Chapter 19

19

ALEKSANDER

“ R ise and shine, dearest,” I singsong, pressing my lips directly against Treyton’s ear.

For a prince who constantly has to be on guard and alert against any and all threats, he sleeps like the dead, tiny snores emitting from his parted lips.

When he doesn’t immediately stir, content to curl up around my mate, I heave out a breath and reach for my secret weapon.

It’s not coffee, but I’m pretty sure pacon shit is the next best thing.

“Wakey, wakey,” I say as I wave my hand back and forth over the bowl of shit I collected, hoping that the pungent scent will entice him from his bedroll.

He blinks groggily up at me.

And then jerks into a sitting position when he finds me straddling his waist with a happy grin on my face.

“What the—” Treyton begins, but I place my finger against my lips and then jerk my chin towards Kassandra, indicating for him to remain silent.

My cherub needs all the sleep she can get before the next leg of our journey, and I’ll be damned if I allow any of these imbeciles to ruin it for her.

Blaze, who hasn’t slept the entire time we’ve been here, rolls his eyes at me and scowls. When I woke up a short while ago, I found the Fall Prince already awake and cooking meat over the fire. His eyes remained alert and tense, constantly flicking from side to side as he surveyed our barren surroundings.

I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that the warrior prince wouldn’t feel comfortable sleeping out in the open.

Especially with his mate nearby.

I jerk my chin towards the carriage and then stealthily jump to my feet. Treyton doesn’t take my proffered hand, though, instead choosing to rise to his feet and shoulder past me.

“Feisty little thing, isn’t he?” I say conspiratorially to Blaze, who simply glares at me.

He gestures for me to walk in front of him, not trusting that I won’t put a knife in his back (valid), and I make sure to put an extra sway to my hips as I walk.

“Quit checking out my ass, Blaze,” I whisper-shout over my shoulder. “You’re being a pervert.”

Blaze looks a single tick away from strangling me with his bare hands, and I can’t help but grin.

I take immense enjoyment in riling the other male up. He always gets this look on his face that screams he intends to anal probe me with a knife.

Love it.

“What is this about, elf?” Treyton runs a hand through his pink hair and releases a yawn, his face practically splitting in two.

How this fae manages to pick up females, I have no idea. Literally no idea.

Blaze positions himself so he’s slightly behind the carriage but still able to keep an eye on Kassandra. My cherub twists slightly in her sleep, golden hair fanning over one arm, and my heart pinches.

Honestly, before her, I didn’t even know that organ still worked. Maybe it doesn’t. After all, it’s not the heart that draws you to a person, despite the cliché saying. It’s the mind. The soul. The only thing the heart does is pump blood to your other organs—including your cock.

My cock has been perpetually hard since I first removed my fae fa?ade and regained my eyesight.

Lies. You’ve been perpetually hard long before that, since you first heard the Death Whisperer mentioned.

I roll my eyes at my internal voice—so dramatic—and then refocus on the conversation at hand. Blaze and Treyton are still staring at me expectantly, the latter appearing confused and the former murderous. Always murderous.

We could be great friends, him and I. If, you know, we both weren’t obsessed with the same female.

A female we need to have a conversation about, sooner rather than later.

And a conversation with .

But first things first.

I clap my hands together with a beatific smile, which neither fae returns. “I think you both know why I requested this meeting.”

“To kill us and hide our bodies?” Treyton’s brows furrow as he speaks.

Despite his lighthearted tone, I detect genuine worry in his voice.

To put the fae male at ease, I laugh and playfully shove his shoulder, causing him to stumble. His face drains of all color, appearing stark white beneath his shock of pink hair.

Huh. Note to self. Laughing does not put others at ease. Good to know.

I will my laughter to subside and then press my lips together, adopting a serious expression.

If anything, Treyton looks even more terrified. His hand moves to where he normally keeps his sword before he seems to remember that he took it off before he went to sleep.

So I can’t laugh, and I can’t look serious, apparently. What else is there to do? Frown? I suppose that could work…

“He’s not going to kill us.” Blaze scoffs as if the sheer prospect is absolutely ridiculous.

Which is rather rude, if you ask me. I could totally kill both of them if I so desired to.

I pout instinctively as disappointment rushes through me.

“He’s right,” I sigh forlornly. “I’m not going to kill you…yet.”

I tack that on so they don’t go around thinking I gained a conscience or anything as ridiculous as that. If either of them hurt my cherub, then all bets are off. They'll finally get to see how, exactly, I became the Hunter of Amorite.

Albeit a softer version of the assassin I once was. I have Kassandra to thank for that. She makes me want to be a better male, a better elf, a better…everything. Who would’ve thought that a sweet, innocent lamb could so artfully slay the almighty beast? Huh. Maybe “slay” is the wrong word. Tame? Yes, that seems to fit. She tamed the almighty beast. Made me her monster.

“We need to discuss Kassandra.” I allow my customary smile to slip from my face so they can see how utterly serious I am.

There’s not a lot in life I take seriously…except for Kassandra. My mate. My world. My reason for existing.

Treyton scowls, and Blaze turns rigid beside me, tension rippling through his muscles.

He keeps his gaze trained on Kassandra when he bites out, “What about her?”

“There’s no sense tiptoeing around the subject.” I lazily remove my dagger from its sheath and brandish it back and forth in the air, using it as a prop for my speech. “I see the way you both look at the little Death Whisperer. Ironic, if you think about it, considering I couldn’t see until just recently. Though even when I was blind, I wasn’t dumb.”

I tap the blade against my chin, not caring when it accidentally nicks my skin and causes me to bleed. A little blood never hurt anyone before. I actually like bleeding; it reminds me that I’m still alive.

