Page 100 of The Tenth Muse

“We didn’t make contact,” I lied for the thousandth time.

Barrack answered with a slap so hard it rattled my teeth, his lip curling with disdain. The beating was blessedly brief. Some messenger yanked him away, yet he promised to finish what he started before he left. But my body ached so much I barely heard him. I couldn’t hold on much longer.

I didn’t even know why I held on.

Thankfully, I knew I had thrown Fawn and her brother off. By now, she would’ve found me if not for the wards and spells to hide my footsteps and redirect them. The last thing I needed was her tracking me, weak as she was. I’d rather die than turn her over. And her treaty with us meant my omega could not hurt them, my captors. That damn decree would leave her defenseless against them.

“Assemble!” A guard shouted, his voice muted by the stone walls.

Huh?I thought the sound of shouting was too loud, too frantic to be anything else but what I feared the most.

I twisted, gritting my teeth against the pain as I spun and yanked and shifted until my shoulder clicked out of place, followed by my wrist slipping from my cuff. I leaned my dislocated shoulder against the wall of my cell and screamed as I forced it back into place. Soon, a discarded bone was a pick, and I was free of my chains. In his rush, Barrack hadn’t closed the cell door.

Honestly, I should’ve been too weak to stand on any other day. But my fear drove me to my feet, pulsed through myveins, and guided me from the dungeons to the castle wall as I screamed. There, on the precipice of plummeting to her death, was my Fawn. Her shoulder was bleeding, nicked by an arrow, no doubt. She wheezed, her angry expression casting a silent death spell on anyone who dared lunge for her. But she wasn’t strong enough to overcome the many mages and human henchmen surrounding her.

When our eyes met, she smiled wildly. Slung on her waist was a bow and arrow so exquisite it took my breath away. My wedding gift! The only thing I couldn’t bear to take.

“FAWN!” I shouted, surging forward as Barrack slashed at her with his broadsword, aiming for her horns.

She tossed the enchanted bow and arrow my way, and they disappeared in a pillar of light. I blinked, snatching them mid-air as they appeared before me. The bow and arrows smelled of her brother, someone whispering in old tongues in my ear on the wind. And I realized what Omolan’s message was loud and clear.

They could not harm humans directly as guardians of the forest, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t do so with their help.

My arrow was notched before Barrack could even turn to strike me, thrown off by the magic just long enough to hesitate. His eyes went wide in shock as it pierced his heart in a flash. I made quick work of the others, muscle memory setting in through the pain, the magic in the air enough to keep me shooting, fighting on my omega’s behalf. Fawn stumbled towards me on shaky hooves as our enemies fell.

“Come,” I whispered as we embraced breathlessly. “Run!”

And we did just that, my omega shouldering most of my weight. I would never be welcomed in the human territories again, marked and hunted down if I did. If anyone dared to enter her domain, I would be more than willing to kill anyone who attempted to hurt my omega again.

“Sssh,” Fawn whispered as we exited the nearly deserted army barracks, damn near dragging me now. “Heal. We will talk later.”

I nodded in agreement, suddenly handed off to a male figure whom I could barely recognize as Omolan, Fawn’s brother. His palm on my side pushed energy into my blood. Beside me, my wife was soothing and soft. Silent, I became stronger with each step.

Together, as a family, we fled.

Omolan parted from us to patrol before we entered the meadow, worried we might’ve been followed. Fawn and I stopped running when our legs gave out, tumbling through the meadow until we were a stone’s throw from our house. Our laughter followed, hysterical, too high-pitched to be anything else. But it warmed my heart as we held each other triumphant.

“Brother will have to eat his horn. I protected you,” Fawn said with a broad, toothy grin, “I feel stronger already. I feel whole when I’m with you.”

I silenced her with a sensual kiss, but this time because I wanted a moment to find the words to confess, not silence her confession.

We pulled away, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears, and I kissed her eyelids shut, allowing my omega to cry for me—to cry for herself. I’d never be so selfish again.

“I love you, Fawn. Please, this time, let us marry for love, not duty.”

My voice shook more than I allowed myself to admit. And she chuckled, kissing my chin and cheeks and then my forehead, whispering back, “I love you too, my alpha. Brielle, know yourduty is fulfilled. I release you from that bond. This time, next spring equinox, we will marry for love.”

My eyebrows furrowed, confused as I didn’t fulfill my duty. But then, as Fawn took my hands and guided them to her belly, slick with oil and cocoa butter, I gasped.

“Meadow?” My mate cooed in the beautiful meadow we now called home. Near the cottage where we’d raise our child. In the forest that her birth would renew. “I think it is a good name. It is still very early, but I think that’s why my surly brother was determined to follow me down the hill. He knew before I did, already an overprotective uncle.”

“Meadow,” I agreed with a nod, grateful to have a name for our fawnling already, awed just as much by the new knowledge as I was by the rapidness of my seed taking root.

Fawn, my sweet omega, kissed me tenderly, her horns I once meant to trade to rebuild my spice empire gleaming in the setting sun. And now, in this tiny patch of paradise, I’d gained two treasures worth more than the world.

about skyler drake

SKYLER DRAKE (skylerdrake.com) is an author of spicy and diverse LGBTQ+ contemporary, sci-fi, and fantasy romances.

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