by JL Madore
I managed not to curse out loud, though my gut clenched. I’d waited years to find my parents and now my mother was no more than a genetic donor who had my father executed and was pimping me off to one of her noble followers.
I’m not sure what my expression showed—anger and confusion at being denied after finally finding my mother, defiance of the whole death-do-you-part scenario being forced on me—but Zale smiled as if he understood. His dimples showed and reminded me of Tham.
Damn, how I ached to talk to Tham.
We continued to walk in the awkward silence of strangers until finally he took my hand and squeezed. “I realize this must be a shock for you. A mentor would have prepared you on what it means to be the wife of a noble. The realm is in the midst of chaos. We must ensure the continuation of the strength of our race.”
“Continuation? Like kids?”
“Savages from the outer rings have been targeting the inner city. It is incumbent on the nine houses to ensure the well-being of all Attalos’ citizens. It’s about more than children. We promote the image of well-being to the common. We host fine parties, sponsor sporting tournaments, make ourselves visible in the city center. We safeguard the image of normalcy.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, domesticity is no strength of mine.”
“No matter. There will be plenty of time after our union to settle into your role. Besides, you will have staff and your sister wives to help you acclimate.”
Staff? Well, okay, that sounds— “What? What the hell is a sister wife?”
Zale lifted my hand to his lips. Awkward. He had soft, well-manicured hands. Exactly the kind of hands you’d expect from a nobleman. “You are an intelligent woman, Grace, attractive too—despite the cut of your hair and your girlish form. I’m certain you will rise to be head-wife before long. You already intrigue me beyond the others.”
I tried to slide my hand out of his, but he squeezed tighter. My first instinct was to drop him right there on the manicured lawn, but I thought better of it. The past twenty-four hours had been a shitstorm of emotions. I didn’t understand the rules of this game yet, but I wasn’t ready to quit and go home.
My chest tightened as I remembered Bruin saying those exact words to me back in August. He and Mika had just been branded as mates and she was resisting him. I couldn’t stand the hurt in his big turquoise eyes and was damned if I’d give her a polite pass on it like everyone else.
Bruin told me Mika was new to the game and I couldn’t kick her out before she had a chance to learn the rules.
I didn’t get it then. Yeah, well, I guess the Fates were having a good laugh now. Yuck it up, bitches.
Zale leaned closer. “This is the way we have rebuilt the houses of the nobles for almost three decades. The laws of Attalos are absolute. Besides, it could be worse. Couldn’t it? I’m not a tyrant or an ogre. I have all my teeth and the men in my family keep their hair.”
Yes. It certainly could be worse. I forced what I hoped was a convincing smile and relaxed my hand in his. “And just how many wives do you have?”
He nodded to the guards opening the gate for us and we exited the palace grounds. The afternoon sun warmed the chill that had set over me as we strolled toward the city center.
“Currently two,” he said as if the women were luxury cars parked in his garage. “Temperance was my first. She and I were wed eight years ago when I was twenty-one. Then Chastity joined us on the last cycle. You’ll like her. She has a bit of the same defiant quality I see in you. Likes to hide my keys to get a rise out of me.”
My minded buzzed as Zale painted the bizarre picture of his marital ménage. “So, now I’ll be added in as the third wheel?” Hells no. Not how I pictured my happily-ever-after. And no offence to Chastity and her kinder-klepto routine, but he’d never seen defiant like I was about to show him.
“Yes. You’ll be the third and your twin sister Love will be the fourth. Your unexpected return to the fold caused quite a stir in the allocation of brides. Idikos, son of the second house is not even four cycles and wasn’t intended to be a husband until one more cycle had passed. They weren’t sure where to place you, but I assured them that I would welcome both you and your sister as one.”
I’m a twofer. Fucking Fates.
