Shameless Fae (The Fae Bounties Book 1)

by Cilla Raven

  “Get the fae off of me! Let me go!” I shout at them, twisting and turning as if I actually have a chance of breaking free from them, even though, in the pit of my stomach, I know I don’t.

  Quinn drops me to the ground from where he hovers, and I fall heavily on my already wounded shoulder, coughing as the dust from the road beneath me comes up to tickle my nose annoyingly. I can’t even reach a hand up to rub it, and the thought makes me livid.

  “Now get up and go over to that tree,” Priya says, “I’m not sleeping next to a little bitch.”

  I can’t believe she just said that. Not after the way she’s been treating me since they first captured me.

  “What the fae?” I ask, not happy with myself about how pathetic I just sounded, but it doesn’t matter anyway because, in the next instant, I’m pulled roughly to my feet and shoved in the direction of the tree Priya pointed to without an answer.

  Quinn pushes me down hard next to the tree, and I land on my butt as the bark scratches up the skin on my back, and no doubt pulls a few feathers out of my wings. My hands are in the most awkward position behind me, and I move as I try to get them in a less painful spot, but Quinn kicks me in my chest, so my back butts up against the tree again. Priya is unthinkably fast with that fucking rope, and in no time at all, I’m staring up at them as they glare back at me.

  “Let’s clean you up,” Priya says to Quinn before they turn around and head back to the fire, leaving me here staring after them as if I don’t exist.

  Lazlo, who’s been remarkably absent so far, comes over to me now, squatting down low to look me in my eyes before he thinks better of it, and then sits down, crossing his legs in front of him with his back to the others.

  “I told you before, I don’t care what your real name is. You’re Ghosty to me, and that’s that,” he says with a level of understanding I just wasn’t expecting to hear from him after the treatment I just received from the others.

  “Why don’t you do something, then?” I question, my anger and resentment toward him so strong it’s almost palpable.

  Lazlo leans his head to the side as he says, “You may be Ghosty, but they’re Doconqueh,” as if that’s all the answer I should need.

  I huff in response, causing him to reach out a hand to my shoulder. “I’ll speak to them. It might take some time, but I’ll see what I can do.”

  He gets up and wanders back over to the fire, sitting next to Quinn and Priya, where they all talk in hushed voices I can’t make out as Priya bandages Quinn’s arms where I sliced him up. Every now and then, they look over at me as they talk, but after a while, no decision seems to have been made since they all settle in for the night around the fire, forgetting all about me.

  Fuck a fae, I have to pee again.

  I guess I fell asleep at some point because I awake to Roan, leaning down in front of me with a questioning look on his face. It’s incredibly dark outside, the moon hidden behind the gathering clouds of a storm that will probably be terrible by the looks of it. Chancing a look over at the others, I see the fire has dwindled down some, but not enough to shroud their sleeping faces in darkness yet.

  Roan puts his head in my line of sight and grunts, forcing me to acknowledge his overwhelming presence. “I couldn’t hide my wings,” I say, and his eyes fill with remorse as I watch him.

  “Tie fweh lotavo to?” he asks, but I just look at him and shake my head since I have no idea what he’s saying.

  Roan rolls his eyes dramatically as he sits down with a huff in front of me. He points over to Quinn, Lazlo, and Priya, then beats his fists together, then points at me and raises his eyebrows as if he’s asking me if they hit me. Or hurt me? I’m not sure.

  “They saw my wings, and Quinn lost his shit. Priya said they should kill me,” I say as more pain flows through my chest at the memory of what happened.

  Roan looks down at the ground between us for a long minute, then raises his eyes back up to mine. “Fla to baca we piss?” he asks, and I may not have understood everything he said, but I got that last part, and I nod fervently at him, causing him to chuckle at me before he gets up and starts untying the rope holding me to the tree.

  When the pressure of the rope is released, I realize belatedly that Priya had tied me up way tighter than she had before, and the thought just pisses me off more.

