Escaping Destiny (3 page)

I sat silently, watching those around us; I
wasn’t winning the fight against my nerves as the room continued on
as if this wasn’t what it was. A sacrifice. My only hope of escape
had been dashed, and it was almost a relief to know he would be
safe from this monster before me. I needed to come up with a plan
for escape, and see it through before I was officially screwed.

I wasn’t prepared when he picked me from my
chair and sat me on his lap. My entire body trembled from his touch
and the electrical pulse that slithered, and kissed my every nerve
ending. I wasn’t fast enough to stifle the moan that those
electrical currents created. His men snorted, and seemed to
exchange knowing looks. Crap, with everything that had gone on over
the past two days, I must have used up every ounce of energy I had
stored up when I fed from Ryder last. Hunger blossomed from my
stomach to my panties, or was it the other way around?

His hand moved down to play across the flesh
of my leg that the dress revealed. He was testing me, seeing how
willing and receptive I was to his touch. I looked up and met
Liam’s tortured look that was visible in his haunted eyes. I had
the strangest urge to reassure him that I was fine, even though I
really wasn’t.

Liam kept stealing looks at the Horde King
that looked like a combination of hatred and confusion, until the
Horde King narrowed his eyes at Liam, causing him to quickly avert
his gaze to the charger in front of him. This just seemed to be
getting worse.

I exhaled slowly for courage as the Horde
King continued to stroke my flesh, luckily where no one else could
see it. His other hand slid up my back until it was resting on my
neck—once again showing me how easily he could control my fate. So
be it. I’d be damned if he did it here, though. I could see Liam
struggling against the urge to jump across the table.

“I’m hungry,” I whispered through the growing
lump in my throat.

“Dinner will be served shortly. The cooks
have prepared a feast of pheasant, quail, roast, and boar for us,
as well as delicacies from the Dark Forest, courtesy of the Dark
Knight,” Madisyn said with her eyes firmly on me. Lovely. I guess
it was fitting that in Faery you would have hokey names like the
Dark Knight who comes from the Dark Forest. There was probably an
Enchanted Forest and a Mount Doom around here somewhere, too. The
servers were setting up trays, and bringing drinks around to those
who had a place at the table.

“Not for food.” Not good! It came out
quickly. Crap. Involuntary statements like that, combined with
everything else my body was doing to me, meant I was going to need
to feed very soon.

“We’re done here, anyway. It’s time to take
you to the Horde Kingdom, and I’m sure you are in a hurry to settle
into your new home as well,” the Horde King replied, releasing his
hold on my neck, but not removing his fingers from my thigh.

“Good,” I said softly, moving my eyes away
from him to scan the crowd. Where the hell was my knight in shining
armor, and why was he late? I hadn’t planned on him saving me, but
I’d at least expected to catch a glimpse of him before I went to
the Horde’s stronghold.

“I’m glad to see you willing to serve me,” he
replied with his mouth against my ear.

I gulped down air as if I couldn’t get
enough. I turned to look one last time at my mother as the guards
easily helped me to stand on my feet. The crowd was oblivious to
what was going on until the king growled loudly. The entire
assembly of the Horde creatures that had come turned to him,
dismissing those they had been feeding from without a second
thought.

“Say your goodbyes; you have one minute,” he
said quietly in my ear, and then moved toward his guards to allow
me to move away from him.

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I moved
toward my family and hugged my mother tight. “I’m going to be
okay,” I whispered quietly reassuring them.

I smiled at my father, and quickly stepped
back to give the Horde King no reason to be upset with me. If I was
going to escape him, I was going to need to earn his trust to do
so. I didn’t want a huge goodbye either, seeing that I’d just been
reunited with them and for the most part we didn’t know each other.
Even though I understood why I was being given to the Horde, it
still upset me that within one day of meeting them, we were here
with the freaking Horde, and I was being given to their king.

