Forever Fae (34 page)

Blood is spattered all over the walls and ashes are scattered through
out the cells.
The air is thick with the smell of death and pain.  Bile rises in the back of my throat and the burning sensation feels like it’s ignited over my entire body.  I am a
ppalled at what I’m seeing and
saddened to think of all the fae that have lost their lives here.  From the amount of blood s
tains everywhere I would say the
se people suffered a great a
mount of torture.  I look around the cells and it appears there is no one here
. S
o
why did we come?

“Why are we here
,
if you have no prisoners?” I ask.

He just grins and taunts playfully
, “Oh, you’ll see, it’s my surprise I have for you.”

My body starts to sweat and I feel suffocated in the tight brown leather of my clothes.  The leather straps of my top feel like they’re squeezing my lungs
and
I can’t draw in a deep breath.  I wish I could run
and hide so I don’t have to see
what my surprise is.  We
are almost to the last cell so
I slow my pace.  My feet feel like they wei
gh a million pounds and moving them is becoming harder and harder.
  The dark sorcerer has a huge grin
on his face
and motions for me to take a look.  I slowly turn my gaze to what lies behind the cell door and I’m shocked to see what’s there.

I raise m
y eyebrows in question.

“What is he doing in there?” I ask. 

“He is my gift to you, my
q
ueen
.  This is going to be a special night for us both and I thought you would like to seek vengeance on the one who killed your best friend’s parents.”

I jerk
my head to look at him.  Did I just hear him right?  Did Warren kill Xylia’s parents?
I turn my back from Warren to give me time to think and process what I
’ve
just heard.
I look in the dark sorcerer
’
s borrowed eyes and
I
see truth there.
This can’t be happening. But it’s true, Warren killed Xylia’s parents.  She must be devastated right now and I’m not there to comfort her. 
The
evil glint in the sorcerer’s eyes tells me of his intent.
He brought me here to kill Warren.  My world turns to black and I feel like I’m falling into nothingness.  The
emotions
are too much.  I feel pain and grief for Xylia, heartbreak and sorrow for the innocents that lost their lives in this horrid prison, disgust for the man that has claimed so many lives and has turned this land to poison, and most of all
,
RAGE
. 

The anger and rage feels like it’s spreading through
every square inch
of my body
and intoxicating me with its heady plea
sure.
I hate the man beside me, but I really hate the man in the cell that killed two close friends of my family who were also the parents of my
best friend, and who also betrayed a best friend that happens to be the man I love.  I have decided
.
I will do this for Xylia.

I feel the coldness of a blade entering into my hand, but I cannot see it.  The only thing I see is the red, hazy cloud of rage blocking my vision.  I hear skin tearing and the gurgling of someone trying to breathe.  A hot, sticky substance spr
ays across my neck and chest and t
he metallic smell of blood fills my nose, but it doesn’t bother me.  My breathing accelerates and my grip on the blade tightens.  The last thing I remember hearing before my vision
clear
s
is
the sound of Warren
screaming and
choking on his blood.

I come around to the sound of Avery’s voice, even though it’s not actually Avery.  He walks up behind me and puts his hands on my hips. He breathes against my ear and whispers
to me.

“Very nice, my
q
ueen
, your body has me completely turned on.”  He presses his groin up against my ass and pulls me in tighter as he continues speaking
.

“
I didn’t know you had that amount of rage built up inside that voluptuous body.  How about we leave and fulfill your destiny as my
q
ueen
?” 
I look at his face
.
H
is
eyes are glassy and he licks his lips while devouring my body with his gaze.  If I knew I could
get away
, I would run away from here
as fast as I could
and never look back.  I
have killed for the first time in my life tonight.  It saddens me,
but Warren
deserved it and if it wasn’t me doing it
,
I know Ry
der would have been the one to do it.
  I saved Ryder from having to kill his best friend that not only turned traitor, but killed innocent people
in
my court.  It still hurts to know that Ryder’s going to be devastated when he finds out. 

“I need some fr
esh air,”
I say as I turn to walk out of the prison. The dark sorcerer follows me and I can feel his lingering gaze caressing the backside of my body as I walk.  I have to get him away from the village and I think I know the way to do it.
  Why does this have to be so difficult?  I just killed someone and now I have to pretend to be turned on.  This is some seriously messed up shit.  I decide that what I’m about to do next needs to
happen
before walking out of the prison because I don’t want Ryder or Merrick seeing
it
.

Before we get to the door
of the prison, I turn to the dark sorcerer with a
hooded gaze and I part my lips slightly to run my tongue over them.
  I run my fingers down his chest and move closer so our bodies are touching. 

I rub against him slowly as I whisper, “I believe it’s time to have some fun
,
don’t you think?”  I lift my eyes to stare hard into his, daring him to comply with my wish.

He bites his lip and releases a deep groan from his throat.  He rubs his body against mine to let me know he is up for the challenge. 

“What do you have in mind?”
H
e
groans.

“Follow me,” I say.
  I tried to sound as sexy as
possible
.

