Chapter 9

I had nearly wept last night when the meal had been brought to my room. I ate every bite, I licked every crumb of chocolate cake from my fork, and afterward I was so full I felt sick. Lord Stryker had shown me a kindness by giving me the meal, in fact more than I’d asked for, but I couldn’t forget the monster that he was or what his ancestors had done to my people.

They stole our magic, cursed our land and fled to this world in hiding.

A small bag of extra clothes was packed and Shantel lead me down the stairs to a carriage that waited out front with a royal entourage of fifteen heavily armed guards on horseback. I recognized every single face. I had interrogated each one of them and they’d gazed at me in fear.

“They call you the truth witch,” Shantel told me with a slight smile as if the name amused her.

Truth witch. That didn’t sound very nice.

I ignored her and watched as she gave my bag to the porter and gestured to the front door of the carriage.

This was the first time my ankle had been unshackled and the freedom felt amazing.

With a wave goodbye, I opened the carriage door and stepped inside and then swallowed a gasp when I saw Lord Stryker sitting on one of the bench seats.

“Oh, hello,” I said, trying to cover my surprise as I shifted to sit across from him.

There was plenty of room for the both of us in the carriage, but it still felt like his essence filled every inch of the space, leaving none for me.

I settled in my seat and then my gaze flicked down to his ankle.

I groaned when I noticed the shackle ringing his ankle with a length of chain and an opened shackle attached to it. He smiled and picked up the other end, reaching beneath my skirt to grasp my left ankle.

“Excuse you.” I pushed my skirt down and tried to yank my leg out of his grasp, but he held on.

Stryker rolled his eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself, little witch. Desire is the last thing I feel toward you. You’d have to put me under one of your spells to get me to touch you like that.”

His words hurt, like a knife through the heart and I couldn’t help but frown. I shouldn’t care what this monster thought of me, but hearing an attractive man say that he wouldn’t ever desire to touch you never felt good.

He looked up into my gaze, saw the hurt on my face and swallowed hard.

“You realize I have feelings, right?” I growled.

“Witches don’t feel anything,” he growled back, clicking the cuff into place and banging on the ceiling with his fist.

With a jerk, the carriage took off and Stryker nearly fell on top of me, before throwing himself back into the seat.

I was fuming mad at him. He thought I was a witch without feelings? How dare he insult me in such a way.

I glared at him for a solid hour, thinking murderous thoughts, thinking of things I would say to him and how many different ways I would win an argument. Thinking of how I would use my magic against him if I wasn’t so terrified he’d turn my faestone dagger into a puddle of molten metal if I did.

The entire time he whittled, paying me no mind. A little knife was perched deftly in his giant paw of a hand and he scraped against a wooden block delicately, but I couldn’t tell what he was carving yet.

“I’m not a witch!” I shouted after an hour passed and Stryker jumped, nearly piercing his own palm with the carving knife. “ You are the one with the dark magic who comes from a long line of Ethereum lords that stole the magic of Faerie. You are the reason my people are at the risk of dying and losing their home. You , Lord Stryker, are a monster.” My chest was heaving by the time I’d said my peace, but I felt better.

Stryker peered at me with venom in his gaze. He slowly set the knife and wood block down and leaned forward, getting into my personal space and breathing over my face. A fresh cinnamon scent washed over me, causing unexpected heat to bloom in my lower gut. My heart fluttered in my chest and my palms began to sweat.

“I will only say this once,” he warned, his gaze flicking to my lips for half a second and then back up again. “Whatever you think you know about me and the past Ethereum lords is a lie. You have probably been lied to your entire life. You are the one who comes from a long line of assassins that have come to our peaceful home and killed our uncles, cousins, fathers, and children for centuries. You , Aribella, are the monster.”

I reeled as if I’d been slapped, the back of my head hitting the window. “No. That’s not true.” I shook my head to illustrate my point. “ Your ancestors put a curse on our lands. Every hundred years it ravages Faerie and without the heart of an Ethereum lord, it won’t stop. Our water turns black, our crops fail, it’s trying to kill us.”

He raised one eyebrow. “Have you ever taken a moment to think why you need our hearts to stop a curse on your land? It sounds like you are stealing our magic, not the other way around.”

His words shocked me into silence.

Why did we need the heart of a lord? Because it contained the magic of Faerie that had been stolen, and we were just getting it back? That’s what I’d been told but …

I shook my head, reaching up to rub my temples. Lies, these were lies. That’s why we were coached to never let them speak.

Stryker watched me with curiosity. Was there even a little compassion in there too?

But I wasn’t done arguing. “For the record I do not hail from a long line of assassins like Dawn does. The Summer princess always travels to Ethereum and returns with the heart. I’m from the Fall Court. None of my ancestors have ever traveled to this realm, and I’ve never killed a fae in my entire life.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” he said mockingly.

