A Court of Night and Shadows

Chapter 2

Before I could beg to be spared from his own Rite, my legs collapsed beneath me and I vomited in the grass. My fingers dug into the dirt, staining my nails as I waited on the ground for his hands to grab me, forcing me to whatever will he had for me on this night. I felt his touch pulling my hair from around my shoulders, looping it around his wrist. I waited for a sharp yank but it never came. Instead, a second wave of nausea barrelled through me as I emptied my stomach again. When I'd finished I slowly wiped a sleeve across my mouth and he released my hair letting it fall from his grip.

Warmth puddled in me through the cord that bound me to this man.

"Do you even know what he would have done to you?" he ground out at me.

I stood slowly, not trusting myself not to collapse again just yet. He wasn't looking at me, rather eyeing the hills off toward the drums. "Aren't you going to do the same thing?" I asked.

He looked at me then, holding my gaze for a few eternal seconds. "My blood wants me to, but I won't. I haven't performed this ritual in years and I don't plan on committing it ever again."

"Don't you have to? In order to keep your power as a High Lord?"

He ran his hands through his hair, dragging them down his face before looking at me again. "Not anymore. The Spring Solstice is a powerful night, especially for the Spring Court, but this Rite was birthed from dark magic centuries ago," he said and slipped his hands into his pockets. "There are ways around it."

I watched him walk away from me, lost in thought. My shoulders sagged while he listlessly checked in on my face then the distant drumming before coming to lean against a tree facing me. He blended into the shadows easily, night consuming his features. His violet eyes burned like dying stars.

"What court are you from?" I whispered into the starlight between us.

For a second, I saw him - a glimpse of him, probably. I felt the glamour fall for a few precious seconds and his power was startling against my skin, like pins warning me to stay away. The night sky plunged to the earth, swelling around him as darkness seeped toward me. Stars sprinkled around his presence and his eyes - oh his eyes were other-worldly. "I am the High Lord of the Night Court," he said, then lifted his glamour taking his astronomical presence with him. His head hung for a brief moment before he returned to watching the hills behind us.

Unconsciously I tugged on the bond and immediately there was a tug back.

"Do you know what this is, human girl?" he breathed, his words so quiet I almost didn't hear them.

"Yes." I didn't hesitate.

His eyes fell shut. After a heavy breath he looked at me again. "No one can know this exists."

"Why not?" I asked.

He started toward me, but saw me flinch and settled after a few steps. "This is incredibly dangerous." He sighed and rubbed his neck.

Cradled between my hips, my hands were fidgeting unbeknownst to me. I swallowed a dry gulp feeling a cold sweat dotting my neck. I was at his mercy. Was Tamlin still hunting me? Did Lucien see what happened?

"Tamlin is still searching for you." My head jerked toward him then to the drumming. "I'm going to keep you here until he moves on to someone else."

My gut twisted at the idea of him settling for another woman.

"Even if he tried to be gentle with you tonight he would break you," he went on. "You would not like it."

I paled. He knew my innermost thoughts. Was this from the bond that secured us together? Would I never know privacy again? I exhaled and rubbed the back of my neck mirroring his gesture. He was watching me, his face rigid. Then slow claws tapped at my mind, slithering against my thoughts braiding into my head. I began to tremble and my fidgeting hands fell slack at my sides.