Enchanted Revenge (15 page)

“Listen, I can’t stay much longer. I will be at dinner with you tonight, but afterward I would like to meet. Seeing as how you cannot leave or use your magic here, I will come to you,” she told us. “In the meantime, think about anything that might help you leave this place, and I will do the same. I’ll try to find out as much as I can. Even if you aren’t a rebel, if you can kill the Mortem it would be worth the risk for me to help you escape.”

“Thank you,” I told her. As she walked closer to the door, I realized I didn’t even know her name. “What may I call you?”

She turned and looked at Alec, and he looked down, as if ashamed. “I really like you, Lily. Most call my Lady Minor, as I am the only child of Lord Nettle. But you may call me Rita. Just not in front of my father, because he would probably have a heart attack, and then have you killed.” She turned and left the room.

I sat down on the bed. My legs ached as if I had been walking for miles, when I actually hadn’t walked much at all, not compared to the last couple of weeks. My head hurt. My feet hurt, and I just altogether ached. I felt exhausted, both mentally and physically.

“We’re lucky she is so kind,” he told me, placing his hand on mine.
We need to watch out for what we say in this room. If she felt it was safe, she wouldn’t have used a screen.

“How can you do that?” I whispered.

When a fae has a strong connection to another fae, they can communicate telepathically.

Can you hear my thoughts?
I thought to him, and looked into his eyes to see if he heard me. When he didn’t flinch, I asked the question aloud.

No. When you turn seventeen, if you feel a connection to me, than you will be able to speak to me with your mind.

I tried not to focus on the fact that, since I could hear his thoughts, it meant he felt a strong connection to me. But it was hard not to. Especially when we were sitting on the same bed, so close to one another that our legs were touching. Plus, he was still holding my hand.

“Do you have to touch me for it to work?”  He nodded. “What are we gonna do?”

We will escape after dinner tonight. I am curious to see what Lady Minor has to say, and I can tell you are as well. So we will stay for that, and then leave.

“How?” I continued to whisper.

I’ll find a way. I will keep you safe.

I should have still been worried. We really had no way out. Alec had no magic. I had no magic. He could fight, but I couldn’t. We had nothing to go off of. But still, I believed him. I believed that he would find some way to get us out. I don’t know if it was the look in his eyes when he said it, or the sound of his voice, so true and deep, but it didn’t matter. I believed him wholeheartedly.

“Okay then,” I started, “since we have time to spare, let’s fight.”

He leaned back, confused at my statement and asked, “What?”

“Defensive moves. Tell me what to do.” He smiled at me, and then stood up off the bed. I followed him, stood in front of him and crouched to my defensive stance.

“Okay, you will need to use your weight. You will be smaller and lighter than most Fae, other than maybe some other Sylph. We are the smallest of the Fae, probably because we fly.

“Anyway, the best places for you to hit are the eyes, nose, neck, groin, and knee. Because of your height, the knee and groin will be your best bet, at least until you get your wings.”

I nodded, “So, you just want me to kick someone in the balls? Well, I already knew that.” And then I winked.

He rolled his eyes at me. “If you have access to them, yes. Kick them. But males instinctually protect their groin area. If you have access to the knee, kick that instead, your opponent will most likely fall. At that time you can attack the neck or eyes.”

“Okay, so I kick him in the knee, and then strangle him?”

“No. Okay first, the best spot on the knee to kick is either from behind, or from the side. If you were stronger, you might be able to do some great damage from the front, but I wouldn’t try it. Kick the side of the knee here,” then he brushed the side of my knee with his fingers, causing a warm tingling sensation to travel up my thigh. “And when he falls to the ground, you should try to strike at the neck. Like this.” He made his hand flat, and placed his pinky finger against my neck.

“The harder you hit, the better. But even just a little hit will make your opponent feel short of breath and cause him great pain.”

“Okay,” I said.