I reached out to smack his chest but he caught my hand in midair, his big thumb pressing into the middle of my palm. We locked eyes and it felt like all of the oxygen had been sucked from the space. I could hardly breathe, pinned by his gaze.

His eyes narrowed. “Are you using your power?”

Hurt washed over me, and I yanked my hand back. “I assure you that your feelings are entirely your own.”

But his wall was back up, he was watching me through a veil of suspicion.

I shook my head. “Do you trust anyone?”

He laughed dryly. “No. Least of all a witch that can manipulate my feelings.”

I sighed and leaned my head against the cushioned side of the carriage.

“This is going to be a long ride.”

* * *

After riding for what felt like forever, we stopped for the night. The guards made camp in a beautiful green meadow just off the main road. A fire and multiple tents were set up. Lord Stryker hooked his elbow into mine and all but dragged me to the largest tent, our ankles still shackled together. When we got inside, he unlatched the shackle from his ankle first, then mine, and tied me to the post supporting the middle of the tent. Off to the side were two large cots, both with light blankets as the weather was agreeable.

“Umm, are those two cots for you and I?” I asked nervously. They were awfully close together.

Stryker walked over to the large desk in the middle of the room and glared at me. “Yes, I don’t trust anyone else to keep an eye on you.”

“I’m not a big runner,” I announced, but he ignored me. “So you can take this off.” I shook my foot to rattle the chain.

Stryker just ignored me and I growled in frustration.

A messenger came in holding a few letters and Lord Stryker waved to him, leaning back in his desk chair. “Tell me.”

The messenger nodded. “The farmers send their thanks for the compensation of their lost crop due to fungus contamination.”

Stryker waved it off. “Yes, yes, they are welcome. Next?”

The messenger burned the letter in a metal bin of glowing coals near the open door. Moving to the next, he shifted a little uncomfortably.

“The moment you left the castle in Easteria, there was a robbery attempt by three civilians. They were subdued and nothing was taken. They are in the dungeon awaiting your return.”

Stryker just sighed, looking over at me as if to say, see , I can’t trust anyone.

But I was still stuck on the fact that he’d compensated his local farmers for a crop loss. He didn’t need to do that.

Stryker waved his hand again and the messenger put that letter into the fire too, pulling the final one up to read.

“It’s from your brother. Lord Roan. Again,” the messenger said and Lord Stryker froze, his body going stiff.

I sat up straighter, sure that he wouldn’t allow the private message to be read in front of me but Stryker nodded, indicating that the messenger go on.

“His people are still sick. It’s getting worse, they are overwhelmed and out of supplies. There is a list of what he desperately needs. He’s …” His gaze flicked to me. “Asking for any information on where the next princess of Faerie might be. It looks like this went out to all of your brothers.”

My heart knocked against my chest. They were looking for me? What sickness was over his people?

Stryker sharpened his gaze. “Tell him nothing of Aribella.”

The messenger nodded. “Of course, my lord. And the sickness?”

Stryker stared at his hands as if they might make the decision for him. “Send the supplies he needs anonymously, in unmarked boxes.”

The messenger dipped his chin in agreement, pulling out the list of supplies and tucking it into his pocket, then he burned the letter before leaving the tent.

I frowned. Why would Stryker not want credit for helping his own brother?

“What sickness?” I asked, unable to help myself.

Stryker was looking over some papers and signing things on his desk. “Some plague that your predecessor caused. It’s my understanding that it began on their wedding night. I don’t really care.”

My brows bunched together in the center of my forehead. “Dawn?” A plague began affecting the people of the north on the night Dawn married? Was it just a coincidence, or something more?

Stryker glanced over at me. “I assume she used her little witch magic to influence my brother to fall in love with her and marry him. The plague is probably her spell backfiring.”

“Dawn doesn’t have magic to influence like mine: it’s unique. She manipulates sunlight and she’s incredible at it but she certainly can’t control your feelings or start plagues.” I was desperate to stick up for my fellow princess of Faerie.

He said nothing and I was tired of talking so I leaned back against the support pole and dreamed up ways to escape. All of which ended with me just roaming the realm alone forever, without the faestone dagger, as my people back in Faerie died.

I thought of fleeing and trying to find Dawn but, as unbelievable as it was, it sounded like her loyalty to our people was dead and her devotion now lay with her new husband. I was on my own in this; I needed to gain Lord Stryker’s trust and get the dagger back, and I could only come up with one way to do that.

Despite his protests, I saw the spark in the Ethereum lord’s eyes whenever he looked at me. And he repeatedly accused me of using my magic on him when I hadn’t. There was something there, I was sure of it.

Forgive me, Mother.

Operation seduce the meanest fae alive was now in full effect.

