Shameless Fae (The Fae Bounties Book 1)

by Cilla Raven

  The tiny fire goes out immediately, and Quinn groans, but moves to relight it anyway.

  That’s when I strike.

  So fast he doesn’t know what’s hitting him, I step in between his red wings and send my arm snaking around his neck, making sure his throat sits right in the crux of my elbow as I place that hand on my right bicep and crank my right hand tightly behind his head. I lean back, increasing the tension on his carotid artery as I drag him backward away from the rest of the group as his big hands grab onto my arm in an attempt to escape the inevitable.

  “Oh, come on, Quinn,” I hear Priya complain, but it barely registers as Quinn goes unconscious in my arms.

  I lay him down on the ground silently and stand back up. I can’t see anything, but that’s a good thing since it also means I can’t be seen either.

  Hands out in front of me, I head in the direction of where I last saw Lazlo knowing that that blade of his is my next biggest threat. However, as soon as my hands touch him, somewhere on his wings I think, he’s grabbing me around my middle.

  The reflexes on this fae are ridiculous!

  I only struggle in his grasp for a second before I’m sliding out of his hold and stepping out of his reach. Sending a swift and powerful high kick to where I think his face is, I feel my foot connect with something solid, and an umph sound as I know he stumbles sideways.

  Then he starts laughing.

  That same maniacal laugh from earlier hits my ears, and there is something so sinister about it, fear starts to creep through me despite my training.

  “The Ghost is here, guys,” Lazlo says lowly, and I can still hear the smile in his voice. It sets my nerves on edge and prickles every one of my senses.

  Out of nowhere, something hits me in the back of my head from behind, and I fall to the ground hard as I hear Priya say, “I got one lick in! He’s over here, crawling on the ground like a little bitch! See? I told you guys we don’t need him.”

  Ignoring all of that crazy talk, I get up quickly without making a sound, moving away from where they think I am, to the other side of where I know they are.

  I push my hands out in front of me and inch closer to who I think is Roan when my hands make contact with his chest. Only letting my hands touch him for a second before I pull back, duck, come back up, and send a fist flying hard toward where his face should be, my punch lands solidly on what feels like a chin. I hear him stumble back a step, but just as fast as I’d attacked him, I feel the fast slice of a blade whip across the outside of my left arm in retaliation.

  There’s barely enough time for me to duck out of the way before I hear the tell-tell sound of metal sliding through the air, but this time it misses me, and I come up from my crouch with an uppercut that sends him back a few steps.

  Right then, someone grabs both of my arms from behind, trapping my wings against my back, and I hear Lazlo’s voice whisper in my ear, “You’re a lot smaller than I thought you’d be.”

  His voice has this rasp to it, almost as if he were talking to himself and didn’t want me to hear him, but I dismiss my wayward thoughts and send an elbow back behind me, landing it right where I wanted it to hit.

  His hands drop from my arms, and as I step away back into the trees, I listen carefully to figure out where everyone is.

  But I don’t hear anything.

  No breathing, no footsteps, no anything.

  They’re just as well trained as I am, I think to myself as I stay as silent and as still as possible. There’s no way for me to know where they are, and if I’ve learned anything from fighting them thus far, it's that the darkness doesn’t diminish their abilities at all. Once I make contact with them, they know where I am, and the others come to help.

  Can I take them all on at once?

  I don’t… know.

  It’s a sobering thought. I’ve never retreated in my life as a bounty hunter. Not once.

  Is that really what I’m considering right now? Fuck!

  I guess so, I think before I take off in the direction I came from despite how much I hate myself for doing it, ignoring whatever else they say as I leave.

  I barely even stop to pick up my castle guard uniform as I run through the deserted night-time streets, throwing on pieces of it at a time as I make my way back to the castle. Once inside, I have to slow way down and not draw attention to myself, but it's a wasted effort since I don’t see anyone at all on my way to Uncle’s rooms.

