The Beast of the Fae Court

by ERIN BEDFORD

  Ericka's eyes darted to mine and then to the side as she frowned. "No, of course not. You're the king. We can't have you breaking your royal neck for a commoner, let alone a human. What would I say to everyone had you died, hm?"

  "You’re not just some human, Ericka," I argued and then, when she made to move away, I grasped her wrist. "And I'm not just the king."

  Ericka frowned at my grip but allowed herself to be drawn back to my side. "You are the king, though, and you shouldn't have put yourself in danger for me."

  "Because you're not worth it?" I arched a brow at her.

  "Exactly." She jerked her head up and down, then tried to pull away. "You yourself tried to kill me before, so why bother trying to save me now? Besides, now you've lost one of your valuable defenses. Who would fear you now?"

  "I don't think I have a problem making others fear me.” I smirked. “I never had any problems before Shirazan came to the palace. However, I feel like we've gotten off point."

  "And what point might that be?" Ericka sighed her frustration and rubbed her free hand over her face. "Because I'm at a loss. Everyone keeps telling me that you have some kind of morbid attraction to me, but since I arrived at the palace, all you've done is drive me crazy. Then you almost got me killed by Shirazan, before almost getting killed by the same exact dragon you just defeated for me... again. What is your game? Because frankly? I'm too tired to play."

  “There’s no game.” I stroked my thumb up and down the side of her wrist, enjoying the way her pulse jumped at my touch. "Not anymore."

  "So, did I win?"

  I laughed, startling her as it caused pain through my ribs. "I suppose you could put it that way." I smiled up at her cheekily. "Let's just say that I was playing for a whole other reward than your surrender."

  "So, I've been told," she muttered as she stared down at where our hands were touching. "I'll just go get Finch for you, Your Majesty."

  "Balefire."

  "What?" She stopped, looking back at me curiously.

  "Call me Balefire," I told her and reached for her hand again. "And I wanted to apologize."

  Frowning down at me, she shifted closer. "Apologize for what?"

  I shifted uncomfortably in the bed and winced again when stabs of pain were the result. Still, I pulled her closer to me, regardless of the pain, and reached up to touch the side of her face. She didn't flinch away which was a good sign. Steeling myself, I took a deep breath and spilled my truth.

  "I wanted to apologize for everything. For mistreating you the way I did, not allowing you to do your job, which, let's be honest, hurt both of us," I chuckled and shook my head, "I don't think I can go back to eating just Jasmine's cooking."

  She giggled lightly at that. "No, I suppose not."

  "I also wanted to apologize for the way I reacted in the garden and for everything after that..." I trailed off and searched her eyes. "I can be reckless and jump to decisions without thinking them through."

  Ericka snorted. "Don't forget stubborn and a right pain in the ass."

  "No.” I grinned at her. “We can't forget those."

  Her lips twisted to the side, Ericka watched me for a moment before nodding. "Very well, I accept your apology."

  I sighed, relief sweeping over my body. "Does that mean you'll come back?"

  “Perhaps,” Ericka smirked and lifted a brow, "but I have conditions."

  I nodded eagerly. "Of course you do."

  "But I'll let Finch tell you those." Ericka pulled away from my grasp, and this time, I let her, watching her hips as they swayed toward the door.

  When the door closed behind her, I sank back into the bed. That had hurt and not just figuratively. I reached under the blankets Ericka had tucked back around me, and my fingers came back tinged with blood. It was taking longer to heal than usual. No doubt it was because I had used so much of my power. I didn't like to use my family’s magic if I didn't have to. It tapped into the very essence of the Spring Court, and while it made me powerful enough to defeat a dragon as grand as Shirazan, it drained me fast and made me unpredictable. I was just lucky no one else got hurt.

  That was when Finch appeared in the doorway, a scowl on his face.

  "So you lived,” he mused dryly. “Congratulations. I don't have to serve under your wretched cousin, Phillipe."

  I chuckled and shook my head. "Nobody wants that."