“But you have to pay attention. You can’t just go on full attack mode. You have to be expecting your opponent’s attacks as well. That’s really what we should go over, before I teach you actual offensive moves. You should know how to deflect an attack first.”

“Whatever. Let’s just do something,” I told him, exhausted with him only wanting to talk while I wanted to do something more. Anything.

“I’m going to come at you. You try to block my attacks and then try to attack me.”

I was still in my ready position, with my arms up and knees bent. He came at me from the front, much slower than anyone would have in real life. He tried to hit my face, but I blocked him easily and tried to kick his knee. He blocked it though.

“Good. That was good. But I’m going to go a little faster this time.”

“Okay, I’m ready.”

He came at me from the front again and tried to punch me. I saw it coming, and tried to push his arm away. It didn’t budge even a tiny bit. If he hadn’t stopped himself, he would’ve totally punched me in the face.

“You have to put more weight into it. You aren’t as strong as me, so use your whole body to push my arm away. You’re crouched, right, so push up with your feet when you push with your hands.”

I nodded and we tried again. This time, when I pushed his arm away, I really put my weight into it and kicked off the ground with my feet. Which made me successful only in pushing us both to the ground. He landed on his back and I was on top of him.

I jumped to my feet before my imagination could run away with what more could happen with me lying on top of him.

“What did I do wrong?” My voice came out whiny and irritated, which only annoyed me more.

“I didn’t mean for you to throw yourself at me, though in that situation you could have still hit me in the throat or tried to poke out my eyes.” I sighed and he said, “Let’s try again.”

After several tries, I was finally able to block a punch and try to hit him in the knee in two swift moves. He was moving much faster, so I had to also. With each new attack, he would hit faster, and I would have to move faster. He also stopped coming at me from the front only, and started moving sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left.

What sucked is that we both always knew what the other was going to do, so in a real fight none of this would even help. To spice it up, I decided that I wasn’t going to try and hit him in the throat after the knee attack. I just didn’t know what I would do instead.

He was behind me, circling like a hawk, and I was moving to try and keep my eyes on him. He tried to hit me from behind, and instead of blocking it, I ducked and kicked at his knee. He blocked it, but barely and as he was trying to recover from his shock at the change in moves, I kicked at the other knee.

I got him, but he didn’t fall down. I didn’t let it faze me though. I pushed out with all that I had and tried to punch him in the face.

He grabbed ahold of my wrist just before it made contact, and spun me around to where my back was against his chest. We were both breathing heavily, our chests moving in sync up and down. Up and down. My heart was racing, pounding fiercely in my chest.

“You cheated,” he huffed in my ear.

“I was trying to beat you. And I was close too, don’t say I wasn’t.”

He laughed, making his chest rumble behind me. I could feel the muscles in his arms that were wrapped around mine and in his chest against my back, so hard and smooth through his thin shirt.

With each of his breaths, little strands of my hair blew out and tickled my face. But even more frustrating was the sweat that was covering every inch of me.

“So, what would you do now? If I was a bad guy, and I had you pinned against me, how would you get out?” His voice was deep and low, husky, and just barely above a whisper. The sound made my butterflies come swarming back into my stomach. Worst timing
ever
for those little suckers. I couldn’t get all woozy and dreamy eyed and try to think of how to get out of this at the same time.

“Umm…” I started, because I had to say something to keep my mind off of how good his breath felt against my neck. How good his body felt against mine, from the top of my head that rested on his chest, all the way down my back, and my butt- he was touching me everywhere.

I had to concentrate though. He held my right wrist in front of my left shoulder with his left hand, and his right pressed against my stomach, holding me against him. His hand was so big it almost covered my entire stomach. And it was so strong, just like the rest of him. The weight and warmth of his hand stirred in my stomach a hunger I hadn’t experienced before.

“Focus. What would you do?” he asked again.

Right. Focus. I tried to pull my wrist out of his hold, but he was too strong. I tried to wiggle my body around, trying to loosen his hold, but it didn’t work.

