The Mating Ritual: Werewolves of Montana Book 9

by Bonnie Vanak

  Brianna touched a leather-bound cover with a finger. “Is all well in your marriage, my daughter?”

  “He is good to me. So very good.” She slid her palm over her mother’s cold hand. “Soon things in this kingdom will change.”

  “They will never change.”

  Bitterness tinged her mother’s voice. Alia squeezed her hand. “You must have faith. I do.”

  Even as she spoke, her heart twisted. Gideon was a good man, and she was charged with killing him to start a war. There had to be another way.

  Brianna gave her an arch look. “Do you trust your husband with all your secrets, Alia? Does he know you’re a warrior trained by her own brother? Would you tell him?”

  Eventually. “I haven’t much time,” she said, evading the question. “I brought you supplies and some of the red wine you love.”

  After bringing the pack into the kitchen, she hugged her mother again. “Don’t give everything away,” she told her, knowing Brianna would share it with all her hungry neighbors.

  Brianna’s expression softened. “I don’t have to this time. Gideon has been coming here each day with fresh vegetables, meat and milk. He visits here each afternoon before returning home to you. He reads to the little ones as well.”

  Stunned, she stared at her mother. “He did not tell me.”

  “He wants to keep it as a surprise when you make your monthly visit here. He told us he wants us all to wear the new clothing he brought to us and have all the children fattened up. Your delight will be his greatest reward.”

  “But where is he getting the food?”

  Laughter bubbled from Brianna’s lips, such a sweet sound Alia had not heard in months. “He smuggles it from the palace kitchen with Ariel’s help. And then he covers the deed with glamour so it looks as if the king’s own pantry is stocked.”

  Mother and daughter shared a laugh, and then Brianna sobered. “Alia, my dearest girl, you have managed to marry the only decent male Fae in the kingdom. My joy would be complete if your sister were safe.” A sob fled her mother. Brianna buried her face into her hands. “If my baby becomes a slave, I will die. I cannot bear it!”

  Two lives, not one, would be lost. Alyssa would never survive the daily beatings and torment suffered by sexual slaves. She was only six.

  Dryness coated her throat as she helplessly patted her mother’s arm. “Alyssa will not be enslaved. I will do everything I can to prevent this.”

  Brianna raised her tear-streaked face. Fragile, so very fragile, this woman who had birthed her, who taught her to sing and laugh in a kingdom that saw little of either these dark days. “Alia, beware Oren’s reach. It spreads further each day and the evil grows. Once he was a good, just king. Now only corruption and greed rules him. I know not where he gets his power, but there are whispers among the fairies that he is draining the Fae.”

  “The men will not capitulate as easily as we did,” she mused.

  Brianna looked haunted. “Do not blame yourself, daughter. You did as your heart told you, to save a woman who could not be saved. If only Alyssa could be saved as well!”

  Hating the distress flaring on Brianna’s face, Alia kissed her mother on the cheek. “Please, mother, return to your books. I know how much studying gives you pleasure. I must practice.”

  A few minutes later, she was in the square arena fashioned from rough pine bark and dug out of the earth. Dressed in a forest green tunic, brown leggings and soft brown boots, her hair tied back with a leather strip, she stared at the target in front of her. Alia removed an arrow from the quiver attached to her back and readied her bow.

  The arrow sang through the air, hitting dead center.

  She kept shooting arrows, one after another, and then moved the target back from fifty to one hundred and fifty yards. Alia released the arrow and it thudded into the hay-filled target dead center.

  She released a breath. Keen Fae eyesight kept her eye on the target, but she wasn’t certain how well she’d hold up against a moving enemy. Her brother Mauricio had trained with her as much as he’d dared, but lately Oren had sent spies against his heir after noticing the crown prince liked to vanish during certain times of the day.

  She shot another arrow, and heard a sound from behind the trees. Alia looked up to see Silvia step out into the open.

  “I’d hoped you’d be here. I left word with Mother to have you meet me, but I wasn’t certain if you were ready.” Alia pulled the arrow out of the bulls-eye and moved the target to ten yards. “Do you wish to learn to shoot?”

