Page 10 of Of Pixies and Promises (Fae Guardians)

Chapter

Ten

S id woke to the warm sun bathing his nude body, the unique smell of the forest, and a cool breeze tickling his skin. It was early morning, and they still lay on a bed of leaves where the lake met the forest. It was the same blue sky. The same whispering lake. The same lush life.

But everything felt different.

The gray emptiness in his heart was gone, and in its place was a pixie princess with fangs and an insatiable sexual appetite only for him. How could he dismiss the meaning of that? She had an entire tribe of males to pick as her mates, yet her wings never had that reaction for any of them.

As Nyra slept soundly, the curve of her lush, naked body hugged him.

Her legs twisted around his as though, even in sleep, she wanted to be tangled with him.

His heart squeezed. His cock stirred. After the night they’d had, he couldn’t believe he had anything left in him, but the damned fucker reacted despite its raw and abused state.

Down boy, he told it and did his best to survey their surroundings without waking Nyra. She’d mentioned this lake belonged to the Order of the Well. If a Guardian found them here, they might act first and ask questions later. They should get going.

But he couldn’t move because then what?

He rubbed his pec where Nyra’s bite had left a wound.

It would scar, but he wasn’t upset. He’d bitten her too.

Something about it was so primal and animalistic that he loved it.

It felt right in a place like this. Natural.

Unlike the scars on his hand, this one left a swell of pride because other fae would see it and know she was his.

Mated. He tested the word in his mind. It seemed deeper than any marriage. More enduring.

Nyra roused with a lazy sigh, crawled over his torso, and lazily laved the mating mark.

“Morning,” he chuckled.

“Mmm. You taste like mine.” She gave one last lick and rested her elbow on his chest to gaze at him fondly.

This sight—this sun haloing her pink hair like she was a goddess of dawn—would be forever burned into his memory. Prismatic reflections showered them as her wings fluttered and stretched. He swept her messy hair from her face, loving how it was like that because of how they’d spent the night.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered. “And you’re mine too.”

She blushed and ducked her head, briefly returning to licking the bite mark and smiling.

“You can’t escape me now,” she teased. “You know that, right?”

“I wouldn’t want to.” He held his breath. “But…”

“But?”

His gaze skated past her and landed on the glimmering lake with a frown. “I was so wrong about the fae.”

All of his anguish was loaded into that one sentence. His guilt. His fear. His curiosity and need. The whispers crawled to him from across the water as if knowing what was in his heart.

You belong here.

“Sid?”

“I hear it calling to me.”

“The lake?” She sat up.

He nodded, and despite the lurch of hope, that maybe the lake had answers to his problems, he said, “I have done bad things, Fangs. There’s no doubt in my mind that I would float.

These Guardians I detested for being cruel and selfish were the ones who survived the horror of initiation.

Not me. If it speaks to their character, what does that say about mine? ”

“You think they were all innocent when they jumped in? They had blood on their hands too. We don’t know why the Well gives power to some fae and not others.

We only know that those emerging from the initiation dedicate their lives to protecting the Well.

And, yes, we know that most of the time…

they turn out to be good fae.” She patted his chest. “But they didn’t all start that way. And they don’t all end that way.”

Was she saying he had a chance? “Have any humans…”

“Gone in?” she finished.

He nodded, but the sadness in her eyes answered him. He was too much of a coward to be the first. Too selfish in not wanting to leave her. He squeezed her shoulder.

“So then I should go to the Order and find Silver. If I beg her forgiveness, her vampire mate might not kill me on sight.”

“Why would he kill you?”

“Besides the fact I used to fuck his mate, I also tried to hit her when I found out she’d betrayed us.”

Nyra went silent. He craned his neck and found her angry as she traced a finger on his abdomen.

“I’m yours, Nyra,” he said.

“But won’t you come with me?” Panic tightened her voice as she sat up. “To my tribe?”

“Of course,” he said. “That’s where I intend to be, but first I need?—”

His eyes darted about, searching for an answer.

“You need closure,” she answered, cocking her head. “You need to make peace with the one you hurt?”

He nodded.

She bared her pixie fangs. “If she weren’t mated, I’d be jealous. And I’d cut the?—”

He laughed and covered her mouth. “Don’t.”

She tugged his hand away. “But you would be, too, right? I mean. If there was a male from my past that I fucked before I started my life with you. You’d feel?—”

A possessive snarl ripped out of his lips before she could finish.

