by Mila Young
Everything I try fails.
Ahren’s legs give out and he’s back on his knees, hands reaching up over his shoulders to try to reach his wings. I tell myself I tried to help him, but seeing him this way kills me.
“Ahren,” I call to him when he curls in on himself, trembling.
Inside, I’m bleeding with guilt, and again I step closer to do something… anything.
Something blue catches my attention at the base of a wing, and I squint to get a better look. In a flash, a sudden wave of violet, turquoise, and pearlescent white rush over the bony limbs.
That’s all it takes… a breath, a heartbeat, as a layer of membrane materializes before my eyes, knitting itself over his bones. The colors blend and swirl in playful waves as they weave the fabric of his wings.
My breath catches in my throat, and the sight of him completely healed fills me with a sense of serenity, satisfaction, and fulfillment. They still remain curled around him, like a thin layer of colored stretchy fabric, and I can’t stop staring at how spectacular they are.
“Oh. My. God! Ahren.” I crouch in front of him, nudging him in the shoulder. “Get up.”
He lifts his head to meet my gaze, his face pale, lips tight.
“Your wings,” I whisper. “They’re beautiful.”
He blinks with confusion, then twists his head around to take them in. There’s no response at first; he’s just silent, frozen in time like the shock of healing is too much for him to bear.
He stands up in all his glory, the colors on either side of him like stained glass. They’re captivating and brilliant, like the first blossoming buds in spring. They stretch out, spanning most of the balcony length.
His hand reaches out as a wing curls around to meet his touch. He swallows loudly, his mouth parted, and when he looks at me, his eyes glint with fresh tears. With the agony of seeing something I am sure he’d resigned himself to never experiencing ever again.
“How…” His shaky words trail off, and he grabs me by my arm and hugs me tightly. His heart beats ferociously in his chest, breaths racing, and tears prick in my eyes at his reaction. All I’ve ever wanted for him is to love himself despite what his asshole of a father did to him. This is the least I can give him.
I wrap my arms around his waist as warmth floods me at having him back. I don’t understand how I can be so attracted to three men at once, but I don’t care about that anymore. Right now it’s just us, isn’t it?
His grasp tightens, and my feet suddenly lift off the terrace. My heart thunders. I glance up at Ahren as he stares down at me, smiling like nothing in the world can touch him. The world falls away below us as his wings beat, air buffeting into us, hair fluttering around us, but I never break our stare.
“This is incredible,” I gasp.
“I don’t know how you managed it, but you’ve given me something I can never repay you for. You can’t even begin to understand what this means to me.” His voice cracks, and the sight of his joy loosens at the corners of my eyes.
“I want you to feel whole and not be reminded of what your asshole father did to you. There’s—”
He leans and steals my words with a searing kiss, so powerful, so possessive, that it leaves me trembling. This is the Ahren I’ve missed, the fae who captivated me. I reach up and cup his face, pushing myself closer, kissing him back, showing him how much he means to me.
My heart almost explodes from the sheer happiness of being in his arms. Our kiss is fire; this is how we should always be. His tongue swirls over my lips teasingly while my stomach flutters with exhilaration.
“I’ve wanted you from the first time you arrived at our court, which was a mistake on my part. You deserve everything and so much more.” A flare of uncertainty brushes over his face, and we’re floating back down to the balcony.
Unease rises through my stomach, and the truth pushes to the forefront of my mind.
He doesn’t intend to be with me, after all.
No, he wouldn’t do that. Because the way he just kissed me belongs to a fae who is desperately in love.
My feet softly land on the floor, first my toes, then my heels. Ahren doesn’t let me go and says, “I want your happiness.” He pauses, and my heart stops for a moment.
“And?” Tears already blur my eyes because my body knows what’s coming. I feel it twisting inside me, the agony squeezing, squeezing, squeezing until I can barely take a breath.
“I am to marry the princess of Ember Court in order to claim the throne of Shadow Court.”
