Hopeless Kingdom

by A. K. Koonce

  His words circle my mind and finally I pull my attention up to him. A thin line creases my brows and I’m no longer holding the blanket to my chest as my arms fold over it. My eyes narrow a little on him.

  “Between the two of you?” I ask, my features hardening as he nods to me.

  Is he serious right now? Right now, while I’m a prisoner of Juvar, I really have to have this conversation? It’s as if my magical vagina truly does hold the sorcery King Tristan claimed it did. I must have somehow fucked everything up all on my own.

  I let all of one second pass to make it appear as if I’m truly considering their request.

  “No.”

  Daxdyn gapes at me and his attention swings to his brother as if to ask if I’m allowed to do that.

  “No?” Darrio repeats.

  “You two aren’t the only ones in this relationship. If you two want to go jerk each other off as a loving couple, that’s great, but until then, I get a say in our relationship.” My features smooth into a look of virginal innocence. “My emotions are fragile.” My hand darts up to my chest to feign emotions in my apparently delicate heart and Darrio cocks a brow at me. “You two are just as responsible for our overcrowded relationship as I am. I didn’t manipulate your dicks.” I shake my head at them. “You two choose who will stay and who will go.”

  “That’s not how this works.” Darrio folds his muscular arms across his chest, mirroring my determination.

  The long locks curled sweetly around my face shift as I tilt my chin at him with a look of pure innocence. I refuse. I refuse to let them pin this cluster fuck on me. They’re grown men. They can step up and take responsibility like men.

  “If our roles were reversed, and there were two of me, would you be able to choose so easily?”

  A smirking look fills Darrio’s features and he leans in a little closer. He gets right in my face with that brooding confidence that always seems to cling to him.

  “If there were two of you, one of you would have killed me the moment we met.”

  I do my best to bite back the smile that’s threatening my lips.

  He’s not wrong.

  “I’m not choosing.”

  I shove the blankets off with storming anger and stand, my body brushing past Darrio. Just because I can, I give a nice, long—naked—stretch before the two of them.

  This is the prize, boys.

  Figure out your lives and it could be yours.

  Until then, the Eminence has real shit to worry about.

  ***

  Tension surrounds the three of us. For whatever reason, Darrio and Daxdyn don’t leave me. The two of them talk quietly while I stand on the balcony overlooking the city. The fires aren’t burning here near the kingdom. The kingdom appears contained. Only a blazing red hue lines the horizon as if an unearthly glow is radiating from our terrible planet.

  My father worked for the king when I was younger. I grew up here in this city. I could really leave this place. I could leave it all behind forever. If I could only figure out how. Tomorrow night Tristan believes I’ll renew this kingdom into greatness.

  If I don’t have a plan ready by then, he and I will both be in for an undramatic surprise.

  Warm hands push across my abdomen and I feel his body against mine. I close my eyes and know who it is without turning to him.

  “Come sit with us. Stop worrying so much.” Daxdyn presses a soft kiss to the crown of my head.

  If I’m being honest, I’m subtly avoiding the two of them in this ridiculously small room.

  “He’s not mad. Come sit with us. Talk with us,” he says again as his mouth presses warmly to the base of my neck.

  Daxdyn was never the one I was truly afraid of hurting. He shares his emotions with everyone. Sharing me hasn’t ever seemed like an issue for him.

  “I’m ruining your relationship with your brother.”

  Rumbling laughter skims across my neck, making me shiver in his arms.

  “Nothing will ever ruin our relationship, Kara. It’s just not possible. I’ve never cared about anyone other than myself and my brother.” He pauses, his voice lowering so quietly I barely hear him. “Until I met you.”

  I turn in his arms and his bright eyes shine into mine.

  “Come sit with us,” he repeats softly with a smile.

  “Kara, come fucking sit with us. You’re awful at confrontation.” Darrio’s booming voice echoes up the high ceilings and I hide my face in Daxdyn’s chest as I smile.

  I let him pull me back into the room. Darrio’s legs are spread wide as he sits in one of the loveseats.

