The Dark Fey Chronicles Court of Roses

23

I felt like I was in a dream.
I watched as roots shot up out of the ground, creating cage-like prisons around our guests and guards. Broken tiles and dirt flew up into the air and the roots moaned as they grew tall and high. The Valkyrie, dressed in full battle gear were simply swept aside by a branch that burst through the window to our right, throwing them into the stone wall behind them where they slumped over and didn't move.
Erik growled beside me and pushed me behind him protectively. I watched Aros turn to look at us.
To everyone's surprise, Katja was the one who stepped forward. "One more step-"
Aros sighed, his face almost bored. "What could you possibly do or say that could threaten me, you old hag-"
Erik and Jesper growled fiercely causing Aros to roll his eyes. "You are not welcome here, Traitor!" Erik told him loud and clear.
I watched Aros stop in the middle of the room. His dark, silk like hair glowing in the dim light.
"I am here for what is mine," Aros said as he clasped his hands behind his back.
Erik shook his head confused. "What is yours?" he asked. "We have nothing that belongs-"
Aros looked up at Erik quickly. "But you do, young King." Aros sighed and looked past him, right at me and he smiled a dark smile. His lips and teeth were tinged black. I shuddered. "Ah, there she is," he sighed.
I kept my face as impassive as I could as everyone, including Erik, turned and looked at me. My heart sank. Of course he was here for me.
"I have been looking for you, dear daughter. Have you been here this whole time?"
I didn't answer.
What was I supposed to say? When I had envisioned Aros in my dreams and visions he had either been dead looking or so inhuman I had hardly recognized him. Seeing him in the flesh now, I wasn't sure what to think. His gray eyes locked onto my face and he sighed. "There she is."
Erik growled at him. "Don't make me kill you, Erik, I'd like my daughter to live!"
I raised my eyebrows as I realized something. Erik, he doesn't know we aren't Mated!
I watched his head tilt toward me a fraction of an inch. What are you talking about?
I kept my eyes on Aros. He just said he wants me to live. He doesn't want to kill you because it would kill me as well-
Erik smirked. He doesn't know.
No.
"I should thank you, for taking such good care of her-"
Erik cut him off. "What do you want?" he demanded, cutting Aros off.
I watched Aros shrug and waved up to the podium toward me. "My daughter-"
Erik was quick to answer. "No." His voice echoed through the still and quiet room.
Aros raised an eyebrow like he had misheard what Eric said.
"She belongs to me-"
Erik cut him off again. "She is no longer yours to do with as you see fit," Erik said as he stood to his feet. His fingers were locked around mine, pulling me forward. Aros looked between us, his face calculating. I watched as he put it all together, piece by piece and he
"This is why my spies couldn't find you for weeks. You have been here under the protection of the Modori King?"
I glowered at him. "After I was captured by the Hunters that are rumored to have been hired by you!" I reminded him.
Erik turned to look at me now, his eyes warning me to take caution. Don't be reckless! Think before you speak! I narrowed my eyes on him. Aros will use anything he can against you! But Aros smiled and nodded.
"You always were good at figuring things out, dear," Aros told me and folded his hand behind his back. "I assume you figured things out about your mother?"
I felt my face go blank with shock. "M-my mom?" I could hardly remember Diana. All I knew was that she had died, killed by a Hunter when I was two. Aros smirked.
"You're lying," I said.
"Are you sure?" Aros asked me.
Erik grimaced. "Enough of this-"
Aros' hand came up and in the same moment so did Erik. His body flew into the air and hovered just a few feet above the table. "Have you figured it out, Alexandra?" Aros asked me and I glowered at him, my heart pounding. "Or shall I show you?"
My heart dropped. "Please!" I begged.
Aros pursed his lips at me. "Come with me!"
I raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"
Aros laughed. "Come with me! We will destroy these weak, false leaders and make the world of Hybrids as the way we see fit-"
I shook my head and stepped around Erik. "You are insane!" I told him. "You let me be captured by Hunters. You let them throw me in a Pound knowing-
Aros raised his hand and I watched as Erik was jerked forward toward him. I watched as his face turned startled and he gasped, gagged and choked up water. Liquid poured from his lips and down his front.
"I will drown him right here in front of you," Aros assured me.
Erik coughed and choked again, gasping for air as he withered and thrashed in the air. "OK, fine!" I screamed. "Fine, just please, stop! Please don't kill him!"
Aros smiled. "Guarantee me safe passage!"
I shook my head. "I don't have the power to do that!" I reminded him.
Erik coughed and gagged again, his feet flailing, water now flowing from his lips now.
"Well I guess Erik will pay the price-"
My heart sank as Erik's face turned blue. "Stop!" I screamed. "I will do as you ask! Let him go!"
Aros hesitated. "One more thing," he said thoughtfully. I sighed and looked back at Erik who was struggling to breath.
