Page 72 of His Dark Delights
It was excruciatingly thrilling to think about.
And Ren… Well, I’d know his reaction soon enough.
The pixies outfitted me in a white dress softer than clouds and almost sheer enough to see the rose-pink shade of my nipples. They darted around, clasping a silver armored corset over it that matched my boots and greaves; designed with white-gold leaves and flower petals cascading over my form. It matched the ultimate accessory; a circlet of white gold vines mirroring the one Lunaric wore. A symbol of our status in the royal fae family.
A circlet that held my hair from my face and proudly displayed my trait defining ears.
In my heart, in the core of my being, I remained Lilliana. The farm girl from the outskirts of her village. Though now I was stronger, faster, and had a sea of magical power stewing in the well of my core.The embodiment of flowers and seduction, with more magic bubbling under the surface of my skin that the fateful day I’d found a knight dying in the woods. Transmogrified on the outside, but the same within.
On imposing, nearly iridescent silvery-white horses, we rode out alongside the summoned forces of the fae. Thousands of fairies of all kinds marched, their stomping feet and fluttering wings a symphony of war. And my heart thumped out of control, beating like a war drum in my chest.
Ellaria and Lunaric rode ahead of me. Despite their presence and the warriors in our wake, my nerves remained untethered and wild. Anxiety held fast to my insides, snaking through my ribs like the ancient roots of the forest and slithering deep into the earth.
I couldn’t let the storm shake me, not now.
A celestial orb of golden light climbed higher in the sky, illuminating the figures shifting on the horizon. Dozens, hundreds, then thousands of figures hauling forward like ants marching toward conquest. An invasion of humankind encroaching on the sanctity of the Fae Wild.
One figure stood above the rest. Tall and proud astride a massive brown warhorse, his existence was a beacon of strength and determination. In the early dawn, his armor gleamed as brilliant as sapphires reflecting sunlight.
His gaze swept the landscape, seeking something amidst the shadows and light. My heart clenched at the sight, torn between the love that still burned within me and the knowledge that his path was one fraught with brutality and discord.
And my heart jumped, leaping against my ribs likea bolting rabbit. It pounded faster, harder, racing as the distance closed between the two great armies. Gods-damn my rebellious heart.
From my vantage point, I only caught glimpses of the Fairy Butcher. Enough to make my stomach dip and surge with feral delight at the sight of him. The trembling ache he aroused in me swelled within my chest before spiraling into the pit of my stomach. That gnawing need sank low, settling between my thighs.
I shifted restlessly in the saddle.
The Queen of Fairy tipped her head, addressing the opposing forces with a voice that boomed unnaturally and ethereally over the land. “You’ve never come so far before,” Mother hollered. “What brings you to my door, Butcher?”
Husky and blunt, a voice I knew as intimately as my dreams, scraped through a raw throat. “Your son has taken something from me—”
“I took nothing that didn’t want to be taken,” Lunaric hurled back.
“He took someone from me—someone very precious to me. I’d like to see her returned to my care,” Soren appealed through a clenched jaw, as if restraining the desire to hiss and howl like a deranged beast.
I watched him through the gap between their horses. As proud as ever, with a stern glare on his brow and weeks of dark beard growth stressing his severe jaw. A hint of red in his eyes twisted my heart. Eyes that appeared sleepless, maybe eyes that had run dry.
“Your care?” Lunaric laughed—loudly. A boisterous, mocking chuckle meant to entice or to enrage. Then he sobered up, tilting his head to the side. “I know very well what you do to the fae under your hospitality. My visitto your dungeon wasn’t so long ago that I’ve forgotten.”
“Oh, yes. We all know what the Butcher does to fae in his care. I haven’t forgotten the welcome my husband received in your court,” Ellaria ground out. “Why, in the name of the gods, would I give you one of mine?”
Soren snarled, snapping his head to the side. A muscle in his jaw feathered, and he seethed while tugging at the reins of his restless horse. After a heartbeat, he faced the Fae Queen again.
“One of yours? Was she a spy?”
“A spy?” It was Mother’s turn to laugh. “Gods, no. A true farm girl through and through. But I think you knew that, didn’t you? Deep down. You knew.”
“See, told you.” Another familiar voice chimed in. I remained shielded by my family but shifted enough to glimpse Rhydan at the king’s side. My heart leapt to see him there.
“Why have you come all this way for a fae girl? You claim she is precious, but fear she is a spy. A contradiction of intentions, Carnifex. Would a good ruler send her subjects to a self-proclaimed butcher? I don’t imagine so.”
“I’ve come for her because she’s mine, and I won’t leave until she’s in my possession once again,” Soren promised, with the weight of the world behind his words.
A deep shudder thumped through my heart.
I nudged my horse forward, earning a scowl from Lunaric and a disapproving glance from Mother. Head high, with a steadying breath filling my lungs, I met my fate face-to-face.
“I am not a possession, Your Grace. Last I recalled, you hated the fae and thought they all deserved death.Am I going to suffer that fate if I’m passed back into your hands?” As I emerged from obscurity, his eyes bugged so widely that I thought they’d roll from his head. His jaw hardened and his nostrils flared. Each breath he drew in rose hard and fast, stunned at the sight of my metamorphosis.
