Escaping Destiny
The Fae Chronicles
Book Three
By Amelia Hutchins
Escaping Destiny
The Fae Chronicles Book Three
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book both in its entirety and in portions is the sole property of
Amelia Hutchins
Copyright © February 17, 2014 by Amelia Hutchins.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
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ISBN: 9780991190928
Cover Art Design: Vera DC Digital Art & Photography
Cover Art Illustrations: Vera DC Digital Art & Photography
Copyright © February 17, 2014 Amelia Hutchins
Edited by: Genevieve Scholl from Big Bang Book Services
Copy Editor: Gina Tobin
Published by: Amelia Hutchins
Published in (United States of America)
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Warning
This book is intended for mature and adult audiences; if you prefer adorable and sparkly Fairies and Vampires…look elsewhere. It is the second in the Fae Chronicles; buy the first one before reading this or you will be so lost you won’t know which end is up. Fighting Destiny can be found with reputable book sellers for your convenience. Taunting Destiny picks up right where the first left off. This book is dark, gritty, tear jerking, panty soaking, edge of seat grabbing and DARK. It does contain hot asshole alphas that seduce and wreck sensibilities. Explicit language is used liberally as is the use of magic in acts of naughtiness. Author strongly advises buying batteries, or securing a willing victim to your bed while reading this book. (Handcuffs are optional.) Side effects are, but are not limited to: Lip biting, and or chewing, screaming at author, wet panties, unexplained leaking from the eyes, or other parts of the body. Some people may experience strange attachment to characters, and may scream for the next book in the series immediately after reading. If you experience one or more of these symptom’s, do not seek a health care professional, thank the author and wait for the next book in the series. (Stalking author is normal behavior, be assured she has already started the next in the series.)
Books also by Amelia Hutchins
Fighting Destiny Book 1
Taunting Destiny Book 2
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank the fans who inspire me to write each and every day. Thank you for your continual support, and encouragement. For your dedication, and loyalty, and everything you do. To the Minions who are too many to name, thanks for spreading the word and making this series what it is. To the amazing woman and my friend who helped shape this book into the perfect mold. I couldn’t have done it without you Gina. To the beta readers, and the editor, I treasure you all. So thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Chapter One
Destiny has a way of finding you, even if you’ve been hidden from it. My destiny was chosen for me and written before I was born. Right after I was born, my parents signed me away. They signed a contract with a monster whom in return, stopped harassing our people and freed my brother.
Terrified for my future, they had broken the contract and I was hidden among Humans in the least likely place I would be looked for. They created an elaborate illusion so that I wouldn’t be found, and in doing this, they had resigned themselves that they would never see me again. They figured that what they had planned for me was a better future than what had befallen many of the Horde King’s other toys. Too bad destiny had other ideas. My parents were only able to hold the illusion together for six short years before the evil, in the form of my brother Faolán, and the creature before me, ripped it away. They seemed to be the galvanizing forces that prompted the journey that shaped me and eventually brought me to this cavernous hall, kneeling at the feet of the most feared creature in this world, or the Human one.
Liam, my brother, had been captured, tortured, and broken by the same man who stood before me now. The Horde King had done everything in his power to ensure I was his. Why? What was so important about me that the Horde wanted me so much?
Children? He had many children, mostly boys if the whispers about him were correct. Power? It was the most likely reason, but that only added more questions to why this beautiful, deadly creature wanted me as his concubine since I held no power for him to take. Was it to keep my parents under his thumb? Could be, but why did he need to bring them to heel when he could so easily kill them as he had my grandfather?
Nothing made sense, and even now, as I knelt at his feet awaiting my fate, I wanted answers that likely wouldn’t come. Here was this creature who could easily wipe out anyone he chose to, and for some reason, he wanted me. He’d ensured from my birth that I would end up here at his feet. As his slave.
Me, he wanted me.
The room was filled with the noise of the celebrating Horde, while I remained on my knees at his feet. I was still dressed in a beautiful gown, with an almost laughable weapon hidden in the bodice of the dress—one that was supposedly created to kill the Horde King. I had no plans of using it on him. It wasn’t because I didn’t think I could, I just wasn’t stupid or suicidal.
There was no way in hell I could kill him and get away with it. I was going to figure out why the Horde King wanted me, and I was going to escape him. If I used the dagger, I’d be dead before I could figure out the bigger picture, and killing him would seal the fate of too many people who depended on this contract.
