Page 1 of Vicious Fates and Vast Futures
Chapter One
Nairna
“Adelaide, you know I adore you, but...are you fucking stupid?” I stare at my mate blankly.
It has been seven days since the unseelies tried to execute me by fire. Merely seven days. And Adi, Bryn, Osmund, and I have been ensconced in Adi’s rooms at the nymph castle for that week. And oddly, it almost,almost, feels like home already. Quite possibly because I’ve been surrounded by my now three mates: Adelaide, in line for the throne of this court; Bryn, the guarded and sarcastic—some may say dickish—captain of the rebel group Elfin Anarchy; and Osmund, Norse and nymph, empathetic, and humongous—in all ways.
Adelaide finally decided to reveal what she has been silently brewing about for the last week. She’s been off-kilter, her aura...sharp since Osmund awoke from his magical coma four evenings ago. Even though we don’t yet know each other terribly well, I can tell she’s moodier than normal.
Osmund, the only mate I haven’t rolled around in the sheets with, makes a noise of disapproval from where he sits on the thick rug in the library, wrapped around Adelaide. I shoot him a glare.
He and I aren’t exactly close yet, despite him saving me from the execution. Ididthank him. I’ve been trying to ignore my urges to lick his tattooed chest. I continue to glower at him, buthe meets my annoyed look blandly and tosses his long blonde hair back.
Adi’s stricken face turns to me in silent shock. I feel her anger whipping up. Thankfully, though, her magic stays latent. It has been close to the surface, Bryn says, since the Mabon Bombing.
She opens and closes her mouth before saying, “Excuse me?”
I’m struggling not to laugh at her reaction, even as I’m getting turned on by her anger. I look to Bryn. He raises his dark shapely brows as he swirls the amber liquid in his glass before raising the whiskey to his mouth silently.
Alright, both the guys are pussies and I’ll have to do this myself. Not shocking, I suppose.
“Adelaide, your little tempest a moment ago is edging all three of us. Unseelie elves do not make nearby Fae horny as fuck whenever they’re angry. Nymphs, however, do.” I shake my head. “Why exactly would you believe a single word out of Barclay’s mouth? Did you not do any deductive reasoning before deciding you weren’t your father’s child and downing a bottle of liquor?”
Bryn is no longer able to hold in his laugh. Osmund looks stricken; I don’t know if he’s shocked I spoke to Adi like that or shocked because he hadn’t put it together. Adi glares at me, irritation written across her face.
“Well, where the fuck were you when I needed you to talk some damn sense into me?” she blurts out angrily.
She’s frustrated but her eyes are sparkling. Her violet aura twirls and eddies around me, as though I’m the center of the storm. I refuse to drop my gaze. As she searches my face, I watch the anger melt out of her. Most of her aura coils back, wrapping around her like a downy blanket, though tendrils stretch out to each of us, our colors blending and billowing with hers.
“Dammit, En,” Adi finally chuckles softly.
I beam at her nickname for me. I think I like it better than hearing her call me “love.”
This past week has been disorienting as hell. I’ve gone from being an unseelie guard, whose position was based on skill and who had the respect of her peers, to the waited-on mate of a princess of the decadent Nymph Court—and who now apparently has no job or responsibilities, save keeping Adi alive and sated.
Being aura-bonded to three Fae—whom I’d only meet a few weeks ago—is what’sreallyfucking with my head. Adi, Bryn, and Osmund have wrapped me up in their little already-bonded family, making me a part of it. Ofthem.
I’m not used to having anyone to rely on, nor needing to rely on anyone. The feeling of their emotions that shimmer down our bonds to settle in my chest still feels odd. Like ghosts, not really there, not tangible, but merely an intuition.
Even though we’ve been hiding in Adi’s spacious rooms, adjusting and getting to know each other, I’ve resisted Adi and Bryn’s gentle nudges to have sex with Osmund. I still feel awkward around him.
However, every other possible combination of the four of us has been going at it very regularly. Even better than themind-blowingsex are the late-night chats, cooking meals together, and playing board games.
The mere memory of destroying Adi in Monopoly brings a grin to my face. My mate isn’t a very good loser, and I find it completely endearing and adorable.
While last week has flown by in an utterly confusing blur of healing and emotions and sex and bonding, I’m sure the queen won’t let us hide forever. She still needs an heir.
Bryn clears his throat. “We’re going to need to get back to the grind here soon.”
I blink slowly, suspiciously. I wonder if he could tell what I was thinking from the emotions I was unconsciously allowing down the bond. I better work on the blocking techniques Adi taught me.
“By grind, do you mean murders?” Adi asks pertly.
Bryn lifts an eyebrow silently, his brown curls falling near his hazel eyes.
Osmund shifts Adi on his lap, looking nervous. “Have the abhorrent things that occurred at the Dark Court caused you to make any decisions about the throne, baby?”
Adi makes a noncommittal sound and I feel a wave of unease from her. A loud knock on the outer door interrupts us. Adi hops up to answer it. Bryn starts to stand, but I wave him back to sitting as I follow her from the library to her reception room.
