Page 6

"Even the one who ate the headmistress?" I asked.

"You will not speak of my family's loyalty," the Ard Rí snapped. "Only the Goddess can release the bonds. She is the one who decided on the headmistress's end."

I kept the smile from my face at his lie. It was a good story to sell the Order army in the wake of the chaos that had happened on campus. My brother had filled me in on the results of the Blood Moon, the destruction that had brought the Ard Rí to the campus in the first place.

The small servant’s entrance to my right opened, and my gaze shifted.

I watched the farm worker cross the threshold.

Fresh lavender soap drifted ahead of her, a clean counterpoint to the grease-sweet air of funnel cake and curry. The crimson dress they’d poured her into barely deserved the word; two narrow silk panels, laced together at the spine, left her broad, muscular shoulders and most of her flanks exposed. The fabric stretched when she breathed, fighting the breadth of bone beneath olive skin. Her belly was exposed by the dress, and though the rest of her had thick strength to it, her belly had a soft layer on top of the muscle, pudging out a little through the space.

Light-brown hair, brushed those shoulders in gentle waves. Every strand caught sparks from the rune-set lights, so the locks seemed to smolder. They shifted as an invisible wind brushed against them. There was no airflow in the room to clear the complicated smells of the table, so she must have a familiar that had wind powers that was not allowing itself to be seen. All mundanes that came to this school had familiars; it was a requirement for them to get into the school at all. It was the one thing mundanes had that made them valuable to the people of my world, the ability to bind those lesser sprites to their bidding.

Her hazel eyes, green near the iris, brown at the rim, swept the long table, stopping on the absurd towers of pineapple-pepper pizza and powdered donuts, a small smile twitching at the corner of her lips at the sight. Her weather-worn skin was scrubbed free of every last fleck of mushroom dust, but it couldn’t erase the damage done by the sun. Her skin had spots and leathery lines unable to be erased by scrubbing and lotion.

She paused just inside the door, shutting it quietly behind her, squared her heavy-set shoulders, and waited, clean, stocky, unmistakably strong. The heat that burned in me while I gazed at her startled me, a searing need that had kindled the moment she had charged me in the field, her feet thudding into the soil with every step.

Her eyes caught mine and widened, and for a moment, I couldn't breathe.

I tore my eyes away to realize the Ard Rí was also staring at her.

“Farm girl,” I said. “Come here.”

She rounded her shoulders, hunching as if to make herself look smaller as she walked over to me. There was no way she could ever look small. It wasn't just her frame and musculature; it was the very essence of her being that seemed to fill up the room. I reached out when she neared, grabbing her by the waist. A small shock ran through me as my hand landed on her bare flesh.

Another rush of heat flooded me, narrowing my thoughts to the soft gleam of light on her skin, the feeling of her strong, thick body under my hand.

I hadn’t been with a woman in years.

There was a risk of marrying and producing an heir. As soon as I had a child, my younger brother would no longer be my heir, and no longer be considered a valuable hostage. I knew how these people thought, how they operated. The moment he was no longer considered valuable in that way, his life would be in more danger than it already was.

So I had avoided any thought of love, romance, or even the simple obligation of royal duty.

I dragged the farm girl down into my leg, avoiding the center of my lap as I settled her down on my thigh.

I regretted that I hadn’t asked her name. It was incredibly brave of a mundane to speak to me. The ones that lived here had the singular experience of pain and suffering. They were traumatized on their first day arriving here, their idea of a beautiful opportunity of an elite college shattered against the reality of what this place really was - a prison and a trainingground, a place for the forces of Order to grow and train, to prepare for the coming war.

A war my people would be on the other side of.

The farm girl shifted, her large, thick bum brushing against the hardening log between my legs. It took everything in my power not to groan. Instead, I grabbed her firmly around the waist and shifted her again, so that she was no longer touching me there.

This was not about taking pleasure in her body.

This was about saving someone brave enough to ask for help.

I ran my hand through her hair, pulling her head back to expose her neck.

The Ard Rí was still staring at her. I needed to divert his mind away from her loveliness.

“I’ve never put myself in a mundane’s mouth before,” I said, as if the rumor-fueled horror I was describing was as casual a thing to me as tending my plumage. The lies my people fed the Aos sí were a twisted version of the truth, twisted enough to be able to feed into the cruel mind of the man across the table from me. I ran one finger down her jugular. “What do you suppose it would do to her if I spent myself deep in her throat? Do you think she would suffocate first or perhaps her neck would break?”

Her entire body tensed, and her eyes widened. I could feel a tremor go through her body, but she didn’t react other than her breath coming quicker. I could feel her heart race through my palm on her belly.

She must not know of the rumors to react so calmly to my statement.

“That’s disgusting,” the Ard Rí laughed, his delighted tone a counterpoint to his words. “I didn’t know your tastes were so foul.”

“I heard what happened to your consort,” I said as I pushed the farm girl off my lap to the floor next to my feet. She kneeled there, out of sight of the Ard Rí. I put my hand on the top of her head and stroked it gently. I couldn’t reassure her more than that. “Surely you are not condemning my amusement? It is in Proper Order to use the mundanes as we see fit, is it not? My kind are exceptional healers. I can just heal her and use her over and over again.”