Finally I spun around to my left, so that I didn’t have to break his hold on my right wrist, and faced him. I had been planning to do something. Something like punch him with the hand he was holding, or kneeing him in the groin, but as soon as I turned around my mind blanked out.

All I could see were his bright green eyes. He was smiling. It was obvious he was enjoying this. He was sweating just as much I was, and still breathing hard. But when his eyes locked onto mine, he sucked in a short breath.

My heart started doing backflips.

He ran his hand up my arm, until it was holding my face. “You are so beautiful,” he whispered, and then brushed the annoying strands of hair behind my ear.

So I kissed him.
My lips gave way to his, molding around the fiery warmth that I was constantly thinking about. The hand on my face pulled me closer, while his other hand was on my back holding my chest to his. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and held him in place, as close to me as I could get him.

When his mouth opened, the entire experience shifted. It was as if I could feel his life pouring into mine through our lips, his soul connecting with mine on the deepest and most intimate level. He was so hot, everywhere. And so was I. Everything was on fire.

I felt a whoosh of air throwing my hair back, but I ignored it. I felt his tongue slip between my lips, so I opened my mouth more to welcome him in. He tasted like the air, soft and warm, free and beautiful. Perfect.

That’s why, when someone knocked on our door, it totally pissed me off.

As soon as he heard the knock, Alec pulled away and stood in front of the door. He looked tall, strong and confident, as if the last few minutes had never happened. Or maybe it just didn’t affect him like it did me.

His wings were out, huge, glorious and beautiful behind him, betraying him and letting me know that the kiss had to have affected him on some kind of level.

I stood where he left me, standing like an idiot, staring into the space he had just occupied.

“Enter,” he said, his voice calm and sure.

The High Guard opened the door and walked in carrying two long, thin boxes. He placed them on the bed and turned to Alec. Then he stopped, looked back at me, and then back at Alec, as if he was wondering what we had been doing. I was still breathing pretty hard, and we were both sweating bullets.

“Dinner is in fifteen minutes. Clothes have been brought for you so that you may look presentable.”

“We will be ready,” Alec assured him.

The High Guard shrugged his shoulders, and then turned and left, shutting the door behind him.

Alec turned to me and said, “If you’re fast, you have time to bathe.”

I couldn’t make my voice work, so I only nodded at him and walked to the bathroom. Right before I shut the door behind me he said, “And for the record, kissing your opponent was a good move. No man would be able to resist that.” At first I didn’t know if he was being serious, but then he smiled at me and winked.

When I shut the bathroom door, I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face or the giddiness that washed over me, or stop my body from doing a little happy dance. But thankfully, I didn’t allow the squee to escape my lips.

After the fastest shower in the world, I wrapped myself in a towel and walked out so that Alec could wash off too. When I walked out, he stopped looking through the clothes and stared at me. His mouth actually dropped, and I couldn’t help the satisfyingly proud feeling that grew in me. I had never been looked at like
that
before. Like I was something to be desired or something beautiful. And it only made me remember his words. He called me beautiful.
Me
! And he could never deny it, because Fae can’t lie.

He quickly cleared his face from the stunned emotion and walked past me to the bathroom. 

Alec had already opened the boxes and placed one on both of the beds. The dress that had been brought for me was made of some kind of thin material, too soft to be cotton, but not smooth enough to be silk. I pulled the unfamiliar fabric over my head, and was shocked that it fit perfectly. Around my bust, was an off white color, and then it flowed out from under my bust into a lavender purple.

I think the length must have been made for a Nymph, because it was so long, it touched the floor. Inside the box was a pair of purple heels that matched perfectly, but they were the wrong size completely. I decided to go barefoot. I couldn’t risk falling all over the place due to wearing shoes that were at least two sizes too big, and the dress was long enough that no one would notice anyway.

Hopefully.

