Page 59 of The Fae Girl 1

She was the cause of this. That’s what they did, how they lured you in. They beguiled you, tempted you. Everyone knew that. I wondered how many other men in this castle, hell even beyond it down to the city, were spending their nights picturingherin their beds.

I growled at the idea. And I’ll admit a part of it was jealousy. That others were thinking the same, dreaming the same. Though I had no cause to be jealous. No want to be either.

I slammed my door shut, stalked through the corridors, not really caring where I was headed, just needing to be out, needing to be moving.

I wondered whether to speak to Jelric, to ask him for some sort of sleeping potion but I wasn’t willing to expose myself further. He already knew too much, I wouldn’t hand over more parts of myself, more secrets simply for a bit of shut eye.

Perhaps a healer would give me one. I didn’t want to take the risk, to ask and have it fed back to the Magi. Or worse, for the common people to hear. This city depended upon me, this city looked to me to lead them, to command them for Uther. If they thought I was breaking, if they thought I wasn’t strong enough…

I shook my head.

We had enough problems. Enough people grumbling, enough sedition lurking in the shadows. I had to do everything in my power to ensure I didn’t fuel it further.

I stopped by an archway. If I continued as I was I’d end up down in the Lower Castle, down to the very gatehouse that led to the city. Perhaps a night there, a night of forgetting, would help. Or perhaps it would make things worse.

I growled.

It’d been years since I’d truly done what I wanted. Not overthought, not tracked out every potential consequence.

Maybe this place really was making me mad.

Or maybe it was that damned girl.

I turned, clenching my fists. Wondering how much shit Ridley would give me if I woke him up to train right now.

A shadow caught my eye. A movement of something.

Call it instinct, call it a sixth sense but my feet were moving, my body too before my mind registered it. I moved stealthily enough. Down the corridor, stalking the group ahead and as they turned and the moonlight caught on golden hair I realised who they were.

I pounced.

Something inside me, something feral, manic, lashed out.

If the guards tried to stop me, if Nela or Indi did, I didn’t notice. My whole body, my whole focus was on her.

I pushed her hard, shoved her body into the cold unrelenting stone. She whimpered as she slammed into it.

My hands gripped her, holding her by her upper arms so she was just off the ground.

I could smell her now. Smell that heady scent that’d been torturing me for weeks. I could taste her too. It filled my nostrils. Filled my blood. The intoxicating scent of lavender and honey that seemed to have whispered around the castle as though she’d enchanted the very air.

I ran my face against her hair, feeling the silkiness of it.

I ran my eyes down over her, taking in the clothed curves I’d dreamt of ravaging so many times.

And as she struggled against me I tightened my grip.

“Let me go.” She whispered it. As if she was afraid of her own voice as much as me.

I snarled, my anger, my fury now raging as I got control of myself once more.

“You.” I hissed. “Whatever trick this is, whatever Fae magic you’re conjuring. It stops. Now.”

She gulped, shaking her head. Her eyes flashing with something akin to fear.

Only I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for it. To believe it. She knew what she was up to. Temptress. Manipulator. She thought she could win me over with magic? Thought she could beguile me and everyone else in this castle?

“I’m not doing anything.” She said.

---