Chapter 4

Two houndsmen brought a tub up to Zander’s room and filled it with hot water.

“Not up to your standards?” Zander asked with a chuckle when he caught me eyeing it with a scrunched nose.

As a matter of fact, it wasn’t. The tub was too small to recline in, and the water would probably hardly cover my chest. I had a private bathing pool back in our palace, and I suddenly missed it fiercely. A wave of melancholy washed over me when I thought about my home and how I didn’t know when I’d see it next.

“It’s fine.” I crossed the room to go into my own and await the attendant to bring my tub.

“Where are you going, little bird?” Zander asked.

I stopped, glaring at him. “To have my bath.”

He grinned, and it felt like the heat of the sun had bloomed to life inside of me.

“This is your bath. Our bath,” he said.

My eyes widened. “We’re sharing this bath?” I asked in horror.

“Ladies first, and don’t dally in the water or I’ll come over there and pull you out. I don’t want the water chilled for my turn.”

I scrunched my nose, thinking of how he’d have to bathe in my dirty water. Yuck. Did this land have no modern amenities? I should probably be more appreciative that he was letting me bathe first, but I wouldn’t allow myself to feel anything warm toward my captor. It was his fault, after all, that we were in this situation.

I turned from the tub to glare at him. “I’m waiting for you to leave,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

He crossed his arms, mirroring my posture. “You’re funny, little bird. I’ve made it very clear I’m not going anywhere.”

Little bird. What was with this nickname I’d somehow acquired?

“You can’t be serious. I can’t disrobe with you here!” My stomach hollowed out at just the thought. I was desperate to wash some of the crusted blood off my wrists, but I’d rather never bathe again than bathe in front of him. The small, private latrine room here only had enough room to relieve yourself, but the bathtub had to be brought up and placed in the back of the room to fit.

Zander heaved a sigh and lifted his gaze to the ceiling. “Out of all the maidens in Ethereum, I had to arrest the most modest one.”

“I didn’t ask to be arrested,” I snapped back at him. And if not wanting a strange man to see me naked was too modest, then I didn’t want to know what the other women he’d been around were like.

With a shake of his head, he stomped over to the wall next to me and grabbed a thin rope that was hanging there. Pulling it to the other side of the room, he attached it to a hook on the opposite wall. When he pulled the thin blanket off the bed and threw it over the rope, I realized it was clothesline used for drying. Once he was done arranging the blanket in front of the tub, he stepped back and asked, “Good enough?”

With the blanket suspended in front of the tub, the bathing area was now separated from the rest of the room. It wasn’t as good as a wall, but I supposed I could make do.

Giving the tiniest of nods, I tipped my chin high as I walked to the other side of the makeshift barrier and then started taking off my shoes and clothes.

After stripping off my clothes and leaving them in a neat pile next to the tub, I stepped into the water and sank down, hissing when the hot water touched the raw skin at my wrists. None of the wounds were still open—thank goodness as a royal seelie I healed quickly—but the water still stung. I’d have to hide my rapid healing from Zander, as that might give me away, but it shouldn’t be too hard. I only need to think ill of him to recut my wrists.

“Everything okay?” Zander called, and I snorted. Like he really cared.

“I’m fine,” I said, and then added, “No thanks to you,” under my breath. I was pretty sure he heard me because he just chuckled.

The brute. Finding humor in my discomfort.

I gnashed my teeth, thinking about the ways I could make him bleed, but then had to force myself to clear my head when I felt the cuff’s teeth pressing against my already sensitive skin.

Picking up the bar of soap and small hand towel the houndsmen had brought up, I scrubbed myself clean and did my best to wash my long hair. My movements were quick and efficient, and I didn’t waste any time enjoying the warm water, because I was worried the brutish fae would make good on his threat and try to pull me out if he thought I was taking too long.

When I finished, I wiped myself dry as best I could with the only full towel available and then dressed. Before leaving to let Zander bathe, I grabbed the single towel and wrapped my hair up on the top of my head with it. Now he’d have to drip dry, or dress while wet, I didn’t really care. Getting one over on him, even in this small way, made me immensely happy, and I was practically whistling as I emerged from behind the blanket barrier.

Zander was reclining on the bed with a book, his gaze on me instead of the pages in front of him. His eyes were half-lidded and a bit glazed as he stared at me. Something about the way he was looking at me made a knot of heat tighten in my gut. I looked down at myself, but nothing was out of place, so I brushed it off.

