Bones is Riall, with his short ash brown hair and beard, hazel eyes, and thick muscular frame. Curio is Skull, the short, perfectly styled hair he had while wearing his glamour is gone. It’s still black and beautiful, but now it falls to his mid-back. Warm hickory-brown irises have replaced the black orbs I’m used to looking at, and he appears much larger in his own skin than he seemed before. They all do. Scorpius’s, or Tarek’s, creamy skin is smooth over bulging muscle, his ice-blue gaze watches me shrewdly, and the waves of his shoulder-length dark brown hair soften his square jaw and the angles of his high cheekbones. Somehow I managed to forget that they were fae underneath the camouflaging layer of magic, and now here they are, defenses down, and it makes me want to scream.
Eacon’s words chime in my head,the Scorpions have a small circle of trust,she’d warned.Not many know they’re more than privileged fae given this land to govern and watch over.So what in the name of the stars does it mean for me that they’re letting me see them for who and what they are now?
It means I’m fucked beyond belief, that’s what it means.
I won’t be allowed to roam free in the realms with secrets likewhere they liveandwhat they look likefloating around in my mind as though they aren’t weapons that could be used against them at any moment. My last shred of hope searches for any sign that they’re still wearing any kind of glamour, but I don’t feel the slightest tingle. This is who they really are. Anguish and grief clash within me as once again I feel the freedom I crave slip through my grasping fingers like desert sand.
I didn’t ask for this.
I don’t want to see past the façade or dive into a deeper understanding of who they are. It’s a fucking trap if I’ve ever seen one, and it has rage curdling in my stomach. I glare at them and start backing away, needing immediate space between me and the fuckers who are stripping me of everything I want like I’m unworthy of it, like freedom is too good for me. I was sold and now I’m being robbed. They’re trying to steal my future as though it’s something owed to them.
Why is there always some entitled bastard trying to snatch away everything I want?
I thought I could eventually run, that in time, if I planned it right, I could finally seize the life that’s owed to me and find my way in this messed up world. The Scorpions would probably be pissed, but I’m just some lowly blade slave. They wouldn’t trouble themselves with hunting me. But they’ve shown me their faces and ruthlessly sealed my fate. I hold secrets in my hands now, and I wish more than anything I could shake them off, fling it as far away from me as possible like the filth it is.
Scorpius, or Tarek—or whatever his name is—is suddenly there next to me. His ice-blue eyes are commanding and sure as they settle on mine like a key trying to access a lock. He’s saying something either to me or the others, I don’t know, because all I can focus on is the need to wipe the imperious look from his face, a face I wish I didn’t know.
A wrathful snarl rumbles out of me as my fangs drop, and before I can second-guess how wise it is, I leap at him. I’m rewarded when shock flashes in his cool gaze, but a thick, hard arm wraps around my waist, keeping me from connecting with the bastard leader of the Scorpions. I’m slammed back against the cold stone of a wall, and I redirect my irate growl to Riall, who’s abandoned the meal he was cooking and is now pressing into me in an effort to pin me in place.
I didn’t even see him move.
The beast inside of me takes interest, and I’m suddenly unsure if I want to rip him apart or bury my fangs in him and drink him dry. My lip curls as I viciously snap my fangs at him, but instead of being rattled by the sight of my razor sharp incisors and the threat that’s practically dripping from their tips, wonder fills Riall’s face. A stunned smile slowly slinks across his lush lips, and he presses against me even harder.
It’s the exact opposite of what I expect to happen, and it throws me off completely. One-handed, he lifts me up on the wall by the waist until we’re face-to-face. And then, in an astonishing flash that I do not see coming, his canines lengthen and he snaps them back at me, the motion more of a lurid promise than any kind of a threat.
“There’s my little beasty,” he proclaims, his tone deep and sensual, and his pupils so blown all that’s left of his irises is a tiny ring of dark green.