"What?!" I demanded.
Aros shrugged. "You leave with me as soon as I release him."
I nodded. "Done!"
Aros smirked and dropped his hand. Erik plunged to the ground crumbling to a giant heap on the stone floor. I ran forward and pulled him toward me. "Erik!"
I watched him gasp and cough. "Lexi," his voice was rasp and raw. His arms went around me as Aros moved forward. Erik's breathing was labored as he pressed me to his chest. His eyes locked on mine and I nodded. We can take him.
Erik smiled. Are you looking for a fight?
You wanted me to practice! I reminded him. Aros sighed and paced back and forth before he stopped a few feet away from us.
"That's enough," he drawled.
My hands found Erik's face and I pressed my lips. A soft moan left his lips as his tongue lapped at mine, his teeth grazing my lips. "He won't take you!" he whispered to me as he pulled me closer. I nodded.
"I love you," I told him.
I didn't give him a chance to really process. I stood to my feet and started toward Aros who smirked.
"Valkyrie!" One of the Valkyrie cried as she unsheathed her sword. "Protect your Queen at all costs!" I heard the notching of bows and looked up at Aros who was distracted by the Valkyrie. A fierce growl rippled through me as I lunged forward, throwing myself into Wolf. Everything seemed to slow down.
My teeth sank into Aros' leg just as the arrows rained down. I watched as Aros held up a hand and the weapons simply bounced off an invisible shield.
He is protected.
Erik growled beside me. "Lexi!"
I tugged and pulled on Aros who screamed in agony as my sharp teeth shredded his lower leg. I watch Aros turn on me, his hand swinging out quickly as he backhanded me. His hand connected with the side of face and I felt my shift fall away as I slammed naked into the broken stone floor. A wave of energy followed, slamming me deeper into the sharp broken tiles.
My head spun and my ears rang as I pushed against it. Erik growled loudly now and lunged at Aros. I watched as Aros simply held up his hand and Erik went flying backwards, crashing into his throne, making it crumble under his weight. Aros turned to look at me now, cowering naked on the dirt covered floor.
"Come now," he said and held out his hand.
"Aros!"
We both turned to see John holding an arrow pointed right at Aros' chest. "Step away from her!" John warned him.
"Take the shot!"
I spun around to see who said it. "Kill him!" Someone else called.
"He is a traitor!"
"Quite!" Erik snapped loudly.
The room fell silent. I reached and pulled a tablecloth off of a fallen over table and covered myself. What now? I asked Erik.
"Fire!" Someone in the back of the room started coughing. I wrinkled my nose. I could smell smoke and something else.
"I took the liberty of burning one of your dead," Aros said as he pulled an old looking sword from under his cloak. "She was a tough old bird-"
I felt my heart sink when I saw the family's sword. "Oh gods, Caro," my voice came out soft and Aros turned to look at me now.
"No worries, Love," he told me, using the pet name Erik sometimes used. I scowled at him. "I will train you myself."
"You won't be leaving here with her," John promised as he stripped off his sweater and threw it at me. I pulled it on quickly, feeling a little bit of short lived relief from Erik. "You may be leaving in a body bag-"
Aros laughed. "Like you should have, at birth," he reminded him and I gasped.
"You know you are the reason your mother died, right?" John stepped forward, pulling off his hood as he went.
"You really want to do this now?" John asked him, as he swung up a crossbow. Aros smirked. "You really think your weapons can harm me?"
Jon sighed and leaned the crossbow against his shoulder. "I know they can't," he said and waved his hand to the rafters above us. I followed his gaze and saw that more Valkyrie had arrived. Something inside me was whispering. It was a faint female voice. Brushing in and out of my mind. I looked around, trying to understand.
Luft.
I blinked, suddenly finding myself back in that dark, watery place and voice faded away. I looked around the darkness. Only this time, I watched as Erik's face flashed before me. I felt sick as I watched it all shift and melt before being. All around me things were misshapen and reshaping, taking form and colors. Everything was moving. I was in the throne room. It was poorly lit inside. The windows were boarded up and sunlight filtered through the cracks. I looked around and stood to my feet.
"Well you certainly made this extremely easy for me," Aros said and I spun around to see him standing beside me. I scowled at him. Aros laughed at me.
"Look at you," he sighed. "You look like a down rat." I fought the urge to scream.
"Yeah, who's fault is that?" I demanded.
Aros stopped, a few feet away from me as the world around us finally settled. Aros ground.
"Your mind is stronger than I thought it would be," he said. I watched him wave a hand, and Jon's shirt was suddenly gone, having been replaced by the same dress Erik had dressed me in for the Elders.
I narrowed my eyes on him. "What do you want?" I demanded. "And where are we?"
Aros sighed. "Why should I tell you?" he asked me. "Once you return to that obnoxious King of yours you will betray me like everyone else!"
