here, or did you forget that we do not lie?” He leaned on the doorframe and appeared rather bored by her show of weakness.
Shade looked up toward the warrior. “You say you knew my father well? Well then, what happened to him? Where is he, and why did he leave my mother?” She wiped a spilled tear which had pooled in her eyes. She slowly straightened and sat up, giving a hard stare which bore right back at Draden, awaiting his answers.
“He was killed, Shade. Queen Aveta captured him, and he was executed in her Court. There was nothing I could have done to save him. I failed him, and I paid for it dearly. I had to join her ranks of Unseelie soldiers or die. When I found out you were alive, and therefore an heir, my brother and I deserted her army. We were lost before that, without hope. We returned to the Northern Realm where we heard Prince Lotinar had returned and was eager for fighters. I will not rest until Queen Aveta pays for what she has done. He was like a brother to me.” His face was stone cold serious.
Shade nodded at his explanation. “What of the Southern Realm? Who rules it now? Who’s in charge down there since I haven’t claimed it?” Shade sniffled. She hated getting a runny nose in the middle of such a serious conversation. She pulled her pack off and reached inside for a cloth to wipe her face.
“There is no ruler. A lesser Queen named Ariana has stepped up to help out until the rightful ruler comes. She is not strong enough to fight Aveta’s evil armies. They are growing by the thousands. Sluagh, scores of Orcs, Demons and lesser fey are assembling on Aveta’s side, along with the Unseelie soldiers, as we speak. We have to claim back the crown, Shade, and build our armies to defeat her. Prince Lotinar is already allying with Queen Zinara. With you at their side, they will be hard to beat. It will be three of the great realms against one.” Her indifference agitated him, causing him to want to run across the room and give her a good shake.
“I—I just don’t know. It’s all so sudden. I can’t even fathom having a father who’s a Changeling and a King! I don’t know if I have any of his powers. If I did, they haven’t shown up yet, and I have no idea how to make them surface. I’m not a Queen, Princess or anything. I can’t win a Faerie war! I have so little to give and so much to lose. Why do you guys, once again, have to pin your hopes on me? I’m not the one you need.” Shade stood up and huffed out of the room, feeling a lot less faint. Anger made her heart race as the knots in her stomach clenched. She paced the hallway outside the door as she tried to figure things out. Lately, she was getting to know these feelings a bit too well.
“Shade?” Dylan appeared in the doorway.
“What!?” She heard her voice echo in the hall, angry and desperate.
“Why don’t we get a bite to eat? I’m starved, and I can tell you need something to munch on while we figure it out. How about it?” He waited, letting her vent her confusion. As she paced, her heart slowed, and her thoughts cleared. Finally, she stopped and sighed. Rubbing her temples, she nodded at Dylan. She motioned for him to lead the way.
The murmurs of conversation seemed to fade down to nothing as they took their seats. The rest of her friends were already seated and eating. She was sure her emotions were written plainly on her face. She sat and stared at her empty plate, not sure she really had the stomach for food, but knew she should eat for energy. She helped herself to some fruit and croissants but picked at them with her fork. She barely noticed Dylan pouring her some orange juice and nudging her to eat. Sighing, she stuffed a grape into her dry mouth and atte
mpted to chew.
“Shade, is everything alright? Did something happen?” Sary leaned over, whispering to her so that only the ones at their table could hear them.
Shade nodded and looked up at the beautiful warrior. Shade cracked a pathetic attempt at a smile and blinked back to her plate. Dylan rapidly fired off the details to the others as they continued to eat. She could feel their eyes darting to her as he spoke but tried not to get any more upset. She was relieved Ursad and Camulus weren’t at their table.
Soap sat across from her and watched her sulk. She glanced up at him a couple times, feeling suddenly guilty about her feelings for Dylan. Soap looked at her with great concern splayed across his face and eyes full of love. She could sense his desire to run to her and hold her tight. She felt his restraint like an iron chain that strapped him to his chair. He would never do in front of the others, he was too proud for that. Dylan was prouder still. At least Soap’s wall was not as hard to get through as Dylan’s. She wanted to hear Soap’s voice right now, cracking jokes and being pathetic just to make her laugh and smile.
