Page 80 of Bound to the Orc King

“I’ve got you.” My best friend grips my elbow, her beautiful eyes serious. “I’ll teleport us out of the way if any of them get close. You go get ’em.”

Her belief in me rocks me to my core. Maybe she’s always believed in me more than I realized, and I thought she didn’t because it’s what I thought about myself. There’s no time to dig into this now, so I give her a quick thanks and close my eyes.

My crystal flares warm in my palm, my magic zipping through me, eager to work. Aldronn’s mind came to me as a stone castle, so what do I picture for the lead fae? Maybe it’s the surroundings, maybe it’s the cold sneer his imperious face wears, but what comes to me is an ice palace. It’s far fancier than Aldronn’s castle, with lots of intricate carving and tall, thin spires that look like spears thrust into the sky. It’s prickly and cold and beautiful, just like the fae.

There’s no outer wall, so I swoop down to the silver double doors barring the entrance and shove. They remain closed. I throw all my mental “weight” behind it, and somewhere distant, I feel my pendant burn into my palm at the effort. Thank god I’ve got several of the protective red crystals shoved into various pockets. But no matter how hard I push, the doors refuse to budge.

I float backward and eye the palace. The shadow fae doesn’t want to let me in, and I don’t have time to batter down the front doors. What does a fancy guy like him always forget? The servants’ entrance!

Flying low, I circle the ice-blue walls, finally finding a small door of plain, dull metal. It hinges open with a squeak that makes me flinch, but instead of stopping, I dive into the dark, half-formed hallway behind it. Wherever I am, it’s not a place the fae thinks of much. There aren’t any doors—I’m going to have to get into the main part of the “palace” to discover anything useful.

It feels like I fly forever until I finally find a tiny, winding staircase tucked into a shadowy corner. I dash up it at record speed, coming out on a hallway so well-lit the walls gleam the rich blue of thick ice. It feels weird that the asshole who wants to attack Alarria has such a beautiful mind. It makes me uneasy.

Something’s wrong with this picture.

I follow the hallway back toward the front of the palace and emerge into the grand foyer. It’s an echo of Aldronn’s, with a double staircase, but everything here is heavily carved and ornate. A beautiful chandelier spans the entire ceiling overhead, each candle a star in its galaxy.

“Who are you?”I call out, cutting to the chase. I don’t have time to search all of his memories like I did with Aldronn. If nothing else, maybe talking to him will make the dark fae stop fighting in the real world when he discovers I’m in his mind.

“I am Severin, king of the fae,”a deep and resonant voice says.

Huh. They don’t call themselves dark fae. That’s interesting.

“Why do you attack us?”I ask.“We’ve done nothing to you!”

There’s no answer, but the light coming from the archway ahead brightens, beckoning me forward.

I fly into another spectacular room, lit by both chandeliers and tall, arched windows made of stained glass depicting scenes from nature, each filled with trees of different types. Fluted columns decorate the long rectangle of the room, leading to an opulent throne carved from bright silver and inset with emeralds.

Instead of sitting on it like I expect since he named himself king, the dark fae crouches in front of it. It’s a seriously deceptive pose. From the back, it must look like his head is bowed in subjugation. But it’s really so his long black hair falls forward, shielding his face, hiding his defiant sneer, hiding the rage snapping in his emerald-green eyes. A heavy silver chain wraps around his ankle, and the position of his body also hides the hand gripping the chain as if he wants to rip it away.

A chain that leads to…

I try to look at what waits on the throne, but I can’t. A presence pushes me away, orders me not to look.

Oh, hell no! This girl doesn’tdoorders.

I grit my teeth and force my eyes to move upward. Then I gulp.

A whirling ball of black energy hangs in midair, dark-blue lightning flashing across its surface.

It’s like someone took the Moon Goddess and applied the invert filter to her, turning everything light, dark.

Deep, thrumming music pours from the swirling sphere, full of drums that speak of battle and blood.

“The Dark God.”It slips out of me as a shocked whisper, but it’s still enough to get the god’s attention.

“Foolish mortal!”a skull-piercing voice booms.“You dare!”

A gigantic force smashes into me and sends me hurtling backward out of the dark fae’s mind and into the real world in a blast of agony.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Aldronn

Fuck me. One of these flying fae is bad enough. Three simply add insult to injury.

“Get back down here and face me like a warrior!” I roar up at the smirking shadow fae.

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