  Chapter 5

  “It’s not too bad, but it’ll take some time to heal,” Uncle says as he finishes wrapping a thick white bandage around the cut on my left arm. “You’ll need to keep this covered whenever you’re in public, though. We wouldn’t want people wondering how the princess got injured.”

  I roll my eyes at that. It’s the middle of summer, and the thought of wearing any kind of shirt with sleeves out in the Tavatikan heat this time of year seems nearly unbearable, but I agree that covering it up will be better than having to answer all the questions I would get if I didn’t.

  “Okay, I’ll keep it covered.”

  Now done with the immediate task of bandaging me up, Uncle pulls up a stool and sits down with his arms crossed over his big chest as he levels me with a look he’s rarely given me before. His tanned and rugged face has a few wrinkles, but overall, he’s still just as strong and capable as he was back when he was Tavatika’s most feared bounty hunter.

  “You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?” he asks, and I nod as I look down at my knees in front of me.

  “That I should’ve waited until I had a fail-proof plan in place,” I make an educated guess based on all my years of following his advice. He’s never once led me astray, and every time I’ve listened to what he’s told me to do, everything has turned out positively. However, some part of me still thinks that if I had maintained my element of surprise, I would’ve been able to capture those four tonight.

  I don’t dare tell Uncle that, though.

  “Yes, you should’ve waited and thought things through more, but I also want you to know I’m very proud of you for seeing that some battles need to be lost to win the war. It takes a very strong person to know when the odds just aren’t in their favor and to make the decision to live to fight another day. To be honest, I wasn’t sure you were humble enough to do such a thing, but now that you have, I’m actually more confident in your abilities than I was before,” Uncle says, offending me and complimenting me at the same time, a skill he’s honed well over the years.

  Chuckling a little, I say, “Well, I’m glad I impressed you by retreating, but it doesn’t feel good, I’ll tell you that.”

  “Ah, don’t sweat it, Z. It happens to the best of us,” he says as his black wings twitch behind him.

  Scoffing but smiling at the same time, I ask, “How do you know? It’s not like you ever ran away from anything before you retired.”

  Uncle’s face gets serious, his shoulders slumping some as he regards me.

  “I ran away once, and I’ve regretted it every day since.”

  “What are you talking about? I’ve never heard that story,” I say, thoroughly confused by the words coming out of his mouth.

  He takes a deep breath in before he sighs it out slowly, seeming to decide on whether or not he should tell me what he’s thinking, but after a few beats, he says, “The night your mother died, I fought a group of five fae men right outside the city walls who were protecting the bounty I was hunting.”

  “What? Why have you never told me this?” I interrupt, my anger increasing inside my chest.

  Uncle sighs again before he scrubs a hand down his face and explains.

  “Because I still can’t be sure they were the same five fae that killed your mother - the description you gave didn’t match who I remember fighting. It does seem like too much of a coincidence, what happened later that night, but that’s all it's ever been - just a coincidence. I could never prove anything. And by the time I found that bounty again, planning to have him t
ell me exactly who those fae were that were protecting him, he was already dead in a ditch. I’ve been looking for those fae ever since, those, and the ones you described, but as you know, I haven’t found any of them yet.”

  Even though I shake my head some in disbelief, I know he’s telling me the truth of what he knows. He might’ve lied to me by omission, but I don’t think he’d ever lie to me outright.

  It only takes me a few seconds to think of myself in his position, to imagine how he must’ve felt that night, and every night since, not knowing whether it was his actions that had his sister killed or not.

  “I’m sorry, Uncle. That couldn’t have been easy to live through,” I say softly, concern for him spreading through me, overtaking the anger I was feeling before.

  “Ah, don’t worry about it. We’ll catch them all one day,” he smiles at me even though it doesn’t fully reach his green eyes. “I’m just glad you’re going to be around to catch them at all after tonight. You know that was incredibly stupid, right?” Though I know he means every word he’s saying, the way he chuckles as he says it has this unique way of making me feel better, a trait I’ve always loved about him.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know,” I say, smiling back at him.

