“She looks just like her,” Alden said stepping closer, unaware of the death wish I had for him at the moment.
I felt a moment of panic, no one had ever seen through the glamour spell before. Not even my friends. “What do you see then?” I asked narrowing my own eyes to mirror his.
“You,” He spat angrily and it had never sounded more like an insult than now.
“Sorry to disappoint you, guess I’m not up for the task.”
“If they see you as Arianna, than it doesn’t matter what I see. The assassins will mistake you for her as well,” Ryder sneered.
I almost choked on my own tongue, “Assassin’s?” Now they tell me this?
Everyone in the room ignored me and the three men started discussing me as if I wasn’t even there. It felt as if something bigger was going on here, something that wasn’t being said to me, or Adam. More Fae bullshit, games within games.
“She looks exactly like her,” Ristan said excitedly.
“But will it hold up against Fae, or is it only me who can see her true form?”
He didn’t have long to wait for an answer as the door was opened and tall dark and kiss-me-lips I’d been about to make out with in order to get inside, walked in. “Next time brother, a little heads up would be nice.”
He stopped turning to look directly at me and bowed low at his waist. “Arianna, I wasn’t aware you would be joining us today.”
I rolled my eyes and looked back at Ryder who was grinning mischievously now. I bit my bottom lip under his penetrating gaze.
“Dristan, do you see anything off about Arianna today?” He asked carefully.
Dristan stopped and narrowed his eyes, his head tilting to the side slightly. “Am I supposed to see something different?”
“Good, now about letting that little wraith of a Witch seduce you…don’t do it again. Is the Ball still on schedule as planned?” Ryder asked.
I let the glamour fade since it took energy I didn’t have to keep up. The moment I did Dristan cussed and threw a left hook. I ducked barely avoiding it and dropped like a sack of potatoes and came up behind him.
“You bitch!” He snarled, angry with my appearance.
“So I’ve been told, do try not to attack me again,” I said coldly.
“You fucking drugged me!”
I ducked his second punch and landed a solid kick in his side before Ryder pushed me away, none too gently causing me to hit the wall hard. The wind left my lungs violently as I landed on my ass at his feet.
“Enough Dristan…Syn will be working with us.”
“Put this stupid bitch in her place Ry, her kind need a reminding of where they belong,” Dristan snarled.
I said nothing, I wasn’t afraid he would do it. I was just tired of hearing dire predictions about my immediate future today. I lowered my head and remained silent as the room grew tense once more. I hurt everywhere, my ego was bruised that I had been caught, I’d killed one of the only Witches who had wanted to join my coven and I’d played kissy-face with a freaking Fae.
“What no snappy comment?” Ryder said.
“Are we done here?” I asked after a short pause.
“For today, you will be here at seven, tomorrow morning. Wear something appropriate to train in. We only have a short time to teach you what a Fae Princess should act like and from the looks of it—it’s going to take a lot more time than we have.
Five
Adam and I left the Dark Fortress as fast as our feet would take us, both refusing to speak of what had happened inside. I’d had enough shit for one day. I’d known why the two had stayed with me, but hearing it was a reality check.
I was going to be covered in bruises from head to toe come morning when I had to face his High-nass again and I wasn’t looking forward to it at all, I’d rather face an angry mob of Witch haters than face him again.
“Syn—”
“Not now Adam, its fine.” I snapped, hurt over the entire mishap. I’d killed today and while everyone else thought it was okay—I had to live with it forever. They could pretend it didn’t happen, me on the other hand—I had her soul inside of me now. I’d been basically dry humping the Dark Prince and it was not something I wanted to talk about.
We walked into our apartment building in deafening silence. I couldn’t bring myself to say more than “I’m fine,” I’d grown up with Adam and Larissa. They were the closest thing to family I had. It hurt to hear that they only stayed beside me because of it, but what hurt the most was Adam had stayed in the coven instead of moving on to study war-craft as he had wanted to. That knowledge sat heavily on my heart.