“I’m going to go to sleep now,” I announced as Zander got to his feet.

“I’ll be by to secure your cuffs when I’m done. Don’t go anywhere or I’ll make you sleep on the ground next to me,” he said, his voice a little gruffer than usual.

I just rolled my eyes, a smirk on my face as I imagined him realizing I’d swiped the only towel.

Heading toward the bed in my adjoining room, I snuck a glance back at where Zander had just disappeared behind the blanket barrier and froze, my smile instantly fading and the towel I’d stolen all but forgotten.

The blanket he put over the clothesline was semitransparent, and the lantern next to the tub shone light in such a way that I could clearly see Zander’s silhouette as he pulled off his shirt and then reached down to untie his pants.

I gasped, realizing Zander had probably seen almost all of me as I’d gotten in and out of the tub, yet he hadn’t said a thing.

“You’ve gotten rather quiet over there,” Zander said as he started to pull his pants off. Shock kept my gaze glued to his form. “Should I be worried that you’ve tried to escape?”

Words clogged in my throat as fury mixed with embarrassment, each emotion fighting for dominance.

“Or should I just assume you’re enjoying the show?” he asked with a chuckle when I didn’t answer.

My fists clenched, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d unnerved me. “Not much of a show,” I managed to force out, but he just chuckled again as he stepped into the tub.

The sound of the water splashing as he sat finally snapped me out of it enough to turn away and march back into my room.

That fae! I fumed. The minute these cuffs come off, I’m going to castrate him.

This time when serrated teeth pricked my skin, I didn’t even mind.

* * *

One moment I was sound asleep and the next my eyes popped open, and I was fully awake. A muted shout from the adjoining room had me shoving to my feet and rushing toward it with my hands bound in front of me. True to his word, Zander had reconnected the cuffs after his bath. I followed the shout as I stumbled through the open doorway to Zander’s room to find him wrestling on his bed with a masked figure dressed in black. The fae above him was armed with a curved dagger and trying to slice Zander’s throat. I stopped short, confused why Zander didn’t just throw the assailant off—I’d seen first-hand how strong he was when he hefted me onto his horse, and it was just one fae—but then I spotted the barely discernable layer of sheer green magic blanketing him from head to toe.

They’d thrown a dampener spell over Zander before attacking, rendering any magic he had useless and dampening his physical strength. Smart. I didn’t know the full extent of Zander’s powers, just that according to the journals all seelie and unseelie in Ethereum had some sort of magic, just like in Faerie. For my people, it was to harness the sun’s rays, even to a small extent, but for him it might be to take a man’s breath or be able to lift twenty times his weight. I was guessing something like the latter.

Even with the dampener though, he seemed to be holding his own and hadn’t yet gotten his throat slit.

“A little help?” Zander growled through clenched teeth when he spotted me behind his assailant, the dagger inching even closer to his neck.

I started forward, but then hesitated. With Zander gone, I’d be free of these cuffs. I’d have lost my guide to Noreum, but maybe I could find another. Perhaps it was in my best interest to just let this play out?

“Did I forget to mention that if I die before your cuffs fall off, you’re stuck with them forever,” he said, the strain obvious in his voice.

Drat!

For better or worse, I was well and truly stuck with this infuriating fae.

Reaching down, I snagged my sunstone dagger in my bound hands and flew toward the murderer, slamming the blunt end of my weapon against the masked fae’s head. He went down immediately, slumping against Zander, who shoved the body off him and sat up. Shaking his head, Zander ran a hand through the strands of his dark hair and then looked up at me. I could tell he was a little stunned by the incident and the dampener spell was still cast over him. I could see the sickly green glowing rune peeking out from under his shirt. Lucky for him, I was well versed in how to disable them.

With the attacker out cold, I re-sheathed my weapon as I knelt on the bed next to him. “Do you want to explain to me—?”

“Behind you,” Zander shouted, and I twisted, instinctually throwing my hands out in front of me and sending a bolt of sunlight magic at a fae who, from the looks of it, was just about to run me through with his sword.

My magic hit the fae square in the chest and the smell of burning flesh filled the room as he cried out in pain. The force of the hit sent him flying back into the wall behind him. His body slammed into it and then went straight through it to the adjoining room.

