Page 8 of A Fate of Wings (Autumn Court #1)

Chapter seven

Thea

The Autumn Court

A n open attempt on my life was unexpected, yet I’d sensed darkness coming for me for a long time. Even though I’d lunged to the side, if the Beast hadn’t knocked the course of the arrow, then it would have hit me. It may not have been a fatal blow, but the archer might have poisoned the tip. I’d whispered the order to Raelin to have the arrow tested, but those tests would take time to confirm my suspicion.

The horned beast lunging to save my life had sent a quiver of need through my body. There was an appeal to his hulking mass, the raw power in his wings, and the heated glimmer in his eyes. The look of murder on his face when he’d stood over the captured wolf shifter had almost made me tell him to end the traitor’s life just so I could witness his brute strength.

A deep exhale escaped my lungs. Guards flanked me on all sides as I made my way back to the castle. I should be able to relax inside those walls, but I suspected who sent the wolf shifter after my head. If I was right, then the castle wasn’t safe. The sooner I ended these trials and chose a mate the better. If any other hidden assassins were waiting as the contestants.

“Ailine,” I said.

She hurried closer to my side.

“Tomorrow the remaining contestants will battle with swords, then I’ll send those winners on a task.”

“What about the other trials?”

“Forget those. We need to end this contest tomorrow. Make the arrangements for the sword fights.”

“Yes, your majesty. As soon as you are safe in your bedchambers, I’ll see to it.”

I nodded my thanks. Without my two personal guards, then I feared my life would have ended long before now. Shadows of death lurked in the wait for my life. I might not stop them from coming. If I chose a mate, would he see another arrow aimed at my heart?

Raelin, my handmaiden, had fussed over me last night. This morning, she was doing the same and her nervousness was making me anxious. Me!

“Stop.” I grabbed both her hands and held them in a tight grasp.

Her bottom lip trembled. “I’m sorry.”

I squeezed her hands and then let go. “Do up my gown, then you can have your nervous breakdown.”

She laughed softly under her breath, but her hands were steadier as she yanked the ribbons on the back of my gown. Today, I’d chosen a gown of vibrant fall colors. Every movement would appear like a hypnotic illusion, as though in one direction I’d be a radiant yellow, the other an iridescent orange, and the last a luminous red.

“You look beautiful,” Raelin said. “Do you have a favorite you’d like to win today?”

My mind immediately pictured the Beast. His tall, muscular frame. The virile masculinity of his horns. Those wings enthralled me with their featherless state. They were powerful and lethal looking with talons on the ends. I’d lay awake at night picturing him fighting with those wings. Were they as sharp as they appeared?

“You do have a favorite!” Raelin exclaimed.

Her body shook for other reasons now.

“I refuse to admit there is a certain contestant I’d like to win.”

I couldn’t let people see I had a favorite and have them accuse me of manipulating the outcome of the contest. It wouldn’t go down well with the other realms after all the trouble they’d gone to providing men. Some were here by force, most were here as tributes to help build a connection between our realms if they won, that is. As soon as they were fit enough to travel, I sent the loser back to their realm.

“I’ll see you tonight.”

She dipped a curtsy and said, “I wouldn’t dare intrude if you have a winner tonight.”

Without sparing a thought for tonight, because when the contestants won the sword fights, then I’d send them on a near-impossible task. I doubted any would make it back in one night if they could even complete their assignment. Only the most inventive, determined, and ruthless male would pass the last test. I had to make it this way with the shadows lurking around every corner of the castle.

I opened the bedchamber’s door. Raefa and Ailine stood waiting on the other side. My most trusted guards would stick close to me today. If another attempt on my life occurred, they’d be there to stop it.

Melanie stood at the bottom of the stairs waiting.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” she said, sliding her arm through mine. “I lost my mind when I saw that arrow heading your way. Forgive me?”

“Of course, I would have felt the same if an arrow came for you.”

“You would?”

“Yes.” I frowned. “Since when did I give you the impression I didn’t care about your life? You’re my twin sister.”

She squeezed my arm, and for a second I thought how easy it would be for her to stick a blade in my side. I shook my misgivings away. If she’d wanted to do that, she’d had plenty of chances over the years. I was being paranoid.

“Of course,” she said. “How many more days of this boring contest must we endure?”

“Today is the last day.”