I’d lived so much of my life trying to help others, and do what I thought was right. The Guild, with the exception of Alden and Marie, had used my hate and anger for their own purposes and betrayed Adam and I in the end. I hadn’t been living then, I’d been surviving. Ryder had been right, and up until I’d met him, I’d merely been existing. It was time to end that part of my life. I’d been going through the motions of living, oblivious to what I had wanted for myself. Deep down, I’d known I wanted love; real soul ripping love.
Blinding love that made you do stupid things, and I had. I had fallen in love with a Fairy—I mean, how much stupider could that be? In his arms, I felt whole, protected. Sure, he’d given me to Adam to wed, but he really didn’t have any choice in the matter and I’d seen the pain in his eyes from doing
so. Point? He wanted me for more than just sex.
Yes, Ryder had this need to dominate everyone, including me. But, we could work past that, and I was sure I could make him love me. It just really sucked that it had taken me this long to figure it out. I wasn’t the key to saving Faery, and that in itself was a huge relief. Unfortunately, that also opened up more questions as to who I really was and what I was meant to do.
In my dream, Ryder let me know that I no longer had to marry Adam. So now, I just had to figure out how to escape what destiny was throwing at me now. The Horde King. I smiled knowing he wouldn’t see it. Why, because I was still staring at his bare feet, which were my focal point at the moment.
“Stand up,” he ordered, bringing me out of my reverie. His voice was layered, and demanded to be heard. It slithered over my shoulders and wrapped around my spine.
I placed my hands firmly on the ground as I brought myself up to a standing position. I kept my eyes on his feet, because I knew he wanted submission. Everything in his posture and being screamed that he wanted me demure, and willing to bend to his will.
Even the blood oath he had me agree to screamed submission. Ryder had taught me how to submit. He’d made me boneless with the need to submit to him. I could do this, at least long enough to find a way out. Ryder said he would save me, and I believed him. I wasn’t sure he could save me from this, which meant, I had to do this on my own.
“Look at me,” he ordered.
I raised my eyes to meet his obsidian depths. The Horde King was beautiful, but often those things which are the most beautiful—are the deadliest. He was evil incarnate, and the stories I’d been told by my parents and my brother came rushing back as I met his eyes.
“You are mine,” he said softly, his eyes scanning my face as he said it. He was looking for hesitation, or uncertainty, which he would find, because I was terrified. I was also uncertain of my fate, and while I didn’t want to hesitate, I probably would.
“I am yours,” I repeated dutifully.
“Prove it,” he replied.
I blinked as what he wanted me to do sank into my brain. I stepped closer, until I was inches from his towering form. When I was close enough to him that I could touch the pulsating brands on his massive chest, his wide wing’s closed around us, hiding the view of our bodies from those around us. Instantly I was suffocating, and choking on his power as it surged through me, blocking off any chance of drawing breath. He was absolute power, and I felt it with every cell of my body.
“Ask me,” he growled softly, the vibration sending my skin to a shivering mess.
He was showing me his control, and that it was absolute. He wanted me to know how easily he could kill me, as if I needed a reminder. I lifted my eyes to his and moved even closer until I was pressed against his hard body.
I opened my mouth to ask for permission to breathe, but no words would come. He was preventing them, and his eyes sparkled with amusement at my discomfort.
“Kiss me,” he demanded.
I did, knowing that it would bring air, which was needed for me to draw a breath. Power was corrupting, and this was an example of why he was considered the strongest of the Fae. I stood on my tiptoes, and placed my hands carefully against his chest as my lungs burned with the need for oxygen.
His mouth wasn’t filled with stench, or dirty as one would expect from a member of the Horde. Instead, it was clean and minty, and the moment my lips touched his, I was once again able to draw breath—but only barely. I sent my tongue out, knowing instinctively that the deeper I went, the more air I would receive. His arms wrapped around me, crushing me to his body.
He growled against my mouth as his wings caressed my naked shoulders, softer than silk against my flesh. Air came easily as he encouraged the kiss. My hands felt his power as it sparked against the flesh of my palms. His brands even pulsed with it, and my own reacted to it by pulsing and throbbing in response. I moved to step away from him, but his hands lowered to my back and held me there, locked against him.
“I expect you to give me control, Sorcha. You will pleasure me only. You are a Transitioned Fae now. You look of it, and I can smell it on you. I won’t damage you, not when I can easily starve you of air, which will no longer kill you, but I promise it will not be pleasurable. Do you understand what I am saying?” He asked as his fingers crept up to touch the torque around my throat.