  "So," Finch glanced toward the closed door and then back to me, "I take it you two had a talk?"

  "Yes, she agreed to come back... sort of." I grimaced.

  "Sort of?" Finch furrowed his brows and then smacked me on the arm.

  "Hey!" I leaned away from him as pain radiated up my arm. "What was that for?"

  "For being a complete fool," Finch snapped, waving his hand in the air. "You almost died for the girl, and all you got out of her was a maybe? You did tell her that you loved her, didn't you? That you would die for her and almost did? Shouldn't that count for something?"

  I growled and shifted away from him. "Not in those exact words." Before Finch could smack me again, I added, "But I did apologize, and she accepted. She said she'd come back, but she had terms that she would only tell you."

  Finch didn't hit me again. Instead, he stepped back and rubbed a hand over his chin. "She didn't mention any conditions to me but if she's coming back at least that's a start.” He clapped his hands together and rubbed them. "Now, what are you going to do to woo her? The gardens are obviously out of the question after the disaster last time. I'm thinking—"

  "A dinner," I interrupted him.

  "A dinner?" Finch's brows shot up as he flipped his hair over his shoulder. "You can't expect to woo her that way. You need to be extravagant and really put it all out there."

  “Not for this woman.” I shook my head and threw my legs over the side of the bed. "She isn't impressed with flowers and riches. No, if I'd learned anything about Ericka Burner is that the way to her heart is through food, and you are going to help me."

  "Me?" Finch gaped, pointing a finger at his chest. "What can I do? I've never cooked anything in my life and neither have you for that matter."

  I shrugged. "It can't be that hard. Besides, I'm sure Jasmine would be happy to help her king impress her friend."

  Finch groaned and slapped his face. It wasn't a very encouraging sign, but I would take what I could get.

  Chapter 23

  Ericka

  We rode back to the palace in silence. Well, I was silent. Finch was going on and on about all the repairs which would have to be done to the little village and how he would need to get someone out there immediately.

  I did feel bad for the brownies. If not for me, they wouldn’t have had any of this happen to them. Then again, my eyes slid over to Balefire on the opposite side of the carriage Finch had found for us. If Balefire hadn’t frightened me into leaving, then this wouldn’t have happened. Then Shirazan would have simply tried to kill me in the castle and not in someone else’s home.

  I grunted.

  Balefire’s blazing blue eyes shot from Finch to me. A curious frown covered those lovely lips, and I couldn’t bring myself to look away from him. After a moment, he smiled.

  My cheeks flaming, I promptly turned back to the scenery outside the carriage. Not for the last time, I wished that Bea had joined us. She would have kept the conversation going without me having to do anything. Though Finch was doing a well enough job with his one-sided conversation. All he needed was the occasional grunt from me or Balefire to keep going.

  Cailean and Bea had decided to keep going once the elusive Freddie had returned to fix the carriage. They had deliveries to make, and Bea had a wedding to go to. So, we said our goodbyes and exchanged promises to see each other again. However, now that I was headed back to the palace, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Was everything going to go back to the way it was? Me in the kitchen and the king... doing whatever the king did?

  I wouldn’t have long to figure it out in any case. The carri
age pulled into the gates of the palace, and servants rushed to help us out of the carriage... or more like help the king. Not that he needed the help, of course. He was a big man, who sometimes had big feathery wings and horns. From what I’d seen, he could clearly take care of himself.

  As I stepped out of the carriage from behind Balefire and Finch, there were more than a few eyes on me. No doubt they were curious to know why I was with them, but I wasn’t in the mood to explain. Let them wonder.

  Neither Finch nor Balefire stopped to explain to me what would happen next, both of them were talking in low voices headed for the palace. I guess that answered my question. For all Balefire’s apologies, he had never confirmed or denied what Bea and the others claimed. That he loved me. I guess it was silly to hope that he did. He had saved me after all.

  It was probably just his sense of duty as the king that made him do it. That’s all.

