Page 24 of Till Kingdom Come

It was an insufferable thing to say—domineering, possessive, and distrustful. I loved it. I answered him meekly.

“Can you promise me the same?”

He gave me a dark look. “I’m not teasing or playing, Killian. Remember that I’m a very jealous being. I always have been.”

“Does that mean that you might…love me?”

“It means I don’t want other men’s hands on you. Nothing more.”

“I see.” I turned away, hurt that he wouldn’t commit to faithfulness when he demanded it of me. It was stupid to know someone such a short time and feel this way. I knew it. I also couldn’t do anything about it.

Without another word, he pulled me back and pushed up my knees until they fell open. He bent over to taste me, putting his whole mouth over my shaft. I screamed in surprise, because I didn’t know people did this kind of thing either, and I was amazed by it. I couldn’t be still as his mouth moved over me, and I was crying out at the sensations and reaching for him. Why did I react this way to him? Something must be wrong with me.

He whispered, “Shhh…” in my ear. “You’ll make the servants think I’m killing you.”

I thought he actually might be, but I tried to be quieter. The prince bent to his work, sliding his tongue over me and even licking me over my entrance again. I started shaking so hard I was afraid I’d pass out. Nothing had ever felt like that before. Nothing. He caressed my sides and my belly and tried to soothe me. “Calm down.”

I nodded frantically, and he smiled at me, kissing me on the inside of my knee.

He whispered in my ear—soft, crooning sounds that made me unbearably hot and caused fluttery feelings in my stomach. He laughed softly. “Hush now. I think I’ve changed my mind about resting. I think I’m far from being done with you. In fact, I may just be getting started.”

Chapter Seven

He never left me that whole night, and I slept in his arms until daylight, or what passed for it here. But he left early, telling me to stay in bed and rest, because he had business with the king. Probably an hour or so later, servants came in to help me dress and sit me by the fire so I could have something to eat. I’d never before been pampered like this, and it was a nice change. When I’d stayed so briefly at Ellien’s castle, the servants had brought me meals occasionally, but nothing like this. I tried to tell myself to just enjoy it, because surely, it wouldn’t last. Besides, I’d soon grow fat and lazy if I were pampered like this every day.

They brought me boiled eggs and succulent pieces of ham and a fine assortment of cheeses, along with a tankard of beer and a carafe of spiced wine. There were three different kinds of rolls and buns and some little delicate cakes. It was all beautifully prepared, and I ate way too much. Afterward, I went back to bed and got under the covers to wait for Bracca. When he came in and found me in bed, he joined me, and it was later in the afternoon that we finally talked.

“The king has invited us both to dinner, tonight,” he said. “A few of the members of his council will be joining us.”

I nodded, dreading it, having never really met the king except for those few moments when we arrived, but having heard alarming rumors of him all my life. Larek, the Dark Fairy king was spoken about in whispers and sometimes used by mothers in place of the bogeyman, as in “King Larek will get you if you don’t behave, and he’ll pick his teeth with your bones.” A lovely thought, but one I’d heard many times growing up.

I dressed carefully after Bracca left that afternoon, putting on a suit of the clothes the servants brought in and put in my wardrobe. After trying on several combinations, I settled on a pair of black trousers, lined with the softest fur, a matching waistcoat, embroidered in golden thread, a gold-colored jacket and some black boots, also lined with the same ermine. Bracca came to fetch me, bringing with him a mink jacket for me to wear, far too beautiful for someone like me, I thought.

When I told him so, he shook his head. “Nonsense. You look really handsome.” He fiddled around with my hair with his fingers, saying, “Have you even looked in the mirror yet today?”

I laughed. “No, I try to avoid looking in mirrors, if I can.”

He pulled me over to a dressing mirror next to my wardrobe. “I thought your beauty had peaked yesterday, but I was wrong. Take a look at yourself.”

Mystified by his words, I glanced over into the standing mirror and had no idea who the creature in the mirror was—the one staring back at me. I only knew that he definitely wasn’t me. And he definitely wasn’t human.

“W-what have you done to me?” I asked, touching my face as my voice got whispery and scared.

“I haven’t done anything. Someone put a glamour on you when you must have been a small child. It was a disguise to hide how you truly looked. When you came to the Liminal, it cracked, and since you’ve been here, it has finally fallen away.”

“No, that’s crazy! That can’t be me in the mirror. Take it off me. Please, Bracca.”

“I’m not doing anything. This is you, Killian. There’s nothing I can ‘take off.’ Your mother must have been trying to hide you, and what you see is how you truly look.”

“No!” I touched the face in the mirror in fascination and saw the hand move over my own face. I could feel that hand, too, so it was me—butnotme at the same time. My head started spinning, and I scrubbed at my face with both hands, watching in horror as the man in the mirror did the same. Bracca had to hold onto me tightly or else I might have fallen down in shock.

“This is you, Killian, I swear it to you. This must be your mother’s doing. She must have found a powerful witch to make a spell so strong that it’s lasted all these years.”

“What witch? What are you talking about?” I clutched my head and fell down on the nearest chair. “Why am I like this? Why are you saying my mother did this to me?”

“Because she must have. She wasn’t trying to hurt you. She was probably trying to protect you. To hide you from those who might harm you or take you away. What you see now in the mirror is your true form, like I told you. And you’re beautiful. We don’t know yet for sure why she did it, except to hide the fact that you’re obviously Fae. Listen to me Killian. My father thinks your real father is not Sir John Honeywood. In fact, he thinks—as I do—that you’re no relation to Sir John at all.”

“What?”It was too much to take in all at once. I turned away from the mirror and pulled frantically at all the blond hair that was streaming off my head, until Bracca took my hands in his to stop me. I’d noticed the hair before, of course, as it was so long and fell across my shoulders, but I thought it was something temporary that Bracca had done to me to make me look better in front of his father and the others. I thought he must be ashamed of the way I looked compared to the Fairies. I rarely even glanced in mirrors anymore, so I‘d had no idea.

---