Niall glowered at the man, who stood his same six–foot height and who didn’t intimidate him in the least. Although the sleeping potion put Niall at a decided disadvantage. The dragon fae and the lion fae had never gotten along. And he would not let the challenge go.
“I accept,” Niall said, ready to knock him off his mount at once—if he had a mount right now—just to prove to the dragon fae he had met his match. “Any man who sends a woman to do his dirty work deserves to be trounced on the playing field.”
The gold rings around the knight’s eyes expanded.
“No!” Serena said vehemently to Niall. “You cannot. Not when you’re still feeling the effects of the drug.”
“When is the joust to be held?” Niall asked the knight, not taking his eyes off Sir Reginald, ignoring Serena’s words.
“We will joust at four in between the regularly scheduled human shows,” Reginald said. “’Tis a shame we cannot play for real.”
Niall knew what the knight referred to. In front of the humans, they couldn’t fight to the death. But after Niall stomped the knight’s honor into the dirt—worse, that he did so in front of the woman he was pursuing—he knew Reginald would want satisfaction in a permanent, deadly way.
Niall didn’t hesitate to respond. “Aye. I’ll be there.”
“I’ll wear your favor, princess,” Sir Reginald said, taking her hand in his and kissing it. He didn’t say it as if he genuinely wanted to wear her favor, but more that he wanted to ensure she knew he would and that she better not think of giving her favor to Niall to wear. He gave Niall one last scowl, although a shimmer of amusement glimmered in his eyes.
Niall assumed Reginald was certain he could best him, most likely because of Niall’s drugged state. Which given that, the man could be right. But he would not shirk from his duty as a lion fae.
Sir Reginald whipped around and stalked off.
“You can’t fight him in the condition you’re in. Can you even joust?” she asked, her voice threaded with disbelief and worry.
“I wouldn’t have agreed to fight him if I didn’t know how,” Niall said cross with her. He was one of the Denkar! He had trained in every form of weaponry. The only form he didn’t excel at was with the bow, and there, the dragon fae nearly always had the advantage. Most seemed to be born with an uncanny ability to use the bow, although with any ability like that, training improved the skill. If they spent little practice at it, they would be no better than any other fae who trained hard at it.
But ultimately, a lion fae never backed down from a dragon fae. It just wasn’t done.
Conceding that he would not let this go, Serena shook her head. “I have to get you the antidote before you fight him.”
“Then let’s go.”
“Niall!” Deveron shouted somewhere behind them in the crowd of humans. His tone of voice sounded more worried than angry. Well, maybe a little incensed.
Niall couldn’t see the prince, but he suspected Deveron was with trackers who were following their confusingly scattered fae dust trail as Serena had swept it into the woods.
“She is—,” Deveron hollered.
Before he could shout anything more, Serena whisked Niall away to a field of tall wavering flowers that smelled like roses and jasmine and honeysuckle all combined.
“I don’t want you fighting Sir Reginald,” Serena said again, as they arrived goddess knew where.
She pulled him through the meadow filled with purple daisies, lilacs, towering hollyhocks, and broad golden sunflowers that gently swayed in the breeze. Honeysuckle covered some areas while a ground cover of fragrant jasmine clustered in others. Forests edged the meadow, and he could hear water sluicing over rocks as it made its way downriver somewhere close by. “There’s no reason to do so. I’ll make you well, and you can go home.”
He focused on what he’d wanted to know all along. “What was the message you meant to write on the wall?”
She sighed. “The Mabara will ally with the dragon fae, not the dark fae!”
“Were you trying to start a war?” he asked incredulously, his whole body weary as he trudged along with her, hand–in–hand.
“Of course not. I intended a non–royal lion fae to see the message and take it back to your queen. I didn’t expect to see you there. I only wanted to stop a marriage.”
Niall pulled her to a halt. He had a sickening feeling about this. She wanted to marry the Black Knight, a dragon fae, but Queen Irenis had made other arrangements? She must have come to some agreement with the lady’s mother. “Who were you to marry?”
“Micala.”
Niall stared at her in disbelief. First, Micala wasn’t ready to settle down. Second, his cousin would have told him about an impending marriage to any fae, but especially to one who was this unusual. Third, Queen Irenis, his aunt, would not have arranged for Micala to be married to just any fae. Which set him to worrying. Had she intended to do the same for Niall without his knowledge?
So who was Serena really?
“Who is your mother?”
She tugged her hand free, folded her arms, and gave him one of her more impudent looks. “The queen of the Mabara, Verbania.”
***
Serena knew eventually she’d have to tell Niall who she truly was, and she expected just the reaction she was getting now. Disbelief, irritation, and most likely a set determination to take her back to the dark fae kingdom to ensure she did what Queen Irenis and her mother wanted. After all, Queen Irenis was Niall’s queen.
But Serena wasn’t going to be forced into a marriage with a lion fae. Period.
Niall reached for Serena, and she stepped back, waving her arms in a manner that stated he better not touch her. “No, you won’t return me to your castle. I need to give you the cure first. You’ll never be able to stand a chance against the Black Knight otherwise. Isn’t it your place to challenge Reginald for his trying to break up the marriage contract?”
