“Do be quiet,” I growled, still not looking at the man who knew me better than I knew myself, looking anywhere but at him. “I don’t know how I feel about Bishop.” I sighed softly, letting the air blow past my lips in a harsh rush. “I just…don’t know.”
Father hummed deeply behind me, staying quiet for a moment, before he asked bluntly, “I didn’t think you liked men. I take it that’s changed at some point?”
I hung my head and stared at my boots, grumbling honestly, “I have been curious in the past, but it never worked out. There was always something…off…anytime I tried it. It never turned me on like I thought it might—so I eventually stopped looking.” I flashed my fangs at my boots and muttered quietly, “But it was Fae fucking perfect with him. I’ve never…felt like that before.”
Marlon’s hand landed on my right shoulder, squeezing gently. “It sounds like you have reason to be confused.” He turned me to face him, making me look into his eyes. “And mayhap I have been hasty with my own words.” He shook his head of silver braids and added, “I won’t hurt him, son.”
Then he added, “Unless you want me to.”
I snorted hard. “I’ll let you know if I change my mind.”
His lips curved at the edges cruelly, letting that darkness inside him show. “But don’t tell him. I’d like to keep him on his toes, so he’s on his best—”
“What in the Fae fuck,” I muttered, cutting him off with my attention stuck over his shoulder. I stared through the picturesque window as a bizarre situation began to unfold. “Father, you might want to turn around. Minnie’s favorite pigs are flying through the air and about to drop like rain.”
“What?” Father thrashed around and gaped with me as we watched our king's fattest pigs soar and float through the skies.
One. Two. Three. Not-so-little piggies.Theysquealedin genuine fright, loud and brash, as they fell and fell and fell…
Andsilence.
Right outside the window.
Marlon breathed slowly. He blinked and then muttered lowly, “Where is your soul mate right now?”
Our eyes widened as said soul mate’s body suddenly appeared outside the window, completely horizontal and flying across the view, his claws out and fangs bared andgrowlingfiercely at whatever he disagreed with.
Into the stunned silence, Father grunted and mumbled, “Are you sure you don’t want me to kill him?”
“It…is going to take some adjusting, as you can see.” I tapped my fingers on my lips and teetered my head back and forth. Until I grumbled, “Mayhap we should see what has upset him so? While he may be a barbaric shifter…this is a bit much.”
“Unfortunately so,” Marlon grudgingly agreed, marching toward the closed door. “Let us see what your dastardly soul mate has managed to fuck up.”
We marched side by side as quickly as we could, both of us pulling blades from hidden locations on our bodies—since we knew well Bishop would not have attacked someone on the King of Elves’ castle grounds unless warranted.
As we rushed outside, we stopped hard.
“Holy Fae,” I breathed in horror.
I didn’t move.
Skeletonswereeverywhere.
“Get back inside!” Bishop roared from somewhere in the frightful melee, grunts and curses heaving brutally from his chest. Though, I could see him nowhere in the mess of the dead crowding the royal grounds, the skeletons fighting…something…they crowded around. “Now, Caspian!”
My father and I glanced at each other.
Then we took off at a sprint, shoving through bones and anger and fear, elbowing and maneuvering the dead to get to my damned soul mate, his tone telling me undeniably he didn’t expect to remain alive long, that shit was truly fucked up.
Heaving a hard breath, I shoved past the last skeleton and flared my nostrils in confusion and rage.
A black, furry Fae beast was snarling and snapping…at thin air? First, one of its three heads lashed to the side as if it had been punched. Then its middle dog-like head snapped back as if it had been dealt a different uppercut.
“Bishop?” I shouted as two skeletons grabbed the Fae’s back paws and tripped the creature—but couldn’t hold on. My father jerked through the last of the resistance, coming to a quick stop beside me, taking stock of the insane matter before us. “What in the realm is happening here?Where are you?”
“Right in front of you, elf,” Bishop snarled, the shifter still unseen. But his voice was right in front of me. “This piece of Fae shit was spying on you.”
The Fae’s many canine eyes flared as they locked on me, flicking back and forth between me…and where Bishop’s voice came from. Three heads tipped back in an agonizedhowl, screaming into the sunny day.