My mind-buzz caused the tides in my gut to churn. By the time we arrived at the next gate, I was seriously considering ducking into the metal shrubs to vomit. Stepping over the bridge, we walked along the orichalcum wall as Terran and I had early this morning. I raised my free hand and skimmed the surface. Like before, energy surged into my arm, tingled through my bloodstream and unexpectedly calmed the eels flipping in my stomach.
Zale scanned the bronze spires and glass walls of the cityscape as if deciding where to head next. “Since you had no mentor, you must be overwhelmed with questions. How about we spend the afternoon together and you can learn a bit about where you come from.”
As much as I wanted to punch Zale in his precious pie-hole and scream, instead, I nodded, craving information about my heritage more. “I’m not sure one afternoon will cover it.”
“I’m all yours. First question.”
“Can I step down as an Eligible? Refuse this?”
Zale actually had the gall to look hurt. “Refuse? We’re trying to rebuild our noble houses. Being an Eligible is a position of the highest honor in Attalos.”
“Yeah . . . so, can I? Refuse?”
Zale’s lips pursed tight. “You cannot. If you aren’t wed by your sixth anniversary in five days’ time, you will be executed as a betrayer of the Queen’s will.”
My hand skimmed down the purple silk of my gown and found the bump of my knife hilt sheathed just beneath the fabric. “Then maybe I should consider this whole thing a wash and go home. I’m sure my father is frantic and is tearing apart the realm searching for me. Maybe I should just go.”
Zale searched my expression with a focus I didn’t understand. “I hadn’t envisioned you would give up without learning the answers to questions which have surely plagued your entire life.”
As we walked on in silence, I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Terran and Zale’s servant boy were still cool. When our gazes met, Terran’s gaze lacked any sign of his natural spark. His expression remained guarded and cool.
“Attalos is a floating realm,” Zale said bringing my attention back to him. “It travels unseen by members of both realms. We are a private race of Fae who chose to distance ourselves from others in the dark times of persecution.”
“And I’m Water Fae? That’s what Freya said.”
“Yes. All Eligibles have been engineered to be Water for almost seven cycles—since a civil uprising cost many lives. Water are known for their intelligence and leadership. Unlike the savages attacking and stealing from the outer rings.”
“The citizens of other elements? They were behind the unrest?” He nodded and we turned to follow a wide canal toward the metropolis of the city. I checked over my shoulder. Terran nodded, looking calmer.
“When I was a young boy, Fire Fae tried to overthrow the Queen. They demanded Her Majesty stand down.”
“Had they ever been violent before?”
He shook his head. “There was a terrible battle, but when they failed to overthrow the Queen they went after the nine houses of nobles. It was a terrifying time. My father locked Mother and I away in a hidden cabinet behind the library bookshelf. It was dark and we were stranded for days, hungry and frightened.”
“And what happened?”
“The very structure of our race is governed by the nine houses. With many of them killed, there was a restructuring of the affinities. Fire Fae were sent to the outermost ring, Wind and Earth the next two in that order and Water kept control of the city.”
“And your father?”
“Killed and praised as a hero of a terrible time.”
“And all this happened when?”
“A few years before you would have been born.”
“
So, the Queen began rebuilding the noble houses by prostituting her offspring to the sons of the nine houses of Water Fae?”
Zale cast a frantic glance around us. “How could you say such a thing? Our Queen is a righteous and proud woman. Everything she does, she does for the benefit of our people.”
Uh-huh. “And if they stand against her they get their heads chopped off. Very democratic.”
Zale squeezed my fingers until I felt the bones grind together. “I don’t know how it is where you come from, Princess, but here in Attalos women know respect and obedience. You’ll learn soon enough to bite that forked tongue of yours or it will be removed.”
I back-handed Zale across the face and freed my hand with little trouble. Terran was at my side in an instant and I slid my hands down my fancy dress. “We’re through here, Terran. Lir-Zale, you can scratch my name off the invitations. I’ll pass on the nuptial servitude. Thanks anyway.”