  Tucking my hair behind my ear, I watched my feet as I sighed and made toward the kitchen. Jasmine and the other would want to know I was back. I didn’t get five feet before my head banged into the back of someone. Jerking my head up, I automatically began to apologize.

  “I’m soo sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going and—” I cut myself off when I realized it was the king who I’d bumped into. Grinning from ear to ear, Balefire placed one hand on his hip and the other tapped his chin.

  “Now, where have I heard that excuse before?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes at him. “At least this time you didn’t get pie in the face.”

  His grin widening, Balefire nodded. “That is a plus, but I have to say I am quite disappointed. I do love your pie.”

  My face flushed, and I swallowed thickly at the innuendo in his words. “You...you do?”

  “Oh, yes.” Balefire nodded, his smile now more of a smirk. “In fact, I love your pie so much that I decided to have a dinner in your honor.”

  Taken aback by his sudden announcement, I gaped at him. “R... really? Why?”

  Balefire turned to my side and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close to the warmth of his body. My mind skittered to dangerous things, things that could only be done in the night, and I missed most of what Balefire was saying.

  “Ericka? Do you agree?”

  I licked my lips and shook my head, glancing up at him. “Huh? I mean, what? Could you repeat that?”

  I expected him to get irritated like he usually did with practically anyone else, but for some reason, his eyes were dark, and the tattoos on his body pulsated next to my face. Startled, I jumped away from his arms and stared at him, ready for his wings and horns to sprout out at any moment. Not that they weren’t beautiful, but still, one didn’t want to get smacked in the face by them.

  And still, Balefire watched me with such an intensity, I feared he might be trying to blow me up with his mind. If that was something he could actually do. Then as suddenly as the emotion came, it was gone. He had that carefree grin on his lips once more and ushered me into the palace.

  “As I was saying,” Balefire continued, his hand now on the small of my back as he guided us further into the palace. The feel of his palm burned into my skin, and I had to focus harder than I ever had in my life on what he was saying and not what my body was doing in reaction to his physical contact. “I will take care of all the preparations, and you can just relax. You’ve had a trying few days, and I wouldn’t want you too tired to come to the dinner held in your honor.”

  The skin between my brows pinched together tight as I frowned. “Uh, okay, but you’ve had just as much a trying few days as I have, Your Majesty.”

  “Balefire,” he corrected me.

  I watched him cautiously and then drew out, “Right. Balefire. What I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t have to do so much work either. Let the kitchen staff take care of it. Isn’t that what we’re here for?”

  “See?” Balefire stopped us in the middle of the hallway and pointed a finger at me. “You consider yourself part of the kitchen staff, which means that if I left it to them, you would be right down there helping.”

  Before I knew what he was doing, he clasped my hands with his and drew me closer. My eyes widened, and they darted around us. Balefire didn’t seem to care about the other people in the hallway staring at us, but I did. There were enough rumors around us as it was.

  “Please, Ericka. Promise me you won’t help with this dinner.” The sincerity in his voice was what got me. I couldn’t say no to him, not when he was like this. When he was a raging jackass, then sure, I had no problem sticking it to him. Things were much simpler when we both despised the other.

  Wait. When did I stop despising him?

  Caught up in my own thoughts, Balefire squeezed my hands to get my attention. My eyes snapped back to him as he chuckled.

  “Are you sure you’re not the one who dropped twenty feet from the sky and not me?”

  I smiled slightly. “Honestly, I’m beginning to wonder myself.”

  “So, can I have your promise?”

  Staring up at him for a moment, I cocked my head to the side. “You know a promise from a human doesn’t mean much? It’s not like we have to tell the truth.”

  Once again, his reaction surprised me. Instead of threats and yelling, Balefire leaned down until our faces were inches apart and whispered, “Unlike other humans, I trust you, Ericka Burner.”

  It was high praise from any fae to trust another person, especially a human. I didn’t know what to say to it, so instead, I withdrew my hands from his and took a step back.

