The Faerie Mates (Dark World: The Faerie Games Book 3)

by Michelle Madow

  This time, I was ready.

  I raised my hands and shot out bolts of lightning, taking down each arrow like I’d taken out the bunches of grapes during the first arena fight to the death. I felt like I could hold her off forever.

  But if any other champions arrived at the center of the wheel, I was a sitting duck. I needed to take out Antonia—not just her arrows. And I needed to do it now.

  Knock her out. Don’t kill her.

  I took a deep breath. Bryan and Finn had trained me to use this type of control.

  I could do it.

  I held off her arrows with one hand and gathered electricity with another. Once I had enough—but not too much—I threw the bolt of lightning straight at her stomach.

  She seized and fell backward, as straight as a board. Her head smacked to the ground.

  I stared at her, holding my breath. Bound to the ground, I couldn’t run over to check her pulse to make sure she was still alive.

  But Juno hadn’t appeared to take me out for breaking the no killing rule.

  Antonia was still alive.

  My muscles relaxed, and I could breathe again. But the comfort only lasted for a second.

  Because there was still the issue of the giant snake. Thank God the snake was only guarding the gate and wasn’t going on the offensive.

  Otherwise, I’d have been toast already.

  I glanced over my shoulder at Julian and Pierce. Julian took another swing—an attempt to slice off Pierce’s arm. But Pierce moved quickly enough that it created a nasty gash instead of removing his arm completely.

  I needed to take care of the snake, and I needed to do it quickly. Because who knew when any of the other champions would come riding down their path.

  Julian or I needed to get the wreath before that could happen.

  It needs to be Julian, I realized. With my legs like this, I can’t climb the tree to get the wreath.

  I glanced over to see if he was still ahead in his fight with Pierce. He was.

  Looking down to avoid looking the snake in the eyes, I dug deep within myself and gathered as much magic as I could.

  My entire body lit up, glowing with electricity. I was electricity, and the electricity was me.

  Looking at the snake’s body instead of its eyes, I gathered my magic into two lethal balls in my hands. They glowed so brightly that I couldn’t look straight at them.

  I held my palms forward and pushed.

  The bolts joined together mid-air, striking the snake where its heart should be. I pushed more magic into the bolt to keep it in place. The snake shook and seized, although I could only tell from looking at its body, since I was avoiding his eyes.

  “I can’t hold it much longer,” I screamed, unable to look away from the snake because I didn’t want to lose my hold on it. “You have to get the wreath NOW!”

  In the corner of my eye, I saw someone run past the snake and through the gate. But with the bright light of the lightning in front of me—nearly blinding me—I couldn’t tell if it was Julian or Pierce.

  Please be Julian.

  “We have our new Emperor of the Villa!” Bacchus’s voice boomed through the air.

  I dropped hold of my lightning and fell onto my back. My knees throbbed in agony, and the world spun around me as I stared up at the puffy white clouds. My eyes wanted to close so I could float away to an unconscious place free of pain.

  But I fought it. I needed to know who won.

  “Congratulations Julian, the chosen champion of Mars!” Bacchus said.

  Relief coursed through me, I relaxed into the ground, and the darkness pulled me under.

  4

  Selena

  When I’d woken up in the villa’s healing chamber, my kneecaps were good as new.

  Now, we were gathered around the table for Julian’s celebration banquet. Cassia, Felix, and I sat by his sides.

  Octavia and her lackeys were relegated to the far end.

  “Did the chimera try to kill any of you back there?” I asked after the roasted pig was served.

  That was what I’d learned the ugly, Frankenstein monster was called. A chimera.

  Octavia rolled her eyes. “And the paranoia has set in,” she said. “It figures you’d be the first to succumb.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “The monsters don’t try to kill us in the Emperor of the Villa competitions.” She sneered. “The gods make sure of it. But being locked in a villa together affects most people’s minds. It makes them moody, unable to think straight, and paranoid. It’s basic psychology. The weaker minded are the first to succumb.”

  I placed my utensils down and held her gaze. “The chimera was going straight for my neck,” I said. “I didn’t imagine it.”

  “Mine went for my extremities,” Cassia piped in. “Not my neck.”

  The others said the same.

  “See?” Octavia said. “It wasn’t trying to rip your head off. It’s just the paranoia talking.” She smiled sweetly and took a delicate bite of meat.

  I said nothing more. But I knew what I saw. The chimera was definitely going for my neck.

  But I wasn’t the only one watching, I reminded myself. The entire Otherworld was watching through the orbs.

  If the chimera was truly trying to kill me, the gods would have stopped it. They didn’t want us taken out of the Games that way. They wanted us to kill each other in the arena.

  Maybe I was being paranoid.

  But I ate the rest of my meal in silence, since I’d never admit to Octavia that she might be right.

  Everyone but myself, Cassia, Felix, and Julian left the dining room the moment the meal was over.

  Julian turned to me, and my heart raced when his eyes met mine. “I need to talk to you,” he said.

  “What’s up?” I tried to sound as casual as possible.

  “Not here.” He glanced down the hall that led to the stairs. “In my suite.”