CHAPTER NINE
“Can you believe that asshat?” I stomped through the streets, mindless of where I was going or who I was bowling over as I went. “I mean really, can you see me married to that smarmy beefcake batting my lashes and kneeling before him? Hells no.” No way would I kneel for him as a supplicant or as a woman.
“Lexi,” Terran said, jogging to keep up with my rant. “Please, Princess, cool. People are taking note. Your words are treasonous. Please.”
“Terran.” I pointed my finger into his chest. “I have never been anyone’s doormat and I’m not going to chill. If that woman wants to sit on her throne and refuse me as her daughter, then why should I care? There are some major flaws in the hierarchy of Attalos and I’m not going to get railroaded into a fucked-up marriage to some pretty-boy yes-man just because mommy dearest says so. Screw. That.”
I heard the intake of breath around me and realized that I did, indeed, have an audience. Terran and I were standing in the merchants’ square with wide-eyed amazement surrounding us on all sides. My mind tried to recap what my mouth had just been spewing and I winced.
Getting my head chopped off is not on my ‘to-do’ list for today.
My apology was on my lips when a woman in an apron stepped off the stoop of the bakery and stretched out a dainty, flour-dusted hand. Her blue, velvety wings stretched to their full span as she snapped her fingers. Not sure what I was expecting, but as the sharp snap, snap, snap, continued and gained strength, I just stared. In a matter of seconds, a chorus of snaps rose up and filled the square.
I scanned the faces of the crowd and caught a flash of fuchsia. On the far side of the merchant area, the woman from my vision turned away and melted into the crowd.
Ignoring Terran’s protests I rucked up my skirt and swept across the stone courtyard and around the corner. Trying to catch a glimpse of the drunken brunette I’d seen not three hours ago, I hustled through the narrow stone streets, the click of my heels tapping out my hurried pace.
“Where is she?” I asked Terran, searching up and down the alleys and doorways as I ran.
“Who, Princess?” Terran asked behind me.
“The woman from my vision.” When his expression blanked out, I remembered he still thought I collapsed with some kind of seizure. As we made our way back and forth, weaving along the water-bordered streets, I gave him the Cliffs Notes version of my visions and what I had seen.
“And you saw this woman just now? In the square?”
“Clear as day.” I came to the end of a street and headed around the corner, searching the faces of people we passed. No one looked familiar. Crestfallen, I dropped the fabric of my dress and let it flow to my feet. “Damn. I lost her.”
Standing with my hands on my hips I took stock of our surroundings. I recognized the fountain from the night before and strode closer to the bronze statue of the Fates. Last night was a blur, but I distinctly remembered stumbling past that fountain on the way to the royal carriage. I oriented myself, glancing from the dock where Estes had met us with the launch and tracing my path back along the row of neo-classical townhouses on my left.
For the briefest moment, I wondered which one Rowan had taken me to. Was it his? No. He’d said that it was one of the Queen’s townhouses, he just had a key.
“Terran? Why does the Queen have townhouses? The palace is big enough to house half the city. Who uses them?”
Terran’s gaze roamed down the long line of crisp architecture set against the blue sky. “Military Commanders, breeders, some of the sons of the noble houses—citizens who are important to the Queen—”
“Whoa,” I raised my hand and Terran stopped mid-sentence. “Breeders? Did my father live in one of these? Do you know where Balor lived?”
“Not which one, exactly, but the breeder’s homes are farther down. The Queen saves the view of the fountain and waterway for her more important guests. Breeders are across from the market shops.”
At my insistence, Terran led me further down the row and around the bend. He was right, the farther we walked from the fountain, the dirtier and more crowded the streets became. This retail sector certainly wasn’t like the market square where Freya had taken me shopping, and it was a far cry from the scenic view of the waterway and the fountain back in the courtyard.
“If I had to guess, I’d say Breeder Balor lived in that house there.”
I followed Terran’s pointed finger to a postage-stamp yard and the plain row house beyond. The front door was open and four duty soldiers slugged large totes out of the gated yard. One by one, they carried their loads out into the street and loaded them on a hovering wagon. When they set the trunks on the platform, the cart adjusted to the load and leveled out.
