by May Dawson
“Mm,” he said. “Well, it doesn’t matter. In an hour, you’ll be married to one male alone, and you can never contest me for the throne.”
He smiled. “I know you and Raile were plotting against me—to find ways to amend the marriage, or to find another loophole that would allow you to take the throne. I planted some of those loopholes to give you hope.”
“What do you think will happen when the people realize that you’re Herrick, inhabiting your son’s body?” I demanded.
“Nothing.” He smiled thinly. “First of all, you won’t get the chance to tell, my dear.”
But I was sure my males would figure it out, just as I had.
“Second, my followers won’t choose to believe it, even if they did learn the truth.” He shrugged.
“Is he even alive in there? Now that you’ve taken over his body?”
He tilted his head to one side, studying me. “Is there some part of you that loves him even though you don’t remember him?”
He wouldn’t answer me. He never would. Frustration clutched at my chest; I couldn’t even figure out if my brother was alive in there. If there was anyone to save.
“You wouldn’t know what that’s like, would you? Because you’re a monster?”
He shook his head. “Not a monster. Just someone who always tries to get what he wants…just like you.”
He crooked his arm. “Well, daughter of mine, time for me to escort you down the aisle.”
My skin crawled at the thought of touching him.
But the enchantment urged me forward. I shuddered as my fingers rested lightly on his arm, as I tried to hold myself away from him.
The two of us walked toward the wedding.
I’d always been the princess who saved myself, just as I boasted to Tiron, when the enchantment wouldn’t let me tell him anything else.
But this time, I sure could use some saving myself.
The two of us swept down the stairs. Servants lined the long marble hall, allowed a glimpse of me before I went into the ballroom, and I heard gasps and murmurs. I’d barely glanced at myself in the mirror, but I knew a little of what they were seeing; the long white gown that trailed me down the stairs, weighted with hundreds of diamonds that glittered under the light. A crown of flowers rested in my hair. I was a vision of shimmer and misery.
I nodded to them all, managing a smile, as the guards opened the doors. Joyful music swelled mockingly.
As my father and I headed toward the front of the hall, Raile was waiting, his hands behind his back.
I passed Duncan. Some of the Fae knights crowded around him as if they were protecting him from himself. Maybe that was wishful thinking on my part, thinking he loved me and wanted me and was ready to come save me if he could.
I searched his face for some sign of what he was thinking, but he was Duncan, as usual: grim-faced and stoic. There was no way of telling whether he thought I’d betrayed him for a second time or if he knew something was off.
Raile held out his hands. I hesitated, and those fingers twitched into my brain again. I hid a wince, smiling at him brightly.
I could feel Duncan staring at me from across the room. I raised my hands slowly to grip Raile’s, hoping he’d spot the bracelet. That he’d know that I loved him, no matter what.
And then I immediately regretted it. I never should have put the damned bracelet on. What if Duncan did realize I loved him—and he did something stupid? What if Herrick had his excuse to gut the rest of my men at my own wedding ceremony?
I clasped Raile’s fingers firmly. The best I could hope for was that Duncan stayed put—and his fellow Fae knights socked him in the stomach if he started getting twitchy—and that Tiron and Az didn’t show up.
I began the damned words of the vows. The taste in my mouth was acrid, even though Raile’s gaze on me was kind. I didn’t want this. I wanted him, if things could be different, but not just him. I didn’t want to leave the other men I loved behind forever.
When Raile began the spell that would bind the two of us, I felt a strange tug in my chest, an ache deep within my body. I’d read about the wedding ceremony but somehow that hadn’t prepared me for the sensation of my own self beginning to twine with Raile’s.
Panic clutched my chest, and I looked up at Raile, who was speaking the words of the spell so confidently. Where our palms touched, I could feel warm bonds of magic slipping around our bodies, unseen. My vision blurred, and for a second, I thought I saw myself through his eyes—the uncertainty on my face, the flowers crowning my hair. Then my vision blurred again, and it was Raile standing in front of me, tall and handsome in his dark suit.
“I claim Alisa, princess of summer.” His gaze met mine, then he winked at me, a trickster’s wink. “I claim her for herself.”
He went on, still speaking the words of the wedding spell, but they were wrong somehow.
Herrick frowned.
“You’re twisting the words,” Herrick started, throwing up his hand in alarm, but he was too late.
There was a shout from the doorway, and I turned to find Tiron in the doorway, a bloody sword in his hand. The guards were slumped at his feet and others were coming toward him, but he raised his hand, white magic crackling around his fingers, and they froze in place. Frost seemed to cover their skin.
“No,” I tried to say, but the enchantment choked me. Tiron was trying to rescue me, but he was going to ruin Raile’s plan to alter our wedding vows, to make sure I wasn’t trapped by them after all. I had to find a way to stop Tiron, so the wedding would go on.
Tiron looked at me across the vast ballroom, his gaze intent on mine. He dropped the bloodied sword to the floor, and it clanged against the marble.
He raised his hands and his shimmering white magic filled the air. Snowflakes began to fall from the ceiling, a cold wind gusting through the ballroom. Everyone seemed to be frozen in place except for Tiron and those of us up at the dais—Herrick and Raile and myself.