He had wanted to be more than just a tech guy for me, but he’d stayed because I was reckless and a loose cannon. Okay that was a little harsh. I wasn’t a loose cannon—I just didn’t take shit from anyone.
“Syn, we need to talk about this.” Adam said as we entered the ancient elevator to our floor. It creaked loudly and just as I was afraid I would be stuck dealing with the problem of the truth, the alarm went off.
“Sorry, I just can’t deal with this and the Prince in one day Adam. I need to go in and check on Larissa anyways. See you tomorrow?” I mumbled already heading out of the elevator back into the stark white dreary lobby.
“Don’t you have to meet up with pretty boy tomorrow?”
I groaned, “Yeah, thanks for reminding me.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I opened the door to the apartment and checked the safeguard spell before tossing my keys onto the coffee table and heading into the kitchen. “Honey, I’m home,” I mumbled, inhaling deeply of something divine.
Larissa could cook like nobody’s business and did often. My stomach chose that moment to make its needs known. The smell of freshly baked bread lingered inside the room as Larissa must have been baking while we endured the Fae.
Larissa lifted her sparkling green eyes and smiled, “You’re alive.”
I exhaled and threw my limp form into the small wooden chair next to the little nook table we’d bought secondhand. “Barely, you almost inherited my entire OPI collection today.”
“Seriously? How bad was it?” She asked limping to the sink to wash the jar out before tossing it into the recycle bin. She tossed her chestnut-brown hair over her shoulder and turned to me with a curious look on her beautiful face.
“I killed Chandra today,” I blurted it. Shit, I really needed to get a filter for my mouth. I watched as Larissa’s eyes grew wide in horror. I chewed my lip nervously as she digested the news.
“Was it within sanction?” Her question caught me by surprise. How easily we could kill one another without remorse, but not me. I took it in and beat the crap out of myself over it. Sanctioned or not
“It was. We got caught, they had Adam and I chained to a wall, the Fae Prince never left the building—instead he was inside the vault when I opened it. We were drilled for information, she was going to spill the beans…it was a set-up, Alden set the entire thing up!”
Larissa exhaled and shook her head, her eyes flooding with guilt.
“But then you knew that, didn’t you?”
My stomach clenched from the knowledge. How could she have known and not told me? The desire to eat was suddenly gone. I closed my eyes before pushing off the small table and standing up.
I entered my room in a daze, had Adam known? No, no—he’d been just as distraught as I’d been. I wanted to cry, to scream at those who could have stopped what I had done—I’d taken a fucking life! I walked to the small cherry wood dresser I’d brought from the Guild and tried to find something clean to wear to bed and gave up with a sigh when I found the drawer empty. I missed the Guild’s laundress, it beat doing my own laundry any day.
I could still smell sulfur and ash on my skin. And Fae. The bathroom was an ugly olive green from the seventies, but at least the water worked. Who cared what it looked like? Rent was cheap and unlike the other places that we could afford, this one was close to the Guild.
&n
bsp; I turned the water on, watching the steam curl around to lick my skin gently and beads of condensation forming over my hand. I closed my eyes, but the instant I closed them, all I could see was a devastatingly primal pair of golden eyes.
It was like he was watching me, as if the Fae Prince was sitting inside my bathroom! I instantly opened my eyes and started to strip down to nothing. It didn’t take much, he’d trashed most of my clothes and in my haste to redress I had only ripped them more. The entire walk home had been one of shame.
I sank into the water, letting a blissful sigh steal from my kiss swollen lips. Freaking Fae had made them puffy and I’d be damned if I hadn’t enjoyed it. Sparks had flown from his touch, the fire he’d created inside of me and the feelings I’d felt were dangerous and exciting. It was why they were considered the most deadly of the Otherworld. They could make you like it as they fucked you to death.
