Forever Fae (10 page)

My father leans over to whisper in my ear
.

“I need you to talk to Elvena as soon
as possible.”

“I will
, first thing in the morning,” I respond.  Elvena tends to have the answers for everything since she’s the
p
rophetess
.

My father announces,
“The meeting with the council has been postponed to midday tomorrow.  Prince Ryder and his kin will be staying in t
he guest quarters.” I jerk my head hard
to stare wide-eyed at my father. 
I think I might have pulled something in my neck from moving my head so fast. I can’t believe Ryder is
staying here for the night.  My father has never offered to have people stay in the main house. 

With a dark and desperate look,
Merrick cut
s
in
.

“Your
H
ighness
, don’t you think it would be best if they stayed in one of the other houses on the property
?
”
He pauses and then adds quickly, “
That way they would have their privacy.”

We all know that isn’t
t
he real reason Merrick wants
the
m out of the house.  Ryder tries
to
hide a smile and fails miserably.
  I
look at him agitated hoping he’ll stop.  Provoking
Merrick is
just going to cause maj
or problems.   

My father smiles
kindly at Merr
ick.

“Merrick, they will be fine in the main house
.  The house is fully guarded so n
othing is going to happen.  If it is Calista’s safety you fear, then you are more than welcome to stay in one of her guest rooms in the south wing.”

Ryder’s smile vanishes while Merrick’s smile comes back full force.  Triumph
is
clea
rly written all over his face.
What is my father doing? 
I shake my head in disbelief and look at my father.  His mischievous smile explains everything. 
This is absolutely preposterous
. I can tell
Ry
der doesn’t like the idea
of Merrick being so close to me
.
Merrick’s face is beaming and I turn my dark look to him because he’s the one doing the provoking now.
  Merrick usually stays in the war
rior housing on our property and now that he’s
my
g
uardian
,
I didn’t even think about how that would change.

Merrick moves closer to me and looks over at Ryder.  He stares at him with a huge grin while he addresses my father
.

“Good idea,
Your
H
ighness
.  I think I will feel better if I stay closer to the princess.”

My father looks like he’s about burst with laughter so he turns his head so no one can see. 
I just
roll my eyes and sigh. 
It
is
going to be a long night, and it’s just getting started.

He looks back at me and his smile is gone, but the humor is still clearly there.

He says,
“Sunshine, I believe your mother and I will take our leave.  Don’t forget the meeting is midday tomorrow.”  He leans down to kiss my cheek.  “Good evening, and enjoy the rest of the night.
”  He winks at me and looks toward Ryder.
 
“
I’m sure there are plenty of people wanting to dance with you.”
With
th
is
last comment he turns to find my
mother and they both leave the Great R
oom. 

Now that my parents are gone,
I’m left with Merrick and Ryder
.  The tension is unbearable and t
hank goodness my friend Xylia takes this moment to ask Prince Ryder to dance.  I spoke to her and my sister, Meliantha, about him earlier.  He caught us staring at him so I know he knows that I was speaking about him. 
Not being very subtle,
Xylia practically drags him to the dance floor.  She looks a little wild with her pur
ple highlights and purple dress, but I like that about her.  I watch them dance for a few minutes when I hear Merrick enter my mind.

“Will you dance with me,
P
rincess
?
”

I give him a warm smile and hold out my hand. 
“You don’t need to ask, Merrick.  I would love to dance with you.”

He takes my hand and we make our way to the floor where we begin dancing to the slow melody the band is playing. He pulls me close and rests his other hand on the small of my back.
 
It’s a
little lower than what is cons
idered polite, but I get the impression he’s doing
it
for Ryder’s benefit.  Annoyed,
I casually lift his han
d up a bit and narrow my eyes at him.

He looks down at me seriously and asks,
“Why did you move my hand, Cali?”

I look at him incredulously.
“You know why, it doesn’t look good for my reputation if you are practically grabbing my ass.”

He shakes h
is head clearly not believing me.
“I don’t think that’s it at all.  What’s going on between you and Ryder?”

“Nothing is going on.  I just met
him
,
”
I
s
ay hastily.

“It d
idn’t seem like
any
thing
and I really don’t like the way he looks at you.”

I can see that he’s clenching his teeth and I follow his gaze to where Ryder and Xylia are dancing.  I lift my hand to his face and move it so he has to look at me.  His
expression
is serious
,
so I give him my goofy grin to cheer him up. 

I reply,
“You worry too much, Merrick.  Are we going to train in the morning before the council meeting?”

He finally gives me
a
cocky grin.

“Well, of course.  You know I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to get my ass kicked by a girl.”

I laugh and smack his arm
.