I narrowed my eyes on him. "Is it true?" I demanded. "The things people are saying about you-"
Around laughed at me. "Depends on the people and what they are telling you," he admitted. I sighed.
Erik? I reached out, searching for the familiar warm hum of his mind. But there was nothing out there. Nothing but the still, dark silence. Erik!
Aros stepped closer and I turned to look at him now. "Do you understand where you are, Alessandra?" he asked me.
I considered ignoring him but I had questions of my own. I stepped away when he stepped closer. "Why so scared?"
I snorted. "Right, you are said to have nurseries dozens of people-"
Aros pouted, his lower lip jutting outward. "Only dozens?" he asked me and I felt my jaw drop. "Think more like hundreds. I wouldn't be surprised if we were soon to reach the thousand mark."
I shook my head and backed away from him. "Why?" I demanded.
Aros shrugged. "Many reasons," he said. "Not one less important than the other bit impulse the same."
I scoffed and stalked toward one of the windows, looking through the borders. I couldn't see anything but white lights and shadows. "What reason could you possibly have for murdering so many innocent-"
Aros burst out laughing and I turned to face him. "Perhaps molding your mind to my desires will be easier than I had expected."
I scoffed at him. "Think again, asshole!"
And then, out of nowhere, almost as if something or someone had possessed my body, I felt my feet leave the floor and I hovered about their feet off of the floor.
Power rushed through me, like a bolt of electricity, pulsing and shocking through my limbs into my toes and fingers.
"Beskyttet er dette udødelige vesenet," I heard a voice say. I could feel my lips moving but I knew that I was not speaking.
I gasped and watched the world around me flicker. I groaned in protest as I watched my arm raise on its own, toward Aros.
"Luft," I heard my voice say.
I watched in amazement as Aros was lifted through the air, screaming, and thrown through a window. Glas from the window loudly shattered and I heard people yell and scream. And then there was pain.
A pained scream ripped through my lungs as the ground beneath me rippled.
My head felt like it was about to split open.
Strong hands gripped my shoulders and I feared that Aros had gotten to me somehow, having somehow survived a two story fall to a concert platform. Fear filled me and I whimpered, shoving at the hands that were holding me, moving me, pressing down on me. There were muffled voices now, hard to make out as my ears adjusted. I realized I was on the ground, face pressing down into the broken gravel.
Where was Erik? He had promised Aros wouldn't touch me! The fear I felt was suddenly taken over by anger. Aros really wanted to mess with me, he could have it. I turned, my hand going out but Aros simply leaned away. I tried again, and again. Each time Aros just leaned away, his hand behind his back. "You're slow," he told me.
I scowled and kicked out at him. "And arrogant." Before I could react, Aros turned and kicked me down over the side of the dark cliff he had backed me into.
I plunged into the darkness, falling fast and deep with nothing to catch myself on. Where was Erik? Where was he? Pain lanced through me as my heart hammered against my chest as the darkness overtook me, swilling me whole.
When I opened my eyes, I was looking up at the white ceiling of my bedroom, the white sculpted plaster curved along the mold of the ceiling. I sighed and sat up, my had an oddly clear but foggy feeling.
I yawned and looked around.
Sitting in a chair beside the window was Erik. He looked up when he noticed me. Dropping the book in his hands to the table beside him, Erik rushed over to me. He was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a black long sleeve shirt.
"Lexi, thank the goddess!"
Erik didn't give me a chance to answer. His lips crushed down on mine quickly before he pulled away, pressing his forehead to mine. "I'm sorry!" he said and I laughed a
little. My heart was beating so fast.
"What happened?" I asked him.
Erik laughed and shook his head. "You don't remember?" he asked me and I shook my head. "I was in that shadowy place. The same place I saw the lake and the house-"
"How did you get between worlds with your physical body?" Jesper asked me.
I turned to see Erik's brother staking in the doorway. "Because what you did, it's never been done before."
I shook my head. "I don't understand." I admitted.
Jesper looked between the two of us. "Lexi- forgive me, Min Dronning," Jesper said as he leaned away from the doorway. "When you went into den Glemte Verden, you took your physical body with you!"
I shook my head and glanced between them. "Ok," I said. "And that's a big deal why?" I didn't understand.
"It's not," Erik assured me. "Everyone is just surprised because they have never seen anyone who can do that. The Elders and the Families are curious-"
I frowned. "I'm not going to be a Guinea pig for anyone!" I said quickly.
Erik frowned back at me. "Of course not, Love-"
I felt a wave of sickness wash over me and Erik fell silent. "Lexi?"
I shook my head. "Don't call me that anymore," I told him and crossed my arms to keep me warm. Erik narrowed his eyes at me and stared at me for a long moment. I watched his face grow freakishly dark before he looked up at Jesper.