I let my nose sink beneath the water, holding my breath as the heat from the bath blistered across my lips, hoping it would erase his taste and touch—only it didn’t. The moment I popped back up, I could still feel it. His kiss, his mouth, his fucking taste. My traitorous body wanted more, my mind wanted him dead.
I quickly washed, ignoring the darkness of the dimly lit bathroom and ugly green walls. After I was done scrubbing my skin raw to get his touch from my skin—still unsuccessfully, I growled and got out. I looked in the mirror and noticed I was bruised below one eye, more than likely from fighting against him. Thankfully I heal quickly—it was some sort of running joke within the Guild that Adam and I should been brother and sister in truth as we healed much faster than the others. My azure blue eyes were too bright from using magic. My normally platinum blonde hair was a few shades darker when wet, making my skin look pasty white.
It wasn’t as if I had a lot of spare time for tanning though, my spare time was used for reading so that I could escape from reality for however much time I could. This was never enough, in my opinion. I turned while wrapping the towel around my body and picking up to discard my clothes in the trash.
I groaned, frustrated with how today had turned out. I’d killed a fellow Guild member. Sure, I’d passed their sick little fucked upped test, but I didn’t want the job. I hated the Fae and everything about them stunk in my book. I wanted nothing to do with them. I left the bathroom, ignoring Adam as he entered the small apartment, leaving Larissa to deal with him since all I wanted to do was sleep and forget. Tomorrow I had a job to lose.
Six
I awoke to a disturbance, something was inside my room. I pulled the eye cover I used to sleep off of my face and screamed. Golden eyes looked over at me from next to me! “Get the fuck out of my bed!” I growled sitting up before remembering I’d fallen asleep naked.
“You’re late. I do not accept tardiness, Synthia.”
“Fire me, please.” I grumbled trying to pull the covers from beneath him to wrap myself up for modesty sake. It was like tugging a blanket from beneath a solid boulder. “You mind?” I asked after a moment noticing there was no way to get up without him seeing me in the buff.
He sat up, resting his long frame on the duvet. His eyes flickered over the top of my breasts where I had been unable to move the blanket to cover them, lingering a brief second before he stood and moved to look out the single window inside my room.
“Stunning view,” he said after a quick inspection of the building across from our own. Yeah, it was crappy, but again rent was cheap. It was something he had probably never seen…rich boy’s had way better views.
He kept his back to me, I studied it briefly. His suit was black and hugged his form well enough that I could just make out every muscle in his ass—.
He turned, those damn disturbing eyes smiling as if he had followed where my mind had gone. I glared as I finally managed to bring the covers up far enough to cover myself. I wanted to pull it over my head completely and die from suffocation, which would be better than working for him.
“My car is downstairs, you have exactly ten minutes to be down and inside of it, or I will be back up to dress you myself. I do not like to be kept waiting, nor will I stand for you to be late again.”
I raised my brow line and allowed my lips to curve into a small smirk. “You think you could Fairy boy—”
I was off the bed and on the floor covered in six feet of Fae before I finished talking. My head hit the floor with a jarring thud that made my eyes explode with tears. His hands held mine above my head. My body was pressed against the rough carpet by his much larger frame. Lust thick and dangerous erupted inside of my core.
“Never challenge me, I promise that you will lose. Every. Fucking. Time.”
“Get off of me!” I growled, I was trapped and exposed. His knee was pressed against my naked heat, as if to show me just how exposed I was to him.
“Think you can make me?” He challenged with his mouth entirely too close to my own, images of last night came rushing back with a vengeance.
“Now!” I yelled, tired of whatever game he was playing. I wasn’t stupid, I got that he was higher in the immortal food chain than I was.
“All bark and no bite?” He asked raising his eyes from where they had been on my mouth to meet my own.
I struck, sending my hips bucking against him, using the element of surprise against him, but it was futile. Ryder just ground his knee further in, making pain and pleasure pulse through my junction as he held my arms in place effortlessly.