Her eyebrows rose.

“It’s time I chose a mate.”

“What battles will we see today? I hope there’ll be more blood than yesterday.”

“Undoubtedly there will be.”

She perked up. With each step we drew closer to the colosseum, a fluttering started low in my belly. What would the Beast do today with a sword? Would he win his battle without killing his opponent? I had little doubt he could take heads with a sword, but could he incapacitate them instead?

The regular winds of the Autumn Court stirred across the land in small flurries, lifting leaves into the air. The leaves spun in vicious circles as though looking for a destination but not being able to escape the force of the wind. I empathized with those leaves. As the siren queen, it forced me to be and go a certain way. Choosing a mate was my minor act of doing something for myself.

We strolled under the grand arches of the colosseum and settled in our seats. Our handmaidens took their positions behind us, ready to serve us when needed. My personal guards stood as close as they could to me. I twirled the gold staff in my hand. The sunlight caught the rubies and flashed glints into the crowd.

The Beast was the first contestant to enter the arena. I stopped spinning the staff. All my attention caught on him. Every time I saw him, my body thrummed with need. I’d almost used my siren’s voice and lured him to me, my desire for him was that strong. He hefted a massive sword into his arms. The dragon shifter entered the arena next. Even in human form, the dragon was larger than the demon. Both men were so bulky that every movement they made rippled their well-defined muscles.

Their swords clashed. The thuds were so loud it was as though a boom of thunder rocked the stadium. Both men held their ground. The blow would have knocked any other creature to the floor. They exchanged blow after blow. Sparks flew from the swords with the speed and ferocity of the strikes.

Melanie yawned. “Where’s the blood?”

I inched forward in my seat as the dragon shifter almost caught the demon with a blow, but at the last second, he avoided being struck. The Beast’s lips lifted in a determined grin. He ducked and rolled, sprang up behind the other man who then spun, swinging low, but the Beast had already jumped and as the dragon shifter’s blade hit the dirt, the demon swung his blade downward and severed the hand holding the sword.

“Finally,” Melanie said.

The man shifted into a dragon and roared a flame of fire into the sky. He limped with his missing foot, gave up walking, and launched himself into the sky. The sky darkened into a dusty gray and rain pelted in a sudden burst that made our handmaidens snap open the umbrellas sheltering us.

“He would have been handy to have around,” Melanie said, wiping a drip of rain from her brow.

“Yes, I suppose a dragon would have been an appropriate mate.”

The demon walked closer to our seats, laid his sword on the ground, and bowed over the bloodied blade.

“My queen.”

“Impressive,” I said, twirling a strand of hair around my finger. “If you wish to continue the last part of the trials, fetch me back the heart of a chimera.”

I’d test this beast, as I’d test all the other winners from today’s contestants with a near-impossible task next.

“Anything for my future mate.”

The beast dipped another bow. In an impressive display of power, he created a portal and then disappeared through a sparkling aquamarine vortex. Two new warriors entered the ring, but the beast had captured my attention. The men fighting in the pit may as well not have existed. A cheer broke out through the crowd as one after another the competitors fought, and left a winner standing. Each winner received a task in another realm. A task that was brutal and difficult. Practically impossible. A test of their determination and grit to be my warrior mate. For I grasped the threats surrounding me. Realized they’d one day come for my head again or worse.

There were worse things than losing one’s head in the immortal realms. Most supernatural beings could grow their heads back after an extended amount of recovery time. But if they removed your head, then you were almost bound to die because decapitating an immortal was a way to get to their true weakness. The one that would kill them. Decapitation could even kill some immortals. I suppressed a shudder. I’d seen worse, doled out worse myself. At present I held a mermaid captive in my dungeon, torturing her with the constant deprivation of water, all because she’d endeavored to make humans believe she was a siren. Humans were fools. I wouldn’t have the siren’s name tarnished by one egotistical mermaid.

Her screams were a constant delight.

“Well, I’m glad that’s over with.” Melanie stood and dusted off her satin gown, even though there were no specks of mud on her and the rain had long since stopped.

“Come now.” I rose and hooked an arm through hers. “It was entertaining, at least.”

She rolled her pretty aquamarine eyes and fluffed the feathers in her wings. “Yes, all those limbless bodies were a delight.”