The sucker punch comes fast and instant, and I can’t think at first. Tears fall; there’s no stopping them. This is why he’s been pushing me away, why he’s doing it again now.
I stumble backward from him, utterly broken. This can’t be right. It’s me he is supposed to be with… how dare he marry someone else!
“Guendolyn, please. I have no choice in this.” He reaches out for me, but I push his hand away.
The world freezes around us. There’s nothing left.
I’m shaking my head, wiping my eyes, and my mind is spiraling. “I thought…”
How could I have been so blind to not see this coming? Of course he’d have to marry—I should have seen this. But in truth, it never once occurred to me that I’d lose Ahren. In my mind, we were secure and the problem was related to something else. I’m such a fucking idiot!
“If things were different,” he begins, but I can’t do this. I can’t be in his presence.
“Don’t.”
The heartache in his eyes when he looks at me buckles my knees. My gaze lingers on him a bit longer, tracing every bit of him—his sharp cheekbones, the fullness of his tempting lips, the strong line of his jaw. But the longer I look at him, the more my body is ready to collapse, but I refuse to cry desperately in front of him.
I turn and run across the balcony and through the door. I don’t stop moving as I race down the stairs. Tears drench my cheeks while on the inside I feel pathetic.
Stupid.
Naïve.
Foolish.
My lips feel bruised from his rough kiss. It’s a reminder of something we can never have again. Here I assumed we were making up, that I’d given him a gift of his wings and in exchange he’d take me back. But that was just me being desperate, wasn’t it?
Our time together was nothing more than a farewell.
Chapter 11
Guendolyn
Shock rattles me, digging its claws into me as I rush down the stairs from the balcony. I want to vanish from this whole damn kingdom. Shoving the bottom door open, I burst into the hallway and swing toward my room to be away from everyone. Especially Ahren.
I hate him for making me feel like shit, for rejecting me. And what I loathe even more is that in the back of my mind, I partly understand why he’s doing it. That doesn’t help me in the slightest. I want to detest him and remove him from my thoughts and memories as if we’d never met.
I wipe my eyes as the tears keep flowing. His decision cleaves my heart in half. How could I not have seen this coming? I’ve made a fool of myself.
There’s no way I can live here and see him with someone else every day.
Thinking about the marriage about it makes me feel sick.
I stumble forward, sobs wracking through me, and I bump into the wall where I cry in my hands. My chest burns at the thought of seeing another woman in his arms. He is meant to be mine… and he knows it. I felt it in his kiss.
How did this become such a fucking mess? Do I really belong here anyway? Luther proposed to me, and I haven’t even spoken to Deimos about it yet. But now that earlier joy is stained by Ahren’s news. I twirl the ring around my finger, not sure what I’m supposed to do.
After everything I’ve gone through with the princes, I fell in love with them. With each one of them.
Luther.
Deimos.
Ahren.
Except Ahren has broken my heart, and I’m not sure I can recover if I’m reminded daily o
f what I lost.
I pull out the ruby from the inside of my corset and roll it over my fingers. There's still so much about myself I haven't uncovered, and the plan wasn't for me to fall for three princes.
The more I stare at the stone, the more I contemplate using it to just vanish out of here and return home to Earth. Just to think things through, to feel normal and blend into society like a nobody. I never thought I'd actually crave such a thing. I keep thinking how most of my life was a lie, and that pattern seems to be following me here too. Ahren’s secret has ruined me, and I’m not sure how to get over it.
One minute, I'm ecstatic; the next, I want to run away. I'm growing tired of the drama and danger at every turn.
Footfalls resonate behind me, and my stomach clenches as my thoughts fly to Ahren.
I turn to find someone right in my face, and it's not the prince.
“Jasion!” His name rolls off my tongue with a gasp.
I stumble backward, and his gaze falls to my hand as I curl my fingers around the ruby stone.
“What's in your hand?” he demands, towering over me, his mouth in a sneer.