* * *

After grumbling about how hungry I was for the fourteenth time, I was finally untied and Stryker brought me outside to eat. Probably just to shut me up, but I was okay with that to get a small amount of relief from these chains. We all ate by the fire and then turned in to our tents for the night. The cotton dress that I was wearing wouldn’t be terribly uncomfortable to sleep in, but since I was now shamelessly going forward with “operation seduce Lord Stryker” I turned to him as we stepped into our tent.

Gathering my courage, I gave him my back. “Can you unlace me?”

“What?” His voice dropped an octave.

I peered over my shoulder at him, doing my best to give him my imitation of a sultry glance. “You have deprived me of a dressing attendant and I can’t sleep in this giant, heavy thing.”

I felt a little silly but then I watched his Adam’s apple bob right before he strode over and began to yank at the laces quickly.

“Careful there, big boy, you’re going to tear it,” I scolded him.

His fingers stilled, and he began to gently unlace the thicker corset portion of my dress, revealing the thin white cotton chemise I would sleep in. I couldn’t see him, but I could hear his breathing and it had definitely gotten heavier.

Once he was done, I let the heavy dress fall to the floor and stepped out of it. Turning, I faced him and even though I had intended to ignite his interest, I was still surprised to see him starting at me with hunger in his gaze.

With slightly shaky hands, I grasped my chemise at the knee and pulled it up to reveal my bare legs. “Shackle me, captor,” I told him and he gave me a slow grin that caused those legs to go weak.

What was I doing? Trying to seduce him and lose myself in the process?

Stryker bent on one knee and grasped my ankle with his bare fingers, enclosing the cold metal cuff there, dragging his fingers across my calf as he fastened it.

I nearly moaned at the touch and had to shake myself to snap out of it. He’d accused me of witchcraft time and time again, yet it felt like he’d just put a spell over me.

I shouldn’t be having these feelings for a monster. An Ethereum lord.

After securing the other end of my shackle to his own ankle, Stryker rose to his full height and looked down on me. A heavy energy swirled in the air between us, making me lightheaded. Or was that just my faulty heart pumping too quickly?

Then I felt the cold bite of metal into my wrists. When I looked down I saw that he’d bound my hands together too.

Really? “Is that necessary?”

“I said that I didn’t trust anyone else to keep an eye on you, but I never said anything about trusting you . I don’t take chances while I sleep anymore.” With that he dragged me over to the cot and connected a chain to my bound wrists, securing it to the frame of the cot.

I swallowed a sigh. It would be uncomfortable to sleep with my hands connected and one foot shackled to him, but I would make do.

All my dreams of actually escaping while on this assignment started to look slim.

With my gaze still fastened on Stryker, I pulled back the covers on the cot and slid in between the crisp sheet and light blanket. The awareness that we’d be tethered to each other in sleep created an intimacy that I was sure he hadn’t intended.

I swallowed, wetting my suddenly dry throat and then ran my tongue over my lips. Lord Stryker’s gaze flared and I held my breath in both anticipation and dread, sure he was going to do something. But after several seconds he turned his back, shucking off his coat as he readied himself for bed.

With my heart still beating erratically I couldn’t discern if I felt relief or disappointment that he’d turned away from me.

After laying his coat over the foot of his cot, Stryker doused the only lantern in the tent, plunging us into relative darkness. It took my eyes only a few moments to adjust and then I picked up the outline of his body as he yanked his shirt over his head to sleep bare-chested.

I sucked in an involuntary gasp and Stryker froze, glancing over his shoulder at me. I wanted to turn away, to pretend that I was already sleeping, but I couldn’t make myself do it. My fingers itched to reach out and graze over his muscular back, and I had to ball my fist to keep from doing anything.

Would his skin be as warm and smooth as I imagined?

Stryker’s gray-blue eyes seemed to flash in the low light, like a predator’s gaze. Goose bumps broke out on my arms and the fine hairs on the back of my neck prickled. My body knew when I was in danger, even if my mind was leading me in another direction completely.

Stryker removed his boots, secured the other end of the shackle to his ankle, and then slid under his own bedding. The chain pulled taut as he shifted positions, reminding me of how we were still physically connected, even if weren’t sleeping in the same bed.

Somewhere between leaving the Easteria castle and arriving here, there was a change going on inside me. I didn’t know if it was because I’d seen Stryker be merciful toward his people and brother today by compensating for the lost crops and sending the supplies. Or if the handsome lord and our close proximity were wearing down my defenses.

“Go to sleep, Aribella,” Stryker ordered in a deliciously gruff voice before turning on his side and facing away from me.

I wanted to obey him and fall into blissful unawareness, but how could I sleep when my body had never felt so alive?

As I stared at the giant mountain that was Stryker’s form, I finally understood how Dawn might have truly fallen in love with her own Ethereum lord.