Tossing me to the side, we glare at each other, tensions high. Ihate everything he’s done to me, and it seems the heir feels the same. But we are trapped in this world, this bond, and we have no other choice.
Anger rises like a twisting snake. Everything in me wants to attack, to throw this necklace into his face and run. Leave him, this court, and forget I ever gave him my love.
But before I can, the bedroom door slams open, hitting the far wall with a flourish.
Striding into the room on sharp heels, Fee stops short, scanning both of us, a small smile spreading across her face. She looks completely different than the warrior I knew her as in the Eternal Night Forest. Now, she looks like a privileged princess with her fair makeup and many jewels decorating her fingers.
“Ah, so, they finally freed you.” She smirks, looking to me, then Kaden. “Tonight is going to be very interesting, big brother.”
Chapter
Five
MAX
Standing in the sitting room, I ignore the princess at my back, eyes squinting into the darkness as we wait for the heir.
As soon as his sister arrived, he pushed me off on her, retreating to the bathroom for privacy. Apparently, only one of us is allowed that luxury.
Her eyes burn into the side of my face, a flame held too close as she assesses me. I didn’t fit into the Coven, an evil presence in their village due to my magic. As such, the elders never liked when Nafre or Taylay associated with me; I was beneath their royalty and they made sure to tell me.
I’m sure Fee thinks the same of me here, in her home, with her brother, an inbred Witch associating with a prince.
I don’t have the energy to deal with it, if so. Ignoring her, I beat back the horrible memories and the taste of loneliness, tugging my hair to my neck and focus on the paintings.
“You look like shit,” she comments, crossing her arms. I glare sharply at her, weeks’ worth of anger spilling out.
“And how would you fair if you were kidnapped, left to rot in adungeon, forced into submission to a cruel master who wants you to play a game that you don’t know the rules to?” I ask, anxiety feeding my words. “I’m sorry I don’t look like the perfect guest, but I’m in a strange land, with unknown dangers,floundering. Excuse me if I don’t seem so put together, Your Highness.”
I expect a rebuttal, but she just smirks, leaning back against the sofa, a true sovereign in her own right. Her fiery red-black locks are piled on top of her head with braids and some kind of black gems woven throughout. Her pale white skin glows against the flickering fireplace and the long black ballgown is thick in the stifling heat. Yet, she still looks beautiful.
“Someone’s feeling testy.”
“Wouldn’t you?” I dare, glancing around the room. Shadows hide practically everything, but I can make out large bookshelves against the far walls, thick books lining the edges.
I had only a few books in the Blackwoods Coven. What would it be like to have these at my disposal, to read at leisure and not for sanity because of the need to hide? Not because of crushing loneliness but the actualwantto read for pleasure?
“Probably.” She shrugs. “There’s a reason I wear this.” She holds up a small golden chain, a delicate pendant on it, dipped long like a dagger. “A charm. It prevents a Dark Fae from being claimed.”
I snort. “I could have used that a few weeks ago.”
Fee laughs. “It doesn’t work for Witches, unfortunately.”
My shoulders hunch. She says it so casually, but it still hits my ear wrong. I am a Witch, a Blut Coven Witch, the last of my kind. It’s so fantastical, it’s hard to comprehend.
Kaden enters the room, bathed and changed into a tailored black silken suit of sin, the apparent heir of these lands. It shows off his broad shoulders, his powerful legs, the bunching muscles that ripple with each step. His hair is knotted on his head, pieces falling into his eyes with his silver ring peeking through the strands of his pointedear.
Without asking, he grabs my hand in a vice grip, forcing me to follow with him.
“Let go of me,” I demand, teeth grinding.
“So, you can run?” He rolls his eyes, nodding once to Zeke and other guards who surround him from thin air. “I know you, Max. Your first instinct is to get away.”
I scoff. “It isnot.”
“No, you’re right. Sometimes, it’s to run right into danger, no thought to your personal safety. That can’t happen now that my life is tied to yours.” I don’t appreciate his glare, nor his ability to know me.
I make another effort to pull away and he sighs, annoyed. “You know, it would look terrible to our guests if my wife keeps trying to escape.”