  “Women are forbidden from having weapons.”

  “Then how else are we to defend ourselves?” Alia asked.

  Silvia looked downcast, but took the extra bow and quiver Alia found for her hidden in the compartment beneath the earth. They worked together for an hour, Alia encouraging her friend and praising her each time the arrow hit the target.

  Silvia sighed as they put away the weapons. “I will never shoot as well as you, Alia. Perhaps if I put the likeness of the king on this target.”

  “I dare not. The only safeguard for our practice area is that the king might think it one used by the men in his regiment to keep the wilding Fae in line.”

  Silvia sneered. “Oren doesn’t have a working brain cell. He would never suspect. He’s too busy with indulging his vices.”

  She walked with Silvia back to the cottage where her friend had taken refuge since the rape in the king’s dungeon. They hugged.

  “If there is anything you need, let me know. I wish I could have provided better housing for you, but in time, I shall,” Alia told her friend.

  Something flickered in Silvia’s eyes. “You’re too good, Alia. If your husband wants to take you away to his father’s kingdom, I’d go.”

  And then she went into her cottage, shutting the door behind her.

  Alia changed her clothing at her mother’s cottage and then walked back to the manor. Gideon would be home soon.

  She sat in the garden on the stone bench, watching the butterflies hover around the purple and yellow wildflowers near the fountain. She wished she could trust Gideon fully. Maybe they could work together to find a solution to the kingdom’s woes. But if she dared to tell him the truth, her little sister might die.

  Alyssa was being held in the king’s keep, a tower designed once to shelter women during times of war. Now it held children before they were sold off to slavery. Impenetrable, guarded by Oren’s magick, only Lord Ekim could free Alyssa.

  I’ll tell Gideon. Maybe he can enlist his father’s help. But what if Oren discovers the plot and slays Alyssa before anyone can touch him?

  The king would think little of slaughtering a youngest daughter to safeguard his own hide.

  Only the goddess Danu and the Crimson Wizard had enough power to kill Oren right now, before the king was using his powers to fight in a war. The Crimson Wizard, with his indifference to the sufferings of the Summer Kingdom, would not do the deed.

  The only solution was war.

  Suddenly the birds in the forest stopped singing, and the entire forest grew still and quiet. Little hairs rose on the back of Alia’s nape.

  Something approached.

  Gathering her courage, she scanned the grounds. Not even a friendly sprite fluttered near the water fountain, which had stopped moving.

  Powerful magick to cause such distress in water.

  Stomach knotting, she wished for a weapon.

  A horse’s hooves thundered on the dirt road leading to the cottage. Visitors. But her tension increased. Only one person would have good reason to visit her while she was alone, and that person would know her husband was at court.

  She walked around the side of the cottage to see Lord Ekim slide off his mount, tie the reins tight to the fence. Too tight, for the poor, lathered animal could not drink from the water trough set there.

  Alia went to the horse and untied the reins, letting the grateful animal drink. She shot the silent lord a troubled look. Ekim had never been c
ruel to his horses. He cherished them as she cherished and tended the flowers in the garden.

  Something must be wrong.

  “Why do you risk coming here?” she asked. “Gideon will be home soon.”

  “The nobles are delayed in court in a meeting with the king. I came to give you the means to kill your husband.”

  He handed her a silver knife, gleaming in the afternoon sun. She went to test the tip and he seized her wrist. “Careful, princess. You don’t want to do that. Only Prince Gideon’s blood should stain the blade.”

  The Fae’s grin seemed off somehow as he took the dagger from her and sheathed it in a leather scabbard. He had a dank air about him, like a moldy closet. As he handed her the scabbard with the blade safely tucked inside, his hand shook visibly.

  “Are you well, Lord Ekim?”

  “Fine,” he snapped. “Never mind me.”

  Then he scrubbed a shaky hand over the bristles on his jaw. He looked disheveled as well, as if he’d been up all night.