Zander popped out of bed as two more masked fae entered the room and rushed at us from what I could now see was a kicked-in door. Zander immediately engaged one of the attackers, which didn’t give me a chance to help shatter the dampener.

I pulled my dagger, but the fae who had now reached me kicked it from my grip in one quick stride.

Rage uncoiled within me as the blood furiously pumped through my veins, and bound hands or not, my years of training kicked in. I didn’t have a weapon right now, but I didn’t truly need one. I was the weapon.

Now that the other assailant was in range I twisted my body to deliver a side kick to his solar plexus. The hit didn’t put him down but made him stumble back a few steps and reassess me.

“Zander, my hands,” I yelled over to him before the masked fae rushed me again.

My magic was strong, I could finish these attackers in seconds if I were to fully unleash a concentrated sunlight beam on them, but I could also take them down without it. I’d already shown Zander too much. If he suspected I was from Faerie I wouldn’t survive the night, so I might as well save my powers for when I really needed them. Besides, I’d been itching for a real fight since the moment Zander slapped these cuffs on my wrists, and since smashing his pretty face in wasn’t an option, I could use the outlet for my rage and frustration. I might be a lady and a princess, but I’d always found a good fight to be cathartic.

Zander cursed from somewhere behind me then yelled back, “Give me a minute.”

Right. Like the masked fae was going to wait until my hands were unbound to attack.

Zander and I were going to have some words when this was all over. Who were these fools anyway? And why were they attacking us?

With a wicked smile, the fae in front of me pulled two daggers free from his thigh holsters and came at me again, swinging the blades in an arc. Waiting until the last moment, I ducked out of the way, dropping low and then swiping my leg out to hit the fae’s ankles and bring him to the ground. He hit the floor with a grunt, and I didn’t waste time kicking hard in his ribs and grinning at the satisfying crunch of bone. I followed it up with another kick to the head and the fae went limp, lights out.

Since it was clear he wasn’t going to get up, I looked for Zander, who was trading blows with the other fae across the room.

“The key,” I yelled to him just as he delivered an uppercut that snapped his opponent’s head back at an odd angle.

Ouch.

Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed the key and tossed it to me, taking a blow to the side of his head for his troubles.

The key arced through the air and I caught it with my clasped hands. I had to grab the end of it with my teeth and bring my hands to my face to insert the small piece of metal into the lock. I’d only just separated the cuffs when arms banded around my waist from behind.

Snapping my head upward, I smashed the back of my skull into my captor’s nose. Shouting in pain, his hold on me loosened and I broke free. I shoved the key into the side pocket of my fur-lined pants and then swung around, jamming the heel of my palm into his nose to ensure that it was well and truly broken.

The masked fae continued to come at me, but his movements were sloppy, and with my hands free I knew he didn’t have a chance. It was only seconds before I had him on the ground again, whaling on him with my fists as he tried to cover his head and face. Before I could put him down for good, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head just in time to see the fae I’d previously knocked out with my sunlight magic rushing past me and heading straight toward Zander, who couldn’t see the attack coming because his back was turned.

Reaching down to grasp the fae’s head in my hands that lay beneath me, I snapped his neck quickly and then shoved off of him. I swooped low and snatched my discarded dagger from the floor, and with a flick of my wrist launched it at the assailant headed toward Zander. The blade found purchase in the fae’s shoulder, and he howled in pain.

Zander’s head snapped up and he spun to meet the new threat before the fae could lay a hand on him, clotheslining him across the neck.

I started toward Zander, but the look on his face gave me pause. A menacing darkness came over his features as he grabbed one of his attackers and tossed them over his shoulder and into the dirty tub of water at the back of the room.

I sucked in a breath. That was an impressive feat for someone whose strength was hindered. I’d been hit with a dampener once in training and could hardly lift my sword afterward. He was a beast to still have that amount of strength and stamina. That really must be what magic he carried, strength magic. Impressive. And nothing the fae in my court carried.

When Zander’s gaze swung back to me, unnatural embers sparked in the depths of his blue eyes as his magic tried to break free from the dampener spell. I almost didn’t recognize him.

Do I look like that when I battle? I wondered. Crazed and bloodthirsty?

The open doorway to the hall suddenly filled with more masked fae. They rushed at Zander, making it three against one. Too bad I still needed the bastard to bring me before his lord. This would have been the perfect time to slip away.