"We will continue this later," he said. "Leave us!" Jesper nodded, bowed at both of us and then left the room quickly. Erik waved at the Maids who were putting away fresh clothes and cleaning. "You as well, please, leave us!" His voice was impatient as the Maids curtsied and hurried from the room.
After a moment, the door snapped closed gently, leaving Erik and me in a deafening silence.
"Aros..." his name tasted like acid on my tongue. "He called me that while I was Glemte Verden. So don't ever call me that again." For some reason, tears had filled my eyes and I looked away from Erik hoping to take them away unnoticed.
I could hear his erratic heartbeat and breathing from across the room. Was he angry with me? Had I embarrassed him in some way worse the Aros had? Or worse, had the Families decided to-
"Stop letting your mind panic," Erik scolded me as he walked across the room to the fireplace. "Are you hungry?" he asked me.
Before I could answer my stomach growled and I blushed. "Starving," I admitted. "But I think I need a shower first."
Erik nodded. "It's all ready for you," he said and pointed to the shower. I looked back at him. His voice was off. Oddly nonchalant like. "You OK?" I asked him.
Erik turned to look at me. "I'm fine," he assured me. "Now go get cleaned up. Dinner will be here in about an hour.
I sighed and walked to the bathroom.
I decided to go with a shower. At least it was quick and hot. And the heat was amazing for my sore body. The instant relief felt amazing and I sighed in content. But soon the water began to run cold. I frowned and pouted at the loss of my warm, comfortable cloud of bliss and shut the water off. "Lexi?"
I froze. Erik was in the bathroom. "Yes?" I asked him. There was a pause as the door inched open a little. I looked down at my naked, bruised and beaten body. "I'm not decent Erik!" I reminded him desperately.
Erik's hand shoved itself through the curtain and handed me a dark purple towel.
Before I understood what I was doing, I gripped his wrist instead and held his hand.
With the other I wrapped the towel around my midsection, covering my chest.
"Lexi-"
"Shh," I hushed him. I didn't want to lose the courage I suddenly felt. I guided Erik's hand toward my neck, his fingers brushing along my jaw. My pulse hammered away against his fingers and I herd him breath in a deep breath from between his lips.
I dropped my hand to the knot that was holding the towel closed now as Erik's fingers wandered down, tracing down the side of my neck and collarbone.
"Torcher," he hissed at me.
I smiled a little. "I should get dressed," I said. Erik's hands traced back down the side of my neck and before I could protest, Erik shoved the curtain aside.
"Are you playing games with me?" Erik asked me as he wrapped his hands around my hips and hoisted me out of the tub.
I frowned. "No," I said truthfully and then blushed, feeling like I just wanted to bury my head in the sand. "But I know and understand that it is not fair to you-"
Erik sighed and shook his head. "Lexi-"
"So I'm trying," I assured him. "Pushing myself a little more each time... and besides, I do want you to touch me, Erik."
I felt embarrassed saying the words out loud but I knew he needed to hear them.
His fingers traced up and down my neck now. "Are you saying you crave me?" he asked me in a low voice.
I swallowed, now rendered speechless because this odd, unfamiliar sensation inside me was making it hard to think and making me say things I know I would later regret. "I-I don't-...I -"
My back hit the bathroom door, leaving me nowhere to run now. Not that I wanted to, but it was nice knowing that I'd had an escape route. Erik leaned in, his hand wandering to my sides where his fingers teased at the hem of my towel.
"Yes?"
An odd, raspy breath left my lips and then I felt like another essence had taken over me just like it had in the Shadow World when Erik leaned forward and pressed his lips and tongue to my Marks. Erik breathed out a laugh. "Well this is going to be interesting," he teased and dropped his arm. I frowned.
"What is?" I asked.
"You are in heat," he said.
I felt myself blush and gripped the towel around me. "No, I'm not," I assured him.
Erik smirked and reached up to touch my check. "I know what you smell like -"
I sank my head. "I'm never leaving this room again," I said.
Erik frowned. "That's too bad," he said. "I was hoping we could sneak away to one of the cabins tomorrow."
I smiled but it vanished quickly. "Erik, what are we going to do?" It was time to be serious and talk about our problems.
He sighed. "When you vanished through the shadow, so did Aaron's," he told me. "A few seconds later you appeared in the middle of the room, floating in mid air. John caught you and we brought you here."
I shook my head. "Jesper was asking me about... what did he want?"
Erik shook his head "Never mind that," he said. "Dinner is here."
I sighed when I saw the bottle of wine and a faint smile on my lips. "I'm going to get dressed." I told her when the maid knocked at the door. I hurried to the bathroom and slipped on one of Erik's shirts from the dresser. Deciding to be bold, I slipped on a pair of lace underwear. I could smell the food so knew it would be just seconds before Erik would be knocking on my door. I squared my shoulders and pushed the foot open. Heat or no Heat, I was fearless tonight.