6

SIX

Willow

I open my chamber doors and am quickly greeted by the most annoying laughter.

“Oh, you’re so fucked. And with that, I’m soooo fucked once he finds out I was on guard of your chambers last night. You honestly screwed us all over with those blazing mate rings.” My best friend nagged as I approached him in the marble hall of the west wing, just outside my bed chambers. I have most of this side of the palace to myself, including a personal library for private lessons, balcony, training courtyard, and a bathing chamber larger than most homes in the districts.

It’s comfortable and private. My safe haven. No one comes to this wing.

“At Least I have a mate and she’s better than any tramp you’ve laid with, that’s for sure.” I pat him on the cheek. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

Artemus and I begin heading towards the dining hall. He’s been my personal guard and best friend since I was 6 years old. He’s grown with me, trained with me, and bound his life under the moons to protect me against all threats.

He walks ahead of me as always, checking around the ornate marble corners and ensuring no threats are near. “So, are you going to tell me about it or do I have to wait for your father to rip your throat out in front of the entire dining hall?”

I chuckle and decide fuck it, he should know. “She ran from me the second our bond snapped into place at the club last night, and I hunted her like a rabid animal.”

Artie stopped dead in his tracks, and I nearly slammed into his back. “Wait, say that again?”

I move around to face him. “She ran from me like I was a beast from the shadow realm.”

“You mean to tell me,” he paused for his typical dramatics. “Your mate just ran from you? She didn’t even ask your name, or begin the acquancy rituals? Nothing?”

That stung. I turned on my heel and began walking ahead of him as the shame and pain of that evening started flooding my body. My shoulders sagged and I looked out the windows as we passed each pillar of the silver and gold star covered palace. We’ve almost made it to the main hall, and I’m already dreading fathers face when he sees me.

“Honestly, when I did finally catch her, she practically spat in my face as I held her down. I just wanted a second to talk to her, to get to know the girl the moons have chosen for me. But I chased after her like an animal. I don’t know what came over me but the moons made me crazy for her. She immediately rejected me and it tore my heart in half.”

Like the asshole that he is, he suppressed his laugh and instead studied me closely. “I’m not sure what’s more embarrassing, the fact she ran from you or the fact she rejected you. Does she even know who you are?”

“Don’t be a dipshit. No one knows who I am, Artie. I never get to leave these damn sparkling walls.”

“Well, the moons are up to something considering how bright those mate rings are. I don’t know what your fathers going to do about this, but I don’t have a single good feeling about it. I’m sorry that we couldn’t have been more prepared for this.”

I sighed and we walked in silence the rest of the way to the dining hall. I don’t know how my father will react either, honestly. I’m expecting lashings, maybe frostbite from one of the water faeries he controls.

That’s what he does. He controls.

If he can’t control me and my mate, he won’t allow the bond to be completed. He will have to see her as an advantage in order to let me follow this through. But, even the primes and high fae couldn’t defy the natural order of mate bonds when they ruled. That’s defying the stars and moons themselves and no one risks the wrath of the cosmos, except maybe my insane father.

We approach the two silver and golden ornate doors and I use my air magic to open them simultaneously. I might as well make a grand entrance in confidence, rather than cowering under my fathers gaze. Silver and gold vines of ivy intertwined with stars and planets wrap around the marble pillars that line the bright white dining hall. Large arch shaped windows cover both sides of the room, allowing for the morning sun to shine through. The table is big enough for 4 families to dine together. Above the feast laid out this morning, hangs sculptures of our three full moons and the twelve constellations that surround our planet.

And just like that, I walk into King Bryton’s fiery stare. My brothers and sister are sitting in the three chairs to the right of my father and my mother, Queen Sharynne, is holding the queen’s place at the opposite end of the table. I nod to my mother in passing. She looks beautiful as always, a ray of sunshine compared to my father. They’re mates, even though they detest each other now. She says they were in love once, but my mother only tolerates him now. I return my gaze to my father as I approach my seat on his left.

“Father,” I say in a dull tone.

He says nothing. He continues to stare at me like he’s debating decapitating me right here for everyone to see what an insolent child I’ve become. “Would someone like to tell me who the lucky fae is to be mated to my son?” The king glances around the room, before his attention lands back on me. “I don’t recall you leaving the palace for any local appearances recently, so how did you manage to get mated between last night and this morning, son?”

My father loves calling me ‘son’ to remind me I’m below him. Also, my loving father doses his ‘children’ with truth elixirs at every meal to ensure we are incapable of hiding things from him. He just mixes it into all the wine in the palace, so any guest or staff that consumes it is affected.

