Everyone looked happy. Everyone was smiling and laughing, excited for whatever activities were planned for that afternoon and evening. If Heidi didn’t already know of their crazed ways, she would think that these people desired nothing more than to be happy and live a life in peace. But she knew the truth. No matter how they lived, they were still winged monsters who had kidnapped and tried to kill her.
When she grabbed ahold of Liam’s forearm, he stopped to look at her. “What is it?”
“I just…” she started, not knowing what she was going to say but knowing that she didn’t want to go far. She didn’t want to be more than a few inches away from him out of the fear that they’d turn on her. Their smiles would turn into rage and they’d tie her back to that pole and this time, they’d just set it ablaze.
Icy fear crept up her spine, suffocating her and threatening to overwhelm her. In the back of her mind, she knew her behavior was a bit over the top and that she needed to force herself to calm down, but she was struggling. She kept seeing herself in her mind’s eye over and over again, being tied back to the pole—the stake—and being lit on fire. She gulped for air.
Her wide eyes must have given her away because he leaned over as soon as he saw her face and whispered next to her ear, “Heidi, take a deep breath. I won’t let anything happen to you. Do you understand?”
“But I—”
“Heidi, stop. Slow, deep breaths.” She tried to do as he had instructed, not even realizing that she had been hyperventilating. His fingers entwined in her hair and pulled her face against his chest.
She breathed him in and his bulking form blocked out all of the fairies that seemed to be swarming around her. Slowly, her breathing returned to normal and she relaxed into him as he stroked her hair and held her against him.
“Isn’t that charming?” Heidi heard Roarke’s laughter before she saw him. When she turned her face, he was approaching them, followed by his entourage. Bradán, along with two other men, the evil Cliona, and the beautiful girl who had been perched on the throne next to the king. Judging by some of their similar features, Heidi could only guess that she was his daughter.
They were snickering at her and Liam. And she hated it. She hated them all. Liam stood up to his full height and Heidi couldn’t help but take a step back to stand behind him. He still held her arm and she was thankful for his sudden possessiveness.
“Are you ready for a celebration?” Roarke asked when he stopped in front of them.
“And what are we celebrating?” Heidi didn’t miss the annoyance in Liam’s voice when he asked the question.
“Why, our alliance, of course!”
Alliance? Why hadn’t Liam told her of an alliance between himself and the fairies? Why would he ally with them for anything? He seemed to detest them almost as much as she did. She kept her face impassive as the men spoke. They didn’t talk of much of anything, except pleasantries and the festivities planned for the day.
There would be feasting, dancing and entertainment. All things Heidi would normally be excited for if she were anywhere else but where they were at that moment.
“Come now,” Roarke said. “We have a contract to sign and then we can begin!”
Liam walked next to Roarke, his hand not leaving Heidi’s arm. The entourage followed, talking and snickering amongst themselves, and making Heidi feel all the more uncomfortable. The only one who didn’t seem to be laughing at her expense was the king’s daughter. She remained quiet, her face neutral as she followed behind the rest.
Heidi met the girl’s blue eyes and she quickly looked away, no doubt despising the witch she assumed Heidi was. Instead of worrying about the people that followed them into a large stone hut, Heidi focused on the ground in front of her and keeping up with Liam. He didn’t let her fall behind, thankfully.
When they were inside, he finally let go of her arm. On the table in front of them was a large piece of parchment, filled with ink that wasn’t written in English. If Heidi had to guess, she would say it was Gaelic based on the style of the lettering, which Liam seemed to be able to understand as he read the entire contents of the document.
It took some time for him to go through it, approaching Roarke with a few changes in the wording which they would then discuss and change in Liam’s favor. This happened several times before Liam set the paper back on the table and nodded.
Roarke handed him a quill that had been sitting in a jar of ink on the edge of the table. Heidi could see the second’s hesitation in Liam’s face before he signed the paper, but when she looked around she could tell that she had been the only one to witness it. There were smiles on everyone’s face except hers and Liam’s.
When Liam finished signing his name, he handed the quill to Roarke, who did the same. The king then set the quill aside, rolled up the parchment and held it in his hand. He muttered a long phrase in a language she didn’t understand and the parchment disappeared from his hands with a poof of air. Her eyes went wide as she watched them, but no one else seemed surprised.
She had clearly underestimated the powers of the fairies. How much were they truly capable of? She didn’t think she wanted to know the answer.
When Liam turned and nodded toward her, she came up to his side and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“I’m glad we were able to come to an accord,” Roarke said, his smile wide. Heidi was surprised to see that his teeth weren’t filed like those of his brethren. Maybe he understood how ugly it was and didn’t want to mar the perfection of his face. Anyone would think him an attractive man, anyone except her. She could see the cruelty in his eyes.
“It has been a pleasure doing business,” Liam said as they headed toward the door and back to the party.