  The bed dips as I take a seat at the foot of it.

  Daxdyn leans against the beam of the footboard at my side.

  “So … ” Darrio’s right, I’m terrible with confrontation, but I’m even worse at keeping my big mouth shut. “Have you two ever shared a woman before?” The two of them both study me with confusion tingeing their identical eyes. “Like at the same time,” I say with hidden meaning.

  At the discreet mention of a threesome, Darrio’s spine stiffens more so than usual.

  A nagging voice in me tells me to shut the hell up and to not push my luck, but another voice, a voice that sounds suspiciously like Lady Ivory’s tells me situations like this only happen once in a lifetime.

  “I’m not fucking my brother. Sorry to disappoint,” Darrio says with a pointed glare at me. A seriousness fills his hard gaze that makes my teeth sink into my lower lip to bite back my laughter.

  Daxdyn tilts his head to look at his twin with a cocksure smirk. “Are you afraid to find out that mine’s bigger?”

  A long puff of annoyance slips from Darrio’s lips as he drags his attention to his twin.

  “In all our lives, the image of your cock has never crossed my mind. Until now. Thanks for that.”

  “It takes a lot to get that beautiful image out of your thoughts, trust me,” Dax tells him with a wink.

  What neither of them seems to realize is there is in fact a non-biased, third party in the room who knows first-hand whose is bigger.

  But I just sit back and watch the show.

  “Sharing is more Dax and Ryder’s thing anyway,” Darrio says with a sneering smile thrown his brother’s way.

  That has me paying a bit more attention than I ever have in my entire life.

  “I’m sorry, what the fuck did you just say?” I ask, standing to walk over to him.

  I remember Dax and Ryder sharing a bed and I can’t seem to imagine the two of them together with a woman.

  A woman who isn’t me, I mean.

  My thigh bumps against Darrio’s and his big hand wraps around it, his thumb skimming my sex just slightly, before he pulls hard. His arms wrap around my hips as I fall into his lap.

  He studies me for a minute, my heart thundering to life from the feel of his body all around me.

  “This should be weird, shouldn’t it?” he asks in a quiet tone.

  I shake my head at him. It honestly doesn’t feel weird.

  My hand pushes up his bicep before my fingers tangle through his long locks.

  “I want you.” My heart strikes hard against my ribs at the sound of his rumbling admission. “Let’s just see what happens.”

  It seems vague. We’ll just see what happens. But then Darrio leans into me and I find myself forgetting to breathe for a few seconds. “The three of us are friends. We just need to be open with each other.” My gutter mind loves the idea of being open with them. Open. Wide open. “I’m willing to try this with you and Ryder and Daxdyn.”

  I nod before realizing what he just said.

  “What?” I pull back from him a little. “Ryder and Daxdyn?”

  A frown tips his full lips.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m not fucking Ryder.” For some reason outrage rings through my tone as if it’s preposterous for him to assume I’m sleeping with Ryder as well as his brother. “Just … you know … your brother.”

  Gods above, I sou
nd like an idiot right now.

  “Why would you think that?” I ask.

  Darrio and Daxdyn exchange a knowing look that has me pursing my lips at them.

  A smile taunts his lips and before he can reply, the door opens and the prince himself walks in as if he was summoned simply from saying his name too many times.

  Ryder glances from me wrapped up in Darrio’s arms to Daxdyn.

  “You have a type,” Ryder tells me, his attention shifting from Darrio to Daxdyn before falling heavily on my lips.

  I don’t miss the way he’s watching my mouth. I rake my teeth slowly across my lower lip, biting back my immediate comments. His eyes flare with color before darting away from me.

  It’s like it’s the first time I’m seeing Ryder. This is why Darrio thought I was sleeping with him. I’m not even sure now how I didn’t see it before.

  They’re just too good looking, that’s all. My ridiculous hormones are too hyper aware of how attractive these three fae are.

  “You think arrogant fae men are my type?” I ask in a breathy voice.

  The sound of his throat clearing is the only reply he has for a moment.