Glancing at Dylan, she realized how different the two men were. They both were Teleen, part Teleen in Soap’s case. Nevertheless, both wielded the magical blue lightning fires which burned white-hot under their skin. That was where their similarities ended. Soap could also change into whomever or whatever he wished. He had mentioned he could look like any person she wanted him to. He was sweet, easy going and made no secret of his desire to be with her. Dylan’s concern and care for her, and not to mention the way he made her heart flip with one glance, made it hard to choose between them. Soap’s gleaming, green eyes watched her as she thought about them both, almost twinkling as they transformed to a honey-brown when filling up with slight mischief.
He knows I’m thinking about him. How does he do that?
Shade suddenly felt so invaded by his penetrating stare, she had to pry her eyes away. She looked back at her plate of food. Popping another piece of fruit into her mouth helped to distract her from her present company. Dylan and Soap were getting harder to ignore, which was what she wanted to do. She’d rather think about what Draden had said about her family and the Scren Seelie Court which was rightfully hers. She didn’t know how in the heck she was supposed to be a ruler. She almost choked on the grape as she thought about it, and took a swig of juice to wash it down.
“It’s okay, Shade, just breathe,” Dylan interrupted. “I know you didn’t expect this, and it’s all sudden, but you have got to get a grip on yourself or you’re going to choke on your breakfast!” Dylan’s urgent whisper in her ear brought a flush to her face. She turned toward him, pressing her lips into a straight line.
“I know that. Just back off, okay? I’m just a little in shock. I have to digest what Draden told me. I don’t even know who I am, and that scares the crap out of me. Tell me you wouldn’t feel the same way. You’ve never had to deal with this kind of stuff in your entire immortal life, so you can just leave me alone.” She stood up and glanced down the way toward Prince Ursad’s table where he was also watching her. She felt the weight of a thousand eyes bearing down on her, and the room was spinning, and she instantly regretted her decision to stand up so fast.
She sucked her breath as her balance wavered. The Prince whispered something into Camulus’s ear. The green Elven-Pixie glanced at Shade and nodded his head. In a flash, he was at her side, catching her and gripping her in his arms gently but firmly. Another flashing swirl swam around her and brought her back to her room. She was still at the glass castle, in the bed she’d slept in the night before. Camulus helped her slip under the soft sheets.
“Shade, it’s okay, you’re in your room. Prince Lotinar wanted me to make sure you made it here safely because you don’t look well. I will return with Sary momentarily.” He was readying himself to teleport out of the room when Shade stopped him.
“Wait!”
He returned to the bedside and bent down toward her, awaiting her words. “Yes? Is there something you need?” His orange-fire eyes blank of any emotion, he seemed like a colder version of himself within the castle walls than when they had first met out in the forest of Faerie.
“Thank you, Camulus. I feel better now. Sary doesn’t have to come right away. I just think I’m overwhelmed with all of this. Thanks anyway.” She stopped because his apathetic face seemed so foreign and unfriendly at that moment. “I’ll see you later,” she said as she lay back against the pillow and watched him swirl away like a dream in the night.
Chapter Eight
“SHADE, CAN I come in?”
Soap’s voice pulled her from her thoughts. She sat up in the bed and watched him peek around the crack of the door. She was relieved to see the Teleen changeling faery and motioned for him to enter. She felt a lot better away from the atmosphere of the dining area and castle’s occupants. The silence of the room had felt like an antidote to the madness she’d felt swimming in her head, making her sick and faint. She watched Soap enter and quietly click the door shut behind him.
Soap’s flowing movements toward the bed caught her attention. He was wearing a thin, light blue, gauzy tunic and matching pants which were loose and flowed in the soft breeze of his movements. The outline of his smooth muscles stood out, and she could see his chest and stomach muscles ripple under the half-buttoned tunic. His long, golden-brown hair fluidly draped around his shoulders and spilled down his back. He was definitely fit, and his skin was so smooth she began to suspect that all fey men were just as hairless. She let her eyes flow over his silhouette, suddenly realizing how much she’d neglected to notice how extremely handsome he was, in a disarming kind of way.
