Forever Fae (32 page)

‘
Think, Calista! You have to stop this!
’
  My inner monologue is screaming at me to put a stop to this, but what
can
I do?

I slightly push against his chest and make my breathing sound frantic like I
am
really turned on, when actually I
am
disgusted with myself
because of
what I had to do. 

Sounding breathless I ask, “I thought you had plans to take me into the village tonight.”

He steps b
ack
,
looks up at the ceiling and
then
breathes a sigh of annoyance.
  I
have
to make him leave this room.  I try to persuade him that I really want to go into the village.

I bounce up and dow
n with excitement and plaster a
fake smile on my face
.

“I really want to go into the village.  It would be nice to meet some of the people.
” I run my hand down his arm and ask softly, “
What kind of
q
ueen
would I be if I didn’t take care of
our
people?”

He narrows his eyes and holds his hands up
in defeat.  He smiles at me and s
eeing
th
e
evil smile on Avery’s face is just disturbing, but he’s obviously amused at my excitement
.

“Okay,
you made your point, but we have a stop to make at the prison first.
I want you to see how I work and I also have a surprise for you.
” He looks down at the talisman resting between my breasts and touches it tenderly before he says,
“
By the way things are looking
,
I
should be able to take that talisman off of you tonight.  Your power is going to ma
ke this night magical for us because p
ower exchange is the ultimate orgasm and this night will be one you will never forget.” He winks and then bends down to give me one last possessive kiss.  Both of his
hands grab my face in a fierce
grip and he pulls me forward to meet my lips with his. I breathe a sigh of relief when he lets me go. He turns to walk out of the room
,
expecting me to follow and as I do my smile quickly diminishes.
  He says he has a surprise for me, but do I really
want
to know what kind of surprise it is
? No,
but unfortunately I have to find out.
My body goes cold and my steps are heavy as I walk behind the dark sorcerer in Avery’s body. 

He turns to grab my hand and walks me to the door. 

“This w
ill soon all be yours, Calista.
  After tonight
,
when I take you to my bed it will all be yours.”
 

‘
I don’t think so!
’
I want to scream it at the top of my lungs, but
I seem to have lost my voice because no words are making themselves come out of my mouth.  My throat tightens up and I look up at him with a forced smile.  Please let this be the end tonight.

Chapter 24

Ryder

Merrick and I arrive at the Black Forest by sundown.  I dismount from Artemis and give her some water.  I couldn’t have taken this journey without her speed and agility.  Even though the journey through the valley was long and tiresome, the thought of being this close to Calista has sent an adrenaline surge throughout my body.  My body trembles with the need for action and my heart feels like it’s about to pound out of my chest.  I look over to see that Merrick is stretching out his limbs and pacing back and forth
.
I
t
seems he’s just as restless as me. 

Neither one of us has spoken to each other yet.  The
entire
journey here I could tell he was deep in thought with his brows furrowed and his mouth in a constant frown.  I turn back to Artemis and I see that her head is lowered and she’s looking at the ground.  Artemis is extremely smart for a mare and her feelings have always been in tune with mine.  With her head being low she knows what I’m going to ask her to do, and I know she doesn’t like it.  I gently caress her neck and scratch behind her ears.  She loves to get her ears scratched.  She lets a throaty huff and I know that is the equivalent of a laugh.  I move over so she can see my eyes and how serious I am when I command her softly to do as I say
.

“Listen to me, girl.  I want you to stay here until I return with the
p
rincess
.  Do
not
follow me in there,” I say as I point to the oily dark trees of the Black Forest.  “If you hear someone coming
,
run as fast as you possibly can out of here.  Are we clear?” I demand as I raise my eyebrows and tilt my head waiting for her to answer.  She blows out a puff of air that definitely tells me she’s not happy with me and then she lifts her muzzle up and down to accentuate that she understands and she will obey.

“Good girl,” I murmur softly.  I kiss her muzzle and pat her back.  I leave her to walk over to Merrick
,
who has Calista’s silver locket resting in the palm of his hand and his
g
uardian
dagger in the other.  His red, watery eyes meet mine for a quick second before he turns away.  His shoulders slump
,
he takes a deep breath and his voice
breaks
when he speaks
.

“I spent this whole journey in denial.  I have loved Calista ever since we were children, and I knew it was never going to be enough.  When you came along
,
the pieces fell into place and I knew then that I had lost her.  I just wanted to hold on for as long as I could.” 

He stares down at the locket and his chin trembles. 

“I hated you for taking her away from me and I still do, but you both have an important role to play for the survival or our lands and I can’t come between
it
.  I see that now, but I am her
g
uardian
and I will
always
be there for her.  I will protect not only her body, but her heart, and I know it belongs to you,” he sadly replies.  He looks at the locket for a little while longer and then he looks up at me with a small smile forming and a smart ass expression. I realize how strong
of
a character Merrick is.  He accepts defeat and comes rearing back with humor.  I can see why Calista befriended him.