  Roan helps me to stand up, then pauses as if he’s not sure what he should do next, and I just wait as he makes up his mind, really hoping he doesn’t decide to tie me back up because there’s no doubt in my mind that if I don’t pee soon, I’m really not going to like the rest of my night.

  However, after a few beats, he seems to have made up his mind and leads me into the woods where the group can’t see me, even if they were to wake up. Roan looks at me with a sorry expression before he backs me up to another tree, and starts undoing the buttons on the pants I’m wearing.

  Heat sears through me as I ask him, “What are you doing?” knowing my eyes are probably bugging out of my head at this point.

  “Piss,” he says with a smile, and as humiliating as this situation might be, it’s not like I have any other choice.

  He squats me down, leans my back up against the tree so I won’t pee on myself, and then stands there proudly like he’s just made my fucking year.

  “Well, I can’t go if you’re watching me,” I say through a smile I can’t help but wear because of how cute he looks right now. He turns around like doing so annoys him, but he’s smiling too, so I don’t think it bothers him that much.

  A little bit later, I’m done, and I clear my throat to get his attention. But when he turns around, he looks conflicted again, and I can take a pretty good guess as to what he’s wondering.

  “Well, you can either stand me up and let me drip dry, or you can grab a leaf and help a fae girl out.” What the fuck are you saying, Z? I ask myself, even though a part of me is really really hoping he goes with the latter option.

  Roan actually looks a bit timid as he picks up a leaf and squats down next to me, which is pretty funny given the fact that he’s built like a giant, and doesn’t look like anything would make him timid at all.

  With a more deft and delicate hand than I thought he’d have, he wipes the wetness from me, and something about the motion, the care in his touch, the selflessness of the act, makes my insides swarm with butterflies as his unreal eyes stare into mine.

  It’s all over way too quickly, and before I know it, he’s lifting me up, pulling my pants up, and buttoning them back in place. However, I don’t miss where his eyes go while he’s doing it, and a strong shiver weaves through me so hard he actually sees it and looks back at me knowingly with the hint of a grin on that tanned face of his.

  Dammit, I’m wet all over again, I think. I wonder if he wants to wipe it away again? Maybe with his tongue this time? Fuck a fae, Z, stop it!

  Roan guides me over to the rest of the Doconqueh, and if he picks up on my thoughts somehow, he doesn’t show it as he grabs the rope from the tree when we pass it. I look up at him, wondering where he’s going to put me, but my question is answered soon enough without me having to ask it.

  He takes the length of rope and ties me to him, just like Priya did last night, and then helps me to sit down next to him in his spot by the fire. Gently pushing on my shoulders to make me lay down next to him while he stretches out to his full length beside me. I lay back, watching him the entire time as if pulling my gaze from him would physically hurt me.

  However, physical pain does hurt me as I lay back on my bound hands, wings, and the ropes keeping them all in place. I wince and then try rolling on my side toward him, but that hurts too, so I try rolling away onto my other side, but again, that shit hurts.

  I hear him heft a heavy sigh before he grabs me by my hips and rolls me over so that I’m laying on top of him on my belly, while he lays on his back beneath me. His hands don’t leave my hips as he keeps me there, and I stare into his eyes with surprise, but with a cocky ass smile that s
ends another shiver through me, he lays his head back and closes his eyes as if this isn’t weird at all.

  Despite myself, I giggle at him, and that draws an even bigger smile on his face, but after a minute, holding my head up at this angle to look at him hurts too, so I drop my head to his chest.

  I can hear his heartbeat beneath my ear, and the smell of him, like earth and timber mixed with a bit of horse, overwhelms my senses as I breathe him in, and the calmness he exudes, creeps into me despite everything that’s happened. It relaxes me, and before I know it, I’m fast asleep with Roan’s hands on my hips.