He stopped at the edge of the bed and watched her curiously. Shade felt her face flush with heat as he watched her. He seemed to enjoy the way she looked him up and down. All she could do was look up at him and press her lips together. Her heart raced in her chest as his eyes stared right back at her, and morphed from a crystal green to a honey-gold tone, flashing like jewels. He walked around the bed to the edge where she sat and knelt down just in front of her. He was tall enough to be almost even with her nose while on his knees. She watched him reach up and slip his hands up her cheeks, stroking them as he pushed her hair back, which now hung loose, pouring over her shoulders.
Shade sucked her breath in at his touch. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was using his charms on her like he’d demonstrated when they had first met, walking along the forest toward her house. She recalled that he’d told her his magic was almost useless on her when he showed how he could charm people into doing what he commanded, but didn’t stop the twinge of suspicion which lingered deep inside her mind.
“Soap, don’t use magic on me, please. I….” Shade stopped as he hushed her.
“I’m not using any kind of magic, Shade.” His eyes floated with a dreaminess swirling in them. “I—I love you, Shade. I’ve waited for you to feel the same, but I don’t know if you do. I don’t think you realize how much I have fallen for you, after all that we’ve been through together.”
His eyes searched her face as she sat frozen and locked in his gaze, shocked by his words. “I have to tell you this before you say anything else. I asked you to be exclusive with me, like the mortal human guys do, but you hesitate to give me a straight answer. It’s torture waiting to see if you will tell me that you want me, too, or if you just don’t feel the same. I have to know, Shade. If you want me to go, I’ll go. If you don’t want anything to do with me, so be it. But I want you to know that even if you want me to leave, I will still stand by your side and still love you, still fight for you no matter what the consequences are. But I will not stand by any longer, just waiting to be told to go.”
Soap paused, his eyes intense with heat and pain. Shade swallowed back the lump which had filled her throat and caught her breath. Her mouth felt dry as she drank in his words. She knew he liked her, he‘d said that much earlier, but to be in love with her? Do I love him back? Did she want hi
m like that? Did he not make her heart race and her stomach flip with his burning eyes and his absorbing smile? Shade swallowed as her throat seemed to close up on her. He did, that’s what made her most afraid. He sure did. Having him so near was not helping her deny it either.
“Soap, I—I like you a lot, too. I don’t know if I love you, though, not the way you want me to. I really don’t know what love is. I’ve never been in love before. I miss you when you’re gone. I ache to hold you when I see you. I feel happy to see you walk through the door when I’m miserable down to my bones, but I don’t know if I can be what you need, what you want. And there’s Dylan too, I….”
Soap interrupted her. “Shh, Shade. I know you feel the same way I do. I see it in your eyes when you aren’t guarding them against the world. I feel your heart racing under my fingers. I just wanted to tell you it’s okay. Don’t be afraid of me, Shade. I would follow you into the depths of blackness so thick that I would think there be no light to befall me ever again. I wait for you even now, my heart is already yours. Do you not understand?” Soap let his fingers trace her arms, sending a shiver down her skin.
Shade nodded, taking in his face: a fine, strong jawline and sharp cheekbones. His hardened eyebrows framed his eyes ever so perfectly. She wondered what it was he really saw when he looked at her. He could probably have any woman he wanted. And yet, here he was.
Soap’s eyes drew her in. They looked like they were shining beacons in a dark night. He let his skin of glamour slip away as fire began to burn with the crackling of lightning and blue-white fire which licked along his skin and down his body. It didn’t burn his clothes or her as it flickered along. Shade drew in her breath, always amazed by how a Teleen could burn so intensely but not affect her at all. He laced his fingers through hers and pulled her up to stand with him. He looked down at her. His face lit up in blue-white light as he was tightening his warm embrace around her.