“The healers will have their jobs cut out for them today.”

“We don’t give them enough work,” she said. “Perhaps I’ll make more for them.”

“I’m sure you will, Melanie.”

Knowing my sister, heads were the last thing she’d remove since she was more bloodthirsty than me.

We made our way down the stone stairs to the cobblestones underneath. Our leather boots struck the pavers in a soft thud like the beats of a drum making music. Behind us, our handmaidens kept their feet quiet as though they weren’t following our every step. We’d grown up with servants waiting on our every demand. They may be beneath us in status, but in private, we treated them as though they were our friends. Well, I did. I wasn’t too sure about my sister. I ducked a glance behind me. Her handmaiden made sure to not meet my eyes.

Was it my queen of the siren’s status or more?

We walked past the stall vendors set up outside the colosseum for the day, hoping to make good on their wares with the extra immortals in the Autumn Court. The smell of baked goods made my stomach clench with hunger. I perused the items, then thrust the notion aside, for I couldn’t accept food from a stranger. We returned along the damp path. The fallen leaves squelched under our feet and sent up the aroma of vanilla mingled with the terracotta mud. Our mud-covered boots and splattered dresses swished against our legs as we walked under the grand arches of the portico into the castle. The high, deep gray stone walls were home to the siren royalty, but more, they hid our greatest treasures, the rich tapestries hanging on the walls depicting our past. Our story of origin. Power hummed around my neck as though the castle filled me with even more of our alluring singing. A clatter rang on the red-tiled turrets. The air shimmered, a luminous aquamarine, the same color as my eyes, in the otherwise azure sky.

Inky black wings tipped with talons burst through the shimmering kaleidoscope of air. The sight was familiar to the one I’d witnessed before the trials began as a silhouette in the stormy sky. A prickle of awareness skittered down my neck. A crimson object fell from the sky and landed at my feet in a wet splat, spraying the skirt of my dress with dark red splotches. The metallic scent of blood hit my nostrils as the heart rolled closer to me. I lifted my boot and placed it on the squishy organ.

My personal guards lifted their swords and readied themselves for an attack.

A great whoosh of wings proceeded the winged immortal’s landing. The Beast dipped another bow, his horns, and wings on display now. He’d kept his wings a secret in the fight. One glance at them and I saw why. His talons were razor sharp. Perhaps he hadn’t trusted himself to not use them on his opponent instead of the sword?

“A chimera heart as you requested, my queen.”

I took in his blood-splattered body. The gore covered the lengths of his arms, sprayed across his muscular tattooed chest, and even across his cheek. His lips spread into a feral grin.

“Stand down, he’s the clear winner,” I said to my guards. The first contestant to make it back to me with the impossible task completed. I kicked the heart toward him. “Now put it back.”

He cocked a thick eyebrow, threw his head back, and laughed.

“Come.” Melanie tugged at my arm.

“No.” I wrenched out of her hold and closed in on the Beast. “What’s so funny?”

“You.” He inched his face to within millimeters of mine. “You set these ridiculous trials to choose a mate when you don’t need to.”

“Oh, don’t I?” I licked my lips as I set my hands on my hips.

“No, you don’t.” He snagged my waist in his large, firm hands and hauled me toward him.

His touch sent my heart racing and a pulsing need straight to my core. I was a siren with the luring power in my voice, but this immortal was more powerful. He enticed me to take him to my bed. To claim him as my lover. To tie him to me for eternity.

“What makes you say that?”

“This,” he said, a scant millisecond before slanting his lips across mine.

He tasted like sin. Like the best thing I’d ever had in my mouth. And I’d had a lot over the many years of my life. This Beast swept his tongue inside with the same strength he held my body against his. I was hopelessly addicted to the sensations to stop him. My head swam, a buzzing rang in my ears and all the while he kissed me as though I was already his.

I wrenched my mouth from his and slapped him across the face.

A bright red mark exploded with the ringing slap, my finger imprints branding his cheek. His ebony eyes glittered, but not in anger, if anything in more arousal than before, which only sent an answering surge of desire pulsing through my veins.

I narrowed my eyes and lifted my chin. “Did I permit you to touch me? Kiss me?” I hissed.

Melanie giggled. I ignored her and kept my focus on the Beast. Beast he was. Beast he’d always be. He stirred an answering animal inside me.