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The most honest people in the world were liars. From the time I could talk, every other word out of my mouth was a lie, and I was glad of it. People usually lied for good reasons—to protect loved ones, to lessen bad news, or simply without conscious thought. The Fae never lied, but they told more falsehoods than any human I knew. They never downplayed their exhaustion, or told a friend they looked lovely to spare hurt feelings. They twisted their words into knots, taking pleasure in confusion and cruelty, while hiding behind the moral superiority of forced honesty.
“Slúagh,” was simply what the High Fae called those of us who belonged to neither realm entirely. Though I was born here, my mother was not. She was a changeling—a human child taken maliciously in the night and raised to serve the High Fae court. That made me one of “the Slúagh.” The crowd. The servants. The army. There wasn’t a perfect translation to the common tongue, but the meaning was clear.
My entire body woke up, humming to life. I only grasped the rock tighter. Without thinking, I hurled it at him. Bael’s yellow gaze went wide. Not in fear, clearly, but more in shock. Amusement, perhaps. He raised a hand, and the rock disintegrated in midair, centimeters before it would have hit his unnervingly perfect face. “What violent tendencies you have.” He cocked his head at me, the corner of his mouth tipping up. “You’re a little monster.”
I think it will be fun to watch you run and try to escape me, only to be caught in the end.”
“Relax, little monster,” Bael said. “We just want to talk.” I swallowed a laugh. Talk? No. Not possible. And yet, it had to be…because he couldn’t be lying. “About what?” “The question you should be asking, Sl–” Prince Scion broke off, clearly stopping short of calling me a Slúagh for some reason. “—isn’t what we want. You should think about what you want.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, as I tried to banish the fantasy. “What do you want?” Scion said again, harsher. My fear gave way to confusion. Then, Gwydion stepped forward, extending a hand to me as if to shake mine. “Sorry about them, no manners, I know.” I stared at his fingers like they were live snakes and recoiled. Prince Gwydion was the least familiar to me, if only because he had not been interested in my torment. Perhaps he was not as in sync as the other two—two halves of the same cruel coin. Still, I was not likely to accept his hand any time soon. “Don’t touch me.” He pulled his hand back.
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“What the fuck are you doing?” A man’s angry shout echoed off the stones of the corridor. “Why is she like this?” I felt myself falling as the guard released my arm, but the impact of the floor was nothing compared to the screaming pain in my skull. “Err,” one of the guards said proudly. “Just following orders, my lord. We weren’t soft on her, just like you wanted.” “What did you do to her?” The voice was low and cold. The guard laughed. “Just roughed her up a bit. No food. We could be more—” He broke off and the following silence was deafening. Curiosity made me crack one trembling eyelid
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“Why did you do that?” Prince Bael cocked his head to the side and smiled. He was exactly the same as I remembered him—the constantly grinning bully from the festivals. Red-blonde curls fell into his cat-like eyes, and blood from the guard splattered his chin and high cheekbones. “Because, you need to know I’ll kill anyone who hurts you, little monster.” If I could have laughed, I would have. “You’ll have to start with your own family then.” “Fine. Anyone who hurts you, except us. You’re ours to torture. No one else's.”
“And what do you want from me?” I asked, as icy dread settled in my stomach. “No humans survive the hunts. I’ll die anyway.” The corner of his mouth tipped up. “But that’s just it, little monster. I want to help you win.”
“Are you finished? I’m growing concerned you’re attempting to drown yourself and I will have to perform some sort of daring rescue.” I jumped, splashing water over the sides of the bath. “What the—” My entire body flushed hot, embarrassment washing over me. “I should warn you,” the prince said lazily, from where he sat on the marble floor with his back against the mirror. “I am not the rescuing type. More of the drowning type, honestly.” “What the fuck are you doing in here?” I folded in on myself, doing my best to cover my most important bits, only to realize that the enormous mirror and
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“You know what I dislike about humans? You lie, constantly, without even realizing it. It’s absurd. You will say the most outlandish things so casually as though they are fact, and not even blink an eye.” “I love that about humans. Fae have no imagination.”
Not only had putting the little monster in the dungeon possibly destroyed everything, she’d been nearly dead when I found her. I shuddered at the thought. Things like that did not usually bother me, yet the monster in the back of my head battled for dominance, growling to make its displeasure known. Scion had the audacity to scoff. Fuck it. “Oi!” Scion yelled, as I launched myself forward and shoved him backwards into the wall. His surprise allowed his magic to leak out, as I’d known it would, and agony shot up my arm as my fist connected with his face. I stumbled back, shivering, as pain
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“Do you often dress up your pigs before you slaughter them?” I asked, as Prince Bael placed the crown on my head.