I sighed. This was fun and all, but I was ready to shut it down.

Sprinting the short distance to where Zander battled the three remaining masked fae, I jumped on the back of one of them, hooking my legs around their waist and shifting my weight to bring us both down to the floor. The fae swiped at me with his blade, but he couldn’t get a good shot because I was still attached to his back. Slipping a hand over his eyes, I lit up my palm with sunlight magic and blinded him. He clawed at my hand, dropping his weapon. Untangling myself from him, I scooped up the blade and sank it deep into his neck before joining Zander.

Zander and I positioned ourselves back-to-back, defending ourselves and each other against the two remaining fae who were still alive and conscious. Within moments we’d managed to take them out too, me by sinking my dagger into one’s chest, and Zander with an uppercut to his opponent’s jaw.

When they hit the floor, we stood there panting, waiting for another wave of attackers. After a few moments when nothing happened, Zander sighed in relief.

“Get your boots on and grab your things. We can’t stay here,” he barked.

I wasn’t about to argue about leaving. We had to get out of there. At any moment we could be attacked again, but there was something we had to take care of first.

I stared at Zander. “Take off your shirt.”

His eyes went half-lidded. “As much as I would love to do whatever you have planned for me in that regard, we really need to leave.”

I rolled my eyes and grasped the bottom of his shirt, yanking it up.

Sweet mother of all things beautiful. His abdomen was chiseled perfection, tan, tight—focus, Dawn!

I shook my head and stared at the rune etched onto his lower stomach. You could draw a dampener rune with your hand, but with the right incantation one of the masked fae could have thrown the dampener on Zander without even getting within arm’s length of him.

“Oh yes, that.” Zander peered down at it as if it were an annoyance to him. “Do you know how to?”

I gave him another eye roll. “Of course I do.”

Grabbing a small throwing knife off one of the bodies at my feet, I began to draw the rune pattern, but in reverse, hovering just above his skin and careful not to cut him. It was a methodical skill where one had to be somewhat of an artist, careful to draw the rune exactly in reverse to cancel the spell it had cast. When I was done, the green webbing surrounding him melted away.

“Thanks,” he said as he rolled his shoulders.

Regretfully, I dropped his shirt, covering his beautiful stomach.

I nodded before rushing back to my room to grab my belongings and strap on my sunstone dagger in safety. I also stowed some of the throwing knives the other fae had dropped. In less than a minute we were both fully dressed and armed. As we were heading for the door, I glanced at Zander to see that he had a deep cut on his shoulder which was dripping blood down his arm. “Hey, you’re—” I gasped when I saw that his blood was the color of a raven’s feather.

“I’m fine.” He quickly pulled his cloak around his body to cover it up and looked at me nervously.

I had to school my features, not to give anything away, but my heart was racing so fast that a wave of dizziness washed over me.

He bleeds black.

Only the Ethereum lords and those in their royal family line were cursed to bleed black. It was what primed them to carry the magic that healed my world. He was an heir, probably the brother or nephew of Lord Roan, which made sense that he was the commander of the Northern Army. Oftentimes, the Ethereum lords would put heirs and family members in positions of high power. I couldn’t help but want to squeal in excitement. Of course he was being so strict with me about the threat to Roan’s life that I claimed to have overheard. He was heir to an Ethereum throne and protecting his lord and family member. Maybe an uncle or even his own father. It all made sense now.

My hand dropped to the sheath that held my sunstone dagger, but I forced it away before my fingers could curl over the hilt. Even so, the cuffs tightened a little in warning.

“I mean, not to brag, but I’m not hurt.” I made a joke so that he would assume I never saw the color of his blood in the dimly lit room.

He rolled his eyes. “Come on, little bird, let’s hurry so we can keep it that way.”

I followed him out of the room, and we ran down the inn steps. There was no one at the front desk. The whole place was eerily quiet. But Zander stopped me before busting out into the street.

“This way,” he said, waving me over to a side door that was less conspicuous, and dumped us right next to a private alleyway that was cloaked in shadows.

It was still dark out, with only a hint of the sun coming up. The frigid chill in the air had me pulling the cloak tighter around myself and dreaming of the sunny days of the Summer Court.

Zander peered across the street to the stable where his stallion was.