The last thing Liam wanted to do was to sign that piece of paper. He’d sworn to uphold and protect the fae lands, to murder any innocent shifter he happened to stumble upon. He’d sworn to participate in their attack on New Freedom and their attempts to rid the Maine woods of the shifter threat. He knew that it wasn’t the shifters who were the threat, it was the fae.
But now it was too late. It had been too late from the time he had agreed to take the meeting. He knew that disagreeing with the fae king would only lead to his own murder, written off as an accident to the Council. What had Collum gotten him into? Instead, now he promised to murder the people who he considered friends. For what? In exchange for more lands and Heidi’s life as the added bonus. He had sworn to never attack a fae, for murdering a fae would be the end of the contract and he would be seen as an enemy—a traitor—just as bad as the shifters in the eyes of the fae.
It was too late now. He couldn’t go back in time and refuse to meet with the fae king. He was stuck in this. He would never participate in harming a shifter, but how far they took things depended on a discussion he would have to have with Collum. For the time being, however, he was an ally of the fae. Being anything else would prevent either Heidi or himself from leaving Péine alive.
He held Heidi close to his side, mostly for her benefit since he had already seen how she reacted to being surrounded by the fae after they’d tortured her the night before. He didn’t blame her in the least. He was surprised she was holding up as well as she was. She was a strong woman to even be able to remain within twenty feet of one of the people who had tried to kill her the night before.
He found that he liked being close to her. He had liked lying next to her the night before as well. There was something about her he found charming—slightly strange—but charming nonetheless. She was unlike any woman he had ever met, but then again he didn’t spend a lot of time with the witches. He mainly tried to stay to himself. Any outside interactions he did have were with Collum or Jonah. He hadn’t sought female companionship in a long time.
But she incited something in him that he hadn’t thought about in years. Her closeness and her own natural scent made him think things that he shouldn’t. She belonged to him, but that didn’t mean he should take advantage
of her. If she was willing, she would come to him when she was ready. And he was patient enough to wait.
By the time they arrived back at the bonfires, the canopy had been fully erected and the tables had been set up. There were women singing and some were dancing. When they saw their king, they cheered. Roarke raised his hands as he approached the main table. It was set up with the back facing the tree line. Two other long tables came out on either side. There was enough space to seat at least fifty people.
In between the long tables was a space big enough for dancing and entertainment. It was empty now, but Liam was sure by the end of the night it would be full of the village occupants. He groaned inwardly. It was going to be a long day and he wondered how long he and Heidi were going to be able to stand it.
“Come! Let us be seated,” Roarke said, making his way to the center of the main table in the largest chair that had been placed there for him. His daughter, Rhiannon, sat next to him while Liam sat on his right side with Heidi next to him. The fae filled the seats around them as some of the women began serving ale and wine.
One hour turned into another as the drinking started and the music began playing. Drums and fiddles seemed to be the only instruments the fae played, although they excelled in both. When the music died down and they began to serve the food, the shows started. First there was singing, followed by a play he had never seen or heard of before.
As the fae attempted to act, he glanced over at Heidi. She hadn’t touched the bread on her plate, but she had consumed all of the meat and vegetables. She had also gone through several mugs of wine and he could see from the pink of her cheeks that she was creeping up on her limit. The ale he had drunk hadn’t touched him in the slightest, but then again, it took an exorbitant amount of alcohol to even make him feel the slightest bit off balance.
He worried about how she was faring, but so far she seemed to be holding up rather well. Although he was sure when they left the next morning it wouldn’t be too soon for her. Not that he could blame her. Morning wasn’t soon enough in his opinion either. Unfortunately, pleasantries had to be made in order to avoid offending the king.
As the afternoon wore on, most of the fae retired to their homes while the large dinner preparations were underway. The king had been yawning over the past hour and so when he excused himself to take a nap, Liam wasn’t surprised. The night would be long and it wouldn’t hurt either he or Heidi to get some rest while they could. It was mentally exhausting keeping up appearances.
When he stood up from the table, Heidi followed suit. He slowed his pace so she wouldn’t have to run to keep up with him and together, they walked back toward their private sanctuary.
“Can we walk for a little, do you think?” she asked him as they neared the stone hut. “My legs are cramped from sitting at that table for so long.”
“I suppose,” he said, steering them in the direction of the tree line. He’d rather keep them out of sight from any wandering fae, although he doubted many would find their way over to that corner of the village. There wasn’t anyone in sight, as the majority of people were either still working or had gone home until the festivities resumed that evening.
They walked next to the tree line, always keeping the hut in sight and not wandering very far. He didn’t want to stumble upon any surprises, so when they went further than he liked, he steered her back in the direction of the hut, this time back through the trees. It at least gave him the perception of being away from the village.
“I’m sorry I freaked out on you earlier,” she began. Her teeth held her bottom lip after she spoke but then she released the plump flesh and looked up at him.
It was then that he realized she was waiting for some kind of response from him. “It was no problem. I understand your fear. I think it’s justified.”