  “I think it’s obvious what your type is.”

  “Maybe you three have a type,” I challenge, standing from my comfortable spot in Darrio’s lap to cross my arms with a stance that is pure confidence.

  “I think you’re right. We clearly have a thing for snarky, big mouthed, mortal women.” A smile tilts Ryder’s lips.

  My mouth falls open as if he slapped me with that insult.

  “That’s enough, Ryder,” Darrio says as he stands. His strong body shadows mine.

  Ryder’s gaze trails up to meet Darrio’s and then he, too, is gaping.

  “Holy shit, you’re in love with her.” Ryder’s astounded smile grows wolfish.

  An unattractive cackling laugh falls from my mouth.

  “Why does everyone keep saying that?” Darrio all but yells back at him.

  “Wait ‘til you see her as a fae. You’ll be chanting your love for her then. Magnified beauty and for that first hour, her new powers will be uncontrollable. Darrio loves nothing more than a loss of control,” Daxdyn taunts with a wink.

  Darrio shakes his head at them both and I can’t help but smirk at him and his pouting.

  “So, about that threesome, though.” I bite the inside of my cheek as I eagerly wait for a more vivid explanation of what happened.

  “Gods above, not the threesome story, please,” Darrio says, tipping his head back like he’s really pleading for some mercy on his beautiful soul.

  “You want the full story or just the dirty details?” Daxdyn pulls my hand until my body’s flush with his. My hands lock around the back of his neck.

  “I want both.”

  Daxdyn hums with laughter, his eyes shining as he stares down at me. Warm fingers skim along my jaw before he pushes my hair back behind my ear.

  “Well, it all started with this human woman … ” Ryder says in a reminiscing voice.

  “Of course it did,” Darrio says under his breath as if he’s tired of this conversation already. The mattress dips as he flops down in the center of my bed.

  And on and on the four of us banter into the night. Until, one by one, they all fall asleep.

  Except for me.

  My lips press to Daxdyn’s and I push his dark hair back from his face. I roll in the bed until I’m facing Darrio and slowly I brush a kiss across his lips. He hums a sound of exhausted approval.

  To my unfortunate luck, there was no threesome.

  But there was an understanding between us. Somehow, even Ryder’s allowed in our strange relationship. In a way, Ryder’s always been a part of this relationship. He’s just not like Dax and Darrio. He’s different. The same but different.

  Quietly, I slip from the bed. I pull my boots on and then I kneel next to Ryder’s sleeping form, curled up on the tiny, velvet loveseat.

  White light streaks across his strong features.

  The features of a prince. The full lips of a prince.

  My fingers brush over his soft lips as I stare down at him.

  If I could be honest with myself, I’d know that I followed these three into this dangerous kingdom for a reason. I wanted to feel like I wasn’t alone in this world for once. I wanted to feel like I belonged somewhere.

  Now I do. I belong with these three Hopeless fae.

  I’ll come back for them. After I finish my task tonight, I’ll come back for them.

  The moment I rail my father’s sword through King Tristan’s body, I’ll come back for them.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Power is a Dangerous Thing

  The clouds lay especially heavy in the heavens tonight. A thick gray color covers the stars and, thank the gods, the moon. The slick grass causes my boots to slip just slightly as I follow quietly behind Tristan.

  “I haven’t slept a wink since we last spoke.” He walks with the arrogance only royalty seems to have. His spine is so stiff I think it might break in half.

  And there, at his waist is the one thing I prayed he’d flaunt in my face tonight.

  My father’s sword.

  “I’ve rested up rather well. I wanted to ensure my powers would be ready for you,” I say as if it’s the utter truth, as if I haven’t actually lost a lot of sleep due to an over active sex life with two hungry fae men.

  He opens the door to the place I told him would possess the most cosmic power.

  Cosmic; yes, yes I did steal that word from Ryder.

  The door opens to the tower that conceals the Hopeless realm. The echoing sound of our steps circle the room and I stare hard at the bars that cage in the well to the Hopeless city.

