Draden’s face turned serious then. His hard stare bore into her like a stake that turned and turned her insides to a messy mush. His smile was gone, replaced by the hard thin frown that made him look incredibly scary.
“Paying attention I see. Yes, Shade, I said little Princess, but you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” He approached her, tilting his head to stare her down. Shade now had to tilt her head back and straighten her stance to stand just even with his chest.
“You remember what I said at the Fountains, right? About your father? I did know him–I was his second in command, first lieutenant. I knew him well.” He eyed her, daring her to speak.
Shade gulped as she tried not to look away, determined to not back down. She felt him testing her.
“What was his name?” Shade pressed her lips together, biting down on her lower lip. She could feel the sweat build up and her heart racing as she stared right back at him.
Draden sized her up with his hard, stormy, blue, eyes. His face softened as he chuckled and backed down. Shaking his head he reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder.
“You are a stubborn little brat aren’t you? You’re just like him. His name was Verenis. He was the King of the Southern Realm of Faerie.” He watched her, pausing for a moment for her to take in the information.
“The Southern Realm. The Seelie Scren Court of Faeries is rightfully yours Shade. You are his only heir. He was a Changeling, capable of changing appearance to whatever it was that he wanted to appear as. Powerful magic that is almost now unseen in the Fey. Do you know if you have inherited these abilities?” He waited, watching the shock fill her eyes as she listened. She weakly shook her head and turned to look at Dylan, whose eyes were wider as he struggled to remain stoic.
“I–no, I don’t think so.” She felt her knees weaken as they threatened to collapse. Dylan took her arm and led her into one of the many rooms that lined the halls. He brought her into what looked like a small library. It was filled with dusty books, hardback, leather bound, and the kind you would find in an expensive collection. Dylan guided her to a small cushioned couch. She slid down onto the soft, old, velvet, and let her head fall between her knees.
She had not expected anything that Draden had said at all. The doubt filled her mind and made it uneasy to breath. Should she believe him? Was she really a Queen of her own Faerie Realm?
Chapter Seven
“I DON’T BELIEVE it,” Shade whispered.
“Believe it girl,” Draden snickered from the entrance of the room. “There is nothing but truth here, or did you forget that we do not lie?” He leaned on the doorframe and appeared rather bored by her show of weakness.
Shade looked up towards the warrior. “You say you knew my father well? Well then, what happened to him? Where is he, and why did he leave my mother?” She wiped a spilled tear that had pooled in her eyes. She slowly straightened and sat up, giving a hard stare that bore right back at Draden, awaiting his answers.
“He was killed, Shade. Queen Aveta captured him, and he was executed in her Court. There was nothing I could have done to save him. I failed him and I paid for it dearly. I had to join her ranks of Lonares Soldiers or die. When I found out that you were alive, and therefore an heir, my brother and I deserted her army. We were lost before that, without hope. We returned to the Northern Realm where we heard Prince Lotinar had returned, and was eager for fighters. I will not rest until Queen Aveta pays for what she has done. He was like a brother to me.” His face was stone cold serious. She nodded at his explanation.
“What of the Southern Realm? Who rules it now? Who’s in charge down there since I haven’t claimed it?” Shade sniffled; she hated getting a runny nose in the middle of such a serious conversation. She pulled her pack off and reached inside for a cloth to wipe her face.
“There is no ruler. A lesser Queen named Ariana has stepped up to help out until the rightful ruler comes. She is not strong enough to fight Aveta’s evil armies. They are growing by the thousands. Sluagh, scores of Orcs, Demons and lesser Fey are assembling on Aveta’s side along with the Lonares Soldiers as we speak.”
“We have to claim the crown back, Shade, and build our armies to defeat her. Prince Lotinar is already allying with Queen Zinara. With you at their side, they will be hard to beat for sure. It will be three of the great realms against one.” Her indifference agitated him, causing him to want to run across the room and give her a good shake.