  “Do it, Alia.” And suddenly his voice sounded normal, but weary. “We cannot survive another year with your father in power. He is killing the kingdom.”

  She knew, and this was the truest reason why she’d agreed to this horrible deed. But that had been before she’d gotten to know Gideon, felt the pleasure of his touch in their bed, warmed to the respect and compassion he showed her, and laughed at his mischievous streak.

  He was a person now, not a phantom nightmare from the Winter Kingdom who should be eliminated.

  Alia’s stomach clenched with revulsion. “I can’t do this,” she told him. “We must find another way to topple my father from the throne and ease the troubles of the kingdom.”

  “There is no other way. Prince Gideon must die so others may live.”

  “Why can’t we find another way?” she cried out. “I cannot kill him. He is a good man, not our enemy.”

  Ekim’s gaze stroked over the blade she held in its leather sheath. “Eventually peace for all when the heirs assume the thrones. Do you not wish Mauricio to rule?”

  Her dear brother would make a wonderful king. But the price was too high. “There must be another way.”

  The man’s features were cold, his eyes black ice. “There is not. Do it, princess.”

  “Gideon will not easily die. He is a powerful Fae.” She thought fast. “If I stab him with this dagger and he does not die, the Winter King will still declare war and wish for blood from my father. And you will achieve your goal.”

  She locked gazes with the Fae, noting his red-rimmed eyes. The Lord of the Keep looked ragged, as if he had not slept in days. “Do I have your word that if I stab Gideon and give you the blade stained with his blood, but he does not die, that you will use your influence to free my sister?”

  Something flickered behind his eyes. “Yes, you have my word.”

  As the tightness in her chest eased with the breath she released, he smiled. “But he is not invincible, Lady Alia.”

  Lord Ekim pointed to a patch of bright blue sky showed through the thick tree canopy sheltering their home. “Even Dark Fae princes like Gideon can die. You have ten days. Stab your husband and stain the dagger I gave you with his blood or your sister will perish in the slave pits.”

  The next day, Gideon decided on a picnic lunch in the Fae neutral territory. Alia had grown more relaxed a week after their wedding. Yet since his return yesterday, she’d turned tense and quiet. Even their lovemaking had a different tone.

  He hoped an outing would cheer her. Gideon wasn’t certain what went through her mind, but he suspected something deeply troubled her.

  The town of Cantabria was picturesque and peaceful. Though he had not ventured here since the day when had Aloke had killed Eleanor, he knew it was the only place where he and Alia could have privacy.

  When he and Eleanor had met secretly in this territory, the town had no name. One hundred years ago, a Seelie noble coaxed King Oren and King Byrne to each surrender a mile of their territory for the neutral space. The noble named the town Cantabria in honor of his mate.

  Gideon ordered the servants to pack a large hamper filled with fresh bread, fruit and roasted chicken. He dressed in a forest green and earth brown tunic and leggings, soft leather boots and a wide belt of leather. On the belt he hung his dagger. Then he tied his long hair back with a leather thong. Though weapons were frowned upon in the neutral territory, he felt an instinctive need to protect his wife.

  Gideon strapped a long, silver sword to his back, a weapon gifted by the King after Gideon had given him a potion to increase his sexual drive.

  The potion, he’d warned an eager Oren, only worked with women who wished to lie with him. The thought of Oren having sex made him want to retch, but better a willing partner than an unwilling one.

  When Alia emerged from the bedroom, she took his breath away. She had discarded her usual gowns for a tunic of umber and red, and red leggings. The leggings showed off the curves of her calves and thighs. Her dark hair was unbound, but she’d added a clip of fire rubies that sparkled with fairy light.

  He whistled and she blushed, and smiled at him. “I wanted to be comfortable.”

  “I like your idea of comfortable.” He gave an impish grin. “Though I must admit when you wear your gowns, and nothing beneath, you greatly tempt me to indulge my husbandly duties.”

  A deeper flush suffused her cheeks. Alia glanced at the bedroom again. “I greatly enjoy it when you do so.”

