Page 16 of Faeling (Monstrous World #4)

In the end, Vallek hardly made it past sundown.

After abandoning Ulrich’s arguments and Eydis’s advice, he made his way into the training yard for his berserkers.

A few of his most unfortunate men were treated to a thrashing in the pit, Vallek unleashing the might of his beast and throwing himself into a fray.

The exertion helped—for a few moments. But by the time his blood began to cool, his beast was still loud in his mind. He’d succeeded only in tiring his limbs and shocking his men. He sent them back to the barracks with word to Mattias to give everyone the day off tomorrow.

Instinct drove him back up into the citadel. He climbed two stairs at a time, his beast gnashing its teeth to be near her again.

However, when he nodded at the guards at his chamber door, he’d no plan, no solution. Beyond that door lay the true challenge. The brutal sparring in the training yard hadn’t prepared him for a mate like Ravenna.

He wasn’t sure anything could have.

A half-fae mate.

It was almost too fantastic to believe.

The rational part of him agreed with Eydis—this complicated everything.

The fae were longtime enemies of orc-kin.

Many ancestors had met their deaths at the end of a unicorn horn or fae blade.

Although outright war hadn’t been declared between them in centuries, their borders were always places of tension, and suspicion ran deep.

The only thing worse than a half-fae mate would’ve been a full-fae mate.

But the gods, the fates, whatever it was that oversaw the universe, cared little for politics, it seemed. There was a reason for all of this, Vallek just had yet to see it.

None of that, however, was comforting as he opened the door to his quarters.

What in the name of the Ever-Father will I do with a fae mate?

His beast had more than a few ideas, none of which were helpful.

If he was honest, he’d hoped taking Eydis’s advice to leave, to breathe, to be away for a few hours, would clear his head.

While he might have clawed back a scrap of his sanity in the training yard, the moment he strode into his quarters, it was forfeit.

The faintest hint of jasmine met his nose, and a purr immediately sparked in his chest, rattling his battered ribs.

Satisfaction as sweet as ambrosia flooded his veins to smell how their scents were already combining within his space. That buzz of pleasure soothed the worst edges of his misgivings, and he strode purposefully further inside, seeking out his wayward mate.

Instead he found Bryn, her arms full of ugly fabric that smelled of his mate. Her soothsayer disguise, no doubt.

“I’m off to the laundress with these,” Bryn said. “Is there anything else before I retire?”

“Please have our dinner sent up.” He nodded at the bundle she carried. “I won’t be aggrieved if those find their way into a fire.”

“Perhaps not, but your mate might.” Looking over her shoulder into the adjoining room. “She’s a spirited one, your mate.”

“Indeed,” he sighed.

Chuckling, Bryn patted him fondly on the arm before taking her leave.

When the door clicked shut behind her, Vallek resumed his search.

He found Ravenna sitting in a chair on the far side of his den.

A spacious chamber, it was stuffed full of plush furniture meant for reclining and relaxing.

Gathered in a semicircle around the cold hearth, the red sofas and benches and chairs were well-loved, his sisters often joining him for long bantering conversations.

There was little better than sitting in his favorite chair on a winter’s night, watching the crackling flames as he sipped his goblet of mead.

Ravenna hadn’t taken any of the comfortable seats, instead dragging one of the wooden chairs from the six-seat dining table over to one of the windows. He contented himself that the window was far too high to offer an escape.

Although, weren’t fae women supposed to have wings? He looked carefully as he approached but saw no sign of any such limbs on her back.

All he saw was loveliness.

Gone was the dowdy brown dress. Instead, she sat in the finest cream linen, the fabric draping around her lithe form like water cascading from the pitcher.

Her hair had been washed and brushed to a high shine, black waves softer than the night sky.

Her lilac skin seemed to glow in the hushed light of the sconces, and the gathering moonlight just touched the gently tipped points of her ears.

The breath rushed out of him in a harsh exhale. Gods, she was exquisite.

She could do with a less dour expression, though. Those violet eyes were sad as they turned to watch him approach. Her rosebud mouth was downturned, her hands folded delicately in her lap.

He didn’t believe her show of docile tragedy for a moment, not after the fight she gave both him and Ulrich.

“Good evening,” he said.

