Authors: Liia Ann White
Dark Waters (4 page)
“
this is Princess
Adora
of the
Court
The Elf’s eyes widened and he stared at
Randor
for a moment before speaking.
“Princess.”
He bowed his
head. “It’s an honour to have you in our home. Please pardon my intrusion. I
hadn’t realised you would be staying with us.”
Randor
and cocked his head. “
Randor
, can I have a word with
you?
In private.”
When his friend’s eyes flashed blue he knew he was in for
one of
conversations. Turning to
Adora
, he saw the shimmering
black aura around her body return.
“
Adora
, he’s less of a threat than
I am.” He used a steady voice, hoping he’d be able to convince her. “I promise
he will not try to harm you in any way.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not convinced you’re no threat. I’m
definitely not going to trust an
elf
.”
She sneered like it was the most despicable word that existed.
He couldn’t help but smile. She’d trusted him enough to have
sex with him, but not to let down her defensive aura.
Fickle Princess
.
“I’ll be a minute,” he told her before ushering his friend
into the adjoining room. He shut the door behind him to try and block
Adora
from their conversation.
teeth elongated and the natural blue tint returned to his skin as he sneered at
his friend. “Are you fucking insane? You can’t bring the
Seelie
Princess here and not expect repercussions. What were you thinking?”
Randor
took in a slow breath and
kept his temper in check. Usually someone who spoke to him in that tone would
have been maimed immediately. But this was
“She’s my soul mate,” he replied in a whisper.
The elf’s demeanour changed in an instant. He returned to
his human form and slapped a hand to his forehead. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
Randor
shook his head. “I don’t know
if she’s aware of it yet. When I knocked her out, something inside of me told
me she was special, so I brought her back here. It wasn’t until we spoke that I
realised what we were to each other.”
at
Randor
.
“The
Unseelie
Queen is expecting
her to appear in her dungeon in four hours. I’m not going to turn her in, but
have no idea what to do about it.”
“You could always tell her the truth.”
Randor
rolled his eyes. “Yeah,
that’d go down well.”
“Well, you can’t exactly run. Maleficent can find you in any
realm.”
Maleficent.
Randor
hadn’t thought of her. The queen’s
fae
witch was one
of the best trackers in the realm.
“That’s what makes it such a precarious situation.” He
gestured to the door. “She already knows who’s ordered her capture. But she
doesn’t know I’m not going to take her in at all. She just knows I’m delaying
it.”
“You want me to go feel out Elvira?” The way
the queen reminded
Randor
who she was to them both.
He shook his head. “Even you couldn’t get out of this
easily. And you’re her nephew.” Pursing his lips, he let his thoughts lead back
to
Adora
. He had to find a way to hide her from the
Unseelie
queen. Perhaps he could fake her death? Say she
fought her capture and he had to eliminate her on the spot.
A sudden pull on his senses pulled him back a step. What the
hell was that?
Magic.
“Oh shit.” He turned and burst through the door to find that
Adora
had disappeared. “Fuck!” Somehow she’d broken
the spell on the cuffs and run.
He ran to the front door and out on to the porch where he
saw a glimpse of her golden hair and black aura disappearing into the sand
dunes.
“
Adora
!”
Randor
ignored him and took off after the Princess.
****
Where the hell do I run?
Adora
looked around. There was
nothing but sand dunes and ocean. There were no buildings to hide behind, no
rocks, not even any caves to disappear into. In the
faery
realm, there were caves and rocks at almost every turn. Plenty of hiding
places. Apparently in the human realm, there were none.
Without wasting another moment, she called to her magic,
waiting for it to warm her body and tease every sense. The black aura around
her body grew denser and became completely opaque. For a second it shimmered
then flickered to be translucent.
Excellent.
She was now hidden by camouflage magic.
Taking off at a run,
Adora
made her way down to the
beach, running across the sand for a few hundred metres before she ducked
behind a bush and crouched down in the dunes.
Heart pounding, breath harshly burning her lungs, she tried
to gather her thoughts. She was in the human realm, a place she’d never been
before. She knew nobody apart from the treacherous assassin. How was she
supposed to get back home?
Father.
She’d always had a
telepathic connection with him. Would it work between realms?
She closed her eyes and concentrated. Her breath slowed, as
did her heart rate, until all she could feel was the pull of magic that she
concentrated in her mind.
Father
.
Nothing.
Father
.
Adora
?
Her eyes snapped open. That wasn’t Father’s mental voice.
That was…oh, crap.
She looked up to find the assassin right in front of her,
his brow furrowed as he looked around. Apparently his senses weren’t as sharp
as he’d thought.
He closed his eyes and his hands shimmered. The moment they
opened again, his eyes were set on hers.
“Oh gods,” she muttered.
“That’s right. I can see you.” He held out his hand for her,
his face serious. “I’m not going to hurt you. Neither is
explain everything.”
