Page 4 of Prince of Ruin

“That’s sweet.” Aden’s lips curve into a tender smile that makes my heart spin. His eyes seem to brighten with his smile, making them look like sun-kissed clover fields. It’s been forever since a guy made me feel this way. A couple years, at least. And I realize, I can’t let this one slip away. So, when we’re about to part ways at the parking lot, I turn to him, my lower lip pinched between my teeth. Here goes nothing.

“I go to the faire every year.” I scratch my temple with my knuckle. “Do you want to…meet up?”

Who am I right now? I am never this forward. There’s no way in fucking hell this guy is going to—

“Absolutely. Seven?”

Holy fuck. “Yes—um, sure. Seven works great.”

I can see the laughter in his eyes at my over-enthusiasm-turned-attempted-casual. “I’ll meet you there, then, Clav.” With that, he spins on his heels and walks down the sidewalk toward the Bone Bed & Breakfast Inn.

Warmth floods through me as I watch him walk away. At least one good thing came out of today. I’m ahuge believer in fate, and maybe I’m getting way ahead of myself, but what if I got fired from that job, grabbed a latte, and came to the library only to spill that latte—so I could meet Aden?

Get a grip, Clav.He’s leaving after this weekend, and I doubt a long-term relationship would work between two people who met for two days. He’s probably not even into that. He’s probably already got a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend. But he did agree to meet up tonight, and I’m not one to miss out on a once-in-a-life-time opportunity of hanging out with the most adorable boy on earthat the Ren Faire.

Aden

I step into my Bone Bed & Breakfast Inn room, chuckling about the porn studio joke Clav cracked as I toss the keys onto the antique vanity. The scent of mildew and general old-house smell hits my senses as I shut the door behind me. This inn has got to be over a century old. Late morning sunlight slants through the windows onto the quilted double bed of my room.

My hands are still trembling from that unexpected encounter. There is no doubt in my mind that the man I just ran into is Clavicle, known in the Fae realms as the Prince of Ruin. I didn’t know that when I saw the pink-haired dude kneeling on the library carpet with a mess of paper towels in his hands. I didn’t know it—until those gray eyes lined with silver peered up at me through those glasses. Spine Fae eyes, though the silver was significantly muted from his mortal blood.

Clav. He goes by Clav now.

I specifically came to Bone Hollow, Indiana to find him. Sovereign Clavicle: The feared fae king of the Spine Empire. Before he was cursed with mortality, he’d beheaded his father, sold his soul to his Shadow, and was willing to sacrifice hundreds of humans to his goddess to protect his empire from the Solar Fae.

I totally did not expect to run into an adorable bubble-gum-haired booknerd with the biggest smile and warmest gray eyes I’ve ever seen. I’m still wondering if he’s the same person I came here to find, but how many Clavs with silver eyes are there in this small town? It’s not exactly a common name.

There was a moment—when he said he knew why I was here—that I panicked so hard I swear I almost shit my pants. The Sovereign Clavicle I heard so much about would have driven a dagger through my heart if he knew I was associated with his previous life. But then he mentioned the Ren Faire and thank the gods above I was able to use that as an excuse for my visiting this small town. Clavicle—Clav—is known for being paranoid, picking up on any suspicious behavior. It’s why he turned his back on his step-sibling and lover, Tarsus.

It's what got him cursed to live in the human realms as a mortal for twenty-three years.

Honestly, if I’d known I was going to run into one of the fae realm’s most dangerous and powerful faes on my first day back in the human realms, I wouldhave been more prepared. Had some story about me visiting my grandmother or some shit like that. I wasn’t planning on confronting him until I knew a bit more about Bone Hollow and could come up with a believable story should the need arise.

I decided to grab a book—well, a few books—while I was here, andbam. There he was. Sovereign Clavicle—the most vicious king of the Spine Empire—fumbling with a bunch of paper towels while trying to clean up his latte from the library carpet.