“You may have won the girl, but I will be there every second
I can
to bust your balls,” he
says,
grinning
wickedly.

Leave it to Merrick to make something like this funny.  He reminds me so much of my brother, Kalen.  They both like to joke and play around. 

I reach my hand to grasp his forearm in the traditional warrior greeting and say, “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.  She cares for you and I know she wants you in her life. 
Other than me, no
one
could protect her better than you.” I watch his reaction as everything I’ve said sinks in and I see respect showing in his eyes.  Maybe things will work out after all.

“Now let’s go rescue our
p
rincess
,” I command while motioning toward the Black Forest.

Merrick looks at me and
shakes his head no.

“It’s time to rescue our
q
ueen
.
”

He takes the dagger and with a slight hiss he pricks his finger to draw a drop of blood.  He opens the locket and the drop of blood falls silently inside
it
.  Merrick closes the locket and clasps it around his neck.  A few seconds pass and then his form begins to fade.  When he completely vanishes, I become invisible as well.  Turning invisible is very easy for
me because a
ll I have to do is imagine it and it happens instantly.  I get a feeling of feathers floating across my skin as I chan
ge appearance. I also have the ability to make
different parts of my body visible while the others stay unseen.  I have scared numerous people in the mortal realm by
using
this trick.

“Ryd
er, are we ready?” Merrick asks impatiently.

“I believe we a
re.  Stay close and stay quiet,” I answer back.

Our steps are silent as we make our way through the Black Forest. 
It
is completely dark, but
because we are
fae, we can see pretty well.  It’s been eerily quiet other than the sounds of our breathing.  The smell of death and decay burn my nose
,
making it hard to breathe, and the stench makes my stomach churn.  We continue on
at
a fast pace for about an hour before we finally see some light.  Up ahead must be the village.  We get a little closer and see little dwellings and different types of houses scattered around the grounds and in the trees.  I see the biggest tree ahead
,
to
ward the end of the village, and I know that must be where we have to go.

We walk along the outskirts of the village to avoid the various fae creatures. 
We can see t
he dark sorcerer’s army consist
s
of thousands of trolls, brownies, red caps, giants, and even different types of animals that I have never seen before in the Land of the Fae.  I could see the various
Summer
and Winter Court fae that either must be traitors or were forced to join.  Everyone is scattered through the village
,
celebrating and enjoying a massiv
e feast which
must be in celebration
of
the
p
rincess
being here. 

I can tell by their appearance
which
fae are from each court.  Most look like local villagers from the courts
,
but there are some that look like warriors as well.  How dare these people turn on their courts?  The villagers I
imagine were
forced to follow, but the warriors had to want to do it.  Any honorable warrior would have sacrificed his life before following the evil of the dark sorcerer.  Seeing all the fae that belonged to my court bowing down to a dark sorcerer makes me furious.  I wish I could storm through and kill every single one of them, but I can’t. 
I don’t recognize any one of them because they probably switched over before I was born.
The time will co
me to strike, but for tonight I am here only for Calista.

Merrick breaks the silence with a whisper, “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

I let out an angry breath
.

“Yes, unfortunately, I see what you’re seeing, but
we can’t think about them right now.  We need to get to the big tree and get Calista before I turn all ice
boy
on these fuckers.”

Merrick laughs quietly
.

“I see I am rubbing off on you
,
huh?
Ice boy.”
  He can’t see me flipping him off since we’re invisible, but I do it anyway.

We
walk for a couple more minutes and then we get to the big tree.  It’s massive in size so the house inside of it has to be huge as well
.
The door opens and I see Avery walk out with Calista in tow.  A hiss escapes from both Merrick and I and Calista pauses for a brief second like
she
’s
heard it.  Does the connection to Merrick work out here?  Why the hell is
Avery
holding her hand like that
?
Where
is the dark s
orcerer?  I also want to know
why she is in those clothes
.
Her
breasts are about t
o pop out any
second
. They
look like lovers going on a midday stroll, but in this case it would be lovers going to the brothel.
I turn my eyes away to take a deep breath.  I need to stop overthinking things and
stop
letting jealousy cloud my vision.
Elvena says to trust her.  I almost lost her to doubt and I won’t do it again.  I have to believe that she knows what she’s doing, ev
en though it’s painful to watch
.
I’m dying to rip out his fucking throat.

I hear Merrick shuffling beside me and
he
whispers as quietly as he can
.

“She’s talking to me
,
Ryder, but once she gets in
to one of the dwellings she’ll
lose the connection.  Apparently our magic works outside of the dwellings, but not inside. The dark sorcerer is inside of Avery’s body.  It seems that he can take hold of other people’s bodies somehow.  I told her to stay outside as much as possible to give us more options on how to rescue her.”