Unnatural Conduct

Chapter 16

I heard slow, lazy clapping sound from somewhere in the room, and it was then that what was happening finally caught up to me.

This... this Fae, had just called me his... his mate. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be. From what I'd heard, Fae mates were so rare that most gave up on ever finding theirs. And then there was the other aspect: I was mated to Xavier! It wasn't possible for this... man to be my mate. It shouldn't be possible. At all.

I fought against my primal urges, and attempted to push him away, but to no avail. His hands stayed clamped around my forearms, strong and unrelenting as steel.

It was then that I realized who had clapped: the woman in the red dress, who was currently still sitting in her throne.

"Really Ryker? I finally get to meet my long-lost daughter, and you get up and claim her? What will Lillie have to say, I wonder, when she hears about this?" The voice came from the woman, and it was as ancient and powerful as I'd expected it to be, even while she was drawling and acting nonchalant.

Her words didn't really surprised me; I'd assumed we were related since I first set eyes on her... not that I'd believe her without an explanation though, and a damned good one at that.

The male in front of me, who I guess was named Ryker, tensed at the mention of the name Lillie. My hand automatically reached up to caress his cheek, trying to comfort him in the only way I knew how. I couldn't explain this need... this need to care, to protect. I had felt similar feelings around Xavier, but they hadn't been nearly this strong. Nope, not at all.

He turned and looked over his shoulder at my 'mother,' his hands not once leaving mine. He gave a loose shrug, and said, "This is my mate. My true mate. I don't know why it felt that way with Lillie, but this..." he turned back to me, his gaze softening as he beheld me. "This... this is real."

The woman chuckled then, as if she knew exactly what was going on between the two of us. We both turned at the same time, giving her equally deadly glares. I didn't care who she was at this point, I just wanted, needed to know what it was she knew.

But she didn't tell me.

"Welcome to my court, Quinn. I am Queen Alluna. It is a pleasure to meet you at last."

My glare fell, and my emotions turned to a puddle of pure confusion.

Queen Alluna was the woman who ruled the human realms, the woman who my father reported to, and who was -- or was supposed to be -- completely human. She was said to detest Fae, and many had been burned because of her. Not that we'd ever been allowed to witness the burnings, but... those who were captured never came back.

So there was no way that the woman sitting before me was the human Queen, not when I could tell that she was, beyond a doubt, a hundred percent pure-blood Fae. And, if she was royalty, that would earn her the title of Faerie... and if I was truly her daughter... I didn't let myself get that far ahead yet.

Instead, I only spoke, "That's not possible."

She gave a dark chuckle, her eyes bright with amusement. "Ah, but it is! You're here now, aren't you? I've got an explanation for everything, which I'll explain in due time. For now, all you need to know is two things: first, I am a Sermoni, a powerful one at that, and I am the Queen of this realm. Second, you are my daughter, which makes you the Princess," she said, her voice matter-of-fact.

I didn't believe her for a moment, but all that changed when she spoke her next words: "I have your... so-called mate in the dungeons. Don't worry, we healed him after he injured himself. Such a stubborn one, that Alpha," she said, her head cocked back in a wicked smile.