Bad Fae | romantasy | Bad Fae #1

Chapter Thirty-Six

Because Dain had abandoned me the same way he'd left me abandoned all those years ago after he'd killed the only people to ever love me. And this time was no different. He had taken the Shaden with him so even they couldn't provide me any comfort in this place that was now not just a gilded cage but hostile territory without Dain's meagre protection against Feyrith and the other clans.

My hatred for him festered and grew. I bred it. I fostered it. I nurtured it. I let myself dredge up all those feelings from the abyss and let them engulf me. Take me over until I felt nothing but my desire to kill him once more. I cared not for the conflicting feelings Dain had stirred within me. I cared not for the politics of the fae. I cared not for the fear and prejudice with which they watched me.

I went to dinner, like the good little prisoner I was, and took my seat, feeling not just apathetic but numb to anything that would preserve me in Dain's absence.

"You look beautiful tonight, Yana," Feyrith said as we ate.

I nodded. "I do."

He smirked. "There is something different about you without my nephew here. Tell me, are you ready to enjoy the pleasures of others now you need not face his retribution?"

His tone suggested he was playing, but I was sick of it. These games. I was above their stupid inanity, the way they chose to amuse themselves and their boring immortal lives. I was done bowing and scraping and fighting. I could play, too.

I leant my chin on my hand as I looked him over. "Perhaps I am. But maybe I just don't know what's good for me."

"Oh, I can help with that," he purred. "Would you like me to help you with that, Yana?"

I nodded and I felt the glamour extend from him and swirl around me but, as Dain had said, it couldn't touch me. Not while I wore his necklace. And, without Dain to weave the geas command over me to obey it, I just sat there, an expectant look on my face that I knew would get a rise out of the High King.

"Is that all you've got?" I asked him, faux-innocently. I added a pout for good measure, then sat up to pick up my fork. "Oh well, it was fun while it lasted."

Unsurprisingly, Feyrith lost his shit.

"What is this?" he roared.

My hand lifted absently to the pendant at my neck. Too slowly, I dropped my hand. "You don't like it when you can't force your prey to obey, do you?"

"What game is Dain playing with his High King, little bastard?" His purr now was all predatory and terrifying.

"I don't know of any games," I answered, still that fake innocence, making my eyes large and unsure. And I didn't. Certainly not ones specifically related to Feyrith.

"And did he expect me to let you be in his absence? Did he think I wouldn't want to play with his toy? Did your precious Dain tell you what to do when I discovered this betrayal?"

That word again, but I didn't let its effect on me show. Even as it clattered in my head and tore at my heart.

"Dain and I may be bound, but he doesn't rule me." In this. "Do you think any of them would leave me with you if I wasn't perfectly capable of protecting myself?" I answered, all petulant defiance.

"Protecting yourself," he scoffed. His eyes dropped to my throat. "More like this bauble protects you, no doubt. Tell me, was that a recent gift or did he really risk being unable to control you himself all this time? I highly doubt you would have suffered a moment in his home of your own volition."

He still didn't realise what kind of geas existed between us if he thought Dain would rather risk me running than falling under his uncle's glamour.

I smirked at him. "Don't feel bad, Feyrith. Dain gifted me this before we met with Dhuschane. It was nothing personal. Dain was merely concerned about his dark king's motives. I decided to keep it on when we met with you."