Briar
“Who does this man like the most?” I probed the others to tell me about the man we were about to meet.
All of them shared a disgruntled look, knowing none of them were on his visitor list. Bain was the one to turn my way with his white stare. “Cian would rather rip out our tongues to fuck his ass than hear a word from our lips.”
His crass words had me placing my hand over my chest in surprise. The sound that parted from my dry lips had alerted all of them to notice. They thought it was humorous to talk so boldly in front of me. In all honesty, I didn’t mind learning these things, but they caught me by surprise.
“Are your ears turning red already?” Alasdair delighted in my blush.
“Not many have a tongue as sordid as the one that just spoke.” Winking at Bain, I let him know there was no ill-intent between us for it. “A lady needs to be properly warned.”
“Cian doesn’t like any of us,” Cullen cut off the conversation there. He stopped leading us up the snowy path to turn my way. “But Bain has a point. Cian is more sexual than most. He prefers orgies over tactical meetings. If you thought Bain’s tongue was crass, best prepare yourself.”
“For what?” I scrunched my nose.
“Cian won’t be the only one in that castle, and the rest of his guests won’t have the option of wearing clothes.”
“They’ll be naked?” I shrilled at the thought.
“Yes, Little Rose. Some might even be in the throngs of passion when we arrive.”
Before I could properly respond and ask more about this new information, a screeching bellowed from the sky. Through the misty haze of the fog all around us, I could make out little black dots that were coming straight for us. Before I had time to draw my weapon, the men hurried to stand around me. It was their mission to protect me. Rolling my eyes, none of them knew that Áine and Philip had taught me to defend myself when living in the forest thanks to the traveling strangers that attacked me.
My mind tried to resurface that memory of when I found out men were not so kind, but I couldn’t let it out because we were about to be attacked. Pulling my dagger, I felt the rush of Áine’s magic burst through it and come to my aid. Áine was like a mother to me, raising me as her own in ways I knew I’d never have known if I were brought up in the palace. I knew women of my stature were meant to be silent, sitting by their husband, the king. We were there to show union between the two kingdoms, but that was our only purpose as a female.
Now, with a thirst for vengeance traveling through my veins, I let it affect me in ways only a true warrior would understand. Just as a flock of shadows moved our way, I didn’t hesitate to start swinging the blade to kill them. Each man got in front of me to take out another for me not do any of the work. It was frustrating because they chose me as their champion but wouldn’t let me show my skill. I knew that the fae lived to be a lot older than humans, but it didn’t mean I was young in the terms of my people. They had no idea what it was that I suffered before becoming a woman.
Just as Alasdair moved in front of me, I shoved him out of the way to take on the bird myself. When my dagger pierced through the animal’s chest, a light lit up within right before the bird dropped. When it fell to the ground, it wasn’t with a cry of death. We walked over to it when we realized it was still breathing with his eyes closed.
“It’s not dead,” Cullen stated.
All the others heard the holler of the one that had fallen, squawking at it as though it betrayed them. A comforting warmth ran through me, telling me this was the right thing to do. This was the path that was meant to be on, and the blade would light my way through Áine’s magic.
As all the other men surrounded with their mouths agape, I could see the other birds standing around their fallen and stabbed as many as I could before a few flew off. Bain was the one who came to me, ripping me away from the last shadowy bird I had to shove my dagger through. As he did so, the warmth from the dagger faded, telling me I had done good.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
“The dagger,” I started. “It told me to do it to them.”
Fergus quickly strode to the fallen birds as he pressed his hand to feel the chest of one. We were waiting for his response because I might have put several birds to rest, suffering the cold weather.
“They are resting,” he whispered, feeling more of them to ensure he had the right response. “Whatever magic her blade possesses, it has soothed the nightmare within them. They are resting peacefully now.”
Fergus stood up and brushed his hands off just as I stepped up to gather the poor creatures. Fergus’s arm reached out to stop me as he shook his head. “But they need to move somewhere warm,” I challenged.
“They will rest fine here. The ground has told me.”
Just as he finished speaking, the ground began to split under them as the six birds disappeared below the surface. Cullen had to catch me because I was unprepared for the ground to quake. I would have forced him to let me go sooner, but I was stupefied by what I just witnessed. Faerie was a lot different than Earth, and I was just beginning to see by how much.
None of the others seemed to feel the way I did as they kept moving forward. Cullen closed his hands on my hips and turned me in the right direction that we were to travel. When I gave him a glare, he just went by me with the smirk. It made my heart hammer a little bit more than it should’ve. Being attracted to them was something else, and I wasn’t sure how to cope with all of that.
Another rush of guilt fell over me, creating a knot in my stomach. It had only been last night that I felt drawn to Fergus in the grove. My heart ached deeper because it was only yesterday that I woke up and discovered my love had been killed. What kind of woman was I to honor his death while having a sense of connection to another?
In silence, we traveled up the snowy mountain. Through the cold and storm of snow, I could see a passage in the valley below. It was some kind of tunnel that went through the mountain pass, making my heart skip several beats. I had a feeling the men planned to use that mountain tunnel for our journey. While I understood the benefit of being out of this weather, being underground wasn’t soothing.
“We’re not going through that, are we?” I swallowed hard, trying to dim down my nerves.
“Of course, we are. The castle is on the other side.” Cullen pulled a long piece of metal from his back right before using his wind against the surface to make a shield. His wind somehow used the metal as an anchor, swirling all around it. The other men did similar things with fire, water and earth.