The Honoured Guest (9 page)

Finvara noticed where she’d been looking, and the Fae prince laughed in cruel amusement. “Did she taste delicious, Maiden?” he taunted.

When she realised what he meant, she did throw up, vomit slid down over her robes and the prince refused to release her neck. She sobbed hard, her eyes so full of tears that she could barely see a thing. Her throat burned from the bile, her heart thundering so hard in her chest that it felt like it was going to burst out of it.

That girl that they’d brought in through the portal…

Oh God
.

“It is also a custom of the feast for our Guest to eat the flesh of our enemy. One of royal blood,” he remarked, showing her a heartless grin.

The chanting died and a hundred ravenous eyes turned her way. She froze once more in horror as she realised what all of this meant, her gaze going to the huge, empty golden platter in place at the head of the table, just near the queen. She saw the flash of sharp teeth around the table, and malicious gazes, and knew there was no escape.

They were going to
eat
her
.

A wail of pure helplessness was torn from her. She wasn’t leaving this place, no-one was going to help her, and her parents and brother would never even know what had happened. Would the Fae wipe her very existence from the minds of those who knew her? Was this what they had done for all the others who had perished in this cursed place?

I don’t want to die!

As she looked wildly around at the creatures closing in upon her, several things suddenly came back to her about the night, events that had seemed like nothing at the time, but were clearly all a part of the
Bealtaine
ceremony
to which she had foolishly fallen prey.

The cleansing of her body, the theft of her hair, the child Dia taking her blood with the blooms, the poor Fae girl’s flesh, the words she had spoken in their language.

Oh God,
she had been so
stupid
.

All of these things had been a part of a
ritual
and she had sealed her own fate!

Chelsea spotted Nuallán in a sea of Fae faces. as they closed in on her, and she looked at him imploringly. “Nuallán, please, help me.”

His lip curled disdainfully, red eyes hard and full of hunger like the others, but also with a disgust that she had even
dared
to ask him for aid. “You are our
food
, Maiden
,”
he said slowly and clearly so that he could not be misunderstood.

He did not even give her the honour of using the name she had asked him to speak, when the other Fae would not.

“No better than the wild animals of the forest.”

Hands closed over her shoulders, stopping the small red-head from backing off as the court closed in and clawed hands, belonging to the creatures crawling over the ground and in the air, bit into her painfully, all over her body. “No! No, don’t touch me!”
Cruel hands groped at the flesh of her thighs beneath the silvery gown, as if picking out the choicest meat.

They began to drag her struggling form towards the table, and the crowd parted like a wave, allowing a path right to that huge golden platter that was her fate. The hidden, glowing eyes of their evil queen watched, with a sickening satisfaction and pleasure, as her sacrifice was brought before her. She had orchestrated this entire deadly masquerade.

The true feast was about to begin.

Will they eat me alive, or kill me first?
Chelsea wondered hysterically, sobs wracking her body and tears falling from her huge wet green eyes.
Please. Please kill me first!

All she could see were razor sharp fangs in their mouths, their claws like knives, starvation in their inhuman gazes.

The mortal girl saw someone from the corner of her eye, right beside her as she was dragged, and her head jerked about to see the prince keeping pace gracefully. He still looked as he had all evening, not like the others.
Why?

As he saw her looking, he smiled in a teasing manner; how he had fooled her with his charm, and how stupid she had been to not notice all the things that had been so obviously wrong about this whole feast.

How many young girls like her had they devoured? He had known all along how to manipulate her into staying until midnight.

Terror prevented Chelsea from speaking as Finvara’s golden eyes also turned blood red, skin and clothing darkening from silver to black, and his hair to midnight, as he finally took on his true form. Prince Finvara’s hand rose to reveal red rivulets of blood, drawn from her throat, sliding over his darkening fingers. He licked at the blood, his gaze ravenous as it met hers, and he repeated those ominous words she had heard from him earlier.

“Without you, there is no feast.”

The End

***Coming Soon***

Body Language

Book Blurb:
Popular College guy Xander dashes into a store to avoid a persistent girl who wants to date him, not realizing that it's a lingerie store full of women. Totally horrified, he goes into the closest stall to hide and comes face to face with his neighbour, Ashlyn, dressed only in flimsy underwear!

The two don't like each other at all, though they used to be best friends as kids. However, arguing is the last thing on his mind once he sees her. He can’t keep his hands off his sexy neighbour, clad in ice-pink silk and lace, and she really doesn’t want to stop him, when the two come together in an unexpected sexual attraction...