“We run in three, two—” He burst from the coverage of the alley, and I was right behind him, making barely a sound as I ran in the way Master Duncan had taught me. Heel to toe, rolling my foot so that I didn’t smack the gravel and make too much noise. When we tucked ourselves into the darkness of the barn, Zander saddled the horse as I stood as lookout, my senses on high alert.

After mounting Omen, Zander reached an arm down, helped me swing up behind him, then kicked his heels and the black horse took off. I had to wrap my arms around Zander’s waist to keep from falling off as we hightailed it out of town in the early hours of the morning. I was grateful he hadn’t asked me to reconnect the cuffs and the key was still in my pocket. Either he was too busy, or I’d earned a small bit of his trust back there. Now just to get them to fall off completely and I was in business.

When we were several miles away from the inn, Zander allowed his horse to slow to a more manageable speed.

“Okay, what was that all about? Who were those fae?” I demanded. Truth be told, my mind was still reeling from the black blood I’d seen on his arm and what it all meant, how it would get me closer to getting the heart of an Ethereum lord, but I couldn’t ask him about that.

We were pressed close enough together that I felt his body go rigid, his back muscles tensing.

Zander shook his head. “I don’t know.”

I didn’t believe him. He was hiding something. I had a feeling this hadn’t been an isolated incident.

“You realize with my hands bound together like that, I could have died,” I snarled.

“You seemed to be holding your own.”

“I already told you I can protect myself, but that doesn’t negate the fact that having my hands bound together during a fight puts me at a severe disadvantage. Especially if you think this kind of thing might happen again.”

Zander fell silent, then after a few moments said, “All right. I won’t reattach them.”

I knew it. He thought this could happen again.

“That was some pretty impressive sunlight power you showed back there. What other magic do you wield?” he asked calmly. Too calmly.

My internal alarms started to sound. Every seelie had magic to some extent. But only royals in my world had such power over the elements as I’d just demonstrated. Was it the same here? Did he suspect me? Had he noticed the sunstone in the hilt of my dagger?

We always assumed the Ethereum fae were in the dark about Faerie. Our worlds had been separated for thousands and thousands of years. But was it possible the creators who built Ethereum so long ago had left extensive information about us for their descendants? Would they know the powers royals possessed? Was it possible that Ethereum citizens knew more about Faerie than we thought?

I shook my head. I was being silly. Perhaps one of the lords had some limited knowledge of us or our realm. After all, we’d been traveling to their land and assassinating them one by one for as long as their world existed, but I didn’t think they would know intricate details of our land and people.

What I needed to focus on was finding out how Zander was related to the Northern lord. He was a black bleeder. That meant he was royalty as far as Ethereum was concerned. When I killed the Northern lord, he could be next in line to the throne. Now that we were out of the heat of the moment, the glee I felt when I found out he was a royal started to melt into fear. I was currently holding on to the waist of an heir to an Ethereum throne. My mortal enemy. But he wasn’t like the monster I’d been told the lords were. Maybe that didn’t happen until he took the throne. I had seen a darkness come over him when he’d fought back there. Maybe the beast was waiting just below the surface.

“I have powers that would blow your mind.” Literally. “If you take off these cuffs I’ll show you,” I taunted playfully, hoping it would ease his mind about me.

His body relaxed a fraction, and he glanced back at me with a smirk. “As I already mentioned a great many times, when you stop intending harm to me, they’ll fall off.” His gaze slid down the limited amount of my body that he could see from his position in front of me, then back up again before settling on my face. “But I won’t deny that it would be my great pleasure to see whatever other parts of you that you desire to show me.”

Warmth settled low in my gut at the suggestive twinkle in his eye and tone of his voice, reminding me he’d probably already seen more than I was willing to show him because of his trick with the bath last night. I had no doubt this fae was quite the womanizer, but I had no intention of revealing the effect he had on me.

“What I desire now is for you to become intimate …” I lowered my voice into a whisper and Zander’s brows rose as he waited for me to finish my thought. I leaned closer so I could whisper the next words directly into his ear. “… with the end of my blade.”

I might not be skilled at seduction, but coming up with clever ways to threaten this fae came easily to me. Interestingly enough, I expected the cuffs to squeeze my wrists, but they didn’t, which made me frown. Did I not want to see him dead anymore? When did that happen?

Zander let out a deep bellow of laughter and turned back to the road. “I don’t doubt for a second, little bird, that that is your deepest desire.”

I grinned, and was I imagining it or did these cuffs just get looser?