Page 186 of The Fae Girl 1

He grinned. “This is what you asked for remember.” He whispered into my ear.

“I didn’t mean this.”

“No?” He replied. “You want me to grant you mercy?”

“Yes.”

He let out a small chuckle. “Where was my mercy Fae? Where was my reprieve when you haunted my every step?”

“Fain please.” I gasped.

He met my eyes and as his mouth crashed into mine he brought me right over the edge.

I screamed, I writhed, I kicked out, completely and utterly lost as he held me down.

“There’s a good Fae.” He said. “Show me what effect I have on you. Show me how good it feels.”

And I did. I lost myself in his touch, in his hands, in his words.

As he kissed me again I wrapped my legs around his waist. “I need you.” I said. “I need you inside me.”

His eyes blazed at that. He grabbed my hips, pushing himself in as I cried in both shock and ecstasy.

He rolled us so that I was on top and as he held my waist I rode him like some wanton thing. Like a creature half possessed. He roared in response and together we found our release.

We found a routine of sorts. A normality.

She’d be with me most evenings, sleep in my bed and then slip back to her rooms when morning came.

And every day I would toy with the notion of telling Uther. Of confessing it. But every day I would talk myself out of it. Uther would be in a mood. There’d be a new attack which would take our focus. In truth I knew I was partly making excuses. But a part of me liked the secrecy, not because I wanted to hide us, but I liked that for once something was private. That for once my secrets, and hers too, weren’t common knowledge for the entire damn castle to gossip about.

Besides there would be a scandal. We weren’t so forward thinking a society that openly being together without being married wasn’t one.

And yet I didn’t care what anyone else thought. I only cared about Alice.

And the way she acted told me she didn’t care either. That both of us were content with how this was.

Prince Hal was moved from Montefore to the safety of Nind. Uther and I had spent hours pouring of the various different options but in the end there was no contest. Nind was the most fortified.

And it helped that it was mine. My home.

Ultimately that became the deciding factor. We didn’t want him sent to strange far-off place and left. He knew Nind, he’d spent enough Wintertides there. He’d feel safe there too.

And it helped that it wasn’t a long journey. That the amount of soldiers needed to protect him wouldn’t put a strain on our resources for too long.

Just like at Heatherly, I took him myself. Though I could have left it to Ridley, I owed it to my nephew to take the time. And besides he was upset enough at being sent away again. My presence took the sting out of it, at least a bit.

The evening I returned I somehow knew where Alice was, that she was in the Courtyard, drinking with Nela and Indi. I had to fight my instincts that told me it was too much of a risk, that she shouldn’t be out. She’d shown herself capable of defeating a spectral. And I could see it in her face, see the way giving her more freedoms was helping.

It felt more than just acceptance now, it felt like she was at peace with it, at peace with being in this world and not her own. Even if it still clearly offended her that she was legally just an object, a thing to own, she seemed to fight it less.

I walked through the archway and paused seeing her sat with Nela and Indi. Across from them, to my surprise was her maid Mira, and Ridley.

I smiled to myself watching them, watching her. I couldn’t take my eyes off her though she clearly didn’t realise I was here.

I took the opportunity to observe from a distance and sat perched on a stool, sipping a drink.

They were laughing, all of them. Sharing jokes by the looks of it.

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