Tiron looked different than he ever had before, with soft white magic limning him in light, with power crackling through the air. The playful expression was gone from his face, his lips pressed together in concentration about that beautiful jawline; he was gorgeous and dangerous and he wasn’t mine at all. I’d never really known who he was.
“I claim Alisa, princess of the summer court. I claim her as my bride,” he said, and something unfurled in my chest, something that been Raile’s. I drew in a sharp breath; it felt as if Tiron’s magic was freezing my lungs, and I struggled to draw in another breath.
“No,” I tried to say. I didn’t want to be married to just Tiron; he hadn’t told me he could twist the marriage spell to make me marry him instead.
Was this his idea of rescue?
Or was this a betrayal?
“Alisa,” Raile said softly, and I jerked my gaze away from Tiron to him.
“Gifts of magic for my queen,” Raile breathed.
He’d used the same spell he’d used to give me his magic earlier.
Power suddenly flooded me like ice water running through my veins, my energy spiking. A breeze seemed to blow through the ballroom, carrying the scent of salt air. It rustled Raile’s dark hair as he smiled at me, and the ocean shone in his eyes, bright as sunlight on blue water. Then the magic surged within me, and the light faded in his eyes. The wind died.
All of Raile’s power—and there was so much of it—ran through me.
I raised my hands, my own pink and purple magic meeting Tiron’s. Raile took a step away, his hands folding behind his back, his face alight with mischief, as if he were curious to see what I would do.
When I tried to snap the bonds of magic between Tiron and me, magic tightened around my chest like deranged corset strings, trying to strangle me. I couldn’t draw a breath. I couldn’t just break the marriage vows and walk away.
Vows mean something here. We’d already begun the vows, and magic had a price.
I was getting married today. It was just a matte
r of how I shaped the magic.
It was just a matter of who I chose.
“Well, Alisa,” Raile said lightly, as if he hadn’t lent all his magic to me, and now he was powerless as a kitten, “I claim you as my wife. Will you claim me as your husband?”
“Yes,” I said.
“But I also claim Duncan, and Azrael, and Tiron.”
Magic rippled through me. I saw myself through Raile’s eyes, standing in front of him with my hands in his. I felt Azrael somewhere—asleep, and wrapped in nightmares, as always—and Tiron, full of fury—and Duncan. For a second, I glimpsed myself through their eyes; I was in Azrael’s nightmares, and Tiron’s outrage, and Duncan—Duncan was fracturing into pieces watching me. That hurt the most of all. He was trying to hang on, trying to trust me, even though it went against his nature—and he ached.
Magic twined through us all, connecting us to each other. For a second, I couldn’t breathe at all. It felt as if I were floating, and bonds of magic glimmering in the air between us all for a moment—Tiron’s pale, glittering magic, and Azrael and Duncan’s fiery magic, and my own purple blaze all washing into each other.
Herrick let out a scream of frustration as he realized what had just happened. I swayed, but Raile’s hand was on my arm, steadying me. I looked up and found those ocean eyes, and a faint smile on his lips.
“Well played, our bride,” he murmured. “Now let’s see if we can get out of here alive.”
To dive into married life with Alisa and her four Fae kings, discover Rebel Queen now…
Hi! May Dawson here.
Want more time with Raura and her males, who you met briefly in Fallen Queen? Their story overlaps with Alisa’s. You’ll find more about them in my Shifter Academy series. Get started with a free copy of book 1, Their Shifter Academy.
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Best,
May
Their Shifter Princess
Chapter One
Piper
I was walking Maddie to school when I spotted trouble ahead. Trouble in the form of Eli Kingston and his two best friends, or should I say lackeys. The three of them were walking toward us, away from the high school, so they’d probably come looking for me.
“Hey kiddo,” I said, resting my hand on Maddie’s shoulder. We were only a block away from the elementary school.
She looked up at me. Her blue eyes were wide and dark-lashed, her face innocent under her pigtails. I wanted to make sure she stayed that way, no matter what kind of trouble I was in.
Sometimes, that meant I lied. I did whatever it took to protect her.
“I’ll race you to school,” I told her. “All the way to the door. You up for it?”
She crinkled her nose at me. “You’re so slow.”
“And you’re so short, but I don’t bring it up all the time.” I rested my hand on top of her head affectionately. “If I fall behind, you go ahead into school. I don’t want to make you late.”
Her heart-shaped face clouded, and a spike of guilt stabbed into my chest. Maddie took fourth grade very seriously. She’d never be late on purpose. Reading was an escape for her, and school was a haven. We shared a love of books.
“We’re going to be late?” she asked in alarm.
“Not you, since you’re so fast,” I said, my voice teasing. “Ready, set…”
She positioned her arms, one forward and one back, like a little sprinter. She also had my competitive streak.
“Go!” I said, exploding forward myself. Together, the two of us sprinted across the sidewalk. I always felt a rise of joy at my sneakers hitting the pavement and pushing away, and racing my little sister made me feel like a kid.
Except I was running right toward danger.
