Dark Waters (5 page)

“Don’t make me regret trusting you, Princess.”

She matched his stare.
“Likewise.”

Chapter Four

Randor
left
Adora
in the bedroom while he went to speak to
Kiel
.
He shouldn’t have to kick his friend out of the home they shared. But he also
shouldn’t have brought Princess
Adora
back to his
home. He knew that. And now he was kicking himself for it.

What the fuck
was
he thinking? The
Unseelie
queen was a force to be
reckoned with. Her fury was unlike any other he’d ever seen. When she found out
he’d disobeyed her order and taken the Princess to the human realm, she’d send
her soldiers after him. He just hoped he had a bit more time to think before
said soldiers found out where he lived.

He entered the living room and found
Kiel
opening a portal to the
faery
realm. His human exterior was gone and he appeared as
his natural self again. Turning to face him,
Kiel
gave him a look
Randor
couldn’t quite describe.
Something between contempt,
disbelief, and disappointment.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,
Randor
.
Because this could end very badly.
You know where to
find me.” And with that he disappeared through the portal.

Randor
frowned as he watched the
portal close.

I hope I know what I’m doing
too
.

He felt
Adora
enter the room. A
strange sensation that tickled the back of his mind told him she was there. He
turned and found her in the singlet and underwear he’d put on her. A shiver
shot down his spine and arousal pooled in his groin.

Damn, she’s beautiful
.

I know that.
Her voice appeared in his
mind.
And thank you
.

“A little bit arrogant for a princess, aren’t you?” he said
as he approached her.

“Well, I
am
a princess
after all. Isn’t all royalty arrogant?”

Adora
rested her hands on the back
of the lounge and leant against it. The position was incredibly alluring to
Randor
and pushed her chest and hips out in a seductive
position.

“We have things to discuss.” He stood in front of her,
inhaling deeply so her earthy scent filled his nose. “Like what I’m going to do
with you.”

He gently ran his fingers up her bare arms, smiling when
goose bumps erupted on her smooth skin.

“I can think of a few things you could do to me,” she
teased. “But first”—she pressed her hands against his chest—“we need to talk.”

Randor
agreed. They needed to talk.
But his dick didn’t want him to talk. It wanted more action. Too bad it wasn’t
in charge.

Adora
removed her hands from him
and crossed her arms. “So, tell me what your plan is.”

He raised his brows and regarded her. “Which plan are we
talking about?”

There was the “let’s run as far away as we can from the
Unseelie
queen before she tries to kill us both’ plan”, the
“how can I convince her Kiel is no threat” plan, and, of course, the “we’re
soul mates so let’s just fuck all day instead of concentrating on the tasks at hand”
plan.

“Are you going to turn me into the queen?”

He sighed, wishing there was a way to keep
Adora
safe, be with her, and stay alive. Unfortunately,
something would have to give. “No. I’m not going to turn you in.”

“So the assassin isn’t going through with his orders?” She
clicked her tongue at him. “What are we going to do?”

“We have to find a way to hide from the

“There’s always my kingdom. We’d be more than safe there,”
she said, a smug smile on her face. “The castle is impenetrable.”

He let out a laugh and took a step back from her.
Impenetrable?
He’d managed to get inside with no problems at
all. There wasn’t a single security guard on the back gate surrounding the
castle. “Should I remind you of what happened last night?”

Adora
scowled at him. “What’s your
point?”

“My point is there’s nowhere completely safe to hide. As
much as I don’t like it, we’ll have to find a way to stand up to the
Unseelie
queen without getting ourselves killed.”

The princess leaned her weight on her left leg in a casual
stance and shrugged. “We could always just kill her.”

“No” was his immediate answer. “I do not kill royalty.
Ever.”

“You were going to kill me,” she stated matter-of-factly.

His heart stuttered for a moment. She really thought he was
going to kill her? “I kidnapped you. I never planned on killing you.” He could
never kill such a perfect being. Kidnapping her was hard enough. Holding her in
his home in the human realm was more than he could bear. As much as he didn’t
want to admit it,
Randor
wanted to see her calm and
free, not tense and hostile as she was now.

A minute of awkward, tense silence followed before
Adora
stood up straight, pushing herself from the lounge.
“I have the perfect place to hide while we figure things out.”

He frowned. “What’s wrong with staying here?”

“The elf knows where we are.”

“We can trust him.”

“No.” She stared at him coldly. “We can’t.” Stepping around
him,
Adora
shook out her arms and sucked in a deep
breath. “Can you open a portal?”

“Of course.”

Randor
stood by her side and focused
his magic, preparing to open the portal to the
faery
realm.

“Wait.”
Adora
interrupted him. “I
want my sword.”

With a flick of his fingers and a little bit of
concentration, her sword appeared in his hand. He passed it to her, returning
her grateful smile. He concentrated on his magic once more, picturing the
faery
realm, and pointed his finger to a spot just above
his head. The invisible fabric of space ripped and followed the path his finger
took.