  Chapter 15

  Duality rules my life, and I am constantly facing the dichotomy of feelings that kind of life brings. However, I don’t think I’ve ever felt as conflicted about a single night of sleep in my life. The pain I feel from having my wings tied down, and my hands bound tightly behind my back is nearly unbearable as I wake up. My shoulders are stiff, my wings are twitching for release, and my arms and hands feel like they might actually be dead from a lack of blood flow. However, the heartwarming and sweet feelings I feel when I realize Roan still has a grip on my hips are nearly overwhelming. As if, even in sleep, he didn’t want me to roll off of him and be in even more pain than I already was when I woke up.

  The combination makes me smile and wince at the same time as the first thick raindrops start to fall on my face the next morning.

  I open my eyes to see Lazlo, Quinn, and Priya, all waking up from the rain as well, and at the sight of them, the memories from last night flash through my mind, adding to the pain I feel. I groan a bit, knowing I have to face them today when I just want to be unbound and keep laying on Roan for the foreseeable future.

  That isn’t a possibility though, because Roan groans his own disagreement with the rain falling on his face, and lifts me off of him, setting me down gently beside him while he stands. Then he reaches down, picks me up, and sets me on my feet with an adorable little grin that has me grinning right back at him.

  “Why the fae did you untie her?” Priya asks hostilely, interrupting the moment I was having with Roan while she glares at us as she starts cleaning up camp.

  Roan peers over at her with sleepy eyes, and it occurs to me that he got far less sleep than any of the rest of us did.

  His wings are bright and colorful again this morning, just as mine are as black as night, and I catch myself staring at his wings while he talks, watching the way they move and how the rain, as it soaks into them, changes the already fascinating colors into deeper, darker shades that can’t help but draw my eye.

  “Hoc tie to saneh pre we a ick eh a oon yan? Pra a Ghost, toneh?” He gestures to me as he says those words, but it’s Priya’s reaction that ends up attracting most of my attention next.

  “Of course, I remember she’s The Ghost. It just doesn’t matter anymore because she’s the evil we’re trying to get rid of in this world, and I tied her to that tree because I couldn’t stand to look at her after I found out who she was. You didn’t need to come back and rescue her like you’re some kind of knight in shining armor, she was where she was supposed to be.”

  Roan growls, like literally growls at Priya, but there isn’t any venom in it. It seemed more like a growl of annoyance than anything else, like how a brother would growl at a sibling because they got on his nerves, and I catalog that little tidbit of information somewhere in the recesses of my brain.

  Apparently, Priya doesn’t like the way Roan is acting toward her or the decisions he made last night with me, and for the next few minutes or so, they get so lost in arguing, even I lose interest and wander over to where Lazlo is getting the horses ready, ignoring Quinn altogether as he bundles up the dried meat they had cooking all night.

  “Look, I know I’ve crossed some kind of line by being who I am, but I am dying of thirst, and I have to pee again, so do you think you can at least untie my hands, so I can handle all of that before we leave?”

  Lazlo chuckles a little at me as he says, “Yeah, turn around, Ghosty.” I do as he says, and he releases the ropes that are wrapped around me with one smooth flick of his dagger, my hands and wings falling free again, and this time, the relief is even sweeter than the last.

  “Go on, do what you need to do. No one is going to mess with you,” he tells me with a wink that makes me smile.

  After handling my relentless bladder, I head down to the river to drink my fill with cupped hands, the water clean, clear, and refreshing on my parched tongue and dry throat. When I’m done, I wander back up to the group in somewhat of a better mood than I’d been in previously.

  Everyone loads up in the cart again as the rain starts to fall more heavily, soaking all of us through within minutes. When I’m the last one headed toward the cart, I don’t even think about where I’ll be forced to sit, and rather than fighting again or starting another argument, I start climbing up into the back, but Lazlo calls to me before I can get all the way on.

  “You don’t have to ride back there,” he says, and I glance at Priya and Quinn, fully expecting them to argue their case, but they remain quiet, even though I can see both of them brooding silently in their seats.

  However, that small blessing doesn’t last long once I get settled in next to Lazlo, facing Roan and Priya, while Quinn gets the horses to start making their way back toward the main road we’ve been traveling down.