Maddie went past them as I slowed, falling back just enough to keep an eye on her. I stepped onto the grass, trying to avoid Eli, and he turned, his eyes following me. A mean grin came to his lips.
I made it two steps past him, before powerful arms closed around me from behind. I stumbled, trying to get loose, but he moved with me. His hot breath blew against my ear.
“Don’t scream,” he said. “That little girl looks back and I’m going to snatch her up too.”
“Let go of me,” I said fiercely.
He finally did, pushing me away from him. I took a quick step forward, ready to run, but the three of them surrounded me. They boxed me in, pressing closer and closer. Eli’s big-jawed, grinning face hovered too near mine.
I looked toward the elementary school. Maddie’s hot pink backpack bounced up and down on her back as she turned in the gate. There were teachers around the school, directing students off busses. She was safe.
No one looked my way, though.
“Let’s walk together,” Eli said companionably, throwing an arm over my shoulders. He hugged me close to his side, and I breathed in the overwhelming scent of his cologne, which was so strong it tickled the back of my throat. I coughed under my breath.
He thought I was easy prey. Maybe that was why he’d become so obsessed with me. But he didn’t know me as well as he thought.
“You stood me up this weekend,” he said.
“My dad doesn’t let me date. I told you that.”
“You’re almost eighteen,” he said it like I was stupid.
“Oh, I know.”
He squeezed my shoulders, tight enough to hurt, trying to punish me for my tone. From my peripheral vision, I could see Dan covering him, just a step behind and on my right.
There was half a mile between us and the high school. There wasn’t much protection at school, either; Eli’s father was kind of a big deal. He owned one of the two plants in town.
“Did you even ask your daddy?” he drawled. The word sounded revolting coming from him. It would have sounded revolting anyway, because my father had never been warm and caring. Even when I was little, he was never a daddy, and he sure wasn’t one now. “I’ll bet he would let you go out with me.”
My father owned the other plant. He and Eli’s father were drinking buddies.
“He’s not going to say yes,” I told him firmly. “We’ve got rules.”
Unlike in Eli’s family.
“You should have snuck out,” he chided. “We would have had fun.”
If I were going to risk a beating, it wouldn’t be to hang out with Eli Kingston, that was for damn sure.
“You hurt my feelings.” He said it lightly, like he was playing with me, but I was sure it was true. He needed to shave, but the faint scraggle across his jaw was wispy. Despite how toned and muscular he was, there was a bit of pudge in his cheeks still. I’d hurt the man-baby’s feelings.
“Why me?” I asked. “You could have any girl in school, Eli.”
Might as well appeal to the boy’s vanity.
It might be true, though. I didn’t understand why he was drawn to me, when I wanted nothing more than to read my books, keep to myself, and count down the days until I turned eighteen. But I couldn’t seem to stay out of trouble.
“There’s nothing quite like the sweet, innocent girl who’s been protected by her daddy,” he said. As his arm dropped off my shoulders, my posture straightened, my shoulders squaring. I sighed in relief at being released.
But his hand promptly found its way right to my ass. He rested his palm confidently on my jeans pocket, as if I belonged to him. His touch burned. Adrenaline spiked in my chest, restlessness flooded my legs. I couldn’t not react.
“Then you should find one of those,” I told him.
I stomped on his foot as hard as I could, shoving him away, already whirling to run. He fell backward. He was going to hit the sidewalk hard, but I wasn’t going to hang around an
d watch.
Dan ran toward me as their other buddy, Red, dove to help Eli up.
Dan’s eyes widened. Instead of running away, I stepped in toward him. His momentum carried him into me as I ducked suddenly. His thighs crashed into my arms as I threw them up to protect my head, and he flipped over me. The toe of his boot caught my ribs, hard enough that I heard a crack and I slammed down to my knees on the pavement. But despite the ache in my chest, and my kneecap burning, I pushed myself up and staggered forward.
I was already running before the three of them scrambled to their feet.
I’m only slow when I run with Maddie. My lungs ached from the cold air I sucked in as I sprinted for the safety of school. Their feet thundered behind me for a few hundred feet.
“Wait, wait,” Eli barked. Suddenly, the noise behind me fell away.
The street ahead of me blurred, but I didn’t see anything to make them stop. There were no cops or teachers or adults who gave a damn. I wasn’t sure if there even were any adults in this town who would choose me and risk the wrath of the Kingstons. He must have some kind of new, awful plan.
But for now, I ran hard for school.
When I walked in the front door, my chest was still heaving. People gave me funny glances, then looked away.
In this town, I was the poor little rich girl. People were nice to me because of who my father is, but because of it, they weren’t my friends, either.
In Homeroom, Mr. Turner looked up at me. His gaze lingered on my face, his expression troubled, and for a second, I thought he was going to ask me if I was okay. I was prepared to lie, but he looked down at his attendance log instead.
Misty Opal sat in the second row, her chair right ahead of mine. We used to be friends. Her eyes widened when they met mine. She looked like she was worried about me, like when we were kids and she realized I had one too many broken arms. My lips parted—although I didn’t know what I was going to say—but Chelsey said something to her, and she leaned forward eagerly.