  “You two go ahead.” Felix stood up and placed his hand on Cassia’s shoulder. “The aurora is supposed to be brighter than normal tonight. I was hoping Cassia and I might watch it together.”

  Her cheeks flushed, even more when she looked up to him and met his eyes. “I’d love that,” she said.

  “I’m glad.” He lifted his hand from her shoulder and held it out to her, helping her out of her chair. His hand still in hers, he turned slightly to Julian. “Congrats on the win, brother,” he said.

  Julian bristled when Felix called him brother, although Felix and Cassia all but floated out of the dining room before he could respond.

  “Shall we?” Julian motioned to the hall that led to the stairs.

  I nodded and followed his lead, the butterflies in my stomach so intense that I could barely stay steady as I walked.

  This would be our first time alone together since I saw his clover birthmark that matched mine. I needed to tell him. But how?

  Don’t be nervous, I told myself as we walked up the stairs. Each step took so much effort that I felt like I was climbing Everest. He’s your soulmate. And he deserves to know.

  5

  Selena

  Julian lounged on the bed, as comfortable as ever.

  I sat on one of the armchairs facing him, sitting as straight as a board.

  He was talking about the game—about his plans for what he was going to do for the week. I wasn’t hearing a word he was saying.

  What if he’s disappointed to be my soulmate?

  He’d pushed me away when we’d kissed last week. It was one of the most humiliating moments of my life.

  He won’t be disappointed, another part of my mind thought. That’s not how the soulmate bond works. He has to feel the same draw to me that I feel toward him. He just has to.

  But the way he’d looked at me after he pushed me away wouldn’t leave my mind. Like I disgusted him.

  How could my soulmate feel that way about me? Could our matching birthmarks be a fluke? Could there be a small difference betw
een them—something so small that I wouldn’t see it until we studied them next to each other?

  “Earth to Selena.” He snapped his fingers, bringing me back into focus. “Are you hearing a word I’m saying?”

  “Sorry.” I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “I just have a lot on my mind.”

  His expression softened, and he patted the place on the bed next to him. “Want to talk about it?”

  Yes.

  No.

  I’m not ready for this.

  But when would be a better time? When would there ever be a good time to tell him that we were soulmates playing in a game where only one of us was supposed to come out alive?

  I needed to do it now.

  So I stood up, my feet concrete bricks as I made my way over to him. I sat next to him and leaned back into the comfortable pillows. Being so close to him felt right. And the way he was looking at me—so understanding, so patient—made me want to spill my heart to him.

  “Thank you,” he said seriously. “For trusting me to get the wreath.”

  “My kneecaps were busted.” I chuckled in an unsuccessful attempt to lessen the intensity between us. “I had no choice.”

  “You always have a choice,” he said. “And you chose to trust that I’d protect you.”

  “I have no choice but to trust you,” I said.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  I swallowed and lowered my hand to the top of my skirt. Then I pulled it down slightly to reveal the clover birthmark on my left hipbone. I was so worried about how he’d react that I couldn’t look up at him. “I have no choice because you’re my soulmate.”

  The next thing I knew, Julian’s fingers touched my chin, forcing my eyes up to meet his. Then his lips were on mine, moving slowly and gently. I melted into him. This kiss was different than the others—softer and more loving. Sparks of electricity ignited every part of my body, yet at the same time, I felt calmer than I’d felt since Bridget revealed his birthmark to me.

  I no longer had to pretend that the connection between us was wrong or in my imagination. From the way he was kissing me, I knew he felt it, too.

  My heart would forever belong to Julian, and his would forever belong to me.

  Eventually we pulled back, our foreheads resting against each other’s before I pulled away to look up at him. His pupils were dilated, and he stared down at me in wonder.

  “I guess you’re not disappointed?” I asked.

  “Disappointed?” he repeated, shocked. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the moment I saw you. I thought I was going crazy. I thought I was betraying my family by the pull I felt to protect you in the Games—with the need to keep you safe no matter what. Now it all makes sense.”

  “But last week, in the backyard…” I lowered my eyes again, barely able to say it. “You pushed me away.”

  “Look at me,” he said, and I did. The fierceness in his eyes took my breath away. “I was scared. The only other person I’ve ever felt scared for is my sister. So when I felt that way for you, I panicked. I’ve been beating myself up about it since it happened. The look on your face—the hurt that I caused you—it hasn’t left my mind.” He kissed the sensitive spot below one of my ears, and then the other. I shivered with pleasure at his touch. “Just tell me what to do to make it up to you,” he said. “Anything, and I’ll do it.”

  With him so close to me, my body took over, and we were kissing again. We fell into the pillows, and I pressed myself against him. The hardness under his breeches slipped between my thighs, and a soft moan escaped my lips, a spot deep in my stomach throbbing with the need for more.

  But there was sadness in the kiss. And as much as I tried to ignore it—as much as I tried to lose myself in what should have been a perfect moment—I couldn’t.

  I buried my face in his shoulder, my body pulsing with need. He groaned, and I knew he was struggling to control himself, too.

  “Selena,” he murmured, burying his fingers in my hair. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me.”