We head out of the prison and he possessively wraps his arm around my waist.  It’s a complete show of domina
nce and claiming his territory, but
I a
m definitely not his territory and never will be.

He bends down to whisper in my ear, “I’m going to make you scream tonight.”  He then takes my earlobe in his mouth and sucks on it.

I give him a little giggle and push him away. 
The urge to kill him is so strong. When I get home, I’m going to have to shower for a year to get his stench off of me.  He wraps his arms around my waist and rests his hand
on my ass.  Please
don’t let Ryder do anything yet because
I know this is probably pissing him off seeing me like this.  I lead the dark sorcerer away from the village and into the woods.  I practically
ma
k
e
him think that I
am
going to give myself to him, so I need to come up with a plan very quick before we go too far. 
We’re about a half mile out when he stops walking and takes a look around.

“I think this will be good,”
he says while inspecting the ground.

“Are you sure?  Because I’m sure there’s a better spot somewhere else,” I say expectantly.

He gives me a smirk
.

“If I
didn’t
know any better, my Queen, I would say that you’re nervous.”

“No, I’m definitely not,” I say and my voice quivers as I say it.  I silently curse myself because I can’t show weakness.  He walks over to me with
a curious look on his face and then
looks at the talisman and narrows his eyes.  His fingers trail down my collarbone and across the mound of my breast to the talisman.  He moves it back and forth and then looks in my eyes. 

“Let’s take
this off and see what happens,” he says.

He lifts the talisman from around my neck and places it around his.  The bloodstone of the talisman begins to glow and underneath Avery’s body I see the ghostly outline of the dark sorcerer absorbing the power he took from me. Now that the talisman is off, I can feel the loss of what it took. I lean back against one of the dark oily
trees of the Black Forest and
the sticky residue
of the tree
is leaving
a slimy film on my back which
feels disgusting.   I shake my head to clear the fog.  I don’t feel empty, but I feel the void inside my body where the pieces are miss
ing.  The ring helped him to not
take all of my power, but it took a great deal.  Without Elvena’s ring, I would probably be dead right now.  I still have power and I can feel it coursing through my body, but I don’t know if it’ll be strong enough to fight him off. 
He’s
glowing with power
and
I know that I shouldn’t try right now
, so I wait for it to stop.
I don’t know where
Ryder
and
Merrick are at
until I hear a whisper at my ear and feel a soft caress down my cheek.

“I’m here
,
Calista.”

It
is
Ryder.  My heart
skip
s
a beat at his touch, and I’ve never felt more alive than I do at this moment with him near.  I nod my head
so he know
s
I
can
hear him.  I look at the dark sorcerer and t
he glowing has s
topped, but now he’s
staring at me with an evil glint in his eye.  It makes my skin crawl and a fear I have never felt begins to take root in my soul.  The talisman has changed my pure, clean magic to something twisted and evil and it’s taken over his body.  His
arrogant
strut as he makes his way to me lets me know that the time I’ve spent here has been nothing but easy and now the real fun is about to begin.  Dread settles in the pit of my stomach and I fear that we aren’t going to make it out of here alive. I don’t know how we’re
going to defeat him on our own.

He pushes me up a
gainst the tree with a painful
force.  The impact
is
so hard my head
bounce
s
up against the tree and my teeth rattle. 

His voice takes on a menacing tone
of pure evil and hate when he roars
, “You know, my
q
ueen
, betrayal is punishable by death.  Did you think I was stupid?  I could sense the treachery in you the moment you awoke in my bed.”

Realization
click
s
on in
my brain.  I close my eyes and sag in defeat.  I can’t believe he knew I was pretending this whole time. 
My look of surprise brings a smile to his face and his hands grab around my neck and he squeezes so tight I start to see spots.  I’m gasping for air and m
y hands come up instantly to grab onto his arms to pull him away from me, but he’s too strong.  I scratch my nails down his arms as hard as I can and blood begins
to
flow down in rivulets. His face is so close to mine and I try to turn my head, but his grip is s
o tight that I’m stuck there.
  He pushes his body against mine, grinding me into the slick, oily tree.  The feel of his body combined with the feel of the tree on my back makes me feel sick.  He bends low and slowly traces his tongue along my jaw.  

“I love pain,
p
rincess
, and all you’re doing is turning me on even more.  This isn’t my body so I don’t care what you do to it.
  Scratch
,
bite
,
you name it.  I enjoy it all,
”
he taunts. 
He thr
usts hard into me so I can feel
how turned on he is.  “But I can assure you, I will enjoy this as if it was my own body about to take you.”

He laughs, low and seductive
.

“I enjoyed every mi
nute of your betrayal
.  I pretended right along with you
,
making you think I was blind with lust.  Believe me, I am, but not enough for you to trick me.  You have an amazing body and I’m sure you could bewitch the best of men.”  He moves his face away to send a long, lingering gaze down my body.  He takes his hands away from my neck and I cough to draw in a much needed raspy breath.