I seriously wish I’d snapped a picture. Tarsus would have adaywith that. Maybe it would have eased the tension between us, since Tarsus didn’t want me to come find Clavicle. Not after Clavicle turned on them—nearly killed them—all those years ago.

But Clavicle is the only one who can save the fae realms. Because right now there is a massive volcano threatening to bury the fae continent in ash and lava. As the true Spine King, only Clav can convince Mother Terra to calm her temper and spare us all. I’m here to test the waters and see how cruel, exactly, this Prince of Ruin is now that’s he’s spent over two decades in a realm filled with the humans he despises so much.

He seemed nice enough. Either he’s overcome some of his better-than-thou attitude toward mylesserhumankind, or he’s just mastered the art of hiding his disgust toward us. He definitely didn’t seem disgustedtoday. If I’m not wrong, this fae-king-turned-human wasflirtingwith me. He even blushed a few times. I remember the way he bit his lower lip, the way he fidgeted, how he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his knuckles. My pulse quickens at the memory of his smile tucked between his teeth. Maybe he’s changed…or maybe he’s just that good at deceiving humans into thinking he’s safe.

But that’s exactly why I’m here: to see how much he’s changed—if at all—and to see if he’d return to the Spine Empire to help it—or to ruin it. Unfortunately, I tend to see the best in everyone. Tarsus says that will be the cause of my downfall, but then, Tarsus has major trust issues.

I flop onto my bed and crack open one of the books I checked out, eager to lose myself for a few hours before I meet with Clav at the Renaissance faire. I need to clear my mind, stop overthinking everything. I’ll see how he acts tonight, and base my approach off that.

But my heart is beating too fast, my mind racing as I consider what will go down tonight. It could go one of two ways when I mention his Spine Empire to him. Clav will either lighten up, and his acute homesickness will urge him to swear to save his empire from the doom of the blowing volcano. Or, if Tarsus is right, he’ll pull his obsidian dagger out ofnowhere and drive it through my heart without a warning.

The sound of storm and wind invades the space around me, tearing me from my thoughts, and I bolt upright in the bed in time to see a portal slowly expanding in the room. The black oval swells to the size of a door, and Ash steps out, her black braids whipping around her from the wind. The vampire’s bright russet eyes compliment her dark brown skin as they meet mine, and a big smile spreads across her face, revealing a slash of white teeth.

Ash isn’t like the vampires we read in books in our mortal realms. My human blood doesn’t do a thing for her. Fae blood, however, is a delicacy for vampires, and the more power a fae possesses, the richer their blood tastes. Furthermore, vampires can possess the powers from the fae blood they drink, at least for a short time until it runs out.

Tarsus steps out behind her with exceptional, fae-like grace, their antlers too tall for this tiny room. They look significantly less excited to be here than Ash, their brows pulled down in a V and a slight pout on their perfect lips. While Tarsus and I are nesting partners, meaning we are in a committed, long-term relationship, Ash and I have a fun, purely sexual relationship built on consent and communication. Tarsus is monogamous, but doesn’t mind mypolyamorous nature. As long as I communicate everything with them.

“Hey, you.” Ash jumps onto the bed and crawls over me, shoving me back as she crushes her blood-red lips to mine. She smells of honeysuckle and summer, and I lean in to the kiss, exploring her mouth with my own. Pulling away slightly, she studies me closely, her elongated pupil expanding as she reads my every emotion. Her dark brows furrow, her panther-like tail switching behind her when she clearly doesn’t like what she sees. “Everything okay?”

“Since you saw me last night?” I snort and playfully shove her off my lap before she sees the panic written all over my face. Propping myself on my elbows, I look between her and Tarsus. “Yes. Everything is fine. Stop being such an overprotective vampire.”

Behind her, Tarsus is glowering as they look around the room. Tarsus always seemed larger than life to me, but in this cramped inn room built for humans, I notice just how much they would never fit in with the human world. Besides being exceptionally tall due to their fae nature, topped with foot-tall antlers that mark them a native to the Spine Empire, there’s an energy about them that’s too much for mortals to withstand. It’s why I’m so taken with them.

---