  Uncle gets up and starts leading me back to his door as he says, “Go get some sleep. We’ll plan out your next move after the hunt is over.”

  “Ugh,” I sigh loudly, having forgotten all about the royal hunt that I’m required to go on in just a few short hours. “How about this, I’ll sleep till high noon, and you can go on the hunt in my stead because you know I need my sleep. Everyone will be so surprised to see you in attendance, they won’t even miss me! What do you think?”

  Laughing that deep-chested laugh of his again, he responds, “I think you got hit harder in the head than we thought. Are you sure you don’t have a concussion?”

  “I’ll pretend to have anything if it’ll get me out of going on the hunt,” I say with a laugh, raising my eyebrows and looking pointedly at him, half-joking, and half-hoping he’ll tell me I don’t have to go.

  “I bet you would!” he chuckles some more as he slaps the bandage on my arm, just hard enough to make me wince. “But you know your duties as the princess are non-negotiable,” he says in a soberer tone as he eyes me. “Now go on and get some sleep. You’re gonna need it for tomorrow.”

  Bright and too early the next morning, Mika is way too chipper as she busts into my room, startling me from a dreamless sleep only about four or five hours after I laid down. I’m still blinking through the pain in my eyes as she throws open the curtains, talking incessantly about something I’m unable to comprehend with my sleep-fogged mind.

  “What?” I ask as I sit up and rub at my eyes, trying to get them to fucking focus already.

  Mika stops mid-stride, turns to face me, and plants her hands on her hips as a mischievous smile spreads across her soft-featured face.

  “I,” she pauses, “said,” she pauses again, “it’s…”

  I promptly throw a pillow across the room at her, smiling as she catches it, laughing right along with her at our antics.

  “I’m not dumb, I’m just sleepy, dammit.”

  Laughing some more as she looks at me, she says, “I can see that, Princess. What in fae were you dreaming about that has you waking up looking like you’ve died in your sleep?”

  Feigning being offended, I plant my fists on my hips where I’m sitting cross-legged on the bed and say with mock outrage, “How dare you condemn this look!” I raise my nose in the air, close my eyes, and rub a delicate hand over the lengths of my long black and matted hair as I say, “I’ll have you know, this is all the rage in Wrogmar, you peasant.”

  “Wrogmar! Oh, your highness! If only I’d known!” Mika says as she throws both of her hands over her heart dramatically. “How will a peasant like me ever make up for such a slight toward a pompous royal like you?”

  Doubling over with laughter, my face lands in the blankets, and I laugh for probably a solid minute while Mika laughs with me.

  “Come on, Princess,” she says as she heads over to my wardrobe after our giggles die off. “Let’s get you ready.”

  I roll off the side of the bed lazily, accidentally putting too much pressure on my wounded bicep with the movement, and a hiss escapes my throat as pain races down my arm for a second. Mika looks over at me, confusion written all over her face, but I play it off well, pretending I’m just still opposed to getting up in the first place.

  Dragging my feet as I make my way over to her, I ask, “Can I wear that weird shirt with the elbow-length sleeves and strings today? I know it’ll be hot, but at least I won’t run the risk of having my top fall off if the halter strings come undone while I’m on the hunt.”

  “Is that something you’re worried about?” Mika looks at me in confused amusement as she puts the shirt she was going to hand me back on the rack and pulls out the one I asked for.

  “Kind of, yeah.” I shrug. “Who knows what kind of crazy stunts I’ll need to pull while we’re out there today. I just want to make sure my boobs stay where I put them this time,” I say as I grab my boobs through my nightgown and look at them accusatorily. They’ve been known to have a mind of their own in the past, popping up and out at some of the most inconvenient times, and if I have to blame them, so Mika doesn’t see my bandage, so be it. They can handle a little hate.

