Alisa
When I left Azrael,I was reluctant. Faer had asked me to have lunch with him privately. I felt more comfortable with Azrael or Tiron by my side. Hell, maybe I was even happier with Duncan by my side, even though he growled insults atme.
At least it was a chance to press Faer on the Cursed Caves. He’d been avoiding me. I wasn’t going to bemoan the recent lack of parties, but I knew he had his own motives.
But when I walked out onto Faer’s balcony, he wasn’t alone. Raile was withhim.
“Why are you dressed like that?” Faer frowned. “Well, never mind. Raile’s never minded your quirks.”
“Or yours,” Raile told him, which almost made me smile.
The table was set for three, out on the balcony. It was blindingly bright out here with the sun reflecting off the ocean, and a crisp wind kept ruffling the tablecloth up so that it almost covered the plates.
“Raile is more comfortable out here,” Faer said, as if he recognized my unspoken question. “Closer to thesea.”
“Right,” I said. “You’re from the sea court?”
Raile nodded. He pulled my chair out for me, and I sat awkwardly. I’d been on some dates in the human world, and no one had pulled my chair out for me. My dates had been more pay-for-your-own-burrito, then hey-want-to-give-me-a-blowjob. They had not prepared me for the niceties of the Fae world.
“How long are you staying here?” I raised my cup to my lips and sipped something sweet and unfamiliar, the action covering up my nerves. I found Raile unnerving—sexy, but unnerving.
“I’ll need to go home and tend some matters soon,” Raile said. “I thought perhaps you’d come withme.”
I almost snorted whatever-Fae-fruit-juice-this-was out of my nose. “Why would you thinkthat?”
“Raile,” Faer said, “Perhaps this isn’t thetime.”
“I would like you to marry me,” Railesaid.
Faer pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers.
“I would like to not marry anyone,” I said. My fingers were suddenly so tense on the goblet I thought I might shatter it. I looked to Faer, my voice coming out barbed when I demanded, “Brother?”
“You are a princess,” he said. “You’ll have to marry someone, for the good of the kingdom.”
“Why don’t you marry Raile, then?” I demanded. “You’ll also have to marry, won’tyou?”
“An alliance with the sea court is essential to final victory for the summer court,” Faer said, as if I hadn’t offered a perfectly reasonable solution. “Otherwise, our enemies can attack us bysea.”
“An alliance sounds lovely. Great idea. There’s no reason I need to wear a white gown and carry flowers down the aisle with this dickwad—no offense, Raile—for us to form an alliance.”
I’d probably just failed all of Azrael’s princess lessons in one paragraph.
“You don’t need to wear a white gown,” Raile said, his tone reasonable. “You just need to come with me to the undersea.”
“The undersea,” I repeated. I rose from my seat, pushing away from the table. The wind whipped my hair into my face as I reeled, trying to figure out what to say. “I won’t marry anyone.”
“You will,” Faer said, his voice laced with steel. “Not today or tomorrow, but you are a princess. And Raile is patient.”
“I’ve already waited five years,” hesaid.
“Charming.” My hands shook with rage. “Why do you even want to marryme?”
A smile twisted Raile’s lips. Faer leaned toward him, shaking hishead.
But Raile ignoredhim.
“Revenge,” Raile told me, the word falling heavily betweenus.
And I thought relationships were fucked-up in the mortal world.
“Stay away from me,” I told him, my voice tight with fury. “I won’t marry you, it doesn’t matter how patient youare.”
“You will,” Raile called as I headed for the doors to Faer’s apartment. “You promised yourself to me, and I to you, long ago. There’s nothing stopping us from finding love, Princess Alisa.”
“You’re a madman!” I shouted before I ducked through the doors.
“You made me that way!” he yelled back, rising from the table. “With your tricks! With your cruelty!”
Then I was gone, running through the long marble antechamber and back through the maze of halls. I should’ve run to someplace private, to my own quarters, someplace I could think.
Instead, my feet carried me to the library where I’d found Azrael earlier.
I threw open the door and banged in. He looked up from his book, then rose, his face clouding as he took in my expression. I glimpsed Tiron and Duncan, who must have joined him in his search for answers, but neither of them mattered to me now. I was fixed on Azrael.
“You absolutely asshole,” I told him, right before I punched him across theface.
He stumbled back, catching himself against the shelves of books. I was already swinging for him again, but he didn’t let the second blow land; he ducked to one side, trying to catch my arm, but he and I were pretty evenly matched, except for his greater size. He kept trying to parry my blows, because he wouldn’t strike me, but I wanted himto.
Hit me back, Azrael. Hurt me. You can’t hurt me any worse than you alreadyhave.
“What is it exactly that you are accusing me of?” he demanded, as if I were the crazy one in this situation.
“You know that Faer brought me back here to marry Raile!” I exploded. “You let me think the Fae needed me. That I was supposed to come back here and rule. Instead, you brought me back for what—to be a slave in the undersea?”
“Don’t be dramatic.” He ducked a book as I threw it athim.
I ripped another off the shelf. I was being dramatic—and childish—but the hurt that tightened my chest felt as if it would crushme.
“No,” Duncan egged me on, “Be dramatic. He is an asshole.”
“Stop helping,” Azrael warned him, glancing over my shoulder athim.
“Oh, I’m not helping.” Duncan grinned.
“I told you I appreciated your friendship.” My eyes widened at my own stupidity as I lashed out at Azrael again, who just barely danced around the table, evading me. “I kissed you! Like an idiot. And you let me kissyou.”
Even Duncan wasn’t smiling now. He shook hishead.
“I’m sorry,” Azrael said, and this time, maybe on purpose, he didn’t duck when I hit him. My fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him backward against the shelves. The shelf rocked, and Tiron rushed to steady it. Books rained down from the shelves, and Azrael raised his arms to cover his head as they slammed into him and fell to the floor.
I shook my hand out. My knuckles ached. I didn’t feel any better.
Azrael faced me, his eyes wary, as he rubbed his jaw with onehand.
“I hate you,” I whispered, but the room had gone so quiet I could be heard in any corner. “You could have told me what Raile was plotting that first night, couldn’t you? But you didn’t. You said you’d keep me from looking foolish, but you’re the one who played me for afool.”
I stalked for the door, ignoring how miserable Azrael looked. Tiron started to follow me, but Duncan grabbed hisarm.
“You don’t deserve anything else, Princess,” Duncan called after me. “You don’t remember that, but wedo.”
Then he muttered, almost to himself, “At least, we do at times.”
“You know what?” I spun in the doorway. “Bullshit. I call bullshit on that. I know who I am, and I’m not the villain you want to paint me. That’s just a lie you tell yourself because it means you don’t owe me a damn thing—that you don’t have to be anything but villains yourselves.”
Then I ran to my chambers, my leather slippers whispering over the marble floors. The sound raised what might have been the thinnest thread of memory—running like this as a child, Faer pursuing me, both of us laughing.
Or maybe it was just my imagination.
Whatever it was, it had me crying as soon as I slammed the door between the Fae world and myself.
I wasn’t going to stay here. Not for long. Not lost in my tears, and not trapped in my gildedcage.
This princess was going to save herself.