Happily Ever After: A Contemporary Romance Boxed Set

by Piper Rayne

  I still didn’t say anything. His boot crashed up under my chin, knocking my head back into the stocks. I cried out in pain, and he stepped back in close to me. “I am trying to have a conversation with you here,” he said, grabbing my hair.

  “What?” I whimpered.

  “I want to know why you care so much about this stranger. I mean, you got yourself thrown in here with me, on his account!” He released my hair with a laugh. “Just think, it didn’t do him a damn bit of good, anyway. I’m going to fight him tomorrow. He’s as good as dead.”

  Simon ran his hand up and down my back. This part was the worst, in its own way. He would touch me gently, and my body would almost want to surrender and enjoy it. Almost. But it also knew who was touching it, as well as what was really coming. So, as he caressed me, I bristled. He enjoyed that as well. Simon was sick. There was no other way to put it and I hated myself for not having the courage to leave the kingdom like my mother had all those years ago; assumed now to be dead by idiots who forgot she was immortal.

  “I’m going to have a real blast with you today. It’s been too long.” He ran his hand farther down and lifted my dress. “So, tell me. Why do you care so much about him?”

  “He didn’t do anything, Simon. Why can’t we just let him go?”

  “Ah, talking. Much better.” He ran his hand over my bottom, giving it a little squeeze. “But you didn’t answer my question.”

  “What question?”

  He moved in front of me and grabbed my pointed ears, digging his fingernails into them and squeezing. “Shut up,” he said to cut me off before I could scream. “I’m asking you for the third time now. Why do you care about him so much? Look what you’ve gotten yourself into, because of him.”

  He released me and let me catch my breath. It was a moment of mercy, but it would never last. With Simon, it never did.

  “He didn’t do anything! That’s why!”

  “No. It’s not some abstract notion of justice. I’ve never known you to take any interest in any court case. You care about him personally.” He moved just behind the stocks and pulled the top of my dress down. Casually fondling my breast, he said, “Alright. Now tell me truly. What’s up with you and that filthy human?”

  “What do you want me to say?”

  “Well, one of Lily’s theories is that you finally found a consort for a festival night.” He pinched my nipple, rolling it painfully between his fingers. “Did that happen? You can tell me, it’s not like I care or anything. I might laugh, though.”

  “No,” I grunted.

  “Hmm. Too bad. Filthy beast like that, you might’ve found someone who actually liked you. Wouldn’t that have been nice, before we ship you off to old Zane? …Well, okay, if that’s not it, then why?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Not good enough.” He dug his fingers into my breast as hard as he could, then twisted. I shrieked. He told me to be quiet, and I couldn’t. He punched me in the ribs until I couldn’t breathe. He never let go of my breast. “I said, shut up. Just quietly answer my question, and I’ll let go.”

  “I... Don’t... Know...” I gasped. “He... Just... Seemed... Nice...”

  “Gah,” he grunted in disgust, but thankfully let go of me. I was hyperventilating. That was a new torture he had come up with, and now I felt dizzy with pins tingling all over my body. “Know what I think? I think maybe you don’t like him at all. I think maybe, you just missed me visiting you here. Because nothing you’re saying makes any sense.”

  He stood in front of me and took himself out of his pants. “Open your mouth.”

  I just looked sideways. He grabbed my hair again. “Damn it, I’m not in the mood anymore. Open.” He pulled my hair tighter and tighter, but I kept my mouth shut. “Fine,” he said at last, throwing my head painfully to the side. He moved behind me, and I felt him push a finger into me. “If you really are here on behalf of that beast, I want you to think about how this is because of him, and how you failed to help even an animal. Just like you fail at everything.” He bent his finger and dug around with his jagged nail. “Come on, scream for me.”

  Finally, I did scream. I couldn’t help it. I screamed and I sobbed. I begged and pleaded. He just wouldn’t stop. “Why do you always do this to me?” I cried. Then, I remembered what I’d learned earlier: Lily. Why did my sister hate me so much? It wasn’t my fault who my mother was. It wasn’t my fault she had left either or even that I was glad for her.