“No, but I always sharpen my sword before a battle.”
“You’ll have to forgive the little monster, brother,” Bael said under his breath. “Her highness is both suspicious by nature and a bit rude. You may or may not get used to it.” “Sounds like Scion,” Gwydion said jovially. “I think we’ll manage.”
“Yes, but unless you want me with you every moment of every day. By your side. Breathing your air. Sleeping in your bed—which I’m not entirely opposed to, I might add—you need to become less useless than you are now.”
“I see you’ve brought the Slúagh. That's…It’s only, we haven’t set enough places at the table.” My smile evaporated. This was what I got for having the smallest bit of empathy. “I do not want to be here, anyway,” I told Bael. “I can just go.” “Don’t concern yourself with Mordant, little monster,” Prince Bael said, rather loudly. “I certainly never have. I have considered killing him on many occasions but then I remember that his entire existence surrounds serving the whims of my mother, and that is the cruelest punishment I could ever think of for anyone.”
“The library is one floor below here. Ignore that, it’s Bael and Scion.” My eyebrows raised so high I was sure they disappeared into my hair. “A bit of light reading, I suppose?” He laughed. “Those two are best friends and mortal enemies at the same time.”
“A word of advice.” Teeth grazed the skin of my throat. “Never run from monsters. It only entices us to chase you.”
“You can’t lock me up again. You said you wouldn’t.” “For the love of the fucking Source,” Bael’s yellow eyes flashed with clear anger. “Believe me, little monster, if I desired to hold you captive, I would not need iron.” “But—“ He moved his hand from my throat to my chin, almost gentle in the way he held my face between his long fingers. “I actually like you.”
“Try not to turn your back foot out so much,” I suggested, as I reached out a hand to help her up. She scowled at me, honey-brown eyes turning a shade darker. “I wasn’t.” She was. She was such a liar. I loved it.
been with hundreds of human women, but none who I remembered for days on end. None who talked back to me, or demanded pointless bargains of me. The way her mind worked was hysterical and fascinating. All consuming.
“Do you know how to kill the High Fae, little monster?” “Are you going to tell me? That seems foolish.” “I am in no danger, I assure you.” Curiosity sparked in her eyes and a thrill shot through me.
“No, you undeserving simpleton. You must dance.” “Mordant,” Scion’s voice sounded from the back of the group. “I would be careful when throwing insults around that could better apply to yourself.” I glanced up, shocked that the prince would defend me, and our gazes locked. He looked me over again.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Bael growled, sounding oddly like Scion. “You could have been killed.” I shook my head, narrowing my eyes at him and he pulled his wrist back from me sharply so I could answer. A whine I didn’t quite recognize sounded in the back of my throat. He raised his eyebrows. Beneath that bemused expression however, I thought his eyes might have been a bit dazed. I tried to force my voice not to shake. “I could be killed here, as well. Or did you not hear about the poisoning?” His yellow eyes were wide with some unidentifiable emotion. Not concern exactly. More like
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He sat up, looking bemused. “You did miss me.” “Fuck yourself.”
“No, little monster. I come from a long line of villains. If there are any heroes in this story, they share no blood with me.”
“I’ll let you keep your lies for now, little monster. All I care about is that you’re safe.”
He reached up, fisting his free hand in his hair. “Fuck. Stop doing that.” I ran my tongue over my teeth. “Stop what?” “You’re making it far too hard to stay away from you, little monster. It’s driving me fucking insane.”
“You’re not in control here, little monster. I am.”
“Where is she?” a male voice screamed, voice echoing off the stone. My heart pounded, slamming against my ribs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, lord, I—” “Where the fuck is she?” Heavy footsteps approached, and I shook, waiting for the storm I knew was coming. Around me, others were waking up. “What’s going on?” someone asked, and immediately I recognized the voice as Enid. I groaned internally. Yet another thing to add to her list of grievances with me. The door to the dormitory slammed open and a tall figure stood framed in the entrance. I hated myself for the thrill that shot
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“Do you think you’re scaring me?” I hissed. “You’re not.” He laughed, and there was a hard edge to it. “I know I’m not. You should question why that is.”
His hands found my cheeks, and he kissed me hard, like we were fighting for dominance. I whimpered into his mouth as he parted my lips with his tongue. I wondered distantly if I should be scared. If I should have been running for my life like all the other servants, and yet I couldn’t bring myself to leave.
“I don’t know. I have never been able to make fire, but when you were attacked my own magic failed me. Instead, this was all I could create.” He leaned forward, his eyes searching mine. “So, why don’t you tell me, mate. What are you lying about?”