Alazander held his hand out for me, which I
accepted hesitantly. As soon as he sifted me, I wouldn’t be able to
get away from him for a while. Grudgingly, I moved in close enough
that he pulled me the rest of the way into his arms, and pressed me
against his chest before he unfurled and swept those huge wings
down, and launched us off the floor and toward the vaulted ceiling
high above us. I was flying! I held onto him tighter without
meaning to, and he smiled with approval as I did so. It had nothing
to do with him, and everything to do with the fear of falling, or
being dropped.

“Hold onto me,” he whispered heatedly.

As if I was going to let go?

I felt the weightlessness of sifting take
hold, and closed my eyes.

Ryder wasn’t coming to save me, not today at
least.

The Horde had followed, sifting in behind us
as we materialized into an enormous room where even more creatures
awaited us. The room was dark, and the walls were a light gray
stone. Huge glass chandeliers hung from the high ceilings on metal
poles that held them firmly in place above the tables, and threw
soft flickering light against the stone and assembly of the Horde
creatures that were present. All I could guess was that it was some
sort of great hall or a gargantuan meeting hall of some kind. I was
still wrapped in the electrical hold of the king as he shouted off
orders in a language that I couldn’t understand. This was odd, as
so far I had understood all of the different dialects that the High
Fae spoke in Faery. I seemed to be included in those orders as I
was quickly pulled away from him by two of his guards, who took me
down a long winding stairway that led to a richly decorated
room.

The room leapt to life as the door was opened
and I was pushed through the doorway by one of the guards. The
stone walls of the vast room sparkled like crystal was embedded in
it, and reflected the many candles that were scattered throughout
the room. I stumbled but easily caught my balance and turned toward
the guards.

“Give me your hands,” the first one said
through the black material that covered the lower half of his face.
His gray and aqua eyes searched mine briefly before he stepped
forward and grabbed for the thin delicate chain.

He guided me in the direction of the
oversized bed, which had to be the biggest Fae bed I had seen so
far. Made of oak, and I mean oak trees, each of the four posts was
a slender tree that soared up and intertwined its branches with the
next tree. Silvery sheets adorned the mattress, with an array of
assorted pillows pushed against the headboard in varying shades
that matched the wall and sheets.

“Get on the bed; on your knees and face the
door,” he ordered. I moved on to the bed as he had ordered and sat
back on my knees. He looked up and whispered something under his
breath, which caused a chain much like the ones attached to my
wrist to appear. He attached it to a chain that hung high from the
ceiling. He pulled the chain and suspended my arms above my head.
It looked like the Horde King liked his playthings tied up and
helpless. Shit. It would be just my luck, which at this point was
no luck at all.

“Sit up higher,” the guard ordered, and I
shifted until I was sitting upright on my knees.

I watched him materialize and place thin
cuffs much like the ones on my wrists, around my legs, just above
my knees. The chain he attached to those cuffs was then secured to
the two posts at the foot of the bed. I swallowed as I realized
what they were for. The other guard came in, also dressed in the
same black armor, his face hidden for the most part behind a black
cloth.

“Ready?” He asked the first guard.

“She’s ready,” he replied, flashing me a look
with those gray and aqua eyes. I’d never seen eyes like his, but
they looked as if they belonged in this silvery room. “This is only
temporary; running is a bad idea where he is concerned,” the guard
told me softly.

One guard pulled, and then the other. They
pulled until my arms were high above my head, but there wasn’t pain
from it. Then, they started to pull on the chains attached to my
legs, and didn’t stop until my legs were spread wide apart, and I
was completely helpless to do anything but watch them.

“He will be in momentarily to feed,” the
second guard said as they left me, dressed in all of my finery on
the bed, and sifted from the room.

I felt hot tears rush to my eyes, but I
refused to allow them to fall. Instead, I raised my eyes to a huge
chandelier that had crystals hanging from it that reflected the
candlelight into every imaginable color of gorgeous, dancing
prismatic patterns. It was beautiful, and could easily be a focal
point while I endured the Horde King’s attention.