  Mika hands me the shirt and laughs at me while she pulls out the rest of what I need for the hunt, laying everything out on the bed quickly.

  I wait until she’s moved on to tending the fire before I strip out of my nightgown in haste, being careful not to irritate the wound on my arm with the motion. The red shirt has elbow-length sleeves, but the top part of the back is cut out so my wings can be free. The only way to get into the weird shirt though, and part of the reason why I don’t like it too much, is that I have to step into it with my feet and pull it up the length of my body before I can slide my arms into the sleeves. Once it's fully in place, however, I sigh with relief since Mika didn’t see my bandage, and I tie the strings of the two sides of the shirt together at the base of my neck, letting their excess hang down between my wings.

  A short time later, after all my hygienic and beauty stuff for the morning has been handled, Mika and I start making our way out of the castle, through the lush and manicured gardens we have out back, and out to the stables. Once we’re there, she drops me off in the company of all the other royals, nobles, aristocrats, and basically every high fae in Tavatika who’s gathered to either participate in or watch the event.

  The royal hunt is basically a joke on pegasusback, and the whole idea of it pisses me off. It always has, ever since I was old enough to go on the hunt for the first time.

  Mama had held me tightly on her lap that day, whispering the nonsense of it all in my ear as we flew around on her pegasus, Loxmere.

  Within the walls of Tavatika, there’s a small forest not too far behind the castle that spreads all the way to the sea. Royals, nobles, and aristocrats are all allowed to hunt there for sport, even though the only time any high fae ever go there is during the annual hunt before Faedom Day.

  There are all kinds of animals in the forest that could reasonably help feed those that need it in Tavatika, but the law says that only high fae are allowed to hunt there. The borders of the forest where it bumps up against the city are even guarded to prevent regular citizens from entering. Lower-ranking fae can’t even go in there for a nice walk or short flight without facing the possibility of being charged with trespassing on the royal hunting grounds.

  There’ve been a few times in the past when I’ve been hunting a bounty, and they ran into the forest for cover. While I’ve been in there, I’ve seen lower fae that were obviously hunting for food, and each time, I’ve ignored their ‘crimes’ and solely focused on finding my bounty because I simply don’t believe that law should exist.

  I swear, if I can help it, so many things are going to change wh
en I become queen, I think as I ignore everyone around me and walk up to Loxmere, bowing my head at him in greeting.

  He returns the gesture, dropping his head low to the ground before he stands up proudly, his blue-black fur shimmering beautifully in the early morning sunlight as he lowers his left wing, giving me a boost up as I climb onto his back.

  Loxmere trots out of the stable with a pep in his step as if he’s showing off just how pretty he is to his new audience. The curve of his back where I’m sitting is a bit too curved, and the tips of his wings are pointed a bit too skyward for me to believe he’s acting normally. But that’s Loxmere - a proud, award-winning pegasus who has an attitude problem with everyone but me, and when she was alive, my mother.

  Everyone is lining up at the starting line on their steeds, and without me having to tell him or guide him in any way, Loxmere makes his way over to stand in between Ambassador Falconwood and High Chieftain Meadowlight, the same spot I would’ve chosen had I been the one making the decision.

  The bond between a pegasus and its rider is hard to explain.

  The pegasus chooses its rider, and Loxmere chose my mother when she was just a teenager. When I was little, she’d take me for rides on him almost every day, and I never remember him having any issues with me being there too. Even as I got older and was too big to ride with my mother, Loxmere had been okay with taking me on short solo flights above and around the castle, all while staying where I could still see my mother where she hovered, watching us.

  He never lets anyone else get close to him unless they are cleaning him, though I think that has more to do with how much he likes to look pretty than anything else.

  When my mother died, the idea of facing Loxmere alone, without her, nearly broke my heart enough that I avoided the interaction for a solid week after her death. However, I couldn’t stand the idea of him being cooped up in the stables or just wandering aimlessly around the fields, wondering why my mother and I hadn’t been out to ride him in so long.