Page 17

M y eyes held Kiras when her guard extended a trembling hand in my direction. The sour scent of the fae’s fear and rage didn’t even come close to the foul smell of the sludge she presented. It reminded me of a rotting maggot filled corpse left out in the blistering sun for far too long.

“I’d rather eat the rotting corpse.” My beast hacked.

Whether he meant it or not, his utter disgust was enough to motivate me forward and I choked down the sludge with a grimace. It tasted the same as its revolting scent.

I felt the change immediately. The fluttering of gills could be heard at the side of my neck and they beckoned for the swirling pools of water I stumbled toward.

Plunging into its cold depths, I gasped for oxygen while my body transformed into a cascading array of black scales.

I was now a water fae.

My beast gagged .

I blinked rapidly, adjusting to my new magnified sight before realizing I was no longer in the river waters but an expansive body of water reaching far beyond what even my enhanced vision could reveal.

We were in The Under.

Residual growls rattled in my chest as I continued to orient myself to my new environment. The platoon of water fae I had encountered above the surface laughed while swimming beneath me looking like a submerged rainbow, their brightly colored hair waving fluidly in the water.

Not a single one had blue black hair.

“Where is she!” I growled to Kira, sensing the water fae leader at my side.

My normal speech slurring in a series of surprising stochastic clicks that I somehow still understood.

Kira giggled in return. “It’s always so fun to hear a land fae speak within the waves.

” She cocked her head assessing me, her hair flowing around her in a variable pink cloud.

“Fuck off Kira and just tell me where she is.” Panic was bubbling to the surface along with a power I normally held tight control over. This fish would fry if I didn’t find Remnant soon.

“Relax, shifter. Solaire …” she drawled amusingly, “has been to The Under many times, although it was of course before the blood wars, we were just faelings then. Even at that age she was a fast and skillful swimmer. A talent, it seems, she has not lost.” Her small webbed hand pointed further below us where a water fae was racing, twirling, and dodging through the water with limitless ease.

Flanking her were two water fae guards. “There, you see?”

I did see and I stared. She was like a beautiful nymph in the water, her speed and acrobatics combined into a sensual and playful show. The joy radiating off her was infectious and even made her guards smile.

Kira sighed wistfully. “She has ensnared you, as she does with all that cross her path. Always excelling at stealing fae’s hearts without even trying…she is just so—.”

“Fae.” I breathed. A gorgeous, resilient, fierce, pure, unapologetic fae.

Kira hummed. “Come along little pet. Let us see if you can measure up to the female you think your disgusting shifter hide can win over. May the best fae win. ”

Then she shot through the water like a torpedo, leaving me biting at the water after her. Kira was going to be lucky if she lived through the night.

“I’m not opposed to some water fae sushi.” Growled the beast. “ Let's make it take out though. I despise the decor and the ambiance is all wrong. ”

I choked back a laugh, swimming downward. “ As opposed to what, cat? ”

“ Mountains ,” he said longingly and I had the feeling he didn’t know he was still speaking to me.

“ Where the only tolerable water is from the crystal falls that cut through the towering trees, teeming with flowers and the melodious echoes of the zhar birds…their golden glow lighting up the canopies like stars.”

I paused abruptly in my pathetic floundering of a swim. The vision my beast described was so vivid that I could practically feel the scenery. “ Is this…one of your memories? ”

Never had the beast shared something so intimate with me and we had been together for thousands of years.

The image quickly disappeared. “I do not know.” He hissed.

Shaking my head, I continued swimming, and I pushed away the disappointed sadness that came with our complicated relationship. We needed each other symbiotically to exist, that was all, and nothing would ever change that.

I inhaled deeply when over a bend, the staggering views of The Under came into focus.

The multi-colored city glowed in the open ocean.

Its rainbow spiral towers jutted upwards like the mountains on land.

Each one adorned by gold and silver that burned with an enchanting light making the city shine brightly in the deep.

Even the luminescent algae, perfectly manicured along the city streets, lit up its darkest corners.

I darted around the sealife, both predator and prey, swimming lazily above the water fae city. The fae here paid no attention to us newcomers, focused only on their own concerns. A show of superiority that was a common trait of their race.

Except, I could scent the stench of their hidden unease, desperation, and rotting disease permeating the water. My predator senses were acutely aware that the city itself was overpopulated, overcrowded, and these fae had nowhere else to go. This was the last of their court .

I rubbed at my chest, thinking of home. The shifters were much like these fae. Our dying lands had forced our people reluctantly from their homes and into our capital city, Finlandia.

“Welcome to The Under.” Kira interrupted my thoughts with her sharp clicking tones. “The most enchanting place in all of Faerie.”

I scowled, Kira’s willful blindness knew no boundaries. While the city was beautiful, something obviously festered on the inside. The stench was getting stronger the closer we approached its luminescent depths.

“They used to say the same about Atlantis, I understand. Until the water fae destroyed it with their own greed.” I said dismissively.

Kira shot in front of me with her razor teeth bared. “Tread carefully, shifter. You are in my territory now.”