I would have to endure him long enough for
him to think I was subdued. Hopefully he would forget all about me
once he had his way, and I could leave this place and never look
back. First, I had to gain his trust to ditch the chains, since,
like the necklace, they probably kept me from sifting.

There was nothing else inside the room; not
at first glance, anyway. I could just make out shelves, but
couldn’t bring the items on them into focus. I was squinting when
Alazander sifted in.

He stopped briefly to examine me, and then
held his hand up, and a glass goblet rimmed in gold and filled with
a light blue liquid appeared in it. He smiled and took a long sip
before he brought it down and held it against my lips.

“You will drink,” he said after I just stared
at him blankly.

“Okay, but shouldn’t we get to know one
another before you tie me to your bed?” I asked, hoping to find a
clue as to his intention beyond his need to abuse my body.

“What would you like to know?” he asked.

“Why me?”

“Why you, what?” he asked me back.

“Why did it have to be the first born
daughter of the Blood King that you took?”

There was more to this than I was seeing. The
Horde King wasn’t stupid, and this wasn’t about petty grudges. If
it had been, he could have easily demanded my sister, but he
hadn’t. He had waited until I’d been found, which spoke volumes
about what he needed me specifically for.

“What if I took you because I could, and
because you were his first daughter? There were other reasons, but
nothing you need to worry yourself with,” he replied as he sat on
the bed and glamoured away his black silk pants effortlessly. I
blanched as he sat naked before me. The man was freaking huge. I
was fighting to keep my eyes from revealing my inner panic. I had
to remind myself to breathe as he moved closer to me.

“So, you took me because you could?”

“Essentially, as I said, there were other
reasons,” he replied, and held the goblet of blue liquid up to my
mouth. I took a sip willingly, and inhaled as he continued to hold
the glass up with the intention of me smelling it. The flavor
exploded in my mouth, fruity and faintly bubbly. “It is what Humans
would call Ambrosia. The nectar of the gods, supposedly. Do you
like it?”

“It’s very nice,” I replied honestly. Maybe
if I got drunk I could make it through tonight.

“How long has it been since you have
fed?”

“Two days,” I replied easily.

“So you are hungry then, yes?” he asked with
knowing eyes.

I was. I had been fighting off the hunger in
hopes that Ryder could save me. I’d been injured in the explosion,
and even though my father had healed it, I really needed to feed.
Soon.

“I am going to feed from you, soon, so if you
have any more questions, ask them now.”

“Don’t you want to know about me?” I asked,
licking my lips nervously.

“Do you like to fuck?” His question made me
blush, and a little angry.

“Yes,” I replied, unable to lie.

“Good, because I plan to use you—at every
opportunity. Tell me, are you looking forward to being my
concubine, or do you dream of escaping me soon?”

Fuck a rubber duck! “I don’t look forward to
becoming anyone’s sex slave.”

“So you plan on escaping?” he asked as he
reached up and pinched my nipple through the dress. I hissed and
felt a flash of fear, and anger that I wasn’t angry enough.
Instead, heat was flooding my body, and my cheeks.

“Yes,” I blurted out, much to his
delight.

“You won’t escape me, ever. I’m not easily
manipulated by pretty faces either. Tell me something, how many men
have you fucked?”

“Two,” I said, exhaling slowly as he moved
further onto the bed with me and I felt his wings closing in around
us again, stealing the air from my lungs.

I inhaled deeply as the oxygen grew thin as
they closed fully around us. They were soft, silky warm. The spikes
I had seen earlier must have retracted when he had felt safe within
his own castle. His mouth was inches from mine. The goblet was gone
and forgotten as his hands now stroked me through the dress,
sending heat swirling through my body. I moaned, unable to stop
myself.

“Only two, that’s good. How many did you fuck
during Transition?”

“One,” I whimpered as he lifted the dress,
and his hand trailed over the thin panties I wore.

“One?” he asked in surprise.

“One,” I confirmed and felt anger at my
response to him rise within me.

I shouldn’t be feeling anything but hatred
for this monster, and here I was, panting like some whore while his
finger stroked my pussy.