  “I do it because you’re ugly and it’s what you deserve for spoiling the look of every court function. You should have taken off into the wilderness long ago, like your mom. See? Simple question, simple answer. Why couldn’t you do that earlier?”

  It was actually a relief when he stopped torturing me with his finger and entered me. He started talking as he took me from behind. “I’m so excited for tomorrow. I still don’t get why you could possibly care about that thief so much, but knowing that you do... It’s going to make it so much more enjoyable to cut him up in front of you, bit by bit. I want to do it slow, you see. No matter how slow he bleeds, it has to run out at some point. Maybe I’ll even go down in history. How many fairies have slain a human, after all?”

  I grimaced as my wings began to unfurl. It was a response of a girl’s body to making love. Or rather, to being taken, since Simon definitely was not making love. “Hey,” he said. “Fold them up, or I’ll pin them in place with my sword.”

  They snapped shut. He had done that before. I could not describe the pain. It had hurt so badly I couldn’t even remember the extent of it. He drew his sword and made a cut down the length of my back. As he neared climax, he started making more and more cuts across my back, to hear me scream. I shuddered as he came in me, but he still wasn’t done. He spent some time punching, kicking, and insulting me. He spit on me. Then he softly kissed my cheek and said he’d be back, as if he were speaking to a lover.

  But it didn’t matter. Only one thing did: Simon was going to kill Sebastian tomorrow.

  Simon visited me again before and then after dinner. Then again before he went to bed. It was the worst I’d ever been through with him. There were new tortures he had come up with, and each time he stayed longer than he ever had before.

  He visited again in the morning. “A lovely new day out there, Princess,” he said as he came in. “Just full of possibilities.” With none of his usual ceremonial torment, he lifted my dress. “I wasn’t going to visit you again on account of the fight.” He began pawing between my legs. “I thought maybe I’d better save my strength. But then I remembered, he’s just a lousy mortal.”

  At least he didn’t seem to be requiring much from me this time. I just waited for him to be done, hoping I would be able to see Sebastian one last time.

  He began grunting and thrusting and cutting me. “I can’t wait to do this to him. I mean, look how deep I have to cut you before I see any blood.” He cut me up by my shoulder. I shrieked and cried in frustration. “With him? Every little thing like this,” he poked the sword tip into me, “or this,” he gave me a small cut lower on my back, “will just bleed and bleed, until he runs out. Runs out! Can you imagine?”

  It seemed to take forever, but finally with a long groan and an extra deep cut across the bottom of my back, he finished. “Well,” he said, catching his breath. “Guess I ought to let you go now. Breakfast is over.”

  He moved to unlock me, but not before using my hair to clean himself up. I stood and fixed my dress. He just leaned against the stocks, looking at me. “You’re actually going to go see him now, aren’t you?”

  I looked at him and looked away. The second he let me go, I outranked him again. I didn’t have to say a word.

  “Yeah, well...might go clean up first,” he said with a note of amusement.

  There, I knew he was right. I had been awake and abused for twenty-four hours. I took some time to freshen up in my room. Then, without looking for any sort of breakfast, I went to the briars.

  H
e’s still got to be there, I reasoned. Breakfast only just ended and the arena doesn’t open until lunch time.

  My pace slowed when I remembered what Lily said or claimed she had said. Would he still want to see me? She told him that he disgusted me. That those were my words... Would me coming to see him again at least help to convince him that wasn’t true?

  My stomach knotted as I drew near his cell. I turned the corner, and he looked up. I was amazed, and relieved, to see his face light up.

  “Darian!” he said and stood, coming over to the bars.

  “Hi, I’m sorry...I didn’t come yesterday.”

  “It doesn’t matter, you’re here now. I’m glad to see you.”

  Once I got over my surprise at that I asked, “Have you heard what’s going to happen?”

  “Something about I have to fight Simon?”

