Page 54

MARLOWE

I felt the blood drain from my face. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you correctly. Did you say Ezra killed our parents?”

We were close to the entrance now, so close Alaroth and my brother might hear us if we continued our conversation.

Bohun leaned down and gave me a quick hug, whispering in my ear. “It was His Majesty’s orders, but Ezra completed them with no hesitation.”

My world began to crumble in on itself. After everything I’d been through, this was the news, the revelation, that broke me the most.

I knew Ezra had held a grudge, but to actually kill them? And Alaroth, he just expected me to marry him after he’d ordered their execution?

I wanted to scream, cry, shift, do something. But more lives were in the balance now, and Alaroth knew my passionate flirting was fake, a means to get what I wanted. As soon as I stopped, he had no reason to play along anymore.

Revenge would unfortunately have to wait.

I kissed my cousins on their cheeks and left them to join the assholes who had destroyed my family and my life.

“Beloved!”

Alaroth cooed, wrapping his arm around me. “Don’t you look lovely.”

His nose dipped to my neck and his lips grazed the skin, sending a sick wave of goosebumps over my body. I pretended to giggle, my hands balling into fists at my sides.

Ezra clocked my tension at once and his face scrunched in concern.

What the hell did he have to be worried about? This was what he’d wanted, wasn’t it? Our parents dead, and his sister pimped out to his king.

“So how are we traveling?”

I asked. I didn’t see any carriages or horses.

Alaroth whistled loudly, and a small team of grooms came from around a corner, leading half a dozen elk, each as large as a moose. Their fur was spotted like newborn fawn’s, and their gold antlers shone in the sun. Wasabi slithered between them, coming up to me and purring loudly as she rubbed her head against my hip.

“By alderbeast,”

he replied. He grabbed me around the waist, nimbly setting me atop one, and then hopped on behind me.

“We will ride together, my future queen,”

he whispered in my ear, his hands now slowly rubbing my legs.

Fantastic.

I fought back the urge to scoot as far forward as possible and instead went back, leaning into his chest. “Sounds wonderful.”

Ezra watched us carefully and then shifted. Wasabi hissed and took her place in between us, keeping my brother away.

“What a good little vryscral you are,”

I said lovingly. “So protective.”

I was too high up to give her a head pat, but she still trilled in response to the praise.

Alaroth clicked his tongue and we were off, Wasabi and Ezra running to keep up with the giant alderbeasts, each with their own fae rider.

The air was fresh and clean, even cleaner than in northern Wisconsin, and it carried a hint of salt.

We rode down a path cut through the forest, with giant, moss covered trees lining the way. Their roots spider-webbed along the ground, creating a network of little holes and tunnels for strange creatures to run through, and I watched in awe.

This was my homeland.

I held onto the horn of the saddle, trying to keep myself steady against the alderbeast’s quick canter.

“I heard about the metal machines you use to travel,”

Alaroth began, “when Ezra first came here. He showed me many moving pictures on a device from your world.”

“And how did he come here again? Through a portal?”

“That’s right. He found a wild one quite by accident, it seems, while on his travels.”

“A ‘wild one?’ You mean a wild portal?”

Alaroth pulled me in tighter, resting his chin on top of my head. “Yes. Despite the shifters and vampyrs of your world trying to do their best to close them, the magic in Vespera is too great to be contained completely, and small, wild portals appear time and again. We have managed to find and secure the one Ezra took you through, but the others weren’t stable enough to be of much use.”

I tried to keep the tone of my voice light and easy. “And why exactly have you not just gone through it with the armies you have now? Why do you need us?”

“As much as I hate to admit my failures, the last time I tried to invade your realm didn’t go as I’d hoped, and with the portals mostly destroyed, it was nearly impossible to cross again. But with your birth has come a thinning of the veil, giving my greatest priests an opportunity to create new pathways that will accommodate us. Soon we will be ready to take my revenge, and unite the realms as is our destiny.”

