Page 25 of Blood of the Ruthless

The only thing I can do now is fight back. Fight back and keep screaming, so I open my mouth and start right back up with my screaming as I pace backwards from him. He's coming towards me slowly, like a predator stalking its prey.

I move into a fighter's stance. If he's going to take me, he's going to have to beat me down first because I’m not going down without a fight. I do, however, have to shut up for a minute and catch my breath. By now my screaming has to have woken the entire village.

Right?

“Just turn around and go,” I pant out. “The villagers will be awake. They’ll see what you’re doing and you’ll get caught.”

His smile is cruel and unexpected. “Think so?” He laughs. “I don’t, you slippery whore!”

He lunges for me. I step out of the way and he loses his footing, clearly counting on me being slower, but he quickly regains his balance and swings back around. We're face-to-face, and I throw out a punch. He ducks and comes back with a solid hit straight to my nose.

Pain explodes through my face. The world goes black, and I only see darkness and stars. I can’t even be sure I’m still breathing, but I can’t feel my body. Somewhere deep inside, I’m fighting back toward consciousness, swimming when I don’t know which way is up or down.

When I open my eyes again, I'm tied up on the back of a horse. I can't even muster the energy to try to fight again, but I twist my hands and ankles hopelessly against the ropes. I'm tied so tightly there's no way I can escape, and my face hurts so badly tears blur my vision.

We slowly gallop away, and through my tears I see the old baker woman watching. She just stands with her hands on her hips, smiling. No one else in the village even dared to see what was wrong.

“Bitch!” I yell at her, swallowing a sob. Then, “Cowards, all of you! The Fae Princes will have your heads for this! I swear it!”

But no matter my empty threats, the village fades in the distance. I’m kidnapped again. Back in the hands of my enemy. No one who cares knowing where I am.

“How did you find me?” I ask, my words an accusation.

I can hear the amusement in his voice. “There’s nothing out here for miles and miles. Nothing but a town full of people, loyal to us. Filled with people who hate the fae as much as we do. People who have been wronged, who have been hurt by the fae… who have even lost loved ones, to the fae, just like the rest of us. It wasn’t hard to guess where you’d end up, or that they’d turn you over to us.”

It’s like a blow to my chest. So, the village was never anything but a trap. A trap I fell for.

Everything I've done for the past day has been for nothing.

I relax my muscles and give up, tears sliding down my face. Too exhausted to even pretend there might still be a happy ending for me. Not when I’m heading back to the Death House.

EIGHT

Cobar

The ballroom stretches out in front of me, a display of the finest food, gems, and ladies from the four kingdoms. I finish my drink and know that tonight I’ll end up in bed with someone, or a few someones, it’s how it always goes. And yet, the notion makes me feel hollow. Almost pained.

The women. The drinking. The dancing. It all distracts from the fact that I’m alone, ruling a court that has little need of a ruler, outside of the fae’s petty fights, and the essential role of using my magic to feed the borders around the fae lands. Yet, it’s still a position that essentially separates me from all the people surrounding me. Beyond the princes of the other courts, there’s no one here I trust, no one who has my back, no one who cares about the things that haunt me late at night. They’re just here for a good time, or to sleep their way into a higher position within my court, they don't care about me, they’re here for themselves.

The music changes, and I rub my chest, trying to rub away the lonely feeling that’s blossomed there. I need someone to joke with. Someone to laugh with. Someone to make me forget about this hollow feeling.

Cassia lands in my line of sight. Only, it’s like until that moment I'd forgotten her. I didn’t know that I had found my mate, but the second I see her, I remember it all. The solstice ball, seeing her in that golden dress, the way she looked at me. It all comes back to me in a rush.

It’s hard to breathe. It’s hard to think. The world fades away outside of her, and all I want is to touch her. To be with her. She’s the woman I’ve waited my whole life for. With her, I’ll never be alone again.

Images of my life with my parent’s flash through my mind. Me, as a little kid, desperately wanting to be with them like the way other fae kids were with their parents. To be a family. To feel loved. Even just to have their arms around me. Instead, every time I saw them, they were naked, or half-naked, flirting with other people. Giving those people all their love and attention and leaving me with a series of tutors and advisors, lonely and longing for a family.

Not that I wasn’t okay with my parents having multiple lovers. There just wasn’t room for me in their lives too, for some reason. One small kid was just more than they wanted to deal with. My only role was to some day take over my father’s responsibilities… that was my only purpose to them.

With my mate, I’ll be her everything. She’ll never want for anyone outside of us, me and the other princes. We’ll fulfill her completely, and when we have children, our love will grow. There will be so much to give that our child will be the same–happy and loved beyond compare.

I’m smiling as I cross the room, closing the distance between us. And then, I’m there, with her, breathing in her sweet scent, staring at the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life. Her long blonde hair is left loose around her shoulders, falling in waves, and her big hazel eyes hold mine, even though I can’t read what she’s thinking. She’s not a delicate woman either. She’s shapely, with the kind of strength to her figure that says she’s known hard work.

“You look amazing, " I tell her, my heart racing.

She looks up at me with those eyes of hers, smiles, and looks away. I need more. I need her towantme. I need her tolikeme. Toloveme.

I have to fix things. Isn’t that what Sulien said? That we’d approached her so poorly that we were the ones that might have scared her away?

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