We left Samuel's shop half an hour later with several boxes of desserts tied together with string, and one of Sam's precious recipes. Yes, he was Sam by the time we left. When he heard that not only was Taeven the Falcon Lord but that I was also a soldier in his army—his personal baker—Samuel had copied a recipe from its worn and stained card onto a bright new card and presented it to me as if it were a coffer of gold. It was the recipe for the pastry he'd shown me how to assemble. When I tried to protest, he declared that it was the least he could do to support the troops and that it would delight him to no end to know that I was serving his pastries to the Falcon Lord.
Happily holding the stack of pastry boxes by their string handle, I strolled down the street with Taeven, grinning ear to ear. We were going to find a nice park bench where we could sit down and eat a few of them, then take the rest back to his knights. But on the way to the park, we passed an alley, just a narrow space between apartment buildings, and noticed a fight occurring within. No, not a fight, but an assault.
“Fucking faggot!” one of the men growled as he kicked a fallen man in his belly.
I flinched, and Taeven's face settled into a cold rage. Six men were beating on one, all of them saying things even nastier than the phrase that had stopped us. I set the boxes down and started forward, stretching my shoulders and cracking my knuckles. I may not want to attract that kind of attention for myself, but that didn't mean I was going to allow it to happen to someone else. Before I could take two steps, Taeven shot past me with a shriek that echoed off the walls. A fucking war shriek, the kind only heard on the battlefield. You may think that a man shrieking like a bird would be amusing. Let me assure you, it is not. A falcon war shriek is chilling. It's an eerie, primal sound that claws through your body and sets your bowels to clenching. A warning that death was coming, probably from above, and probably faster than you expected. Too fast to stop. And it didn't lie.
Taeven's fist hit a man's jaw as his shoulder simultaneously bashed another in the sternum, sending both men flying—one into a wall and one onto the ground. The one who hit the wall crumpled to the ground unconscious while the other gasped for breath and clutched his chest. The rest of the bastards jerked away, staring at the faerie warlord with horrified expressions.
“Where are your slurs now?” Taeven snarled. “Why don't you call me a faggot? I'm a lover of men. Say those things to me. Go on. Or do you only say them to men you know you can overpower?”
One of them tried to run, but Taeven reached out almost casually, grabbed the man by the front of his shirt, and flipped him overhead to crash into the wall behind him. All without looking.
Eyes wide, I shot forward and helped the fallen man to his feet—the one they'd been beating on, not the assholes—then pulled him quickly out of the danger zone. He moaned, his face a fucking mess, all swollen and bloody.
“I've got you,” I said. “It's going to be all right.”
“Nothing to say now?” Taeven continued to rage at the other men. “You fucking cowards! Beating on one unarmed man. Not so brave when the odds are evened.” He narrowed his eyes at them. “Let me tell you something that you cretins have failed to comprehend. Homosexuality is as natural as heterosexuality. It is simply a way to keep us from overpopulating the planet. The Fae Goddess herself has blessed it. So who the fuck are you to say that it's wrong? Are you gods?!”
The men whimpered.
“No, you're barely men. Ganging up on another man for something that is beyond his control. Persecuting people who have done nothing to you. That is the height of dishonor. You are an embarrassment to your race. Go home and pray. Beg your god to forgive you because I will not.”
One of them had enough nerve to say, “Our God says it's a sin.”
“Does he now?” Taeven cocked his head at the man. “He has said this directly to you?”
The man snorted. “No, of course not.”
“Of course not? My Goddess speaks to her people. We have no miscommunication, as there seems to be between you and your God. Ask yourself what kind of god would condone this.” He waved a hand toward the man that huddled against me. “Do you truly think any divine being would approve of your violence? That this ethereal entity you worship is looking down now, proud of his children for beating on another child of his. For using him as an excuse to vent your impotence and insecurities upon another human being. Do you think he will welcome you into his heaven for this?!”
The men flinched back.
“Enough, Tae,” I said with a dark look at the men. “They will never change. Frankly, I hope they don't. Let the motherfuckers burn in Hell.”
“Is he right?” Taeven peered at the men as their friends groaned and tried to get to their feet. “Is there no hope for you? Will you go forth and continue to hurt people despite my words?”
“As if they're going to answer that honestly,” I huffed. “Come on, forget them. We've got to get this guy some help.”
“I have eyes and ears all over this city,” Taeven leaned forward to say menacingly. “And now, they will be watching and listening for you. If I hear that you've hurt someone else, I will find you, and I will send you to your God for him to pass his judgment upon you. And I will sleep well that night, knowing that my Goddess approves.”
One of the men pissed his pants.
Taeven turned on his heels, picked up the beaten man like a child, and carried him out of the alley.
I was fucking smitten.
Chapter Twelve
We carried our pastries and new friend back to our carriage. Well, Tae carried the guy while I ran ahead and got the knights to bring the carriage back to Taeven.
“Thank you,” the man said again as Taeven helped him into the carriage.
“I'm just glad we reached you before it was too late,” Taeven said.
“Do you know where the closest medical clinic is?” I asked him.
The man directed us to his doctor's clinic and, luckily, his doctor was able to see him immediately. We left him in the doctor's care and headed out, but Taeven stopped to speak with a nurse.