I combed my fingers through my hair before I rummaged around trying to find something to pull it back in. The black ribbon I found was stuffed in the desk drawer, but pulled my hair mostly out of my face, making it
almost
presentable at least.

Alec walked out after less than five minutes, already sporting a pair of dark blue pants. But he wasn’t wearing a shirt, and man was I glad for it. It was the first time I had seen his chest, and it was a sight to be reckoned with. The muscles I had felt against me were staring me in the face, teasing me and begging me to touch them. He had no hair anywhere on his chest, just smooth, still-wet muscles that rose and dipped in all the right places.

He walked past me to the other bed and I got to see his back before he pulled an off white shirt on. His back. Oh man! Who would’ve thought a back could be beautiful. Dips and bumps from his strong muscles created a pattern so luscious I felt the urge to lick my lips, which seems pretty weird. Along the side of his ribs, running down the length of his torso was some sort of black design. I had no idea what it meant, or if it held some sort of significance to him, but it reminded me of the designs in his wings. And was stunning. 

I know he had something else inked into his right shoulder blade, but the darn shirt covered it up before I could get a good look at it.

“Can you tie me?” I asked him, as soon as he was finished. He nodded, and came around to tie the sash behind me.

“You look lovely in this.” Thankfully my face was still flushed from the fight lessons, the kiss, and the fast shower that he never knew I blushed at his words.

“Thanks. You look pretty good yourself.”

He smiled back at me. “Did you know that purple is the color of the Sylph? It’s rare to see something purple here in Ardennes.”

“It wasn’t made for me, if that’s what you think.”

“No, I can tell that. You’re much too small.” Though, normally I would have been offended by someone pointing out my lack of height, in this case he said it like a compliment. Like he was happy I was a shorty.

When the guard knocked again, we were both ready. We followed him down the hallway, and turned left at the end of the hall. This hall opened up into another huge room. It was similar to the room we met the Lord in, in that the far wall was completely gone. It was just an open area without even glass to separate the inside from the outside.

Everything was marble again, and in the center was a very long table, that would probably sit at least thirty people. The table was a deep red wood, almost cherry colored, and the chairs matched it perfectly.

We followed the guard, and stopped at the chairs he indicated. Directly across from me stood Rita, the Lady Minor, dressed in a long bright green gown. We were only a few seats down from the head of the table, where I assumed the Lord would sit.

We didn’t sit; we remained standing for another few minutes until Lord and Lady Nettle walked in. She was much like her daughter. Long and lean. She looked much too nice to be married to this cruel man. But sometimes looks could be deceiving.

They walked up to their chairs. He stayed at the head, while she sat to his right, next to Rita. As soon as he sat, his wife sat, and then the daughter, and then Alec motioned for me to sit with him. 

The plate that was set before me looked like glass stained green. The food, if you could call it that, looked too pretty to eat.  In the center of the plate was a large red flower, a kind I had never seen before. And inside the flower was placed a smaller blue flower.

Around the flowers were shiny pecans. Finally a food I recognized! It wasn’t until Lord Nettle ate the first bite that anyone else started eating. I was wary at first, because every time I had some preconceived notion about what the food would taste like, I was always totally wrong.

Dinner was quiet. No one spoke at all. The only noise in the room was the clanking of silverware on the glass plates, the chewing of food, and the flickering of candles.

It was probably the most awkward dinner I had ever experienced. Not just because it was quiet, but because I knew that he planned on having us killed the next morning. All of a sudden I felt sick to my stomach. Alec and I had wasted the day, and tomorrow we would be killed.

As if he could tell that I was starting to freak out, he placed his left hand on my thigh. There was nothing sexual about the gesture. It was only meant to comfort me so I didn’t make a scene.

Let’s just get through this, and get the hell out of here. No worries. Just stay calm. You’re doing great
.

Exactly what I needed to hear. My lips lifted infinitesimally, and then I started to eat. The food was actually really good. The right blend of salty, sweet, and fresh.

I ate it all.