“I think I got a little off topic…”

“You think so?” Treyton says dryly.

Blaze growls out, “Get on with it.”

He leans slightly in Kassandra’s direction, as if he’s itching to go back to her, sit beside her, run his fingers through the few wayward strands of golden hair that escaped her braid.

“Obviously, we’re all her mates.” I offer them a cheerful smile that’s in direct contradiction to the darkness roiling through me. “And it’s our duty to love and protect her and kill her enemies and gift her body parts and blah blah blah.”

The two of them gape at me in stunned silence, disbelief etched across their faces. Treyton blinks his wide blue eyes at me, while Blaze’s face distorts into a hideous scowl.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” he snaps, not bothering to modulate his volume. “How did you concoct such a grand delusion?”

“So you’re not her mate,” I say, frowning. “Hmmm. No matter. More for us?—”

“Of course I’m her mate.” Blaze suddenly stands in front of me, his eyes blazing with unfettered anger. No, not anger. That’s too tame of a word to describe the storm brewing in his gaze. It’s deeper than rage or wrath. Deadlier. “She’s. Mine.”

“You’re Gaiadamn insane if you think she’s yours.” Treyton shoves at Blaze’s shoulder, though the Fall Prince barely stumbles.

I’m a tall male, but Blaze is something else entirely, and not just because of his height—which is smaller than me, by the way. I consider that a win. His entire body seems to be constructed entirely out of muscles—the type you receive after years and years of honing them to perfection. If I wasn’t already obsessed with Kassandra, I might’ve admired Blaze and the raw power he exudes.

But alas, there’s only one fae capable of captivating me.

I’ll give you a hint—her name rhymes with Lassandra and starts with a K.

“So Treyton feels the mating bond. Blaze feels the mating bond. I feel the mating bond…” I once again tap my blade against my chin in mock contemplation. “Interesting, is it not? Especially since I’m almost positive the Winter Prince also thought she was his mate.”

“Calan?” Raw incredulity bleeds into Blaze’s voice as he gapes at me, shock momentarily replacing the anger on his face. “Calan believes her to be his mate?”

“Keep your Gaiadamn voice down, you mammoth imbecile!” Treyton hisses, casting a pointed look at a still-sleeping Kassandra.

Blaze follows the direction of his gaze, and I swear both of their expressions soften, some of the anger seeping from their pores in gradual waves.

“Fae can’t have more than one mate,” Blaze says, turning back to me.

This time, mercifully, he manages to keep his voice at a respectable volume. Still slightly too loud, but at least I don’t have to cut out his vocal cords and feed them to Runt.

“Yet we all feel the bond,” I point out. “And I’m not fae, so I don’t count.”

Treyton’s brows furrow together. “That’s…”

Unlike Blaze, it appears as if he’s at least considering my words.

“Saying that’s true…how the fuck is that possible?” Blaze jabs a finger in Kassandra’s direction. “Did she put some sort of spell on us or something?”

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Treyton deadpans with an exaggerated eye roll.

Blaze bares his teeth at the Spring Prince but continues his line of questioning. “Is this because she’s the Death Whisperer? Are the bonds even real?”

“I can almost guarantee you that this is all because she’s the infamous Death Whisperer.” I hold the blade slightly in the air and twist it to and fro. The moonlight—completely unobstructed by clouds—reflects off the surface like polished silver. “And as for the bond being real…I can’t answer that for you.”

Blaze’s silent for a tick—so silent that I almost think he’s not going to continue the conversation—when he finally speaks. “Kassandra is the only thing that’s real in my entire life.”

A wistful sort of reverence crawls its way across his face.

“You love her,” Treyton breathes, horrified.

Blaze’s expression hardens instantly, and he folds his massive arms over his chest with a scowl. “How could anyone not?”

For once, I don’t have a response for that. I’m not sure if what I feel for Kassandra is love, lust, like, or an insane amount of infatuation. I’ve never loved anyone or anything before. Yes, I’ve had sexual partners, but they never meant anything to me. Those elves—and some fae—were just a way for me to pass the time when I wasn’t killing people. I figured that if I liked stabbing people with my knife, certainly I would enjoy stabbing people with my dick.

But with Kassandra…

It’s different.

I don’t quite know how yet, but I feel it in my soul.

She’s different from any female I’ve been with in the past. She’s warm and real and vibrant, and one look from her melts the ice that encased my heart for far too many years.

But is that love?

I certainly get a warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest whenever I think about her. And sometimes, my palms get a little sweaty and my heartbeat picks up speed.

Perhaps…

Or maybe it’s just diarrhea.

I make a mental note to study the differences between the two.

I can see that Treyton is contemplating Blaze’s words as well, but for once, I can’t read the expression on the young prince’s face. He’s completely closed off to me.

“I’m not giving her up.” I don’t even realize I’ve spoken until both princes turn to stare at me.

“Never,” Blaze vows.

“You’ll have to kill me first,” adds Treyton resolutely.

The three of us survey one another critically. Keenly. Gauging the sincerity of our statements and checking for cracks in our armors.

They both say that now, but will they remain by her side when she ultimately gives in to the seductive pull of Chaos? When she brings about a storm of havoc they have no chance of escaping from?

And what will Kassandra do when she discovers the truth? Currently, she’s in the dark, but I know we can’t hide this from her any longer. Even if the others disagree, I’ll tell her the truth.

Will she accept all three of us? Four of us, if I’m right in my assessment of Calan? Will she only choose one?

I once again glance at the others and feel my resolve harden.

I’ll kill them if that’s what it takes to keep Kassandra safe and by my side.

I just pray I won’t have to.