Page 3 of Claimed By the Fae Lord

“Don’t look back, Raina. Don’t ever look back.”

And I didn’t. Not until much, much later.

Raina Brandenburg

One

Liam

The Present …

Thornewood Castle stood as a silent leviathan, its formidable presence dominating the morning sky. Stone spires, tall and pointed like the horns of some great beast, pierced the heavens with an authority borne of fae ingenuity.

The structure seemed to command the very air around it, daring anyone to approach without permission. Those who had recently taken that dare had not lived long enough to regret it.

There was no visible trace of the blood that had been spilled, no evidence of the backstabbing nobles whose corpses had lain scattered across the courtyard like dead leaves in winter.

Winter. Anything that reminded me of that particular season was on my list of shit to avoid.

At the top of that list? The offspring of thetraitorous scumbehind the plot to kill the king, instigators who’d died too quickly for my liking.

Distracted, I nearly clipped the shoulder of a young stable hand cutting across the square at a fast pace. He, too, looked lost in thought, glaring at his pocket watch like it had just insulted him.

“Running late, Klim?”

“Sir!” he squeaked, cheeks blooming red. “My apologies.”

“No worries.”

The teen’s shaggy brown hair bounced when he nodded, eyes down at the death grip on his timepiece.

“You’re not late,” I told him. “After your rotation, take your watch to Irv.”

“Sir?” he squinted.

I leaned closer, voice low. “Irv can fix just about anything. Tell him if he repairs your watch, then he and I are even.”

“B-but—”

My chin lifted towards the path to the stables. “Go on.”

I stepped around his gangly figure and resumed my rounds. There were more fae on the grounds at one time than normal and it made me twitchy.

Security was my primary role at Thornewood, a role I took very seriously. Nevermind everyone here worked for the king and had been vetted by me personally.

I’d already failed one sovereign. I would not fail another.

There was movement all around but nothing out of place, as far as I could tell. Armed guards patrolled the perimeter, on both sides of the outer wall. More did the same close to the castle itself.

Servants scurried about, making preparations for the royal couple's upcoming nuptials. Their first and most critical tasksince the coup attempt had been to make sure this space no longer looked like a massacre had occurred.

But magical blood was not easily washed away. It had taken days of both manual labor and special spells to erase those stains.

Nox, my king and close friend, had insisted the wedding ceremony take place as soon as possible. His mate, Aeryn, agreed but didn't want a big affair, still uncomfortable with the idea of taking on the title of queen.

I knew her fear lingered over another possible attack. Hence, the abundance of soldiers stationed so close to our stronghold in the near term.

When I reached the upper bailey, I could still hear voices and shouts mingled with the clatter of hooves and footsteps on gravel. Even the ringing chime of metal from the smithy reached my ears. The sounds were more like a preparation for war instead of a wedding.

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