She snorted. “I’d say. But I didn’t want to embarrass you.”
“You were not an embarrassment to me,” he told her, clasping his hands behind his back as he strode next to her.
“I’m still sorry.” He stopped where he was and grasped her shoulders, turning her to face him.
They stood in the trees. The sounds of wildlife filled the air around them as he looked down at her. She was a pretty girl with a cute upturned nose and brilliant hazel eyes that lured him in. It was hard for him to believe that she belonged to him. He would try to make her life with him pleasurable for them both.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. Do not make me repeat myself again. We’ll go back—”
The sound of cracking branches made him stop, instantly alert.
“What—”
He held a finger over her mouth and looked to where he had heard the disturbance. When he lifted his nose to the air, he smelled the fae, but when he heard the voices of Cliona and Bradán, he pulled Heidi with him behind the large pine tree they had been standing next to. He leaned down, his face a breath away from her.
“Quiet,” he whispered next to her ear.
If it had been anyone else walking through the woods, he would have just kept on walking and tried his best to avoid them, but these two were close to Roarke and there was a chance that any conversation they had between them was something Liam wanted to overhear.
“When will you see him again?” Bradán was the one to ask the question.
“I don’t particularly care. The bonding is done and that’s what the king wanted.”
“You’ve consummated the relationship and sealed the mating bond?”
“That is none of your business, but yes, of course,” Liam heard Cliona say.
Bradán laughed. “Can a warlock’s bed be as good as a fae’s?”
A warlock and a fae bonding? That was news to Liam and something he knew Collum would be particularly interested in hearing. He hadn’t heard of such an alliance being approved by the council and knowing the fae as he did, he could never see one bonding with another faction out of love. They weren’t exposed to the other factions since they tended to remain close to home. But Roarke would see the benefit of tying their factions together. Aligning himself with Dis, the warlock leader, would bring him more control of the Council.
It explained Heidi’s treatment the night before. If the fae were working with the warlocks, the shifters weren’t the only enemy. So were the witches. But why hadn’t Roarke forced his daughter into a bonding? Why would he force Cliona, who was his second-in-command, but not nearly as prized as Rhiannon? It didn’t make sense to him, not unless he had other plans for Rhiannon.
He was only half listening to their conversation when something they said caught his attention completely.
“The witch should’ve died last night,” Cliona said.
They were coming closer to where he and Heidi were hiding and so he shifted her slightly so that they remained out of sight. Her eyes were wide, but thankfully she was remaining just as quiet as he was. She seemed to have even slowed her breathing. He could barely hear it.
“I agree with you, but she was given to him. It’s part of the contract.”
“I reviewed that contract and while it does say she is part of it, it doesn’t include any stipulation saying that she had to go unharmed.” The deviousness in Cliona’s voice had Liam on edge.
“What are you saying?” Bradán asked.
“I’m saying that we could burn her—as one should do with a witch—without voiding the contract.”
“You think upsetting him would be a brilliant idea?”
She laughed as they walked further through the trees. “I think that he would have no choice but to accept it unless he wanted to void the contract himself and if he chooses that, then I will be free to kill him. As would you. Without Liam McIntyre around, we’d have his lands to add to ours. His uncle stole them from us years ago, anyway. We have a right to them just as we have a right to the land the shifters claim as theirs. If he breaks the contract, his demise would be justified in the eyes of the Council and Collum’s men wouldn’t be allowed to seek revenge for his death.”<
br />
“Do you think the king would support your idea?”
“I know he would after the shifters are eradicated.”
“You think he’ll break the contract?”
“Absolutely. You’ve witnessed his fondness for the witch yourself. Do you really think he wouldn’t try to retaliate?”
“I don’t know…”
“It doesn’t matter. Roarke has told me that he will force McIntyre to remain here until the shifters are destroyed and his part carried out. After that they’re fair game.”
4
Heidi’s eyes went wide. She hated these people. And while she had Liam acting as her protector, how was he going to get them out of this now? She had heard what they said. They were going to turn on him and murder them both. They wanted to burn her at the stake.
She never should have left home. Things like this are what happened to people when they left their comfort zone. What she wouldn’t give now to be back there, caring for her grandfather and going on about her daily life. She didn’t need any of this. She was young and she had so much she hadn’t done yet. Things that she wanted to do. And the one vacation she ever gets to go on ends with her in the hands of demonic flying monsters who think she’s a witch. She’d already told them she wasn’t one.
Liam hovered over her, his eyes turned in the direction the fae had gone. He seemed to be lost in thought. Would he hand her over to them when the time came in the hopes of saving himself? She wasn’t about to take that chance.
He was distracted now, so she decided to move. There was no reason to wait when something could happen to stop her later. She slipped out from between him and the tree by ducking under his arm. Running as quickly and as quietly as she could, she raced away from the direction of Liam and the fairies, her skirt hiked up to her thighs.
Up In Flames (Netherworld Series Book 2) Page 6