  I nodded, and when I realized that this was probably our last conversation, my eyes teared up. “It’s so unfair. He won’t lose a drop of blood, any cut you manage to make will just heal... He wants to wear you down and...” Torture you to death.

  “So why this fighting thing, instead of cutting my hand off like before?”

  I snorted. “My father is a hypocrite, that’s why. He says he doesn’t want to kill you outright since that’s not the penalty for stealing. So he won’t cut your hand off, since you might die. Then he claims he wants to give you a fighting chance. So he pits you against an immortal with a sword.”

  “He said he wants me to have a fighting chance, though?”

  Was that hope in his voice? “Yes, why?”

  “Can you hold him to that?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “When they brought me here they had something of mine, a staff. A stick. Do you remember seeing it? Have you seen it?”

  “No, I don’t remember...”

  “Shoot...”

  “What about it, though?”

  “If I’m to have a fair chance, shouldn’t I at least have my weapon of choice?”

  “They’re going to give you a sword.”

  “I don’t want a sword.”

  “You’d rather have a stick?”

  “I am so grateful to you for your help the other night, and for even coming to see me today. But I must ask this one favor. Please tell me if it’s not in your power, but could you arrange it so I may fight with my staff instead of a sword?”

  “I’ll try, sure, but why’s it so important?”

  “I’ve sworn off blades,” he said, standing. “Only in extreme circumstances. I have also had that staff since I was a boy. It’s very sentimental. If I must die, having it in my hands would mean a lot to me.” He looked more closely at me. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m okay. Why?”

  “You seem, I don’t know… Off.”

  The image of Simon showing up in the stocks and the way he’d mocked me flashed through my mind. Before I could get flooded with sounds and sensations from yesterday, I shook my head. “I’m fine. Really. Look, I’m going to go find out about your staff for you. I don’t know how long breakfast has been over.”

  He nodded. “You really are a sweetheart,” he said.

  I smiled and left.

  I tried speaking with my father about it. He wouldn’t listen to me long enough to get a grasp of the situation. It was the chamberlain who I finally got somewhere with.

  “Trial by combat is always done with swords,” he said.

  “Isn’t it also always between fairies? He’s mortal. Things are different. Isn’t the idea that justice will prevail, no matter who uses what weapons?”

  “The idea is that the one on trial pays his due to society by offering entertainment and being punished. Earning his own redemption.”

  “Alright, is that really prevented by him using a staff to fight?”

  He paused, and then, “Hmm, can’t say as it is, especially. And it is different altogether this time, at any rate.” He trailed off, then a gleam came to his eyes. “My speech! I can work it into my speech! Darian, what a wonderful idea you’ve had. I will see that it is allowed. You go tell the guards to return to him his confiscated property!”

  Joyfully, I ran all the way back to the briars and asked the guards to give me anything the prisoner was brought in with. “There was just this,” one of them said, handing me a stick with patterns carved on each end. I held it curiously for a moment. It did feel special, and I wondered about the history Sebastian had with it.

  “Thank you. I will deliver it to him.”

  “Seriously? You did it?”

  I smiled and nodded. It felt so good to have helped him.

  “Can I have it?”

  “Oh, here.” I passed it through the bars.

  He gave it a couple graceful swings; short ones because of his limited space.

  He sighed. “I feel like I’ve done nothing but put you out already, but do you have time to answer a few questions about this fight?”

  “You’re not putting me out,” I said. “I want to help you.”

  “You’re helping, believe me...” There was a pause as he let that sink in. “When it’s two fairies fighting, since both are immortal, how does a sword fight end?”

  “When one has had enough, usually. Except for trial by combat. Then, only the challenger can yield.”

  “But you guys don’t get hurt. What makes a fairy have ‘had enough?’”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. I’ve never been in a fight. We do get tired and we get sick of being cut.” At least I know I do.

  “Does nothing ever kill a fairy?”

