Forever Fae (6 page)

He turns to the warriors to address them
.

“
Warriors, if you would take your positions, please.
” He then turns back to the crowd and says,
“To receive the honor of
becoming a g
uardian
to a royal, these warriors must fight until they can fight no more.  The person left standing will be rewarded
the
honor.”

The room is filled with
excited energy and I know because I am trembling with it. 
The anticipation of the fight has the warriors on edge and I can see their muscles rippling as they are waiting for their cue to begin fighting. 
Merrick has a gleam in his eye and takes one last roguish look at me before my father announces to begin. 

My father takes a look around the room and thunders out the two words everyone has been waiting to hear
:
 
“Warriors,
begin!
”

Chapter 5

Ryder

             
Kalen, Warren and I arrived just in time for the ceremony.  Our horses are taken to the stable by the servants and we briskly walk to get inside the palace where we are shown where to go.  There are hundreds of people so we make our way to the middle along with the other invited guests and we take our seats.  I
sit
in the middle between Kalen and Warren. 

I lean over toward Warren and ask quietly, “What do you think the princess looks like
?
”

Warren shrugs and says nonchalantly, “Oh, she’s probably another Summer Court bimbo with air for brains.  I definitely wouldn’t be wasting my time on them.  I much prefer the cold hearts of our winter vixens.  They don’t get attached, so it’s easy just to plow the snow, if you know what I mean.”

The women in the Winter Court are cold as ice and sometimes I wonder if they even have hearts at all.  They are strong though, and don’t take shit from anyone.

I say, “No arguments there, my friend.” 

As soon as I
say it
, the massive golden doors
open
and I stare fixedly at the
blonde
beauty in the middle of the other two girls.  I
can’t
tear my eyes away from her.  Warren nudge
s
me, but I
d
o
n’t
pay him any mind. 
S
he
gracefully
walk
s
down the long aisle to meet the King and Queen on the dais.  She sa
ys
something to her parents, probably a greeting. I notice how she acknowledges the people in her council with a slight nod and a look of disdain when she notices the man sitting in the front seat of the council.  The look
is
fast and I don’t think anyone else notice
s
.  I can only assume she doesn’t like the man sitting there.  She
d
oes
, however, give one of the warriors a heartfelt, genuine smile. The feelings of jealousy come out of nowhere and I find myself clenching my teeth and fisting my
hands in a tight grip. I decide right then and there that I don’t like
th
e
warrior at all. Deep down I can feel my soul screaming that she’s mine and no one should be getting that kind of attention other than me.

The feelings of jealousy subside when Kalen takes
this time to
say,
“I don’t know, brother.  I think I would prefer w
asting my time on one of these
S
ummer
chicks.  Look
around, these girls are hot, e
special
ly, the girl in the pink dress that came in with the P
rincess.  She’s smoking hot, and I mean that literally and figuratively.”  

I see t
he
auburn haired
looker
and yes she is a beauty, but she doesn’t
catch my eye like Princess Calista.  As so
on as my gaze finds the
p
rincess again, our eyes meet.
  My heart
goes
into overdrive and a shock
reverberate
s
through my body.  I have never had this kind of reaction t
o a female before.  Her eyes grow wider and I know mine
ha
ve
,
too.  She obviously had the same
reaction as me.  Her lips part slightly and I
imagin
e
what it would be like to kiss
her
lus
cious lips and have
her moan in pleasure from my touch.
Here I go again thinking these strange thoughts about a girl I’ve never actually met, but looking at her feels otherwise.
I bet her lips taste sweet, like apples in the summer orchards.  The idea send
s a stirring throughout my body and I chide myself for it because
it
is not the time to have
th
is
kind of problem.
I mentally chastise myself and calm my thoughts from progressing.  I have never been th
is hard up over a girl.  I’m a Winter
Court
p
rince
and my heart is
supposed to be
ice.  There is no way I’m going to let her melt any part of me.  I keep telling myself this over and over, but I’m starting to think the melting has begun.

Warren breaks me out of my inner turmoil and whispers, “What’s wrong with you?  You look like you’re about to hyperventilate.
Y
our
eyes popped out of your head when you saw the
princess walk in.”  He nods his head towar
d the
p
rincess as he
sp
eaks
and tries
very hard to hide his smile. 

I follow his nod and
take
a good
,
l
ong look at the shining beauty that has my blood boiling.  Her hair is down, but
in a complicated heap of curls
that flow down her back with
flowers arranged throughout
it
. 
In
that dress
her body
is amazing
and has the
right amount of curves in all the right places. 
I can imagine touching and exploring every inch of her body.