“If I don’t please you, I don’t breath.”
“Yes,” he replied as his hand wrapped around the back of my neck, sending a feeling of hopelessness down my spine. “You will feed me, and pleasure me as is my right. For the blood oath your parents violated, I will seek to punish you. Unlike what many think, you will like my punishments. I know a lot about punishments. There’s a fine line between pain and pleasure, and I promise to make you dance on the line between them if you fight me,” he whispered with a growl that sent shivers of fear racing down my spine.
I swallowed heavily as fear crept into my veins. “I had no control over what they did. I was only a child.”
His lips curved into a wicked smile that was at odds with the hard look in his eyes. He lowered his mouth and pressed his lips against my ear before whispering softly, “Hence, why you are still alive, little one. Had you participated in their plans to thwart me, I would have already killed you, Sorcha.”
“Syn,” I whispered back, not daring to move from the gentle embrace I was wrapped into against his hard body.
“We will sin, of that I assure you. When I am done with you, you will want no other man. That much I promise you.”
“What is it you want from me exactly, besides someone to warm your bed?” I asked, unable to stop the words from coming out.
“This,” he said, and once again I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think past the need for air. He’d taken it all from me, and my lungs burned with fire. I turned my wide eyes to his and watched as he licked his lips. I moved without hesitation. I kissed him, picturing Ryder as I did so. Would he hate me when I submitted to the Horde King? Would he even want me after I’d lain with the King? There was no way I would be able to get away from him; not before he took me, anyway.
I wasn’t an idiot. I knew this beautiful creature planned to take me to his bed tonight. I could feel the anticipation in his touch, in his kiss. He liked playing God, and right now, he was. He was giving me air with his kiss, and I wasn’t going to be an idiot and suffocate. If I planned to live, I would need to play by this man’s rules—for now.
When he finally broke the kiss and pulled away from me, a look passed between us. I got it, he was in control, and if I wanted to make it through this unscathed, I was going to have to give him what he wanted.
“Are you mine, Sorcha, and only mine?” he asked quietly as his hand cupped my chin.
“I am yours in body, but my soul will never be yours,” I answered honestly.
His liquid black eyes searched my face for something, and must have decided against demanding more at this moment, because his wings parted and the brightness of the room blinded me briefly. He continued to watch me before he shouted an order.
“Bring the chains for the Princess,” he said to his guards, who were covered from head to toe in a type of form fitting black armor that was light-weight, but looked strong enough to be effective. They all wore black cloaks over the armor and their eyes were the only visible sign that there was a sentient being behind the mask of the helmet. The first male stepped up and took my hands to slip thin silver cuffs onto each wrist, while the other slipped a delicate silver chain that looked as if it would be easily broken, through the catch of one cuff, and then the other. When he was done, I tested them and was shocked at how strong they seemed.
Well shit, it wasn’t looking like I would be getting away from the King unscathed, or without chains. I inhaled slowly and then let it out even slower. My heart was thundering with what was happening. It really was looking like I was on my own now.
The Horde shouted with cheers when thei
r king was handed the length of chain that connected to the cuffs on my wrists. I turned a panicked look at Adam, and blinked as he disappeared from sight, only to appear in front of me as he pushed me back and away from the Horde King.
He moved so quickly that I was having a hard time keeping my eyes on him. It took me a few minutes to figure out that he was trying to sift me away from the Horde King. He was shouting, and I couldn’t quite make out what he was saying as he repeatedly disappeared, only to reappear and try again.
“Adam!” I shouted as the Horde King moved to attack him. He would be killed!
“I can’t let this happen to you, Syn!” Adam shouted as he gave up trying to sift me out and shielded my body with his own. I watched in horror as the deadly wing of the Horde King took aim, and moved with dire intent toward Adam’s heart. Adam was immortal, but as I had seen with Liam, the Horde King could do things that other Fae couldn’t.
“No!” I cried, allowing the King to hear the terrified plea that filled my voice.
The entire room was silent, as if someone had flipped a switch, and turned all the sound off. The only sound was the beating of my heart as it shattered for Adam, and what he’d just tried to do. I stood behind him with my eyes closed as I listened to the steady drumbeat of my heart that was pounding in my ears.
“Boy,” the Horde King snarled, which forced me to open my eyes. He held Adam by his dark colored shirt, his spiked wing inches from my best friend’s heart. “Kier, I suggest you take your son home, and teach him the ways of our people. Explain to him the exact details of our alliance. It might allow him to make better choices in the future.”