  “Anything that can’t heal. It’s very rare. We are basically immortal except under extreme circumstance: If we get crushed by something, that will do it. Being eaten by predators, drowning and fire. Why do you ask? Nothing that can kill Simon is going to be in the arena, I can say that for sure.”

  “What happens with things other than flesh wounds?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well,” he lowered his voice. “If I were to hit Simon in say, the throat, would he die from that?”

  “I don’t know. These things don’t ever really happen. We don’t get injured often and when we fight it’s just cutting at each other until one says he can’t stand anymore.”

  “So if I can manage to make Simon yield, technically there’s a chance I might win this fight?”

  “How are you going to make him yield?”

  “I’m going to try. I’m going to do it how I’m supposed to. Fight. What does he have to do, call out ‘yield?’”

  “Yes.”

  He nodded. “I am in your debt, Darian. If I do die in there, I want you to know you made my last moments much more bearable. Before I met you, I was beginning to fear I would die without ever seeing compassion again. I just wish there was something I could do for you.”

  How can he just talk so calmly about dying? Is it because he’s mortal?

  “Do what you said,” I blurted out. “Hit Simon in the throat.”

  He looked at me, almost startled. “You don’t like him either?”

  “He’s tormented me most of my life. I hate him.”

  “He’s a small man. Taller than me now, yes, but small on the inside. There’s not a lot to him. Don’t let him make you feel threatened.”

  The arena was there for entertainment usually. I was never interested in it. Seeing fairies hurt each other held no enjoyment for me. However, being a trial by combat made this fight a court matter and I was required to attend.

  “Good people of the Luna fairies,” the chamberlain said from the center of the arena. “Welcome to a most unusual, historic event! As many of you know, a thief was apprehended in our raspberry fields on the day of the pollen parade. As a few of you may know, this was no ordinary criminal, but a human!”

  Some gasps confirmed that no, not everyone knew that.

  “A mortal human, in our arena! I can attest to it, dear friends. I saw him bleed with my own eyes. If we were to cut off
his hand as we would any common thief, he would lose that hand, and possibly his life! Our king, in his infinite compassion, has instead decided to give him a fair, fighting chance. The first trial by combat in ages!”

  The crowd cheered and I wondered if any of those idiots stopped to think that this was not a fair chance at all. The chamberlain held his arms up for silence. “Furthermore, the criminal made an additional request, which has been granted by our king’s overwhelming generosity. He wishes to fight with not a sword, but the very walking stick he was brought in with. Unimaginable, what he will do with a mere stick! I hope it adds to your excitement. If not, then consider this: You are about to witness history in the making. An actual human in our arena! For one of our combatants, this is a fight to the death!”

  He left the arena and flew to his place in my father’s balcony. “Raise gate one!” he cried.

  The gate lifted and Simon strutted into the fighting field amid cheers. He drew his sword and made a few grand sweeps, then flew a lap around the fighting area. Hovering in front of the balcony, he looked at me and winked.

  “Raise gate two!”

  Gate two rose. Sebastian stepped out into the sun and stopped, just standing there.

  Silence.

  Simon saw Sebastian look at me. When I smiled and gave my tiny friend a small wave of encouragement, Simon looked over his shoulder and smirked.

  It took seconds.

  Suddenly, Simon swung at Sebastian. What I saw dumbfounded me. With his stick, Sebastian knocked Simon’s strike away and hit him in the side of the head with the other end. He gave it a follow-through spin and jabbed Simon in the throat.

  Without a shred of self-control, my hands went to my mouth in gleeful surprise. I had never seen anyone move like that. I wondered if anyone ever had. It looked like he had hurt Simon. Could I dare hope my new friend might win?

  Sebastian

  * * *

  After Lily and her sisters left me, the day passed slowly and uneventfully. I waited for Darian. She didn’t show. I still didn’t believe what Lily had said, not exactly. Darian had been drunk. Maybe for whatever reason she did feel ashamed of visiting me the next morning. Let it go, I told myself. Enjoy it for what it was, then. You still had a nice visit.