My canines lengthened. Despite my playing dress up, my shifter powers remained intact.“Put your pathetic teeth away, Kira. My words are true and there’s nothing here worth treading on.”

“ We don’t even have feet to do so. ” The cat hissed at me, peeking his head out in my consciousness. “ But the talking sushi is correct. Watch yourself, fairy boy, she does have the advantage here. ”

Snarling inwardly, I shoved past Kira to dive deeper. “The water is making you a chatty cat. If I didn’t know you better, I’d believe you're nervous for me.”

“Of course I am, fairy boy. No highly evolved being would ever voluntarily swim with sharks in the water. You fairies are all imbeciles.”

I rolled my eyes. “There are no sharks in Faerie, cat. And even if there were, I doubt you’d be fearful of one.”

“I do not speak of the imbecilic sharks you seem to love so much from the human world, fairy boy. I speak only of the sharks that hide behind the facade of civilized beings.”

“Are you warning me against yourself then?” I snapped.

“Finally you are getting it, daft fairy boy.”

Before I could answer, a sudden jolt pulled me down in front of the beautiful fae my entire focus had been on. My webbed fins landed harshly onto a bejeweled pathway, sending my arms careening while I cursed profusely, striving to find my balance.

Remnant's lips twitched with humor. “The pathways are enchanted.” She explained when I attempted to lift my mutated feet. “It’s to anchor you, so you don't have to swim all the time. ”

Snarling, I looked towards her and whatever I was about to say stopped in a gurgle at the back of my throat. Her emerald eyes were so vividly bright here…the same brightness I saw in the Wildwoods, when she flew on shadow wings, that I was at a loss for words.

She was alive here.

Kira shouldered past me and with no ability to move my feet, my arms flailed again to regain my balance.

“You still swim so beautifully, Solaire.” Kira cooed, hugging my soulmate tightly to her.

“More than beautiful.” I added, exhaling with relief when my balance became stable. “You swim like a goddess. Bewitching everyone.”

They parted to stare at me and Remnant crossed her arms in front of her. “So you followed then.”

I bowed and smirked. “I am your loyal pet after all, mistress.” Then I rose, my voice dropping low. “I will follow you into Sheol itself if I must. Although, for a shifter…Sheol would be better than this place.”

Kira's musical laughter broke the crackling tension between us. “Is your cat squirming inside, little pet shifter ?” I glared back at her and she swirled the water around her hand. “Males are so dramatic.” Kira smiled at Remnant. “Please allow my people to take you to freshen up, Solaire darling. I’ll have some fun with your shifter while you get ready.”

Remnant’s scaled brow furrowed. “Ready? Ready for what?”

Kira’s eyes widened. “Have you forgotten what today is? You are a creature of the dark after all.”

Recollection flashed in her emerald eyes. “Of course! The Three Moon Solstice is this day.”

I frowned. “Three Moon Solstice?”

“ Savages.” My beast piped in.

Remnant sighed and her scaled black hands fell to her sides.

“It is a festival where the water fae celebrate the three moons of Faerie that control the tides. It is also the brightest night of the year, when the moons’ glow reaches The Under’s spiral towers and regenerates the light you see coming off them now.

” She turned to her friend. “Must I attend?”

Kira swatted her with a black webbed hand. “Of course you must!” She smiled seductively at Remnant. “Besides, I know how much you enjoyed the last one you attended. ”

Remnant laughed dryly. “I had just come of age. I was…curious.”

Kira giggled and wrapped her arms around her. “I cannot wait to see how curious you get tonight.”

A possessive growl emitted from me, one I could not control. Kira's constant touching of my soulmate sent me over the edge. “Festival or not, I’m not going anywhere without you.” I ignored the simmering water fae still clinging to her. “Where you go, I go.”

Remnant glared at me but untangled herself from Kira’s arms slowly as I huffed.

“Males are not allowed in the House of Fem unless they have their own pod and Solaire has no pod.” Kira tilted her head towards the ostentatious swirling tower of gold before us.

“You’re practically smothering her, little pet.

Allow me to show you the city, while she freshens up.

Then you may join her for the festivities later. ”

My eyes darted back and forth between them before landing on my soulmate, a low rumble escaping from me. “This is what you truly wish?”

Her chin tilted upwards, with the sharp sourness of her hatred back again. “It is.”

I ran my webbed hand through my free floating hair. “Then let’s get this shit over with.” I gave her a withering look. “I hope you know what you are doing.”

Snarling, she turned her back on me. A true insult to a predatory shifter like me.

My barking laughter soon followed. “Challenge accepted, little umbra.”

Hissing over her shoulder, Remnant darted into the hidden depths of the House of Fem and away from me. Misery seeped deep into my bones when she disappeared from my sight.

Kira saddled against my side and clutched at my arm. “Ouch, that had to have stung.” Her scales scraped against my own. “Shall we?”

I looked down at her arm and resisted the urge to rip it to shreds.

How did it come to this? Me trapped with an asshole beast, a revolting water fae, and a soulmate that hated me.

Surprisingly, I had been through much worse…

“And we survived it, fairy boy, and we will again. Of course, that was and will be, because of me.” The beast preened.