The bastard hates me, and the feeling's mutual.
“Leave me alone.” I pivot away from him, my skin crawling in his presence.
Strong fingers snatch my wrist, and he tugs me backward. “I asked you a question.”
Everything is getting to be too much for me. I just want to collapse and cry, to try to process what happened with Ahren and not deal with this idiotic mage.
“It's nothing.” I wrench my arm from him, but he's not letting me go.
His nostrils flare as he glares down at me like I'm nothing. Arrogant asshole.
“You stole the king's ruby.” He spits the words, saliva splashing onto my face, and I cringe.
I wipe my face with the sleeve of my dress. “Gross, keep it in your mouth.”
His grip squeezes harder, making me wince.
“I thought I saw you playing with a red stone the other day, and then when I checked the throne and found the ruby gone.”
Ice fills my veins that he was able to catch me with the ruby. I’ve been too careless with it, and now I reprimand myself for not being smarter about hiding it.
“I asked a few questions, and it seems the ruby went missing about a week before our king was brutally murdered.”
A cold shiver runs down my spine at his accusation, but there's no way I'm telling a mage of all people that a fairy took the stone.
“Give it to me!” he growls, leaning in closer.
The hatred in his voice triggers something in me. I've had enough of everyone. I'm trembling with anger.
“Fuck you!”
He snatches my jaw hard, hurting me even more after his last attack, drawing me to his face. That's when I see the shadows of guards coming up behind him. Are they escorting the princes? Except Ahren said Deimos and Luther were out of the kingdom.
“You murdered the king,” Jasion hisses in my face.
Ice fills my veins at his words. “Are you crazy?” I shove a hand into his chest, but he doesn't move.
“The gem is priceless; you killed him to take it. What was your plan? Sell it and make a small fortune, thinking we'd never find out? That’s why you played the princes, isn’t it?”
I clench my fists, sick and tired of his crap. Fury flares across my chest, spreading through me like an inferno.
“I am not a killer. And if you want the damn thing, take it.” I swing my arm to toss the stone aside, but my hand and ruby slap against the wall.
Crack.
Sharpness digs into my palm, and shards of the shattered ruby fall to the floor as I draw my hand back. Blood spills from the cuts and pieces embedded into my skin.
“Oh shit,” I cry, the pain sudden and sharp, feeling like the world's worst paper cut.
“You whore.” Jasion shoves me to the side, right into the arms of a guard.
My world spins. The guard’s hand is like a shackle on my wrist, and I'm being dragged behind him before I can even respond.
“Let me go,” I bellow, punching his arm with my free hand. But it's useless because he doesn't react. He's walking so fast, he's practically dragging me down the hall.
I scream, needing someone to hear me and call Ahren. But the place is empty. The guard shoves open a door, and I'm wrenched in there with him, then I'm stumbling downstairs.
My heart is pounding in my chest as fear collects inside me. Behind me, footsteps race closer, and I look back to Jasion and another beefy guard built like a barrel.
“I did nothing wrong!” I yell at him over my shoulder. I'm so damn furious that he caught me off guard.
Jasion smirks, staring at me with ill intent.
Next thing I know, I'm shoved through another door, and I stumble into a dimly lit room that smells like socks and the horse stables.
“Where are you taking me?”
But none of them answer. The guard hauls me along the dark corridor, then down another set of steps, and only once we go through another door do I realize where we are.
Prison cells line one side of the room. Brick walls divide the four enclosures, all of them empty.
My stomach drops through my body while panic strangles me. Despite my hand stinging and bleeding, I shove my elbow into the guard’s gut, but he doesn’t react.
“The princes will have your head for doing this,” I threaten as I'm pushed into the open cell. A snap of energy strikes like a severe electric shock the moment I stumble over the threshold. I shudder and coil back around to escape.
“That's where you belong, assassin.” He shuts the barred door with a deafening bang.
I rush forward and grasp a metal bar with one hand, shaking it. I don’t feel the pain in my hand; I can only focus on the terrifying reality of what’s to become of me.