“After I talk to Elvena
in the morning
I will be more than ready to kick your ass.”

He holds me close, but not too
close
,
while w
e dance in silence for the next song.  I’m lost in thought when Avery, the head of our c
ouncil, asks Merrick if he can
cut in.  Merrick
gives me a pitying look then hands
me ov
er to
him
.  I silently groan and hate the fact that I have to dance with him.
I really do not like Avery. 

“How are you enjoying your
evening, Princess?” Avery asks.

I put on a fake smile and respond dryly,
“Very well, Avery, how about you?  I haven’t seen you around in a while.”

“I’ve been around
,
taking care of some business,” he says.

I wonder
what kind of business
it
is because h
e shouldn’t have had to deal with anything tonight
because of
the ceremony.
I still can’t get over the s
trange vibe I get when he’s
around.  I can sense something
i
s
not right with him. 
I dance with Avery for the duration of a whole song and I know I look miserable the
entire
time until finally my rescuer
c
omes
.

“Do you m
ind if I take over?” Ryder asks
Avery.

Avery looks
over at Ryder and
narrows his eyes at him.  I can tell he’s clenching his teeth when he gives Ryder a forced smile.  Avery reluctantly hands me over and says,
“Of course,
Y
our
H
ighness,
you may take
her
.”

Ryder has a concerned look on his face as he takes my hand.
It’s like my
fire to his ice.
He must either be feeling the bad vibes
,
too
,
or he’s thinking about the vision. 
It would be great if I wasn’t the only one worried.  He leads me away fr
om Avery and pulls me close so we can begin our dance. 

“I could tell you needed someone to rescue you.  You loo
ked miserable dancing with him,” Ryder states.

I nod in agreement.

“Thank you, and yes I was miserable.
I don’t rea
lly like Avery, but he’s my father’s counselor, and a good friend of my parents.  It’s strange, but I get bad vibes when he’s around, and he always looks at me weird.
  I seem to be the on
ly one who can sense it,” I confess.

He shakes his head and responds,
“No, I
c
an
tell something is off about him.  I saw him talking to my friend Warren
earlier
.
I don’t know what
it
was all about, but I’m going to find out.”

             
We
dance in silence and our bodies are swaying together in a sensual rhythm.  It doesn’t make any sense at all, but I feel like I belong in his arms, like we were made for each other.  I breathe in his scent
,
which smells like a winter snow, clean and pure, with a slight hint of pine.  We all carry the unique scent of our own court.

Ryder breaks the silence and says humorously,
“You know, your friend Xylia told me a bunch of things about you.  She’s quite the talkative type.  She happened to tell me of your magical affinities, favorite hobby, your favorite food, which is my favorite as well, and the wonderful things you do in secret every morning before sunrise
.”

He chuckles at my look of astonishment
. His laugh is sexy and deep. 
His
hand
caress
es
my back
and
it makes
me want to feel his hands on other parts of my body. 
I
will
really need to take a cold shower after this. 
The connecti
on I feel with him is so strong and I instinctively move closer to him
so
my body is flush with his.

“What the fuck?”

  I glance across
the room
quickly
and see Merrick watching us.  His
expression is one of pure anger and hate. Shit,
I forgot to shield my thoughts.  How am I
ever
going to get out of this one?  I
take a deep breath and
pretend nothing
i
s wrong when I
turn back to Ryder.  I’ll
just have to
deal with Merrick later.

I move back from Ryder’s body so I can look at his face when I speak
.

“One thing about Xylia is that she doesn’t know when to keep her mouth shut.  I love her though, and we’ve been best friends since birth. I spend
most of my time in my library because
I love to read.  Spaghetti is my favo
rite food, and I’m shocked it’s yours as well.  The cooks here
won’t fix it, so Xylia and I have to travel to the mortal realm to be able to eat it.  There’s this little restaurant in Italy that makes the best spaghetti.”
 

I look around the room to find her and I see that she is dancing with Ashur.  S
he looks a little disappointed because
I know she wanted to dance with Conall tonight, but
the cut on his
thigh
is
really bad.  I hope she can forgive Merrick for
it
.

Curiosity
p
iquing,
I ask, “Now what exactly do you know about my morning secret?”

He smiles and leaves me stewing for a few seconds.  Xylia knows I don’t want word spr
eading around about my training, and if she’s said something I might have to use her for a practicing dummy.

“I hear you are quite the accomplished fighter. 
You know,
I could h
elp you train in the morning so y
ou can
see how the Winter
Court
A
rmy trains.  I saw how your warriors
f
ight
, but we use a f
ew different techniques, and I would be glad to show you.”