“I–I just don’t know. It’s all so sudden. I can’t even fathom having a father who’s a Changeling and a King! I don’t know if I have any of his powers. If I did, they haven’t shown up yet, and I have no idea how to make them surface. I’m not a Queen, Princess or whatever. I can’t win a Faerie war! I have so little to give, and so much to lose. Why do you guys, once again, have to pin your hopes on me? I’m not the one you need.” Shade stood up and huffed out of the room, feeling a lot less faint. Anger made her heart race as the knots in her stomach clenched. She paced the hallway outside the door as she tried to figure things out. Lately, she was getting to know these feelings a bit too well.
“Shade?” Dylan appeared in the doorway.
“What!?” She heard her voice echo in the hall, angry and desperate.
“Why don’t we get a bite to eat? I’m starved and I can tell you need something to munch on while we figure it out. How about it?” He waited, letting her vent her confusion. As she paced, her heart slowed and her thoughts cleared. Finally, she stopped and sighed, Rubbing her temples, she nodded at Dylan. She motioned to him that she would follow him.
The murmurs of conversation seemed to fade down to nothing as they took their seats. The rest of her friends were already seated and eating. She was sure her emotions were written plainly on her face. She sat and stared at her empty plate, not sure she really had the stomach for food, but knew she should eat for energy. She helped herself to some fruit and croissants, but picked at them with her fork. She barely noticed Dylan pouring her some orange juice and nudging her to eat. Sighing, she stuffed a grape into her dry mouth and attempted to chew.
“Shade, is everything alright? Did something happen?” Sary leaned over, whispering to her so that only the ones at their table could hear them.
Shade nodded and looked up at the beautiful warrior. Shade cracked a pathetic attempt of a smile and blinked back to her plate. Dylan rapidly fired off the details to the others as they continued to eat. She could feel their eyes darting to her as he spoke, but tried not to get any more upset. She was relieved that Ursad and Camulus weren’t at their table.
Soap sat across from her and watched her sulk. She glanced up at him a couple times, feeling suddenly guilty about her feelings for Dylan. Soap looked at her with great concern splayed across his face, and eyes full of love. She could sense his desire to run to her and hold her tight. She felt his restraint like an iron chain that strapped him to his chair. He would never do that in front of the others, he was too proud for that. Dylan was prouder still. At least Soap’s wall was not as hard to get through as Dylan’s. She wanted to hear Soap’s voice right now, cracking jokes and being pathetic just to make her laugh and smile.
Glancing at Dylan, she realized how different the two men were. They both were Teleen, part Teleen in Soap’s case. Never the less, both wielded the magical blue lightning fires that burned under their skin white-hot. That was where their similarities ended. Soap could also change into whomever or whatever he wished. He had mentioned he could look like any person she wanted him to. He was sweet, easy going and made no secret of his desire to be with her. Dylan’s concern and care for her, and not to mention the way he made her heart flip with one glance, made it hard to choose between them. Soap’s gleaming, green eyes watched her as she thought about them both, almost twinkling as they converted to a honey-brown when filling up with slight mischief.
He knows I’m thinking about him. How does he do that?
Shade suddenly felt so invaded by his penetrating sta
re that she had to pry her eyes away, and stared back at her plate of food. Popping another piece of fruit into her mouth helped to distract her from her present company. Dylan and Soap were getting harder to ignore, which was what she wanted to do. She’d rather think about what Draden had said about her family and the Scren Seelie Court that rightfully was hers. She didn’t know how in the heck she was supposed to be a ruler. She almost choked on the grape as she thought about it, and took a swig of juice to wash it down.
“It’s okay, Shade, just breathe,” Dylan interrupted. “I know you didn’t expect this and it’s all sudden, but you have got to get a grip on yourself, or you’re going to choke on your breakfast!” Dylan’s urgent whisper in her ear brought her face to flush. She turned towards him, pressing her lips into a straight line.
