Page 64 of Prince of Night and Storm
Nora gives me an inscrutable look, lavender-grey eyes distant. “You only think you’re making mock. The safest option when he summons you is for our Prince to take you now and sate his desire. It may be harsh, painful even, but quickly over.”
“I doubt it's about desire, Nora. It's political.”
“Hmm. The message sent may be political, and he'll use that to his advantage, but the driving motivation? No, Aerinne. If it were merely political, there are other ways he can achieve his ends.”
My abdomen clenches. I hop off the desk and begin pacing to hide my reaction.
She watches me. “If he does take you to his bed immediately, his interest will wane and you may retreat into obscurity and in a few years go on about your life. Travel, build your businesses here in Everenne.”
“And if he doesn't ask for sex?”
“Then he wants more. Sex is simple and fleeting, sweetchild. Becoming a lover or Consort to the Prince is anything but. If that is his intention, I fear you will not be allowed to fade to the background of Everenne's politics. That is, of course, if you survive him.”
The positivity is overwhelming. Really, she needs to bring it down a notch.
“Specifics, please.” I stop pacing and cross my arms over my chest. “Does he kill his lovers when done with them?”
But as I say that, it doesn’t feel right. Why save me three times—four?—if he meant my eventual death? Killing his slain best friend’s daughter after fucking her just. . .doesn’t seem his style.
“What's that one—ah. Chicken or the egg, which comes first? Ending an entanglement with a High Lord is rarely uncomplicated, especially if the ending is not their idea. It is not precisely threat to you that is the concern.”
I begin to jiggle my left thigh. “I’ll tell him no. No to a one-night stand. No to anything more.”
Her lavender-gray eyes are wide and unblinking. “You aren't listening. We are not human, Aerinne. We don't subscribe to human sensibilities.”
“He can’t force me.” I’m a little surprised I was able to say that aloud.
“If your family were strong enough to prevent it, no; we are not. It's not considered force when the fate of a House, or a city, rests on the temper of a High Lord fixated on someone of lower consequence—it is considered prudence, for the Fae of lesser power.”
“Of course. So silly of me.” I might say her unbothered air isgoals but. . .destruction of the House and city and all of those little details.
She correctly interprets my expression. “It is no different from human practices. How many human women who were forced into arranged marriages over the course of mortal history either loved or desired their mates?”
There isn't much I can say to dispute her.
“Now let me educate you on what will happen if you exercise your fairytale right to tell him no.” Her expression hardens, as cold as I have ever seen it. “Understand this is not mere conjecture, but what I lived.”
Nora pauses, as if to ensure I am listening rather than arguing, then continues when I remain silent.
“If you tell him no after he has already descended past mere heat into a rut, he will come for you.”
“Rut?” I recoil, almost knocking a pen holder off my desk.
“We must entertain worst case scenarios. Your family loves you, and your House holds you in honor.”
“I saw it once.” Danon had to tell me what was happening to keep me from getting involved when a female in our District came to the House for aid.
He’d been green the entire conversation.
“The rut of a Low Fae male compared to the High caste is as comparing a pretty little candle flicker with a raging forest fire.”
If only I was in an emotional position to appreciate the poetic visuals she evokes. “I can order the House to stand down.”
Her snort is too delicate to be a scoff, but it’s close. “They'll fight knowing that they will be crushed—though you youngones haven’t the memories I do. But they will fight. And they will die.”
I stare at her.
“Their deaths won't be pleasant. If you think the rage of a High Lord is frightening, then experience when they go cold. After Ran—Renaud kills your family for daring to keep you from him, you will either flee or fight back. If you fight back, he might be so far gone he perceives even you, the female he wants, as a threat. You could die, as horribly as your family.”