I jolt back, thoroughly startled by not only his strange reaction to my secret, but the fact that he has one of his own. I glance from the banked heat in his gaze to the sharp fangs peeking out below his ample top lip. My fury drains like the sight of his sharp teeth have poked invisible holes in me and all the anger has nowhere to go but out. In its place, astonishment and wonder seep in. I run my tongue over my own piercing canines, cataloging the similarities and differences. His are so much bigger, and I suddenly want to test the edge of them with my tongue.
What would he taste like?
As though he can read that thought, a quiet growl vibrates from Riall’s chest into mine. I snap my astonished gaze back to his. Ragged breaths saw in and out of my chest as we stare at one another.
Who are these fae? First the shadow walking and now the fangs? This whole time, I’ve been so careful to keep these unusual abilities a secret, but are my secrets theirs too? Is that the draw to these fae? Like recognizing like?
I’m all at once aware that my breasts are pressing against Riall’s hard unyielding muscles with each gulping inhalation I take. His hips anchor mine, holding me in place, and we breathe each other in, our faces so close that I can count his eyelashes if I want to. Someone peels my fingers from Eacon’s dagger and plucks is from my palm, but I can’t even be bothered to care. I’m stuck in a stupor of amazement, and no other emotion seems to be able to penetrate that. My every thought is pulled in the direction of Riall as though he’s the sun and I’m merely the day with no choice but to bow to him.
“You’re like me?” I whisper, and his eyes drop to my lips as though he’s tasting my words and not just hearing them. “How?” I demand, my eyes fixed on the sharp points of his fangs. “What are we?”
“No,” Tarek interjects from over Riall’s shoulder. “First,youexplain what just happened. Surprised to see us without the glamour, I can understand, but why the fury? Why are you angry? We saved you.”
I pull my stare from Riall and take in Tarek and Curio over his shoulder. Do they have fangs too? They both watch me with guarded, severe expressions, and I don’t know what to make of any of this. My feet dangle above the ground, and the rocks in the wall dig into my back. Somehow, it makes me feel centered instead of trapped, and I’m sure that’s some kind of testament to how messed I might be.
Something in me hammers away at the shock enough for other thoughts and feelings to rush in through the cracks. I try to sort through the deluge of questions and astonishment, but I feel as though I’m drowning. Riall doesn’t move, doesn’t give me any room, and I can’t decide if I want him to put me down or if he’s the life preserver I need so I’m not pulled under by the mayhem that is my mind right now. I want to wrestle control of my future from the claws of these Scorpions, but what if they can keep me from being swept away by the maelstrom that has fucked up everything in my life?
“Why am I here?” I ask, leveling Tarek with a hard expression as I work to affix the apathetic mask I mastered at the ludere.
“Answer what I asked you first,” he counters, and just like that, my flimsy controlled veneer dissolves as I sigh and fight not to growl with frustration.
I want to rage, but it’s being overpowered by other things that are teasing the back of my mind. Startling things I shouldn’t be thinking about right now, if ever. I shouldn’t be focusing on how Riall feels against me. Or that Curio’s blistering gaze is leaving a hot trail over my exposed skin, while Tarek’s cool perusal works to soothe the delicious burn.
I don’t know who they are or what they’re doing to me, but I need to get a hold of myself. I need to take back my control. With great effort, I retract my fangs as I force my emotions to level out. I swear Riall groans an objection, but it’s drowned out by the screech of a stool being pulled out so Curio can plop his huge frame down as though he’s settling in for the exchange that Tarek isn’t going to back down from. Curio pushes his long dark locks back from his face and eyes me like he’s not sure what to expect next and he loves it. Skull wore that same wickedly amused look when his eyes were glamoured black, and it further cements that they’re one and the same.
“You want me to kiss your feet for saving me, but all you’ve done is unlock Tilleo’s shackles and then put on a pair of your own. I am not your slave. I don’t want to be caged,” I snap at Tarek, and his eyes narrow with menace.
“You don’t look as though youdon’twant to be caged,” Curio remarks, peering pointedly at the way Riall is pressing against me.
Both of his large arms are boxing me in against the wall. I can’t even say when he did it.
