Prologue
My parents.
Their fame and notoriety hung over me like an ominous cloud. Everybody was always telling me how much they expected from me. How much I had to live up to.
I mean, these two supposedly made a deal with the King of the Fae for the protection of our people, somehow got fancy Fae armor out of it, though my father lost his neat barrier flames. They recruited Centaurs to join our Kingdom, sparked this whole insane supernatural myth about them because she’s some kind of part goddess and he’s a wolf shifter. Oh and don’t even get me started about how those genetics combined! My sister’s fine, she takes after my mom, her shifting is stable. My twin brothers? Totally turned into pack animals themselves. Me? I get angry, lightning strikes the damn castle. Oh excuse me, ‘Fortress’. Mom refuses to act like it’s an actual castle.
Should I want to escape? I end up unintentionally turning into some small animal that can fit through holes in walls. Or windows.
When my grandmother wanted me to wear a dress for my coronation and I refused, I even turned into a pony after I found out she’d instructed the stablehands not to let me escape with a horse. Joke’s on you grandmother! Who needs a horse when you can become one?
Took ‘em three days to catch me. I think. I was a horse, I didn’t care about the days. And in the end, it was my father they had to send after me. I heard he laughed uproariously when he heard what I’d done. Well he wasn’t laughing when he caught me. If it wasn't for the healing genetics I’d inherited, I’d probably still have teeth marks in my shoulder where he had to wrestle me to the ground. I wasn’t going back
Well, so I thought.
And now I stand beside them in disbelief. I’m supposed to be training to take over someday, so I listen to the affairs of the court, observe my parent’s mediations, step in when asked, handle whatever is given to me. But when the slender, long-haired male walked into the throne room, I’d nearly had a heart attack.
Were those..wings? I’d heard tales, but..
The crowd more or less melted in front of him, automatically scurrying out of his way. His dark hair was pulled back exposing pointed ears, too long to be human, but not long enough to draw attention to them. Unless the hair was styled to purposefully draw the eye, and I was pretty sure his was. He had no facial hair, but he would look good with it. Angular features, cat-like eyes that seemed almost colorless at first, with slitted pupils that changed, settling into a darker colored and unnatural blue green.
“Erl King.” My father greeted him. When the Fae turned, I noticed he had piercings up one pointed ear. They looked like.. real diamonds, and gave him a pirate-like look. My eyes shot to my mother. She told a story of the Fae King gifting her a true diamond once. It took me a moment to realize the Fae King was speaking, and I had missed half of it already. I had been too busy examining the leather bracer on his right wrist and the way his clothing seemed to scream wealth while still remaining simple. His wings buzzed and my gaze returned to his face. He was looking straight at me now. I suddenly felt very uncomfortable and fidgeted.
“What do you mean you’ve come for your payment?” My father bellowed, shoving himself from his throne. I could already see the changes overtaking his appearance. His eyes turning yellow as his teeth lengthened and his nails sharpened.
“Exactly as I’ve said.” The Fae King is staring at me still. “Laoina.. Come to me, child..” He holds out a hand and I find my feet moving despite trying to resist.
“Mother? Father?” I try to twist to look at them. My mother is standing with a hand on her swollen abdomen, reaching for my father, who has fallen to his hands and knees, back arched and a look of pain crossing his face. The Fae King tsks.
“Apparently, you must be reminded. Your power is mine.” The Fae King states to my father, a twisted smile quirking his lips. He squeezes his hand into a fist and my Father howls, then looks back to me to gesture. I continue walking, right toward the edge of the dias. There are no stairs in front of me, just a drop of about four feet, and I try to scramble backwards, but can’t fight the forward momentum. The Fae King tsks again and closes his hand into a fist once more. “Come now, Loaina.” He says it like ‘Lina’, but with some fancy twist I couldn’t add if I wanted to. I yip as my body basically jumps off the stage against my will. The Fae King grins, but catches me. I take in several shaky breaths.
“It’s Malina, you bastard.” I gripe and the Fae King laughs. Why does he have to have such a pretty laugh? And Gods, is that what he smells like? My Shifter side is on overdrive. I wanna roll in it. Stop sniffing up the scary Fae, Malina.
“Malina! No! You can’t take our daughter! We made no such deal!” My mother screams. I hope she doesn’t go into early labor. The Fae King turns back to face my parents.
“The Bargain was not struck with you.” He shifts to look at my Uncle. “It was with dear Reginald. Perhaps you should discuss with him how he gave up the path his future would take to protect you, my Queen.” The Fae King’s malicious gaze returns to my mother. “That future included a wife and a child. A son in fact, that was the destined mate of your child. However, destiny has been altered. And now, that future belongs to me. She shall be my bride. My destined mate.” Uncle Reggie falls to the floor and cries out. I wince. I know he has a bum leg. My mother just keeps whispering ‘no’ as the Fae King turns and carries me towards the door of the throne room. I try to struggle, but my body is stuck, clinging to the Fae King like I actually want to go with him. The last thing I see before everything around me ripples weirdly like looking up at the world from under water is my father’s eyes, full of tears, and my mother, clinging to him for dear life as she sobs.
I promise myself, I’ll do anything to return to them. And then the world winks out.