“I know that. Just back off okay? I’m just a little in shock. I have to digest what Draden told me. I don’t even know who I am, and that scares the crap out of me. Tell me you wouldn’t feel the same way? You’ve never had to deal with this kind of stuff in your entire immortal life, so you can just leave me alone,” she snapped as she stood up. She glanced down the way towards Prince Ursad’s table where he was also watching her. She felt the weight of a thousand eyes bearing down on her, and the room was wavering as she regretted her decision to stand up so fast.
She sucked her breath as her stance wavered. The Prince whispered something into Camulus’ ear. The green Elven-Pixie glanced at Shade and nodded his head. In a flash he was at her side, catching her and gripping her in his arms gently but firmly. Another flashing swirl swam around her and brought her back to her room. She was still at the glass castle, but in the bed she had slept in that night. Camulus helped her slip into the soft sheets.
“Shade, it’s okay, you’re in your room. Prince Lotinar wanted me to make sure you made it here safely because you don’t look well. I will return with Sary momentarily.” He was readying himself to teleport out of the room when Shade stopped him.
“Wait!”
He returned to the bedside and bent down towards her awaiting her words. “Yes. Is there something you need?” His orange-fire eyes blank of any emotion, he seemed like a colder version of himself within the castle walls than when they had first met out in the forest of Faerie.
“Thank you, Camulus. I feel better now. Sary doesn’t have to come right away. I just think I’m overwhelmed with all of this. Thanks anyway.” She stopped because his apathetic face seemed so foreign and unfriendly at that moment. “I’ll see you later,” she said as she lay back against the pillow and watched him swirl away like a dream in the night.
Chapter Eight
“SHADE, CAN I come in?”
Soap’s voice pulled her from her thoughts. She sat up in the bed and watched him peek around the crack of the door. She was relieved to see the Teleen-Changeling Faery, and motioned him to enter. She felt a lot better away from the atmosphere of the castle’s occupants in the dining area. The silence of the room had felt like an antidote to the madness she had felt swimming in her head, making her sick and faint. She watched Soap enter and quietly click the door behind him.
Soap’s flowing movements towards the bed caught her attention. He was wearing a thin, soft-blue, gauzy, tunic and matching pants that were loose and flowed in the soft breeze of his movements. The outline of his smooth muscles stood out, and she could see his chest and stomach muscles ripple under the half buttoned tunic. His long, golden-brown hair fluidly draped around his shoulders and spilled down his back. He was definitely fit, and his skin was so smooth she began to suspect that all Fey men were just as hairless. She let her eyes flow over his silhouette, suddenly realizing how much she had neglected to notice how extremely handsome he was, in a disarming kind of way.
He stopped at the edge of the bed and watched her curiously. Shade felt her face flush with heat as he watched her. He seemed to enjoy the way she looked him up and down. All she could do was look up at him and press her lips together. Her heart raced in her chest as his eyes stared right back at her, and morphed from a crystal green to a honey-gold tone flashing like jewels. He walked around the bed to the edge where she sat and knelt down just in front of her. He was tall enough to be almost even with her nose while on his knees. She watched him reach up and slip his hands up her cheeks, stroking them as he pushed her hair back, which now hung, pouring over her shoulders.
Shade sucked her breath in at his touch. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was using his charms on her like he had demonstrated when they had first met while walking along the forest towards her house. She recalled that he had told her that his magic was almost useless on her when he showed how he could charm people into doing what he commanded, but that did not stop the twinge of suspicion that lingered deep inside her mind.
“Soap, don’t use magic on me, please, I..,” Shade stopped as he hushed her.
“I’m not using any kind of magic, Shade,” his eyes floated with a dreaminess swirling in them. “I-I love you Shade. I’ve waited for you to feel the same, but I don’t know if you do. I don’t think you realize how much I have fallen for you, after all that we’ve been through together.”