  If I kill Tristan here, in this secluded, forbidden tower, no one will find him for days. It could give us just enough time to figure out how to break the iron bars over the well.

  Tristan pulls an odd-looking, razor like object from his pocket.

  “Give me your wrists.”

  Hesitantly I lift my wrists to him. My heart begins to kick into over drive the moment his hands wrap around mine.

  He angles the black blade against the iron cuff and peculiarly it falls away with a hard clanking sound against the brick.

  “The Traveler brought us this little gift. It opens and seals these special cuffs he designed for me.”

  The Traveler made his jailer cuffs for him to use against his own fae people?

  I can’t even process that thought.

  The other cuff is removed with ease and then he’s staring at me with so much intensity I shift away from him.

  “You’ll do it now, then? You’ll correct this kingdom, your Eminence?”

  I nod with too much vigor as my wide eyes search the drastically lit room for a weapon. I just need the upper hand for a moment.

  Then it occurs to me, I don’t need a weapon when I have commanding power.

  “Close your eyes, my child,” I say as my head tips up with confidence.

  He nods with excitement before his piercing blue eyes close.

  It’s that fucking easy.

  Gods above, why do they all make this so damn easy?

  My hand doesn’t shake as I reach out to the weapon at his side. I nearly feel the hard hilt of it when an unseen energy swirls through me, pulling at me from the inside out.

  I turn. The inky swirling water of the Hopeless well churns faster, nearly sloshing over the edge and onto the brick floor.

  My lips part as I stare at it with a mysterious feeling pooling through me. My knees give out and I fall there at the edge of the well. My reflection looks back at me in dark, ominous colors.

  As if my hands are not my own, they sink into the waters, letting the liquid ripple through my fingers, allowing it to grip ahold of my hands and pull me closer.

  Warmth sears through me and my body begins to shake, but I can’t let go. I can’t pull away. All I can do is enjoy the tingling fire that’s burning through my vein
s. It courses all through me. I feel it racing through me. The sound of my shirt tearing accompanies the scream that releases from my lips and it’s then that I tip my head up to see the moon shining down from the open tower above. Perfectly, as if the gods are spotlighting me.

  It strikes across the twirling rapids and seems to cast too much color into the room. It’s too bright.

  I clench my eyes closed from the stark white light as I fall back from the hypnotic pull the waters seem to have on me. Pain shakes through me in violent waves.

  With a gasp, I stand. My shoulders hunching with a heavy weight on them.

  The room seems brighter than it was before. Tristan seems thinner, more fragile than he was before. Breakable even.

  I’m entirely different than I was just seconds ago.

  Black, veering marks strike up the inside of my left arm from my wrist to my forearm. My limbs seem slightly longer, the muscle tone more lithe. Even my hair is whiter now.

  And, to my horrendous astonishment, heavy ebony wings span the length of my body. Soft, thick feathers meet my fingertips. They’re an onyx color, sprouting from my shoulder blades and brushing the dirty floor.

  “M—my Eminence,” Tristan stutters, breaking my trance. Wide eyes stare at me in complete and total awe.

  “Give me my sword, Tristan.” The ringing sound of my voice seems to flow with the turning waters at my feet.

  His hands shake as he fumbles with the belt on his tiny hips.

  After a moment passes, he flings the belt and all at my feet.

  The hilt scrapes across the bricks and I pick it up with care. It weighs my hands just as familiarly as it always did.

  My fingers curl around it with meaning and Tristan turns with sudden worry filling his frame.

  “I—I freed you,” he says as if it’s a reminder.

  “Yes, but you also imprisoned me.” Power tingles through my limbs, my fingers curling and uncurling into my palm.

  Carefully, I pull the weapon from his belt. Colors gleam off of my father’s blade like I’ve never seen before. It’s as if my vision has been muted my entire mortal life and I’m seeing for the first time.

  Then he has the balls to say something I never thought about. “Your men are still under my possession, my Eminence. My mother is keeping a close eye on them while I’m gone.”