He put both hands inside the realm and opened the portal
wide enough for the two of them to fit inside. When he turned to face
Adora
, there was a black aura shimmering around the two of
them. He shot a questioning look at her. What had she done?

“We’re both invisible,” she explained.
“And
undetectable.”

Randor
held his hand out for her
before he stepped through the portal. When she hesitated, he asked what was
wrong. She looked down at her clothing and shot him a look that basically said “give
me some better attire or I’ll kick your ass.”

He used his magic to place more suitable clothing on her
body. Unfortunately, she wasn’t particularly happy with the flowing red satin
dress he had conjured up.

“Too bad, Princess.
It’s that or the underwear.”

She scowled but remained silent. With a complacent
expression,
Randor
took her hand and walked through
the portal with her.

****

A string of curses were on the tip of
Adora’s
tongue. If she hadn’t been so eager to get back into the
faery
realm, she would have spat them at the assassin and started a fight.
Unfortunately, she wanted to get as far away from where he resided as soon as
she could.

She couldn’t believe he lived with an elf. No doubt he would
try to convince her that
Kiel
wasn’t a threat, but she didn’t believe it for a second. Elves were sneakier
than
Fae
—and they were damn sneaky.

As they stepped through the portal, a rush of cold air hit
Adora’s
bare skin. Immediately, chills rose and she looked
down to realise
Randor
hadn’t given her any
underwear. Her nipples were easily visible in the thin satin material.

“Stupid bastard,” she muttered.

Randor
closed the portal behind them
and released her hand, but stayed by her side, waiting.

“What was that?”

Narrowing her eyes,
Adora
ignored
the want to smack the arrogant look off his face. She needed him.
In more ways than one.
Her heightened state of arousal was
almost too much for her to take. She tried to concentrate on the task at hand—getting
the two of them to her hide out—but her throbbing core begged for attention.

“Come on,” she mumbled and led him north.

Her hideout was about a ten-minute walk away through the dense
forest that lined the boundaries of the Water Lands. She’d found the hideout
when she was only seven and was out hunting with her mother. Mother was the one
who taught her to fight, hunt, track, heal, and use her magic. Her mother had
understood who
Adora
was.
Who she
would grow up to be.
Father tried to mould her into a typical princess
rather than the rogue she turned out to be.

I miss her
.

“Who do you miss so much, Princess?”

Randor’s
soft voice caught her
attention and wiped away her sadness. “Nobody,” she snapped. She didn’t realise
she’d shared that thought with him.

So
much for being able to control telepathy with a soul mate.

She wasn’t about to share her thoughts, emotions, and all
that crap with someone she didn’t know. Soul mate or not, he was a stranger.

His arm brushed hers as he stepped into stride with her,
sending waves of heat rolling over her body. It reminded her of
their…activities in the bathroom earlier.

“Where are we headed, Princess?”

She clenched her jaw and her steps became stomps when he
used the term. Being called that in the castle was bad enough. She wouldn’t
tolerate it from
Randor
. “I’ve asked you to stop
calling me that.”

He cocked an eyebrow and regarded her calmly. “What would
you prefer I call you?”

“I don’t give a shit. As long as it’s not Princess, I’m fine
with it.”

Randor
grinned at her, clearly about
to make a remark, before something caught his eye. He looked over her shoulder
and grabbed her arm, stopping both of them.

“What?” she whispered, following his
eyeline
but not finding a thing.

Not a second later,
Adora
heard
the whoosh of an arrow slicing through the air. Reacting faster than she,
Randor
threw her down and pinned her body to the ground to
protect her.

“Are we still invisible?” The whisper in her ear sent
shivers down her spine.

She nodded, hoping silently that her magic was still holding
out. Sometimes, with her bad moods or stress, it failed, but she wasn’t about
to admit that to anyone. Adrenalin rushed through her veins and the need to
fight spread.

“How far to your hideout?”

“No more than one hundred paces.”

Randor
nodded and rolled off her
into a crouching position. His fierce eyes stared at hers. “Run.”

It was an order. One she obeyed without question.

As fast as she could,
Adora
got up
and ran without looking back. The tone of
Randor’s
voice had her scared for her life. Someone was after them and he seemed to know
whom. She made her way into the forest, holding her dress up with one hand so
her legs wouldn’t tangle in it. Following the invisible path she’d memorised in
her childhood, she ran past the large trunk of a long dead tree, through a
sheet of green and purple leaves until she reached the river’s edge.

Turning right, she followed the riverbank, jumping over
several dead logs, animal dens, and goblin traps. She could have done the trip
with her eyes closed, but she kept her eyes open, staying alert. Every five
steps, she checked over her shoulder to see if
Randor
was following. He wasn’t.

Within seconds, she’d reached what appeared to be the edge
of a ravine.

“Three steps to the right and
ten forward. You’ll step over the edge, but don’t be afraid. You’ll make it
across safely.”
Her
mother’s words rang in her ears.