“I don’t know, Warren, there’s something about her.  It’s like I’m connected to her somehow,” I say.

At my words
, it’s like a dark cloud settles over him and his eyes beco
me dark and
menacing. 

He turns
to me
hissing, “You can’t have her.
She doesn’t belong to you.” 

Wide-eyed I stare at my friend and wonder what the hell
has
just
happened.  One minute he’s fine and the next it’s l
ike a demon has possessed him.

Clenching my teeth, I say “You have no idea what
you’re talking about.  I didn’t say anything about wanting her, and if I did, you sure as hell couldn’t stop me.”
 

In all honesty I d
o
want her, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. 
I’m fuming and I look
at him waiting
for a
reply, but he just sits
there vacant
,
like he
’s
not
even in t
here.  A few seconds later he co
me
s to and begins
acting normal again.  There is somet
hing seriously wrong with him.
I’m going to have
Heyflred
take a look at
him when we get back to the Winter Court.

I look over to Kalen and
raise my eyebrows in question. 

He shrugs his shoulders and whispers,
“Ryder, I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but we need to figure it out soon.” 

Warren seems calm
so
I
ask him, “Are you
OK
?” 

He looks at me
confused and says slowly,
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be
OK
?” 

I sit back in my chair,
befuddled
. 

I respond,
“Nothing, I just
thought I would ask.” He seems so normal, but that uneasy feeling of dread has made its way back into my stomach. 

King Oberon finally stands to make his announcement about the ritual and the fighting that will take place.  It’ll be interesting to see how these warriors fight compared to my army.
I train our army along with my brothers, Kalen and Brayden, and our fighting skills are immaculate.  If I had a guess, I would say my army could kick these pansy asses any day of the week.  I wonder if the
warrior
who
cou
ldn’t keep his eyes off of the
p
rincess
will win
. 
He looks like a
love
-
sick puppy when he stares at her.
I guess we will see how determined he is to win his place by
Princess
Calista’s side.  The king finishes his speech and now the fight has begun. 

Chapter 6

Calista

The fighting has started and the clanging sounds of the swords echo throughout the Great Room, but that’s not what
piques
my interest.  I take a quick look at the handsome guest with the piercing eyes and he seems to be arguing with his friend.  He has two males with him
,
both
ha
ve
black hair
.
The
one on his right looks kind of evil with all of his dark attributes
.
The
one on his left looks playful and cute in a boyish kind of way.  He resembles the handsome stranger so I would take a bet that they’re brothers.  I wonder what they are arguing about.

I decide to think about that later and concentrate on the fight.  Merrick is the strongest warrior out there.  He’s amazing with his swift moves in sword combat.  The other warriors competing are Conall, Gideon, Evan, Finn, and Ashur.  They are all wonderful warriors and I
had
enjoy
ed
talking to them and watching them train.  Merrick and Conall are battling it out.  They are best friends so I know it must be hard on them having to fight each other.  Conall is strong, but Merrick is fast.  Merrick raises his sword and slices through Conall’s thigh
. With
a look of defeat he drops to the ground.  He swiftly gets up and is tended to by one of our healers.  Xylia is not going to be happy about
it
. 

My father leans over to say, “How are you enjoying the fight?  I honestly think it’ll be between Merrick and Ashur in the end.” 

I turn to him and whisper, “I think this is just a show of testosterone
,
if you ask me. Whoever came up with this must have had some serious issues with his manhood. It would be much easier
if I could just choose my own
g
uardian
and not put them all through this.” 

He sighs and grabs my hand
.

“Sunshine, you know this is tradition and we have to uphold the traditions.  I wish there was another way, but there’s not.
Plus, the warriors need to prov
e they can take care of you.
” 

He
glances
at Merrick then looks back to me and says,
“
I think Merrick ha
s his heart set on you, my dear, and
I also noticed you staring at the young m
an over there.” He nods
in the stranger’s directi
on and slowly begins to smile. He’s definitely curious to know why I was staring at the stranger.  Hopefully, he didn’t pick up on the lustful vibes I was giving off earlier.
 

“First of all, I was not staring, and second, why does everyone keep saying those things about Merrick
?
 
He hasn’t said one word to me
about his feelings or anything like that, so a
m I just blind on the matter?
”  I pause and bite my cheek.  Should I just ask and get it over with? 
Yes.

I turn my gaze away from my father and ask in a dispassionate voice, “
By the way, who is t
he young man sitting over there?”  I hold my breath waiting
for
him to answer.