What was soon, though, to a near immortal fae?

Ezra brushed by our alderbeast, and my thoughts went back to him.

I hadn’t spoken to Ezra about his trip after he’d stopped contacting me, and it was breaking my heart that I still wanted to know how everything had gone down. How had he found the portal? Did he go through alone? What had been his first impressions?

And how had he festered these eight years into someone so rotten and broken he could kill his own parents without remorse?

Alaroth unfortunately noticed my shift in demeanor, his fingers lightly brushing up my leg. “You are saddened by this, why?”

I wiped away an errant tear with the palm of my hand and sniffed. “I was just reminded of when I’d heard Ezra was dead. It was the most painful time of my life.”

Alaroth wrapped an arm around my abdomen and squeezed me. “The love you two share is beautiful, and I find myself envious of its purity and intensity.”

I held back my scoff. Ezra might have thought he loved me, but all he’d done is destroy my life due to his own bitterness and desperation to belong.

He’d always belonged with me. He could have relied on me.

Instead, he’d chosen the genocidal maniac threatening to kill the males I loved if I didn’t marry him.

I pretended to fall asleep to get out of talking to him for the rest of the trip.

“We’re here.”

I was gently jostled awake by Alaroth. The sun was much lower in the sky as we trotted through a large gate cut through imposing stone walls. Alpha scents and pheromones hit me like a ton of bricks and I whined on instinct.

The king gripped onto me tighter as the soldiers nearest us immediately stopped what they were doing, sniffing the air and focusing on me.

“Now, now,”

he whispered curtly. “Mustn’t start a riot. Let’s keep those adorable little omega noises to a minimum, shall we?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose.”

I replied.

A large fae man, with pale skin and dark green hair, approached quickly, flanked by two alphas.

“Your Majesty, welcome back to Howlstone Keep. We are honored by your visit.”

He lowered himself in a deep bow as Alaroth dismounted, helping me down next.

“Captain Nivardi, so good to see you again.”

This was the guy my mom was supposed to have married. When he rose, his eyes locked with mine, and they widened in surprise.

A possessive hand crept around my stomach as the king brought me close to him. Ezra shifted back to his human form and stood beside us.

“Allow me to introduce Jaelis and Thistle’s children, Ezra and Marlowe. The twin wolves.”

Nivardi’s gaze darted between us and his throat bobbed. “I see. The resemblance is clear.”

Alaroth nibbled on my ear and laughed. “Isn’t it?”

What a dick.

An awkward silence fell over us, and Wasabi came up to me for more petting. While I scratched her ear, Alaroth threw out another jab. “It seems she’s inherited her mother’s love of beasts, as well, although her appetite is much more insatiable. She’s bonded herself to a whole pack of alphas, the naughty little thing.”

Who knew, maybe the king had a good reason for rubbing it in Nivardi’s face, but at the moment, it just seemed cruel.

Ezra cleared his throat. “Is the fighting ring prepared?”

Nivardi broke out of his melancholy stare and nodded. “Yes, we’re ready for the demonstration.”

I looked at my brother, opening my mouth to ask him what was going on, when the image of him standing over our parents’ bodies flashed across my mind.

So I turned around to Alaroth instead. “Demonstration?”

He smiled. “Just a little show to see what the alphas are capable of.”

I didn’t trust him for a minute, but I was under strict orders to obey and behave, so all I could do was smile back and turn around. I caught Nivardi’s eye, a look of deep sadness on his face, before he cleared it and gestured towards a small arena.

“Please, follow me.”

Alphas stood at attention along the path, naked aside from loincloths and small wristlets of silver. Their chests heaved as I passed, and one even took a step from his position until Ezra barked at him to return to his post.

Alaroth looked too amused, gripping my shoulder and turning towards Nivardi. “The twins are quite powerful, aren’t they?”

The captain kept his eyes straight ahead. “Yes, quite.”

