Amid Clouds and Bones

by Ella Fields

“I don’t know how to do this. I haven’t…” He stalled. “I’ve little experience when it comes to romancing females.” “Beyond fucking them.” He released an amused breath. “Yes.”

When the time came, I feared Atakan would no longer wish to duel. He would only strike.

A pytherion. A dying breed of dragon who submitted only to the king of this dark realm.

“Perhaps the only thing he cares about and, therefore, the only way to ruin those wards.”

“When you break the wards trapping my realm, Mildred Nephryn, I solemnly swear to give you something of your choosing.”

Great. So not only was I being forced to fall in love with this king and then deal with the repercussions, but I had to fall in love with someone awaiting a divinely gifted mate.

“He didn’t treat you tenderly.” My stomach churned.

It was more than what I’d expected. It was exactly what I needed—sweetness veiled in brutality.

“I don’t need favors.” I looked at him as he vowed, “This is war, and I intend to win.”

“Most of last season’s hatchlings will be ready to join the fleet before the next moon.” Fleet.

This wasn’t a beast. It was a nightmare with a maw the size of a cave.

Trust that would be broken in a very dangerous way when he realized that even if I fell in love with him, the wards wouldn’t break.

“I do not have Atakan’s heart. It’s true what they say…” I swallowed thickly. “He is heartless.” Which made me utterly useless to this Unseelie king.

“Your father and stepmother have been murdered.”

And Agatha… Love wasn’t needed to feel saddened by someone’s passing.

“I want you,” he said, all rough breath, barely heard beneath the strain of the fiddle. “I didn’t think I would, but I do. That’s all I know for certain.”

“Ah, but the reason she wasn’t is due to her audacity to seek revenge while he couldn’t kill her.” Stone thumped the table. “Her lack of fear.”

They’d killed my father and stepmother. Murdered their associates. Vane had slain my father.

“If you wish to survive, you need to never so much as think about what you’ve evidently heard.”

“Or when they realize those fractures are likely all they’ll get from you.”

“You’re not a spy.” His raised brow made me realize aloud, “Not for Vane.” Lord Duhn Stone was a spy for the Ethermore family.

“A letter to her sister,” Vane said. “Cruel.” Morona clucked her tongue. “Letting her think you’ll allow such a thing to be sent.” “Just like you told me,” he grumbled. “Whatever it takes.”

For although there were plenty of monsters who seemed far worse, none were as monstrous as Vane Ashbone.

“Likely because it suited his endeavors. Seelie cannot use featherbones, dread. They’re heirlooms of a sort.”

I could have been. It was undeniable that Vane had indeed stolen some part of my heart. Just enough to ruin the wards. Not enough to get rid of them. Regardless, love wasn’t anywhere near what I felt now. All I felt was patient fury.

“Smelling much better.” I squinted at him, ready to remind him that it hadn’t been my fault I’d been trapped in a cell, but he stalked into his bedchamber ahead of me. “Less like something you’re not.” I frowned at his back. “Dirty? Compliments aren’t your usual—” “His.”

“Fix the alliance, Atakan.” The words were whispered, yet I felt not an ounce of fear as I said, “Make me your wife.”

“Did he fuck you?” “That’s hardly relevant.” “Perhaps not, but it is imperative that I know.” “Why?” I taunted. “So I know which part of him to mutilate first.”

“Then the steward isn’t a shifter. She’s what you call a mirage.” “A mirage?” I asked. “Faeries who can present as their soul animal.”

Atakan’s hum was too throaty. Too damned deep. That ache morphed into agony. I withered in the chair, the fork falling from my slack fingers. Beside me, Phineus sighed. “For skies’ sake.” Then his chair creaked as he stood. He collected what remained of his dinner, presumably to eat elsewhere. “You truly are heartless, Atakan.”

“You did this.” He grunted, then trembled when my fingernails dug into his smooth back. “And there’s no changing it. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“Atakan.” My voice croaked. “Tell me what really happened.” He halted before the door. Without looking at me, he dragged his hand through his hair, pushing it back over his head as he exhaled roughly. “We mated.”

We’d vanished before I could wholly realize she’d been talking about accepting the bond forced upon me. A bond breakable only in death.

I remembered the way Elion had looked at Phineus during my welcoming ball. Perhaps it had been more than jealousy. Perhaps it had been longing.

Garran had taken Pholly and Phineus as his wards to fund the war against the Unseelie.

“I didn’t even know you were in there until Atakan told me when to let you out. I suspect the dramatics were to keep Garran from discovering your return before he left to meet with our military.”

“For some, I’ve heard that when separated, they can share thoughts. But only if those thoughts pertain to one another—to the connection.”

“Any hot-blooded male can recognize that scent.” His chin rose, eyes sparking as he stared me down. “The scent of a freshly forged mating bond.”

“Unless you wish to wear your entrails as a crown when I chain you in iron and bury you alive, remove yourself from my bed and my mate.”

“I’m not your lover.” “Fated foe, then.”

“You’re right. You’re not my lover. You’re now my wife, yet that doesn’t seem quite enough either.” I nearly swayed when I rose, and he went on. “What do you call the only creature you want to watch and touch endlessly?”

“You must put your mouth on mine and kiss me until I tell you to stop.” My foolish heart skipped. Still, I taunted, “But what if you never do?” “Trust me.” He dropped his forehead to mine. “I never fucking will.”

“I want you, Mildred. Always and incessantly, I’ve fucking wanted you.”

Atakan had known I’d find the eggs because I was mated to him. I was blood-bound to a pytherion.

Although younger than Vane, Atakan was a pytherion shifter—the true Unseelie heir who’d spent his whole life masquerading as a Seelie prince. Part Seelie, part Unseelie. He didn’t have mortal blood, but he was still a halfling. Just like me.

“Of course. If anyone knew, then…” “He’d never inherit the Seelie throne,” I realized out loud.

“I might not care for much of anything outside of my desires, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely heartless.” Her hand settled on my hip, and my clinical tone roughened. “That doesn’t mean I cannot love you.” I clasped her chin, my head lowering. “That doesn’t mean I don’t need you to be as obsessively in love with me as I am with you.”

She simply didn’t know what to do now that she no longer needed to survive. Now that she needed to live. Now that she was free to love instead of loathe.

Atakan was more than my mate—he was the edge I sharpened my armor upon and the safety I surrendered my softness to. I’d survived him because he’d allowed it. But I truly lived because I’d allowed him to prove he wasn’t heartless.