  “I promise.” Then before Balefire could confuse me even more, I spun on my heel and darted for my room. I needed a moment alone, to get my head on straight and figure out what exactly in all of Elphame was going on.

  Unfortunately, my desire to be alone wasn’t meant to be. When I opened the door to my room I was greeted with Finch and Odette, the palace seamstress. Confused, I closed the door behind me and approached them.

  “What’s going on here?”

  Finch turned from Odette and the swaths of fabric in her four arms to give me a sly grin. “The king talked to you, didn’t he?”

  “Uh, yes. We’re having dinner.” The sinking feeling in my gut was joined by a sneaky suspicion about what Odette was doing here. “I don’t need a new dress for it. I can wear what I have.”

  “The horror!” Odette gasped, placing all four hands to her chest. “How could you think that those rags could be befitting for dinner with the king? Do you have no sense of decorum?”

  I shook my head and stepped closer to them. “It’s not like it’s a big deal. It’s just dinner. It’s not a date.”

  Finch and Odette exchanged a look before looking at me expectantly.

  “Wait.” I held up a finger and searched the two of them. “It’s not a date, right? Because Balefire, the king, said it was a dinner in my honor and said nothing about a date.” My breathing quickened as I felt a panic attack coming on.

  Finch placed a hand on my arm with a small smile. “The king isn’t very good at being completely forthright. Perhaps he thought you might reject the idea.”

  I shook my head and took a step back. Naturally, my foot caught on the dais Odette had placed in the center of my room, and when I landed on hard on my butt, I winced.

  “This doesn’t make any sense,” I muttered. “My brain feels like it is going to explode.”

  “Of course it does,” Odette sniffed as she lifted up one fabric of a soft rose color and then another of shimmering yellow. “But for us, it’s been obvious from the beginning. The king is head over feet for you, you’re just too daft to see it.” When I opened my mouth to argue, she corrected herself. “Too human.”

  “How am I too human?” I glared. “I’m around fae all the time, I know how you all are. If I thought for a moment that the actions of the king were declarations of affection, then I would have—”

  “You would have what?” Finch asked, shifti
ng my attention toward him from my place on the floor. “Denied him? Run away sooner? You already knew that he had a strange interest in you from the beginning. But, for all the fae you live around, work with, and are friends with, you aren’t fae. You don’t know what it’s like to be a fae in love. We don’t act the same way a human would.”

  I tapped my fingers on my bent knees and thought. Unfortunately, Finch was right. Humans were very straight forward in their affections. The normal thing to do when you liked someone was to be nice to them, maybe even give them a gift, and then invite them out to dinner or a festival.

  Fae were quite different. Everything was about keeping the upper hand in their world. No one seemed to want to let the other one know how they felt first. There were games of who could get the other to admit it first and who could trick the other into giving their hand away, games that I had little time or patience for. With a sigh of frustration, I peered up at Finch and Odette.

  “What am I supposed to do? He can’t want to be with me. I’m the baker and human at that. No one would approve of us.”

  “So, you do care for him,” Finch pointed out, completely off topic, or so I thought.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “I didn’t say that. I’m simply stating all the reasons we shouldn’t be together. Never did I say I was entertaining the idea of being with the king.”

  “You are dumber than I thought then,” Odette snorted.

  My gaze jerked to the seamstress. “Why’s that?”

  Huffing, she placed her four hands on her hips and stared me down with those golden eyes of hers. “Because all I’m hearing are excuses of why you think you shouldn’t be together and no reason why you should be. You, my dear human, are good for him.”

  “What?” I gaped at her. “You think I’m good for him? He’s done nothing but torment me the entire time I’ve been here.”

  “Yes, and so he’s actually done his job without murdering someone every other week because of his temper,” Odette pointed out as if my mental sanity was a small price to pay for peace.

  Turning to Finch, I begged him to help me. “Tell me this is crazy. You can’t actually believe any of those garbage?”