The fighting ring was a small arena, surrounded by a wooden wall, two gates on either end for opposing fighters to enter. Alaroth, Nivardi and I took cushioned seats under a large canopy on a platform overlooking the grounds, while Ezra remained standing off to the side.

One of the guards whispered in the king’s ear, and he nodded while getting up to leave. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll return in a moment. Ezra?”

My brother turned around. “Watch your sister.”

Nivardi flinched at the dig, but kept his distance between us anyway, refusing to look at me or my brother.

I wondered if Ezra knew about our parents’ history with the captain. Or if the captain knew Ezra had killed them.

Did Nivardi harbor any resentment towards us? Did my mom not want to marry him because he was a jerk?

It was so awkward I could hardly stand it, especially since he looked so young. My parents had aged like humans on Earth, but here people could live hundreds of years. I wondered if being cut off from Vespera’s magic had shortened their lifespans.

Well, Ezra had shortened their lifespans.

I bit the bullet and broke the silence. “I know about you and my parents.”

He let out a derisive chuckle. “Oh? I wonder which version you heard.”

My cheeks heated and he glanced over, exhaling deeply. “My apologies, I know you are an innocent in all this. You just look so much like her, and Ezra like your father. It brings back a lot of unpleasant memories.”

Ezra looked over his shoulder, his eyes meeting mine briefly before I turned away. I could hardly stand to look at him anymore.

“I’m sorry,”

I whispered.

A pained smile crossed his face. “You shouldn’t be, child. It was their coupling that produced the fated twin wolves, after all. It was always meant to be this way.”

It was really weird being called ‘child’ by a man who looked my age.

Alphas were gathering outside of the arena now, their strong scents overwhelming me. My body released a wave of my perfume on its own, perhaps as some submissive defense mechanism.

Nivardi clutched his knee, his knuckles turning white as it hit him, and a chorus of growls sounded from around us as the alphas began to close in.

“Back!”

barked Ezra, and they complied instantly.

“Your perfume… it’s really quite powerful,”

Nivardi choked. “Between this and your mother’s face looking at me through yours, I… I must compose myself elsewhere.”

He got up and raced towards the edge of the platform, taking in gulps of fresh air.

Ezra took Nivardi’s spot beside me and gritted his teeth. “Can’t you turn that off?”

I ignored him, picking at the skin around my nails.

“Look, I’m sorry about this morning, but…”

“Ezra,”

I interrupted. “I need to remain calm so your king doesn’t do unspeakable things to me and the males I love, and every second I spend alone with you is pushing me closer to the edge.”

His shoulder shrank. “I wasn’t insinuating anything when I saw you, I swear.”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. “You killed mom and dad.”

Ezra turned his head to look away from me. “…yes.”

“Because Alaroth told you to do it.”

“Yes.”

“And then you kidnapped me to pimp me out to him?”

We didn’t have a bond like my pack, but we had that special connection that twins shared, the kind that keyed us into each other’s thoughts and feelings. I could sense the pain and remorse coursing through his body.

“…Yes.”

He knew what he’d done was beyond messed up, beyond evil, and yet he still retained total loyalty to this fae king. I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Then get the fuck away from me. There is nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, you could ever do that would allow me to forgive you. I honestly wish you had died eight years ago. That’s far more preferable to the betrayal I feel right now.”

His body shook next to mine, but I couldn’t even bear to look at him.

“Marlowe…”

Footsteps sounded up the short staircase to our platform and Alaroth grinned. “My, my, what have I missed? There’s so much tension in the air I can taste it. Don’t tell me you two are fighting once more? Or has our good Captain Nivardi said something vulgar to his previous lover’s daughter?”

I turned towards the fae captain still trying to regain his composure. “Captain Nivardi was the perfect gentleman,” I stated.

The king actually looked disappointed, like he’d been hoping to rub more salt in Nivardi’s wounds. “Well, that’s good to hear. Ezra, are you ready?”

My brother stood, his expression stoic. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Wonderful. Come, beloved, let’s sit and watch what your brother can do.”