Adora
shook off her magical aura
and stood, suddenly aware that she was completely naked. Her towel must have
fallen off while she was running. She crossed her arms over her breasts and
scowled at
Randor
.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
His expression remained the same. “By now you know what we
are to each other. After all, we can communicate telepathically.”
“That doesn’t mean I have to trust you,” she retorted. So
what if he was her soul mate. That fact didn’t mean instant trust and love. If
anything, it made her more wary of him. To be soul mates meant they had to be
similar and
Adora
knew how shady of character she could
be. What would
Randor
be like?
“You trust me enough to have sex with me, but not enough to
come with me unrestrained.”
She just glared at him. “I fucked you. It doesn’t mean I
trust you. It’s not the first time I’ve slept with someone to get what I wanted.”
That was true. But she hadn’t slept with
Randor
to get something. She did it because she was attracted to him, incredibly
attracted to him.
Randor
winced at her comment and his
eyes narrowed a miniscule amount. She smiled at that. Getting a reaction proved
he had some form of emotional attachment to her. She could use that against
him.
“I’ll come with you,
if
you don’t restrain me. No cuffs, no magic.
Nothing.”
He gave a curt nod.
“Agreed.
It’s
not like you can escape anywhere anyway.”
Adora
looked around her.
Dunes, bushes, sand and the ocean.
No sign of civilisation
at all. Biting down on her lip, she looked back at him. “Can I at least have
some clothing to cover myself in front of the
elf.
”
With a wave of
Randor’s
hand,
clothing settled on her skin. She looked down to find herself in a small tank
top and panties. He grinned at her scowl.
“I don’t want you to get too comfortable, Princess.”
“Let’s just go back to your house,” she grumbled.
When they arrived back at the house,
Adora
saw the elf standing in the living room, his body tense and defensive. He had
dark hair, tanned skin and green eyes. He appeared
human,
or even
Fae
, but elves had the ability to morph their
physical features to that of a
faery
. It’s one of the
things that made them so dangerous—they had the ability to pose as
Fae
.
Adora
had been fooled by an elf
once. He posed as a fellow soldier of the
Seelie
army
before showing his true form and trying to take her life.
She wouldn’t make the mistake of trusting an elf again.
Randor
ushered her to the lounge,
gesturing for her to sit.
She shot him a cold look and crossed her arms. “I’d rather
stand.”
With a small shrug, he brushed past her. “Suit yourself.”
His hand brushed over her buttocks before he gave a quick squeeze. The action sent
waves of pleasure straight to her pussy.
He sat on the arm of the lounge beside her, his perverted
stare on her body.
Adora
gave a frustrated groan and
took a step back so she stood beside him. Her gaze returned to the elf and she
kept it on him as she spoke. “So, explain yourself, Assassin.”
“When it comes to the war,
the late
Unseelie
king that allowed me to be allied
with neither court. As a half-human I’m able to live in human realm, undetected
by demons and
Fae
alike. It’s why I’m such a good
assassin.”
She didn’t want to hear his boasting.
“And
the elf?”
The word itself left a bitter taste in her mouth. She wanted
to rinse it out.
“He’s also neutral. Half elf, half
Unseelie
Fae
, he was raised by his aunt but was able to break
his bindings to the Court when his aunt rose to the throne.”
Adora’s
entire body stiffened. Magic
buzzed at the surface of her skin and her senses came to high alert.
“The throne?
His aunt is the
Unseelie
queen?” Her voice came out slightly more panicked than she’d meant.
“I swear to you he’s not a threat. He hasn’t been allied
with or even had contact with her in over two decades.”
“I promise you, Princess. I’m more likely to be loyal to you
than her. My aunt was a cruel, malevolent being when raising me. The things she
put me through.” The elf shook his head and shuddered slightly. “I’d die before
helping her.”
“That’s all very touching,” she retorted sarcastically. “But
I’m not a fool. Don’t take me for one.”
“I don’t take you for a fool, Princess.” He bowed his head
slightly. “Please forgive me if I insulted you in any way.”
Adora
narrowed her eyes and sneered
at him. The elf was being far too false. His formal attitude was forced. That much
was obvious to her. He not only irritated her but made her skin crawl.
Something about the way he watched her…as if she were prey.
“I want him gone,” she said to
Randor
.
He looked at her in shock and stood from the lounge. “Excuse
me?”
“If you get him out of the house, far, far away from me,
I’ll trust you.” He stared at her, obviously waiting for an answer. “If you
wanted to harm me, you already would have. You’ve had plenty of opportunity.
But him,” she sneered at
“I don’t trust.
At all.”
Randor
hesitated for a moment before
he wrapped a hand around her upper arm gently. “Follow me.”
She followed him through the living room down a long hall to
a bedroom at the end. His eyes glowed fiercely as he leaned down, his lips
millimetres from hers.