Page 85 of How Does It Feel?

Ruined

Mendax

I watched Callie closely.

Every time the carriage hit a bump, her cleavage shifted, making it hard to think straight. Had we not been sitting across from my mother, I’m not certain I could have resisted her in the tight red dress she wore. It hugged every curve of her soft body like a glove. The parts it didn’t hug, I imagined in my mind, and it was almost too much for me to take. She smelled like amber and spice, not her usual lavender.

They had accidentally used my soap on her instead of her own.

Gods, did I like the way she smelled with me all over her.

I especially liked how every other Fae tonight would smell only me when they were near her. They would know she was my pet.

I was losing the fight my soul waged against her. Every breath she took, another strand of my fight seemed to perish. Her words—her mind—her soft skin, it was taking over all of me.

I had hoped after I got a taste of her, my mind would finally be free of her, but that proved far from the outcome. As soon as I tasted her sweetness, I wanted—needed—more. Each wall of the fortress in my mind crumbled with her presence no matter how hard I fought against it. It was maddening! If she didn’t die soon, I feared she would be my greatest weakness, and I couldn’t afford to have any weaknesses, especially not with the throne open.

Tonight’s trial would be a fast, speedy death for her. Even now, the blood in my body fought against the idea of her death. I had always wanted to feel something—anything. Then out of nowhere, this human sparked a fire of need inside me where it once had been empty and cold.

“Why again could we not have shadowed to the Faerie court? The girl could have been driven alone,” the queen grumbled as she scowled at Callie across the plush bench.

“Because, as you know, they have wards up to prevent us from shadowing in unannounced, and even though I’m still quite sure, as Smoke Slayers, we could easily breech it, tensions already run high with the elf and Seelie royals already there,” I stated cooly, though my fist clenched just at the thought of the Seelie Fae looking at Callie.

“I could do it right now,” the queen said. Her eyes twinkled with mischief.

I knew exactly what she spoke of.

“You will do no such thing. I will not be bonded. Period,” I barked back.

Callie froze at the mention.

Interesting.

The queen pursed her lips. “I don’t need your permission, dear. As your queen, I can do what I see fit, whether you like it or not.”

Still just a cat, toying with a mouse, even if the mouse was her son.

“I’m right here. Stop speaking about me as if I’m not sitting right in front of you,” Callie bit out at the queen.

Gods alive, she was stunning when she let that fire flow. There was a darkness in her that fueled her flame, and I felt it with my soul.

“You won’t be for long if you speak to me like that again,” the queen growled.

Had I not been her son, I might have missed the flickered eyebrow of surprised respect.

“I will not be bonded to him. I’d rather die than be trapped here with him forever,” Callie spat out.

“That’s sort of the plan,” the queen chuckled darkly before the carriage stopped.

Something uncomfortable bloomed in my chest with her disapproval of bonding to me. I strongly disliked it. Why was she so against bonding to me? How could a human not want the powers she would possess? Most would beg for it.

I quickly escaped the confines of the conversation and helped the women out of the carriage and into the sizable stone castle of the Court of Faerie.

Immediately upon entering, I spotted the separation of the different kingdoms. The elves had surrounded their white-haired king and queen, every last one of them draped in flowing white and gold traditional robes. In the back were a few of the smaller royals, the less important ones.

My eyes caught with fiery gold stares as I took in the Seelie princes at the back of the large ballroom. Remembrance of Callie mentioning their golden fox forms saving her life flashed in my mind. Whatever they wanted with her, they wouldn’t get. She was mine now. They practically glowed amber from being in the sunlight so long. After everything, I loathed them almost as much as my mother did.

I quickly scanned the area searching for the Seelie Queen Saracen or the younger princess but found only the two princes had shown from the Seelie royals.