“No, it isn’t my place but rather it is Micala’s to challenge the knight. But since I’m certain that my cousin doesn’t know about it in the first place, and you kissed me and not him, which seemed to be what made Sir Reginald so angry…”
Her face heated and she knew it had to have blossomed in color. Seeing her reaction, he smiled.
“Ha! I couldn’t believe you’d tell him about it!” she said.
“Neither of you satisfied my curiosity as to what the message was all about or why he was involved,” Niall said. “I thought if I brought it up, he might very well explain what it was all about.” After seeing the knight’s angry face, Niall probably assumed the man had never been that intimate with Serena, nor she with him. “Has he kissed you?”
“Certainly!” Which wasn’t a lie.
Niall smile broadened. “Only on the hand?”
“I’m the Mabara princess. He knows that I’d have to agree to such a thing, and so he’s abiding his—”
Niall didn’t even wait for her to finish what she had to say, but pulled her securely into his arms and kissed her, sweetly, tenderly, lovingly. She melted, her own senses reeling. She tentatively kissed him back, saw his eyes darkening, but he suddenly pulled away, their breaths raspy.
“Take me to where the cure is.” His gaze was still on hers, but he stepped away as if he’d done something he shouldn’t have. Which was true, so why was she wanting so much more?
She was still thinking about the kiss, the press of his lips on hers, the way he seemed so caring, so feeling, the way he’d enfolded her so fully in his arms. She couldn’t think.
“Serena, princess,” he said, gently, but urgently, “where have you hidden the antidote?”
“You kissed me,” she said softly, touching her lips with the tip of her finger, unable to think of anything else.
“Aye. You didn’t give me an opportunity to kiss you back the last time. You had me at a decided disadvantage. But it was time for me to take my turn.” He gave her the most disarmingly sweet smile.
So,
it was just a way to get back at her? For having kissed him and left evidence on his lips the last time?
“He will kill you if he learns of it,” Serena growled, then stalked off toward a wooded area.
“The knight?” Niall humpfed.
“I don’t want you fighting him.”
“You said I would have to because he was trying to stop the marriage contract between you and my cousin.”
She didn’t say anything,
“You really think I can’t best him?”
“Of course you can’t. He’s been jousting at the fair for weeks. He loses at the very end only because that’s the role he gets paid to do. But it amuses him to be the Black Knight, to hear his side cheering for him. Him, a dragon fae.”
“Who is but a knight in the fae world.”
Serena glowered at Niall, who was falling behind. She slowed her pace, sorry again for having drugged him. “I don’t care about his rank. I’d take a knight over a count any day, if I loved him.”
“Do you love him?” Niall suddenly asked, as if such a thing would even matter to him.
He was like all the rest. Whatever the queens decided would be. And if Serena didn’t stop it, she’d be stuck with Micala, a count she’d never met and didn’t care to meet.
“Of course I do.”
But he noted her long hesitation in answering and shook his head.
“What? You don’t believe me?”
“I think you love the way he jousts. Maybe that he’s going against the ruling of your queen. Probably no one else in your kingdom would think of doing such a thing. Possibly, you like that he enjoys the fair as you do. But know this, Princess, you are a conquest for him. For the dragon fae. And the king of the dragon fae would reward Reginald if the knight could win your hand. Queen Irenis will not be appeased however. I doubt your mother will be happy either.”
“If I love him…”
Niall smiled.
She stalked off. “Why would you try to stop me from marrying Reginald? I don’t even know Micala. He might be an ogre!”
“He’s my cousin.”
She glanced back at Niall, noted his sour look, then remarked, “Well you don’t have to marry him.”
He smiled at that, then frowned. “Where are we going?”
“To gather some herbs. And you will not watch me.”
“Do not tell me you have to create the potion.”
She didn’t say anything.
He groaned. He was falling even farther behind. When she looked back, he’d disappeared. Her heart leapt with distress. Had he fae transported? Returned to the Denkar castle to report what she was up to? To relay the message she’d written on the wall?
She raced back to where she’d seen him last and saw a separation in the tall wavering hollyhocks and sunny sunflowers. And found him lying on the ground, his eyes shut, his arms folded across his chest.
“Are you asleep?” she whispered.
“Yes,” he said, not opening his eyes. “You can kiss me again, if you like while I dream about it.”
She smiled. “Then you will tell my knight, and he will challenge you again, if he doesn’t kill you the first time. I’ll be back as soon as I make the potion.”
“Hurry,” he said, but he sounded like he was already nearly asleep.
She sighed. “You will feel a strong wind, but don’t worry.”
“You’re scattering our fae trails again.”
“Yes. Sleep. I’ll return as soon as I can.”
He was the most honorable fae she’d ever encountered. Except for the kiss, but that was her own fault for having kissed him first. But she’d never met a man who would challenge the knight, who would tell him just what he thought of his allowing Serena to paint the message, when Reginald knew just the kind of trouble she could get into for it. Not once had Reginald even offered to paint it instead.
And that had niggled at her to a degree.