  “If it’s anything close to what you’re doing to me, then trust me, I do.” I wiggled my hips, although I somehow managed to stop. “But I’ve never been with anyone like this before. And the Games… the two of us… I don’t want the darkness of death hanging over us.” I paused, realizing I wasn’t making any sense. I couldn’t form words when my body was begging for the release it so desperately needed.

  I closed my eyes and forced myself to be still. When I finally opened them, I saw he was doing the same.

  I traced a finger over his perfect cheekbone, and the tension in his face relaxed. No matter what happened in the future, I’d never forget this moment.

  He opened his eyes again, looking more patient than I’d expected. “Tell me what you need.” He sat up, pulled me onto his lap, and brushed soft kisses along my neck. I whimpered, leaning my head back in pleasure as my last bit of control vanished. “I’m yours. Every single part of me—it’s yours.”

  “I want you.” I ground my hips against his as the mounting need took over. “Now.”

  “We’re waiting until you’re ready,” he said firmly. “But until then…” He locked his gaze with mine, and his hand traveled under my skirt, past my undergarment, and between my thighs. When he felt the wetness there, he let out a low growl and slipped his fingers inside me.

  I gasped as my core exploded with warmth, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, rocking my hips until I came apart in his hand. He groaned with need, and I reached inside his breeches to take his hardness in my palm. He murmured my name as I caressed him, and with his fingers still inside me, we peaked together.

  I sank into him and rested my head on his shoulder. “I want you forever,” I said, pulling back to look into his eyes. “But with the Games, we don’t have forever. If we don’t stop them, one or both of us will die. If not this week, then maybe the week after that, or the one after that.”

  He ran his fingers through my tangled hair. “What do you mean, ‘stop them?’” he said, as if the words themselves were blasphemy. “The Games have been happening for centuries. We can’t stop them.”

  I sighed and fell back into the pillows, since ideas about how to stop the Games were all I’d been thinking about since seeing Julian’s soulmate mark. He walked to the wardrobe to change, and then collapsed next to me.

  The golden orbs floated above us, recording our every move.

  The entire Otherworld had just watched us lose ourselves in each other.

  But I didn’t regret it. Because the more the fae saw the intensity of our soulmate bond, the more they might rally in our favor.

  “There have never been soulmates in the Games before, right?” I finally asked.

  “Right.”

  “Is there an actual rule regarding soulmates in the Games?”

  “Not that I know of.” He pressed his lips together, thinking. “Half-blood soulmates are so rare that I doubt Juno thought a rule would be necessary.”

  “So we can ask to be excused from the Games,” I said quickly. “The fae know how strong the soulmate bond is. Surely not even they want to watch us go through this torture. And I know you’re here for Vita, but like you said earlier, we’re family now. Which means Vita’s my sister, too. On Avalon, we want for nothing. Vita will have all the medicine she needs.”

  “Selena.” He sat up and pressed his fingers to his temples. “Even if we can be excused from the Games—and that’s a big if—it doesn’t mean we’ll be able to get to Avalon. At least not anytime soon. And by then…”

  The unsaid part of the sentence lingered in the air.

  By then, who knows what will have happened to Vita?

  “The Nephilim army is coming for us,” I said, sitting up as well. “My parents don’t love royal titles, but my mother is the queen of Avalon. My father is the prince, which basically makes him king consort.”

  “Do you want me to start calling you Princess Selena?” He cracked a small
smile, despite the direness of the situation.

  “Please, don’t,” I said. “But the fact is, I am a princess. And Avalon’s army will go to the ends of the Earth to get me home safely.”

  “I hope you’re right,” he said. “But right now, they’re not here. We have to proceed as if they’re not coming.”

  My heart dropped. Because as much as I wanted to have faith in the Nephilim army, I knew he was right.

  “However, you’re right about the lack of rules regarding soulmates,” he said. “We can talk to Vesta to see if anything can be done.”

  “But your sister…” I trailed.

  “I won’t lose her,” he said. “But I also won’t lose you. I’m going to keep both of you safe. And the first step toward doing that is to get us out of here.”

  “So you think it’s possible?”

  “We won’t know until we ask.” He pulled me off the bed, and we walked together toward the hearth. “Vesta,” he said, strong and confident. “We need to speak with you.”

  Flames burst in the hearth, and Vesta stepped through. She wore the same flowing orange dress as always. “Julian and Selena,” she said, clasping her hands in front of herself and giving us a warm smile. “I was wondering when I’d finally hear from you.”

  6

  Selena

  As much as I wanted to stay in Julian’s suite that night, I forced myself to go back down to the bedroom I shared with the other girls. It was bad enough that they already knew Julian, Cassia, and I were in an alliance. If they knew Julian and I were soulmates? They’d come after us in a heartbeat. Which meant we had to keep our soulmate bond secret from everyone—including Cassia and Felix.

  The next day, it didn’t take long for Felix to make his way up to Julian’s suite. He lounged on the couch, while Julian and I were on the bed. I made sure not to sit too close to Julian, even though every part of my body was urging me closer to him.

  “Our plan’s good to go?” Felix asked.