His eyes searched her face as she sat frozen and locked in his gaze, shocked at his words. “I have to tell you this before you say anything else. I asked you to be exclusive with me, like the mortal human guys do, but you hesitate to give me a straight answer. It’s torture waiting to see if you will tell me that you want to too, or if you just don’t feel the same. I have to know Shade. If you want me to go, I’ll go. If you don’t want anything to do with me, so be it. But I want you to know, that if you want me to leave, I will still stand by your side and still love you, still fight for you no matter what the consequences are. But I will not stand by any longer, just waiting to be told to go.”
Soap paused, his eyes intense with heat and pain. Shade swallowed back the lump that filled her throat and caught her breath. Her mouth felt dry as she drank in his words. She knew that he liked her, he had said that much earlier, but in love with her? Do I love him back? Did she want him like that? Did he not make her heart race and her stomach flip with his burning eyes and his absorbing smile? Shade swallowed as her throat seemed to close up on her. He did, that’s what made her most afraid. He sure did. Having him so near was not helping her deny it either.
“Soap, I–I like you a lot too. I don’t know if I love you though, not the way you want me to. I really don’t know what love is. I’ve never been in love before. I miss you when you’re gone; I ache to hold you when I see you. I feel happy to see you walk through the door when I’m miserable down to my bones, but I don’t know if I can be what you need, what you want. And there’s Dylan too, I..” Soap interrupted her.
“Shh, Shade. I know you feel the same way I do. I see it in your eyes when you aren’t guarding them against the world. I feel your heart racing under my fingers. I just wanted to tell you that it’s ok. Don’t be afraid of me, Shade. I would follow you into the depths of blackness so thick that I would think there be no light to befall me ever again. I wait for you even now, my heart is already yours. Do you not understand?” Soap let his fingers trace her arms, sending a shiver down her skin.
Shade nodded, taking in his face; a fine, strong jaw line and sharp cheekbones. His hardened eyebrows framed his eyes ever so perfectly. She wondered what it was that he really saw when he looked at her. He could probably have any woman he wanted. Yet, here he was.
Soap’s eyes drew her in; they looked like they were shining beacons in a dark night. He let his skin of glamour slip away as fire began to burn with the crackling of lightning and blue-white fire that licked along his skin and down his body. It did not burn his clothes or her as it flickered along. Shade drew in her breath, always amazed how a Teleen could burn so intensely, but not affect her at all. He laced his fingers through hers and pulled her up to stand with him. He looked down at her. His face lit up in blue-white light as he was tightening his warm embrace around her.
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She buried her face in his chest, smelling sage and fire on his skin. She ran her hands up his back and stroked his long hair that fell down his back in long straight ribbons. She rubbed her cheek along his warm chest, feeling his heart racing under his fiery skin. Shade lifted her head up towards his and watched his face turn down in response. His face was an ocean of calm while his eyes burned with desire. She watched his lips, perfect and lush, begging to be touched.
She sighed, what the hell. Giving in, she leaned towards him. She kissed him, feeling the warmth of his mouth press back on hers. Softly at first, then desperately as if they were about to inhale each other in. His arms pulled her towards him and his hands cradled her head, holding her so tight that she felt breathless.
Shade suddenly pulled away and slipped onto the bed. Soap reluctantly let her, but not without a longing sigh as he continued to glow on fire. She watched him coming to kneel before her again, waiting for her next move. His flames crackled and flowed up his body like liquid flowing the wrong way. He let her collect her thoughts, still breathing hard.
“Soap, I–I can’t do this. We have to stop. I don’t know what’s going on but I–I need more time. I don’t know what to say, I’m sorry.” Shade shifted back further onto the bed.
“What’s going on here?” Dylan’s serrated voice startled Shade as she turned to see that he had slipped past the door so quietly that neither of them had even noticed his presence. His eyes were dark and his face was seething. He stared at Soap, who still glowed afire, and let his eyes move to Shade who remained frozen on the bed, her cheeks pink and lips red from kissing Soap. His eyes narrowed at her as his eyes darkened even more, turning into a gleaming onyx. She sucked her breathe in, alternating her glance between Dylan and Soap.