Of course, painting the message had been her idea, so she had thought it was important that she write it. And she loved painting murals, though she hadn’t done anything quite like this before. She’d had to study a lot of graffiti–covered walls in the States before she thought she had the concept down pat.
Not that the humans came up with the idea. When it came to mischief, the fae were at the root of it. She just hadn’t ever painted graffiti before.
What would Niall have done in Reginald’s place? Asked the queen for her hand in marriage? She wasn’t sure. But she suspected he would not have allowed her to earn the queen’s wrath in that manner. He’d never once acted anything but kindly toward her, even as angry as he had to be with her for drugging him. Oh sure, he’d been irritated with her, but still in a mild–mannered way—for a lion fae.
She sighed, contemplating how she could help Niall win against the knight. She would never have considered such a thing before. Aiding a lion fae warrior against a dragon fae she wished to marry?
She did wonder how Reginald would take defeat if Niall should win. That would tell her more about Reginald’s true character. He always lost at the human games because he was paid to do so. He’d storm off angrily because he was supposed to. But was that his true nature?
Did she truly want to wed Sir Reginald? Or was she just trying to make a statement to her mother and to the lion fae queen? She wanted a choice! And choosing Reginald for her husband…
She glanced back at Niall. She was thinking she’d made the wrong choice. But maybe she could come up with the remedy for that, too.
Her small stone croft with its tidy thatched roof welcomed her inside. Herbs and flowers hung from rafters, drying in various stages, the fragrance of jasmine, lilac, and mint filling the air. She pondered the mural she’d painted across all four walls of birds taking flight and those nestled in the tall meadow grasses—eluding to the winged elves who once could fly and now could not.
She started a fire at the hearth and peered into the ceramic bowl where she normally kept her sunflower seeds. Empty. One of her maids must have collected some to make a special treat for a friend—Calicia, most likely, and the friend, a handsome, unruly Mabara royal.
Serena would have to return to the meadow and gather some seeds while her water began to boil over the fire. Heading back across the meadow, she hadn’t needed to return all the way to where Niall slept to find the sunflower seeds. But she couldn’t help herself.
She hurried back to where he slept, and as she plucked sunflower seeds, she kept glancing at his sleeping form. Poor Niall.
He was good natured, too, despite all that had happened to him where she was concerned. She sighed, stared at him for a moment more and then did what only the ancients were said to have done when they’d claimed someone who might be considered the enemy among her people. She plucked a handful of lilacs nearby, then kissed the petals and slipped them into the pouch at his waist.
If anyone should find him before she cured him of his sleeping sickness, he or she would have him searched and they would know that Serena herself vouched for Niall. That he was under her protection.
Then with her basketful of sunflower seeds, she rushed back to the croft. She added several herbs, primrose, and rose petals, and five sunflower seeds. And would toss in the rest of the flowers and herbs as soon as the others had cooked long enough. Five minutes more to go.
But as soon as she heard men’s hushed voices, she knew she was in trouble. Someone must have spied the smoke coming from the chimney of the croft. She was nearly done with the potion for Niall.
But all of her effort was doomed.
Chapter 6
Night cloaked Niall in a comforting darkness when he finally woke from his unnatural slumber. He blinked his eyes as he peered at the ebony sky sprinkled with shimmering, winking stars and a sliver of a pale moon suspended in the inky blackness.
A soft breeze rustled through the fragrant flowers surrounding his impromptu bed, the hollyhocks and sunflowers nodding sagely to him, but he didn’t see any sign of Ser
ena. Nor did he feel any better.
He narrowed his eyes. Had she left him here? Abandoned him? Intended to meet with her knight and tell him that Niall wouldn’t joust him because he didn’t have the strength? Or courage?
Annoyed to high heaven, Niall sat up. He had to have missed the joust.
He was about to call out her name when he heard male voices.
“They came here,” Deveron groused.
By the gods, not Deveron. Niall lay back down and covered his aching temple and shook his head.
“I know, I know, my lord, but their fae dust is scattered so far and wide, I have no idea where they are. We’ve been searching for hours. They could be anywhere in the Mabara kingdom by now.”
Niall didn’t dare make them aware he was here. How could he explain why he had helped Serena to escape the Denkar prison?
Niall knew Deveron had never experienced such a horrible hangover as he still felt. But now he didn’t want to explain further how he was to fight a dragon fae, and how he’d lost Serena in the bargain. Not only that but he had no potion to counter the effect of the drug. Serena’s abandoning him bothered him the most.
“At least she’s back in her own kingdom and should be perfectly safe,” Deveron said. “We’ll return home, and I’ll let Queen Irenis know.” He sounded more relieved than angry.
“What about the count, my lord?” the tracker asked.
“He most likely has already returned home. Come on, let’s go,” Deveron said darkly.
Niall didn’t hear anything more that was said between them and figured they had returned to the Denkar castle. He closed his eyes and groaned silently to himself.
When it was first light, he’d make his way to the Mabara castle and let the queen know what he’d done for her daughter, how he had freed her from the Denkar dungeon, although he didn’t want to explain that either, but he would. And maybe the queen herself would take pity on him and give him the antidote.
Then he was back to wanting to strangle Serena.