“Let me the fuck out of here. I didn't kill anyone.” My voice echoes around us.
Jasion steps in front of the door, hands folded over his bare chest, looking smug and proud of himself.
The hairs on my arms rise as a trickle of energy dances under my skin. The same kind I experienced back in Ash Court when I fought for my life.
“Let me out before the princes make you pay severely for this.”
He chuckles to himself. “You actually think they'll find you? You'll be long gone before that happens.”
Anger skyrockets through me. I grind my teeth as I call to the power as I had once before, but nothing happens... it doesn’t respond. I fist my hands, my shoulders curling forward, and death plays on my mind... the death of this fucking sonofabitch.
The hatred in his eyes would kill me if they could form daggers. He's a piece of scum.
“You stand in my way, and that's the problem. But not for much longer.”
The prick steps forward, just out of arm's reach, his head cocked to the side. The smugness on his face is infuriating. He tsks and sighs heavily like I'm a nuisance to him. Asshole.
“I'm doing you a favor. Do you know what they do to assassins here? Not even your princes will be able to save you from a brutal, long, and painful death.”
“You’ve got it backward. I’m going to enjoy seeing the princes slice you apart with their swords.”
“Maybe I'll change my mind and feed you to the wolves sooner than I thought. I have pieces of the ruby stone.” He taps his pocket. “All the evidence I need to convict you. Along with a few witnesses. The princes won’t be able to save you.”
He whips away from me and storms down the long corridor, the guards on his heels. Seconds later, a door slams shut, and I'm alone.
Fear chokes me as I stumble back, hugging myself. A torch sitting in a metal bracket on the wall outside my cell is all that lights this place. A putrid, filthy, sorrowful dungeon.
I pace back and forth, screaming for help.
But will anyone hear me? We came down so many flights of steps, and… and I'm going to die here! I fucking hate Jasion, and when I get the chance,
I will kill him with my own hands.
I stand in the cell, sick to my stomach wondering how the hell this happened.
When I look down at my bleeding hand, I become even more furious. I can't believe that on top of everything, I also managed to smash the ruby, meaning if I open a portal, I could end up anywhere. I want to cry, but I'm too numb. Instead I return to the cell door and scream for help.
Deimos
“Fuck, Luther, I thought we were doing it together?” Some days I want to punch my brother so hard for the simple satisfaction of how much he frustrates the hell out of me.
“The moment felt right.” He shrugs and stares out at the snow-covered woodland surrounding us.
Guards are behind us. We left the kingdom with help from the mages, making us undetectable by the Bloodcursed for just long enough to race away from the castle where they linger.
“We were alone,” Luther continues, justifying himself. “Stuck in the cottage out in the woods during a storm. And well, the discussion came up, and it just happened that I had grandmother's ring on me.”
I narrow my gaze at him with pure disbelief. “You've carried that thing with you since you were eight when she gave it to you, so don't fucking lie to me.”
He glances over to me from atop his black mare, half smiling, not remorseful at all about asking Guendolyn to marry him without me there. “You really want to do this now, while we're going to meet Father?”
“Fuck yes,” I say. “We had agreed, but keeping your word is impossible for you.”
“What are you angry about the most, brother?” he snaps back. “That somehow you think you'll miss out, or that I spent a night with her and you didn't?”
“Fuck you.” In truth, he's right on both accounts, but I won't admit it out loud. I'm still pissed at the stunt he pulled. I turn my attention to the landscape, keeping an eye out for Bloodcursed. That is the focus, not the fire brewing in the pit of my stomach that I wanted to be there for Guendolyn.
The more I think about it, the more sure I become that I want to hold my own proposal to her, with my own ring. It feels right that she has one from each of us. Once we arrive back, I'll put that into action. In all honesty, I wanted us to do this before she found out Ahren was marrying someone else. For her to know she wasn't alone, that she always had Luther and I.