“She’s seizing his belongings.”
Terran scrubbed his palm over his mouth and nodded. “It would seem so.”
I closed the short distance as quickly as I could. If they took everything, I might never know who my birth father was. Could the Fates be so vicious as to let me find him just to strip every ounce of hope away from me? Yes. Yes, they could.
“Get it all. Got it?” a familiar voice barked from inside, “Every trace of the traitor is to be wiped from the city.”
Joy, twice in one day. Lucky me.
Constable Tasso darkened the doorway. Something about the way he stared at me made my skin crawl. “We meet again. Princess. Grace, wasn’t it?”
The way he smiled at me, I’d lay money that he had a voodoo doll of me tucked away somewhere with pins sticking out of my eyes and a tuft of stuffing bursting from the slice across my throat.
“Why are you doing here?” I wanted to sound tight when I spoke, but emotion leaked out and my voice shook with fury. If they had their way, I’d have no chance to look through my father’s things. “Master Constable Estes ordered you—”
“Estes does not outrank the Queen,” he snapped. “Official palace business, this.”
“Packing the things of a dead man. Super impressive.”
Tasso’s eyes narrowed. “The Queen herself called upon me to—”
I raised my hand and watched another soldier pass with a full armload. “The Queen, herself, eh? Well, good for you. You can climb up my mother’s asshole if you wish but I have no interest in following you.”
Constable Tasso lunged across the little yard and was in my face before I blinked. The rank stench of stale garlic washed warm over my face and my fingers inched the fabric of my skirt up my calf. He obviously thought his size was of benefit to him, but with my agility, I could palm and plunge my knife faster than this asshole could cry for help.
Come on douchebag. Make your move.
As far up in my grille as Tasso was, I heard the gentle vibration as something in his breast pocket buzzed. With a glare at me, he retrieved a small electronic tablet, flipped up the cover and stared at the little screen. His face softened, displaying the smug look of a spoiled child with a secret. Tasso clicked his communicator shut and signaled for the men to finish up.
“Off to lick my mother’s boots?”
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“Actually, I am called to serve the Queen. This errand is not an obligation of duty, though. This I will do simply for the personal satisfaction of watching the aftermath.” Tasso’s lips twisted in a smile as his gaze danced over me. Before I could figure out what he was up to, his men finished loading the last of my father’s belongings and off they strode, my father’s life boxed and forgotten.
“That guy is bad news, Terran. I’ve known a lot of evil in my life and that man is dangerously unbalanced.” I drew a deep breath and tried to calm my Spidey-senses.
“I’m not sure what his wreckage is,” Terran said, watching the back of the wagon disappear around the bend.
I had to laugh. “Damage, Terran. You don’t know what his damage is.”
Terran recaptured a wisp of blond bangs that had escaped his queue in our run and resumed the order of his military look. It didn’t suit him nearly as much as the floppy bangs. When he gestured to the door, I followed him up the walk toward the now empty townhouse. “I don’t know what you expect to find now. Duty soldiers are trained to be thorough.”
The faded cream on cream walls and modest tile floors spoke of a simple life forgotten. Forgotten. Is this where I lived? I walked through the empty space, pushing at the resistance of my own mind. Gods, why couldn’t I remember any of this?
The furnishings had obviously been skeletal to begin with but with the Tasso-troupe finished their fine-tooth-combing, nothing personal or even decorative remained. “What? Did they think leaving a picture on the wall might leak some traitorous secret?”
Terran stepped into an adjoining room and I moved behind the plain, brown settee in the living area. I tried to imagine that battered man from the courtyard living here in better days. I couldn’t picture it. That man had life in his eyes and this place had no sense of personality. It was sterile and sad. My heart sank knowing, without even looking, that the rest of the townhouse would be the same.
“Why do you think he did it?”