“Good evening.” Her soft voice had gooseflesh breaking out across his neck and arms. Gods, he needed her whispering like that while he sucked on her pert lilac tits. He assumed they were lilac, anyway. What color would her nipples be? A deeper purple hue or perhaps more pink like human skin?

His cock twitched with interest at the thought.

He watched as she stood from her seat. She regarded him thoughtfully for a moment—and then her face shifted. Between one blink and the next, he stared at the soothsayer he’d known for years.

His beast roared in outrage. Give her back!

“This doesn’t have to mean anything,” she said in that soft voice. “We can go back to how it was before. No one need know.”

Vallek growled, closing the distance between them. To her credit, she stood her ground, even when he caught her chin with his thumb and finger to tilt her face up.

“In these quarters, with me, you will wear your own face.”

His sensible side reasoned that it might be wise for her to maintain her disguise, at least for the time being, but he wouldn’t have it now. Not with him. He demanded her true face and all of her loveliness. Even when she was glowering at him—as she was when the glamour fell.

Lifting her head out of his grasp, Ravenna skirted around him.

Disliking her retreat, Vallek demanded to know, “Why do you wear a false face?”

When she gained enough distance from him, Ravenna turned to answer succinctly, “This world is dangerous for halflings.”

That was true—but it also wasn’t everything.

Halflings were more common than many realized or preferred to admit. Although smaller and weaker, humans were far more numerous than other folk. They bred like rabbits, and their soft bodies were appealing to some.

“Why not stay with your kind? Human or fae?”

Those berry-red lips pursed. “I’m both and neither. Living with humans or fae would be far more dangerous for me.”

Vallek wasn’t sure he believed it. Although he couldn’t claim to have seen many fae, he didn’t consider her very different from the handful of fae women he’d spotted before.

Perhaps more lilac than gray. And less skeletal.

There were fae who looked like walking skeletons, their grayish skin pulled taut over prominent bones.

His Ravenna was all healthy curves and colorful flushes. His beast rumbled in approval.

What he couldn’t approve of was how much danger she’d thrown herself into.

“So you thought an orcish stronghold would be safer?” It defied belief.

“As a human, yes. Nowhere would be safer than the orc king’s court.”

Pride pricked his heart, but he didn’t let it swell to his head. “I fail to see the logic.”

She merely shrugged. Shrugged .

Before she could turn and walk away from him, Vallek’s arm shot out to grab hold of her hand.

A tempestuous frown met his efforts, and he swore he felt something slide between his fingers.

There was nothing to see to confirm it, but still he sensed something wedging between her hand and his, as if to force him away.

Her magic?

Vallek held on tighter.

“You will explain this to me, skala . I must know everything if I’m to keep you safe.”

“No.”

He blinked at her. “ No? ” he repeated. “That wasn’t a request.”

“There’s nothing to tell. And besides, I’d been managing just fine before you let your hound go sniffing through my things.” Her tone oozed venom, and Vallek knew he would have to see about Ulrich and his raid.

“A human soothsayer amongst orc-kin warranted investigation,” he reasoned—perhaps more to himself than her.

“I’ve served you loyally for years. I’ve done nothing to earn this treatment.” Genuine hurt sparkled in her eyes, and Vallek hated to see it. Defiant as she was, it seemed his and Ulrich’s actions had truly wounded his little faeling.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not.” Reeling her in with the hold he still had on her hand, he said, “Did you truly see no bride in my future, sprite? No one at all?”

Color suffused her cheeks, answer enough when she only shook her head.

A seductive purr grew in his chest as his hand slid to the small of her back, easing her into the protection of his body. That’s right. Just where you belong.

“Were you jealous at the thought of another? Did you see yourself at my side?”

A tendon jumped in her cheek as she clenched her jaw. “No and no,” she ground out.

Vallek chuckled. “I don’t believe you.” Daring to run his hand up the narrow span of her back, he coaxed, “You need not deny the both of us any longer. Tell me, skala, tell me what you have seen of us.”

Chin jutting in defiance, she grumbled, “Just because you made yourself king doesn’t mean you get everything you want.”

“That’s exactly what it means,” he purred, leaning down to run his nose along the crown of her head. “You will not deny me again.”

Jerking out from under his lips, she bared her teeth in the facsimile of a smile. “ Watch me, ” she taunted.

Frustration and arousal, a potent mix, punched through Vallek. His nostrils flared, drawing deep of her scent, and his cock began to rise with agonized interest.