“I went to The Virgo District last night for a few beers. I wanted to spy on the locals to ensure they’re preparing for your upcoming tithes.”

A  truth and a lie. That’s how I get away with most things in this palace. Even though I did visit Virgo last night, I surely didn’t stay there.

My father tilted his head in thought. “Hmm. I also don’t remember giving you permission to make those sort of scouting decisions on your own.” He turned his gaze back to me with a sort of feral smile, grabbed his knife, and stabbed it between my middle and forefinger. I didn’t even flinch. I know better than to show him weakness. Weakness is something he can exploit. Weakness is something he’s trained out of us.

My father smoothed down his tunic and adjusted his perfectly sleek silver hair. “And might you tell me about this mate? Is she worthy of the crown prince, and the children she should bear in your name?”

I removed the knife from the table and began slicing off a piece of ham from the feast laid before us, choosing to ignore my fathers plotting.

Artie cleared his throat behind me where he stood in between the marble and metallic pillars that adorned the room.

“Yes, father. She is beautiful, a monochromatic faerie from the Comet Cottages.”

“That’s it? She’s Beautiful?” He laughed obnoxiously as he reached for his glass of mulled berries.

I turned to my mother for some sort of reprieve. She gave me a ghostly empty stare and returned to eating her blueberry crumble. She’s always silent around my father, refusing to show her true joy and peaceful aura. I think she hates him as much as we do, but she also fears him like we do. I’ve never seen my father punish my mother publicly, which makes me worry about what happens behind closed doors where I can’t protect her.

Fighting between truths and lies, I finally admitted the events of last night knowing this would end in punishment. “She ran from me the second our mate bond locked into place. I chased her but she got away from me before we could make any formal introductions and begin the aquancy rituals.”

Glass shatters. The walls shake. The fae orbs flicker.

“WHAT!” My father bellowed.  “SHE RAN FROM YOU?!”

I’m sure everyone in the twelve districts could hear the disappointment and rage pouring from his voice. Even my brothers snickered and stopped eating their meals, failing to feign disinterest which my father prefers.

Artie approaches the back of my chair. He clears his throat. “Your majesty, if I may.” Artie waits for my father to allow him to speak. The king waves his hand, permitting Artie to continue.”This could be exactly what we need to continue the royal line and strength your claim on the throne. Maybe this is truly a blessing from the moons. You know how rare it is for faeries to be born now.”

My father huffs from Artie’s interruption but doesn’t dismiss him. His majesty seems to be in deep thought for sometime as we continue eating our breakfast together in rage filled silence. Finally, as the butlers begin removing our plates, my father turns to face me yet again. “I will allow this.” I hold my breath because I don’t think I heard him right. I nearly choked on a piece of bacon.

“The stars and moons must have something special in store for the Bryton’s line of rule, since the glow of your rings are brighter than any I’ve ever seen.” He paused, collecting his thoughts and continued. “You must bring her to me at the winter solstice ball. I will be opening our court again to gain strength and gain support from the lunar members for upcoming plans I have for Faerelle. You will need to make your introduction into society and present a well mannered, happy couple as well. I will make my final decision on whether you are to be mated properly by the next eclipse and produce your own heirs. Now, leave me.”

“What plans do you have in store, father?” my brother Aspen bravely asks.

“Enough, leave. Now.” My father growls at us.

We are dismissed and unfortunately have to leave our mother alone with him. We quickly depart the dining hall together. Followed by our individual personal guards, we headed to the west gardens of the palace where combat training usually takes place in the morning. My sister, Roserra, says her goodbyes and heads to her wing of the castle to continue her studies. She’s training to be a scholar faerie.

I have 5 days to find Ember, bring her to this ball and capture her heart. I hope she’s prepared for court life. Things are about to go really fast and I need someone fearless to take on this life with me. I need to find her today.

I will have to go searching for Ember after today’s lessons. I’ll follow the electrical current that now flows through my body at the simple thought of her.

“What do you think father is planning after all this time? Keeping us locked up like fucking princesses trapped in a damn tower.” Sage, my youngest brother, contemplates as we walk to the training field.

“I’m not sure what the cause of this is, but it must be significant in order for him to break down the invisible walls he’s built around this family.” Aspen walks beside me as we watch Sage run ahead, face us, and begin walking backwards with a smirk on his face.

“I just can’t wait to meet the ladies of the court. Maybe I’ll find my mate too.” He shoots me a wink and a goofy smile. He clearly got his charm from me.

