House of Lies and Sorrow (Fae of Rewyth #1)(11)

If he was trying to scare me, it was working.

“So do yourself a favor and stay by my side. Don’t trust any of them, and hold onto that little toy strapped to your leg,” he said, eyes flickering down my dress once more. “You’re not safe here, princess. But I’m not losing another wife. I don’t care how many fae assholes it costs me.”

He stopped talking but didn’t back away. I stood there, staring into his dark, passionate eyes. “That’s good to know,” I admitted after a few awkward seconds. I couldn’t believe he was talking about the other fae–his family–this way. From what I could tell, he despised them. Especially his brothers.

Malachi broke our gaze first, walking back to the massive doors of the ballroom. When he held his hand out to me, I took it. “A bit of advice,” he said, “don’t drink anything.”

I didn’t have time to ask for an explanation. Malachi pushed the large doors open once more, and we were greeted with the same group of fae.

Except things had certainly gotten rowdy in the few minutes we were out of the room.

Music flowed through the massive ballroom, echoing off the stone walls. The reserved audience from earlier was now standing, dancing, and drinking away. Never-ending tables of food lined the perimeter of the room, and servants walked around with trays of drinks for every guest.

Malachi navigated us through the crowd. The others had a large level of respect for him, bowing their heads as he passed. Part of me wondered if they were just as afraid of him as the humans were.

What had he done to get his reputation? How many people had he killed? Tortured? Tormented?

I shook my head. None of that mattered now. What mattered was getting out of here alive, and Malachi was my best chance at that.

I squeezed his hand tighter, hoping he didn’t realize how nervous I was. I was the only human in this entire room, perhaps even this entire compound.

I was going to find out just how much fae hated humans, after all.





CHAPTER 4





Malachi





I knew two things to be true:

One. Someone was attempting to murder Jade tonight.

Two. I was going to rip the head off anyone who tried.

I knew both of those two things to be true the first time I laid eyes on her.

Besides, I was sick of people touching my things.

We just had to make it through this party. And then I could protect her. But here, with hundreds of fae around us…

It would be nearly impossible.

There were dozens of reasons for numerous different people to want her dead.

Correction–they wanted me to be an unmarried, desperate, brooding bastard. They didn’t give a damn about whether Jade lived or died. I didn’t trust a single one of those snakes.

Jade’s grip on my hand tightened as we walked through the sea of drunk, dancing guests. She had never seen fae before. Not that she realized, anyway. Surely this was overwhelming for her.

I don’t know why I cared. I didn’t care. But we were going to survive the night. That is what I cared about.

Not her. I wasn’t stupid enough to let myself care about a human.

Not again. Never again.

I pulled her toward the front of the room, nodding at my brothers who sat at the end of the massive stone table.

And no–I didn’t trust them either.

But they knew better than to even look in our direction as Jade sat down awkwardly in the seat beside me.

Her eyes were massive, darting around the room at every movement. Her face was stone, but those eyes gave everything away. She may not have been afraid, but she was alert.

Good girl.

I let go of her hand but draped my arm around the back of her chair. “As soon as everyone’s drunk, we can leave,” I whispered to her. “Shouldn’t take long.”

She stiffened, and I knew it was at the feel of my breath against her ear.

Jade hated me. Like all humans, she hated fae, and anyone who had to do with the fae. She likely hated me even more because she recognized me as the man from the forest last night.

But I couldn’t tell her why I had come to see her in the forest.

Especially with all the annoyingly large, fae ears lingering around.

“Your fourth wedding,” Lucien, one of my brothers, announced from the end of the table. A certain stillness filled the air, but I could tell by the boldness alone that Lucien was drunk.

Absolutely plastered.

“You’re a lucky man,” he continued, “to have not one, not two, not even three… but four parties thrown in your favor. Truly, what an honor, Prince of Shadows.”

“Watch it,” I growled casually. Lucien’s only warning, and he knew it.

The other brothers’ relationship didn’t bother me. When I was younger, I had been jealous. Of course, I had been. But I was stupid and arrogant back then.

I didn’t understand why they hated me. I didn’t understand why they were desperate to get ahead every step of the way.

But now, I understood. After learning that I was the one and only true heir to the fae throne, I understood.

My mother had been the true Queen to Rewyth. She still was. But after my father remarried and had four sons, things got complicated.

They would never stand a chance. All four of them.

So, they hated me for it. For decades, they had taunted me and envied me. But I never really cared. Not after those first initial years, after I had learned what type of people they really were.