“By all means, fight me,” he purred as fire lit up his amber eyes until I could see them pulsing, thousands of stars locked in their fiery depths. His nostrils flared and his tongue jutted out to lick his lips as if he was considering kissing me.
I was pissed. Anger was pulsing, rushing through my veins as surely as a fire through a dry forest. Not to mention, I had zero possibility of getting up without him seeing me naked. I think he realized it at the exact moment I did, if his cocky grin was anything to go off of. He started to sit back up, but I pulled him back down the moment he released his vise-grip hold on my arms.
“Don’t even freaking think of it Fairy boy,” I warned.
“You want me, don’t you?” He asked as his eyes latched onto my lips, encouraged by my seemingly sudden change of mind.
I pushed him up, making damn sure I went with him. “Dream on,” I growled.
“I don’t fuck Witches, so if you—”
I pushed him up to his feet, pushing off the floor with my bare feet, never allowing my eyes to leave his. My breasts were pressed against the softness of his suit jacket, my legs inches from his. I walked him backwards and he allowed it. I inched him further back as he kept eye contact, up until the point where I reached behind him slowly, surely, allowing my hands to caress him softly, but firmly as I reached for the door knob behind him. I quickly pulled it open and enjoyed his look of shock as I pushed him out of my room, managing in the process to keep him from seeing my neither region at all.
I smiled frostily at the door and the cussing Fae behind it. “I don’t fuck Fairies. So at least we agree on that subject pretty boy.”
I think I heard a soft laugh, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Ten minutes Synthia or I come back in and drag you out,” He growled through the door, making it quiver as much as I was and it was solid oak.
I listened to his shoes as they thudded down the hallway and my beating heart didn’t calm until I’d heard the door close behind him on his way out. How the hell had he gotten through the protection spell enveloping my room?
I looked up at the incantation spell and narrowed my eyes, glaring at it for turning traitor. It was written on my ceiling in white ink so it was invisible to the naked eye and intruders. It was supposed to keep creatures like him out and away from me while I slept. It had failed, as I had just done for the second time where that freaking Fairy was concerned.
I replayed his shocked image in my mind a few times before putting on a silk robe and grabbing a few items of clothing to take with
me to the shower. I was smiling as I opened my bedroom door and ran right into the solid chest of the Dark Prince. Hard.
I flew backwards and landed flat on my ass at his feet. I looked up and glared angrily at him.
“Pay back is a bitch, I don’t fuck around little girl, remember that.”
“Cocky much?” I barked already standing back up so he didn’t have as much of an advantage as he did with me being flat on my ass.
“Self-assured, I always win,” he replied with lips too full and too fucking kissable for his own good.
I pushed past his body and headed towards the bathroom, dismissing him completely from my mind, okay…so I tried to anyways. He was the most beautiful, exquisite creature I had ever laid eyes on…also the most deadly, which I was humming inside my head to keep the hormones at bay. Not that it was helping me any.
“Ten minutes, if you’re not out by then I will dress you myself,” he growled deep in his chest to drive his point home. It sent shivers racing down my spine.
I shut the bathroom door in his face and leaned against it catching my breath. The man was incorrigible and what the hell was he doing inside my house? Larissa was going to hear it from me, if she had allowed him inside. Didn’t she sense how deadly he was? I was pretty sure she wouldn’t have allowed him inside my bedroom, unless he’d fucked her funny…no he wouldn’t have done that…would he?
I shook my head, he needed my help. Touching my friends wouldn’t achieve that, she was probably off his radar for now. I dropped my clothes and rushed beneath the water, quickly washing my hair before jumping back out to toss my hair in a quick ponytail, apply some lipstick and a touch of blush.
“Two minutes,” He growled from behind the door.
Seriously? Was he sitting with his damn ear against the wood? I slipped into a black satin thong and matching bra and quickly pulled up the low-rise jeans I’d chosen before slipping on the tight black, sleeveless shirt on in a hurry. I took a quick peek in the mirror and opened the door.
Fighting Destiny Page 5