  “I just don’t get it,” Priya says as Roan takes a dose of the brown flowers and then hands some over to me as well. “You seemed so genuine yesterday when you saw the slums. I actually believed you had no idea about them, but I guess I was wrong. You’re probably just an outstanding actress.” She wields her tongue like a whip at me, but since she’s completely wrong, the blow doesn’t sting nearly as bad as I know she’d like it to.

  “Priya, I don’t know what you think my life is like as a princess, but I can certainly tell you you’re wrong. I didn’t even know the slums existed until you mentioned them, and even then, I had no idea how bad things were there until I saw them yesterday.

  The real reason I’ve never hunted bounties outside the city walls is because I’ve never been allowed to leave the city my whole life. It’s strictly forbidden. And even though I hunt bounties, I can only do it at night because my days are taken up with my duties as the princess.

  Only two people knew who I was and what I did before you guys showed up, so I had to keep The Ghost a secret from everyone, including the staff and servants at the castle. If I just left one day to go off on my own, for whatever reason, which is also forbidden, by the way, there would be hell to pay.”

  Priya doesn’t say any words, but her facial expressions shift as if she’s considering what I’ve said, while at the same time, still hating me for who I am. Though I could keep talking, keep explaining my side, something inside me tells me to wait.

  Priya seems like the kind of person that can only handle change in small doses like she has to consider something from every angle imaginable before she’ll allow any new information in, so I decide to let what I’ve said sink in. When she comes at me with another question, which I’m pretty sure she will, I’ll be ready with another answer.

  Surprisingly, I’m willing to accommodate that part of her because I really don’t want her to hate me. Especially not for something as uncontrollable as being born a princess.

  The rest of the ride goes by in relative silence since the rain starts hammering down, making any conversation nearly impossible. Still, it’s an extremely uncomfortable ride with all the tension in the air, but sooner or later, we arrive at our final stop before we will head the rest of the way to the rebel camp: a small village just off the main road, where Lazlo says we’re stopping in for some supplies the rebel camp needs, and to handle some ‘business.’ He accentuates the word, ‘business,’ like what he has in mind might just be violence, and I can’t explain why the idea of that thrills me in some way.

  Luckily, the sky seems to have gotten out most of its anger, and now it’s
only dispersing a faint drizzle over us as we pull up to one of the seven buildings that make up this small village. Each one is made from round gray stones which are held together with light brown mortar, all of their doorways are framed in cedarwood, and every one of their roofs look like they’ve been crafted out of the dead vegetation of the area.

  It’s actually kind of cute when I think about it. There’s a little trading post, an inn, a tavern, and what I’m assuming has to be a brothel of some kind because of the human women who are hanging around outside. There are a few other buildings as well, but those don’t have any signage out for me to know what they are.

  We’ve pulled up in front of the tavern, and before we all have a chance to get out of the cart, Quinn turns around and dishes out orders that no one other than me seems to disagree with. He tells Lazlo and Roan to go see about getting the supplies the camp needs, orders Priya to go “check on things at the inn,” and then he turns to me and grunts before he tells me to come with him.

  When everyone gets out of the cart, he grabs me by my arm and holds me in place while he watches the others go into their assigned buildings before he turns all of his angry attention on me.

  “Give me your hands,” he says.

  “What for?”

  Leaning down, putting his face right in front of mine, he snarls, “Give me your hands, now.”

  I don’t know why I listen or why my hands fly out to him as if they’re eager for his touch, no matter how violent that touch may be. I don’t know why his aggression makes my belly flip or how I just became complicit under his gaze without a fight. But most importantly, I don’t know what part inside of me is so broken that it jumps at the chance to please this fae in front of me, but regardless of what makes it happen, the simple fact is, that it does.

  When my hands come out before me, hanging in the space between us, I see the surprise written all over Quinn’s face as he realizes I’m not going to fight him, and that little broken part of me fucking salivates about doing something he likes.