  Tempted to take her back there and show her yet another way he could coax those pretty screams of his name from her throat, he studied her hair. Lovemaking would wait until tonight. Anticipation made the act sweeter and richer. “You wear Ariel’s wedding gift. She will be quite pleased.”

  Alia smiled and touched the butterfly clip. “It’s so pretty and the only jewelry I have for my hair.”

  Gideon made a note to ask Ariel to gather more fairy fire rubies.

  Alia glanced around. “How will we get there? Horses?”

  His mouth quirked upward. “I thought of a more enjoyable method.”

  Clapping his hands, he watched the skies. Two eagles landed in front of him and spread their wings. He’d sent for them from the Winter Kingdom.

  Alia shot him a dubious look. “Seriously? I am a trifle heavy, though I have considered doing Fae Weight Droppers.”

  “You are perfect. I fully enjoy your curves.” His heated gaze swept her from head to toe and she colored again, this time her pink mouth parting as if in invitation.

  Gideon murmured an ancient phrase and the eagles increased to the size of large draft horses. Alia laughed with delight.

  “Oh, I have never seen such magick!”

  He smiled. “Being a Dark Fae has its advantages when it comes to transportation. These raptors are common in the Winter Kingdom. They can fly virtually unnoticed and increase in size to transport us when we need them.”

  After loading the picnic basket on the back of one eagle with leather straps, he helped Alia mount the smaller eagle. Then he climbed on the larger one, and instructed her to hold onto the raptor’s feathers.

  The eagles rose into the air. They soared over the Summer Kingdom, the castle glittering in the sunlight with its diamond and sapphire turrets.

  They flew until landing at the very edge of the neutral territory at the river’s edge. After dismounting, they waved at the eagles, which flew off.

  At a small shop on the outskirts of the neutral territory, they bought a large wedge of Brie and a bottle of a tangy fruit wine Alia professed to like.

  Gideon chose a quiet spot by Mirror Lake in the sloping meadow that marched up the mountain. He snapped out the red blanket and they sat and opened the hamper.

  It was a simple meal, but he much preferred it to the rich, exotic dishes of the king’s table. And the company was far better. Gideon watched Alia sigh with pleasure as she sipped the red wine and ate a raspberry. He couldn’t imagine not spending time with her.

&nb
sp; Sooner or later, he must hurt her with the truth.

  But the day was filled with sunshine and the bright blue, cloudless sky, and he wanted to relax and enjoy it for once.

  Gideon broke off a piece of orange. He ate half and then fed the rest to his bride and then kissed her, tasting the sweetness on her lips.

  Today wasn’t for hot, sweaty sex, but the sheer pleasure of her company. Gideon sensed she needed a welcome break.

  Her lovely face wreathed in a wide smile, Alia gazed around the verdant field, the snow-dusted jagged mountains and the lake sparkling beneath the yellow sun. “It’s so peaceful here. You can almost imagine being anyone or anything. No fears or worries about etiquette, or politics.”

  After eating, he stretched out and listened as she sang.

  “Your voice is sweet as the wine, but I fear if I lie here like a slug, I shall fall asleep. Let’s walk.”

  Alia brightened. “I’d like that.”

  Taking her hand, he chose a mountain path that led closer to the lake. The narrow path through the meadow snaked up the mountain to the stone wall and the ruins of a cottage where he’d once kissed a princess with laughing eyes and a sweet soul.

  They would not venture near that honored place today.

  But when they came to the fork in the path, Alia made a right turn, heading upward. The path took them past a field of bright pink and yellow wildflowers.

  If they kept walking this way, they’d arrive at the ruins. Alarm filled him. Gideon gently clasped her wrist. “Shall we walk the other way? The lake is lovely this time of day.”

  Alia threw him a quick, startled look, but took his hand and began walking back to the picnic site.

  His relief was fleeting, for she suddenly wrenched her hand free and ran toward the ruins.

  No. He raced after her, but Alia seemed determined, almost hypnotized as she scurried up the pathway. He caught up to her a few yards from the tumbledown stone cottage.