As we neared the glass doors that led to the training field, Sage lets us pass him before he jabs the back of my knees and they give out on me. I smack the stone floor but spin quickly, kicking his legs out from under him and busting out in laughter. My youngest brother loves to play games with me, pushing the boundaries of my brute strength. He’s shorter than me, but almost equal in muscular density. He rolls onto his hands and knees before pouncing onto me, pinning me down. His dirty blonde and orange hair is pulled back in a low ponytail. He grins down at me before punching me in the shoulder and jolting over my body toward the garden doors. I just missed snatching his ankle by the hair of my fingertips. I chuckled then yelled after him, “You little shit!”

It’s not that he actually wins fights against me, but I know he gets more confidence when he wins every once in a while.

My brother Aspen extends his hand to me and helps me up from the ground. “I know you let him win, but sooner than later he’s going to get the better of us both.”

I huff a laugh and head through the large stained glass windows that lead to the training field. My two younger brothers and I train here everyday unless we have other studies to attend to. This is the best part of the day because father isn’t here to ridicule and challenge us at every imperfection. He trusts his royal guild and our personal guards enough to train with us. The royal guild is full of the most powerful fae in all the land, always recruiting new strength once they’re discovered at local universities.

Artie, Sage and his personal guard Gimm, are gathering the strength elixirs we’ve been assigned to master these months. Known as stratella, the strength enhancing liquid is blood red and sparkles alight with flowing silver and gold flecks. I approach the table they’re standing at and grab a vial.

This red bottle of liquid provides a surge of strength that lasts only a few minutes but it’s extremely potent and overwhelming to the senses. You must be well versed in controlling and honing the effects of power enhancers added to your body. Otherwise, you can harm yourself and others around you in ways you don’t intend to.

Since I’m a builder-talented faerie and already a brute fae, this elixir practically makes me a towering rock. The first time I tried it, I punched through a fucking tree. Yes, a tree. My brothers are still mastering the effects of the elixir, but I’ve got it down like a third element of magic at this point. I’ve always been extremely aware of my body and how to use it to overpower others. So, with stratella running through my veins my brothers barely stand a chance.

The training ring is a limestone platform in the center of the west gardens. Surrounded by luscious flowers and weeping willows, which are kept up by the earth faeries sworn to serve the Estrallume throne. My brothers and I head towards the center of the ring, crossing over the emerald green phases of the moon which are inlaid in the stone.

Aspen prepares to train with his personal guard as Sage and I follow to do the same at our separate corners of the ring. Artie smirks at me as I approach him, “Ready to get your ass handed to you?” he says with too much glee.

“I love playing with my food before I bite, that’s for sure.” I chug down my stratella while Artie waits for the effects to kick in. I begin stretching and eyeing him like he’s my next meal. Our guards are meant to fight us with raw, unenhanced magic first before moving on to challenge each other with the effects of strength enhancement coursing through our veins. It’s important as the king’s sons, that we are able to control our powers against any opponent of equal, lesser or more strength.

Arms crossed, he waits for me to stop being a cocky asshole, which will never happen.

I finish my stretches and snap two balls of fire into my palms, shining bright with icy blue flames that caress my forearms. Artie grins at me, ready for the fighting to begin even though he knows I’m going to kick his sorry ass.

I charge forward with so much strength that I close the distance in 3 strides, slamming my fists against his airshield with a grunt. Blue fire bursts off the shield, bright sparks cascading in all directions. His air shield cracks quickly due to my increased strength and Artie is forced to evade my next attack with a gust of wind, skirting himself to the side of the ring.

He propels himself on a cloud of air to somersault over my head and lands behind me. Now that I’m cornered, all he needs to do to win this quick match is shove me out of the ring. The second your opponent’s feet touch the grass of the training gardens, they lose. It’s never been me though, so he should know better than to assume he has the upper hand here.

Conjuring a ball of bright and neon blue flames, I send it spiraling towards his feet, causing him to jump away from me. I use the moment of relief to dash to the center of the ring, taunting him to follow me.

He stalks towards me with a smirk on his face. “I know you favor your pretty little flames, but give me something more interesting than that.”

Using our air magic, together we lift swords off the nearby rack and glide them over for our hands to grip. The clanking of iron against iron rings out among the gardens. Several slashes, dodges, and strikes later I’ve managed to shove Artie through the air, landing onto his back in the grass.

“Kiss my ass, Artie. I know you want to and I certainly earned a reward after that performance.” I said with all the cocksure confidence I could muster.

“Why don’t you ask your mate to?” He jabbed at me with that stupid smirk on his face. He knew he hit a nerve.

With the flick of my wrist he became enclosed in a circle of neon blue flames. I walked away, leaving my personal guard and best friend to deal with the aftermath of my burns. He’ll be fine. I cross into the west corridors of the palace and head to my bed chambers.

Wondering to myself when I’ll have my mate here to brighten these vapid hallways.