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FENROTHER

I do not like the food the Faerie lord has set out.

Most of it tastes of the magic which was used to create it, not even the meat is fresh.

As usual, the lord wishes for us to see his power, but if it consists of making food badly from magic, rather than having hunters bring it to you from the lands, it shows no power at all.

I eat because if I don’t do something with my mate at my side, there will be violence.

All the male Faerie are looking at her and Alice belongs to me.

She is my mate.

They cannot look and they cannot covet.

Which is why I do not respond to Lord Guyzance until he uses my name.

I am not a faceless creature of the Night Lands.

I fought there, until my fight was done.

I returned when countless have not.

I am mated.

I also dislike the fact Guyzance has prisoners and there is an assassin included in his court.

None of these things are palatable.

Rather like his food.

“What do you want?” I say slowly, taking the steps up to his throne.

Guyzance’s Redcap guards move forward, but he holds up his hand in a louche movement to stall them.

“.” Alice pulls at my wing.

I pull her into my arm, inhaling her scent and wrinkling my nose at the bitter fear which tinges her usually delicious flavour.

“Don’t worry, I won’t eat Lord Guyzance,” I tell her.

“Faerie are unpleasantly crunchy.”

I’d like to kiss her.

I’d like to scent the garment I have in my pocket.

But I do not wish to do either of these things with a Faerie lord close by.

Lord Guyzance sits back on his throne with a disgruntled huff of air.

“You come to my kingdom and you want to know why I summoned you here.”

“I am not in Wyrm form,” I respond.

“My mate wishes to see the Yeavering and this is part of it.” I shrug.

“You are treading a fine line, . You know how the Yeavering perceives you.”

“I know the Faerie consider me their servant, which is far from the truth, as well they know.”

Lord Guyzance leans forward.

“You should be grateful for our patronage, .”

“You owe me,” I say emphatically.

“Your queen owes me. All Faerie folk owe me and yet what do I get?”

“You have your mate.”

Anger rises within me as surely as my fire should but does not.

“She belongs to me. Fate provided her, not Faerie.” I snarl the words out.

Lord Guyzance moves back on his throne, resting one elbow on the carved arm as he contemplates me and Alice.

“Not what I have heard.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement.

It is the assassin, but he isn’t here for me or for the Faerie lord.

He slips from the gallery.

“What you have heard is incorrect.”

Guyzance stares at me as if he’s trying to see into my soul.

In one hand is a scroll, a scroll he shouldn’t have.

Then, because he can, the scroll disappears.

My heart pounds in my chest.

I feel Alice’s grip tighten on my arm.

Perhaps I should have told her about the curse.

She is part of it after all.

But with finding her, with mating, with instinct, it has not been uppermost in my mind.

I can tell her later.

“Did you want anything else?” I glare at the Faerie lord.

“Only your company and that of your little mate,” Guyzance says with a smile that could kill.

“You’ve had it.”

I take Alice’s hand, like she did mine earlier, and walk down the steps, my tail swishing across the rough stones.

“Be sure to give my best to Meg of Maldon,” Guyzance calls out.

I growl low in my throat.

He wants me to second guess the assistance from the witch because she is one of his progeny, but I already know Meg of old.

She does nothing to benefit the Faerie.

Without looking back, I walk with Alice to the doorway into the courtyard and breathe in the sweet air as we exit.

“He knows Meg?” Alice says quietly.

“Does that mean he sent her?”

“Meg is one of his daughters, but she is no friend to the Faerie. Meg has…helped…in the past.” A frisson of pain runs over my scarred shoulder.

“So, you do have friends then?” Alice asks, linking her arm with mine in a way I rather like.

“Friends.” I snort.

“Like Warden? Is he a warden of something, somewhere? Like a prison?”

“You ask a lot of questions.”

“You’ve just presented me with a whole new world to ask questions about,” Alice says.

I never should have left my castle.