“Yes,” he hissed. “I’d be jealous.”

Something flittered in her gaze, and he couldn’t tell if it was worry, doubt, or satisfaction.

Her gaze softened, and she shuffled closer to trail her hands down his front.

Something like regret mixed with longing filled her expression.

“If we had a Well-blessed mating like your friend, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. ”

Silver and Shade’s Well-blessed mating bond had presented as a matching blue, glowing arm tattoo on each of them.

From what scraps of intel he’d gathered during his raids and from spies in Elphyne, they’d learned this bond was rare.

Only a select few Guardians in the Twelve had the bond in all of Elphyne.

Apparently, it had been centuries since another Well-blessed bond presented.

Nyra probably meant that if they had one of these rare bonds, their union would be respected and accepted by fae.

But there were many reasons why it would never happen.

Each Guardian was mated with a human who had been frozen and asleep for centuries from the old world.

He was born in this time. He had no immediate link to the old world.

He also had no mana. He wasn’t fae. Inside his heart was a cold and barren place, just like the city he’d lived in his entire life. Only Nyra warmed that ice.

“We’ll make it work,” he promised. “Let’s get dressed.”

He slipped his pants, shirt, and boots on. He was about to hunt for something for Nyra to wear because her last outfit had been destroyed. But she took care of it by waving her hand and conjuring a woven leaf and vine outfit from her magic.

His brows raised. “Do all pixies wear plants?”

Was he expected to? His nose wrinkled at the thought. She read his expression and burst out laughing.

“No, my sexy mate,” she purred and rose on her toes to kiss him. “Sometimes, I wear woven or knitted fabrics. And I will be queen one day. You can wear whatever the Well you want.”

Thunder shook the ground behind her. With his heart registering danger before his mind, Sid wrapped her in his arms. He glared over her shoulder at a group of pixies landing, spraying sand.

“Did you say mate ?” snarled a male.

Nyra’s gasp caused Sid’s stomach to roll.

It wasn’t a gasp of fear, but the kind that said she’d been caught doing something wrong.

The settling sand cloud revealed three male pixies dressed in natural armor and soft linen.

Two were warriors. The one with long, dark hair and piercing blue eyes glared at Sid like he was dog shit.

The second, who had scruffy tarnished hair and green eyes, looked at Nyra as though she’d broken his heart.

Sid was pleased to see he was bigger than all, both in height and muscle.

They might have wings and magic, but he could take them in a physical fight.

He thought Nyra was inflating his ego when she said he was big for her, but now he could see pixies were made smaller than humans.

He was at least a few inches taller than the biggest of them.

Sid assessed the third male. He seemed regal and aristocratic. His judgmental gaze belonged to a leader, or at least someone used to giving orders. Nero had that look.

A fourth pixie landed. This one was a colorful female with darker skin, rainbow hair, and a horrified look on her pretty face as she took in Nyra’s state, specifically who she was with.

“We’ve been searching everywhere for you, Nyra!” she chided. Then her eyes landed on Sid’s chest, to where his gaping shirt revealed Nyra’s mating mark.

“Colt…” Nyra said. “I can explain.”

The pixie pushed past the males and walked up to Sid. The soldiers tensed, wary, and ready to attack if necessary. But Colt only swiped her finger along Sid’s forehead. Then she took Nyra’s shoulder and did the same to her wings before rubbing her forefinger and thumb with unreadable scrutiny.

“You dusted for your human kidnapper,” Colt exclaimed.

“Kidnapper?” Sid blustered as Nyra said, “He didn’t kidnap me.”

Colt’s expression hardened, and the aristocratic male lifted his chin and said, “You went missing on your coronation day. This human abused you and defiled your chances for a pure royal harem.”

“He did nothing. This was my choice.”

“You can plead your case to your mother.” He sneered at Sid and then looked down at Nyra. “She will be disappointed that her only daughter is a whore for the enemy.”

Sid’s fist connected with the aristocratic male’s jaw. The smaller pixie rocked to the side, touched his jaw, and glared at Sid as he ordered, “Take him prisoner.”

Sid dangled inside a cage made of twigs outside the hollow of a tree. After he’d punched the male aristocrat, someone had shrunk him. Goddamned bug-sized again. During his disorientation, they captured him and brought him here.

Wherever here was.

