“I'm not a witch,” I said again. “I have psychic abilities from my mother, not magic. The magic I have is from my father, who's a fairy. If my mom hadn't been gifted, I would simply be...” I frowned as I thought about it.
What would I be? I would still be a halfling but I'd only have fairy magic. Still, I wouldn't be a witch. Witches were purely human... just as some of the fey looked human but were pure fairy. They'd received human traits from their ancestors who had once bred with humans. So what if it had also worked in humans? Humans bred with fairies and then those children bred with humans instead of more fairies. Their children then bred with even more humans, so on and so on, thinning out the fey blood until the children became purely human again... with just a remnant of magic left from their fairy ancestors. What would they be?
I guess the answer was literally right before my eyes.
This wasn't an evolutionary leap, this was simple breeding. Two races had mixed and left their mark on each other. Just as human traits showed up in fairies who were pure fey, so did fey traits show up in pure humans who were pure human. So, no, I wasn't a witch, but I could see how this woman might mistake me for one.
“You'd be what?” She sneered.
“A magical half-breed,” I sighed. “Youare another thing entirely; a human with a recessive fairy gene that has given you magic.”
“Semantics,” she shrugged. “We are the same.”
“No, we're not,” I lifted my blade to her throat. “If for no other reason than I would never murder innocent people.”
“No one is innocent,” she swept up into the air with a whoosh of darkness.
“Damn,” I tried to track her but she was already gone.
“Let's just go, Princess Seren,” Torquil suggested. “Before another wingless flying witch decides to have a conversation with you.”
“Or worse,” I cast one last look back at the fighting before I started running with Torquil for the cars. “And what the hell did she mean that I was bloodless?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
About twenty minutes down the road, something heavy landed on top of the SUV. I swerved off the road, spraying gravel as I stopped on the shoulder. The cabin lit up as Torquil filled his hands with glowing magic which, oddly enough, matched his ultramarine hair. I started to call on my own magic as I jumped out of the driver's seat and leaped away from the SUV, my eyes flashing up and out in case our attacker had jumped. Then I dropped my arms and huffed.
“What are you doing here?” I asked the smirking dragon-djinn who was sitting casually on the roof of the SUV, his legs hanging over the side along with the bottom of his wings.
“My son informed me of your rash decision to run off with only a single guard,” Raza dropped down onto his feet with the grace of a cat just as Torquil rounded the back of the SUV.
“The Princess is perfectly safe under my protection,” Torquil declared.
“Is she?” Raza rounded on him viciously. “Because I could have knocked you off the road, tore into that flimsy metal, sliced your throat open, and carried her away in less time than it would take you to beg me for your life.”
“Hey now,” I held up a hand before Torquil went and said something that would get himself killed. “That was uncalled for.”
“Uncalled for?” Raza stalked over to me. “You are Princess of the Twilight Court; the only heir to the throne of our only peace-keeping kingdom, and a half-human whom many would love to remove from that throne. Your death would throw all of Fairy into chaos, not to mention what it would do the relationship between us and the humans, and you have left a battle with only a single knight, carrying a hostage that our enemies will no doubt be after. Have you no brain in that beautiful head?!”
“You will not speak to the Princess like that!” Torquil shouted as his face turned red.
“And you!” Raza swirled around to face Torquil again. “You let her. You simply picked up that witch and carted him off for her. You useless baboon! You ape! You're no better than a sightless human! A magicless monkey-descended man.”
“Stop harassing my knight!” I shouted at Raza and suddenly he was on me; a hand at my throat and an arm around my back, holding me pressed tight to his chest while effectively trapping my arms.
“A mere second and you are defenseless,” he whispered into my ear. “A moment more and you'd be dead. You want me to stop harassing your knight? Then stop acting like a child and behave like a Princess! Command him with intelligence instead of passion. Passion should be reserved for other pursuits.”
His hand went to the back of my head, pulling me forward into an enraged kiss. Hard lips slashed across mine, bruising me and forcing my mouth open. A torrid tongue slipped into my mouth, tangling with mine as his claws clenched and jerked me closer convulsively, like an animal subduing its prey. His wings unfolded with a startling crack of air and settled around us, pressing into my back like another pair of limbs.
I could barely breathe much less think; too confused and angry and really freaking turned on. There was so much to feel; to smell and taste. Rapid heartbeats pounding through skin and cloth, the scent of smoke and leather mixing with musk, and the charred sugared taste of him in my mouth. Everything about him seemed made to drive me mad.
I finally shoved him away and stared up at him in a panting fury. He set blazing gold eyes on me defiantly, his wings remaining closed around us. I glared at him for a second longer and then threw my arms around his neck and pulled him back into our kiss.
I know, I know! Stop judging me. Parts of my mind were screaming at me to stop but my body was just incapable. I was so full of adrenaline and warring emotions that needed some kind of release. Raza gave it to me; a wild, furious liberation, and I took it. I even relished it. Savored every damn second. When his hands lowered and pulled my hips into his, I rubbed into him like a sex-crazed lunatic. I groaned and pushed onward with everything I had and soon the feel of it changed from violent to sensual, very sensual.
Oddly enough, that was when I regained my senses.
I gave a gasp and pulled back, staring at Raza in horror instead of passion. One hand lifted to my mouth and my fingertips skimmed over my bruised lips.Oh Goddess, what have I done now?