Some forest. Somewhere in Elphyne. The leaves and trees looked similar to the ones where they’d raided for cobalt. If he had to take a stab, knowing Nyra had probably not strayed far from home when she’d attacked the raid, they were now close to that first location.

The dangling cage was a reminder that he would always be on the outside looking in.

He gripped the wooden bars and glared into the hollow where Nyra argued with a group of pixies.

From the look of the decor, this was an established royal suite.

Luxury bathed the room. Food on the tables made his mouth water.

They ate only a few foraged berries and nuts during the night.

A manabee trapped in a glass jar shed enough light to illuminate the circular floor that made up the bulk of the hollow.

Colorful cushions scattered about a crescent-shaped bench seat. A female pixie with long hair occupied a throne of leaves and ferns at the center. Her glass tiara had more sparkle than her wings. The bench seat was empty, but Nyra kneeled at the queen’s dainty feet.

“He’s mine, mother,” Nyra snarled, her fangs flashing. “You should understand that a single fated mate—even if he is human—is better than a harem of random males I cannot dust.”

Her mother’s brows puckered, and she touched her daughter’s face. “You have responsibilities.”

“You could have picked another harem after my fathers died, but you didn’t. You chose to let your power fade.”

The queen’s eyes flashed. “I did not choose to be in pain.”

“Exactly.” Nyra stood, her spine straight. “I did not choose him. Our bond chose us.”

“He is human , Nyra,” the queen hissed. “The same sort that killed your fathers. He cannot fulfill the requirements of a consort to a queen. He has no mana. He cannot hold it. How can he share the load of this royal tithe from the Well if he can’t carry mana?

How can he satisfy your needs? You will burn out or fade, and then we are back where we started—with a gully that needs protection. ”

“He satisfied my need plenty,” she replied quietly.

“You… you went into heat?” Multiple gasps rolled over the group, the largest of which belonged to the soldier with tarnished hair.

“Nyra,” he blurted, his eyes full of betrayal.

“It wasn’t personal, Moss. I didn’t do it to hurt you.”

Moss and Nyra had a history. Grimy jealously clawed at Sid, and he wanted to pluck the soldier’s wings from his body, but he had to remind himself that Nyra was his. Despite whatever had passed between those two, it had never been as perfect as what he shared with her.

“It won’t last,” Moss warned, then glanced at the queen, who sighed.

“He’s right, Nyra. There is a reason pixies need a harem. One isn’t enough, and none is a death sentence.”

“Maybe not,” Nyra said, still holding to her resolve. “Right, Colt? Otherwise, why would the Well give him to me?”

The rainbow pixie shrugged. “I mean… we won’t know unless you break him.” Her gaze turned grave. “But if that happens, there will be nothing left of him. Can you live with that?”

Break me? Sid’s brows lifted.

“I can’t turn back time,” Nyra whispered. “I can’t reverse what happened. I had no choice.”

Moss stepped forward, a fierce look in his eyes. “You had choices, Nyra. They just weren’t good enough for you. And that you chose a fae-killing monster over your own kind means you’re not fit to lead these people.”

“How dare you.” She stormed up to him and slapped him in the face. “It was me who went to where they raided. Me who blew up their machine. All me. Not a single one of you was brave enough?—”

“Or stupid enough,” Moss snapped, barely flinching at the slap.

“—to face that danger.”

They all glanced at Sid. The aristocrat raised his voice and said, “But is the danger gone?”

“Yes,” Nyra replied instantly. “He said they won’t return.”

Fuck. Sid looked away. He should say something now before it was too late. It would give them a chance to prepare or call the Order.

“And you trust a creature that lies as he breathes?”

Nyra opened her mouth and then closed it.

As Moss stormed out of the hollow, he gave Sid an unreadable look and hit the cage with his shoulder, sending it swinging. Then his tarnished wings vibrated, and he took off with a buzz that sounded more like the roaring ocean than flying wings.

That single action.

That airborne flight.

It proved Sid had no right to be there, despite what Nyra said in his defense.

He would never fly, and they lived at this small size.

He would never be able to shift at will, to enter and leave their home as that soldier had done.

Even if he could instill trust in these people, doubt would always be behind their eyes.

He was human.

He could lie.

And he had.

He sank back on his haunches and leaned against the bars in defeat. The bars moved. Sid frowned and glanced over his shoulder. When Moss had knocked into the cage, he must have inadvertently opened the gate.