Deep in the Bavarian woods, where the faerie realm touches on the human world lies Schloss Mondschein. Owned by a corrupted human family, the castle is the playground of the Fae. The human staff are their toys.
Servant's daughter Andromeda Arendt h...
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Leave it to the Fae to design a landing strip for flying shifters and their sleds on the branch of a tree. Faerie Hawthrone, the epicenter of Fae power, and seat of the High King was entirely built in an over-sized hawthorn that seemed to stretch like pastry dough in cook's hands, the moment Akela flew an exhausted Andromeda into its embrace.
"Sore?" North was already beside her, waiting for her to come down from the shifter's back, but her thighs were on fire and her limbs cramped. She wasn't sure where her body ended and Akela's began. It was all ... hurt.
"I'm fine," she said, her brain crunching in its effort to absorb her new surroundings.
The landing area was bustling with activity. While the other shifters safely landed the sled next to them, a pegasus came flying in from the opposite direction, and a herd of reindeer prepared to take off with a quaint, Victorian carriage. A bunch of sprites eagerly hovered their way and started unloading the barrels with the help of buckets full of faerie dust. She couldn't understand. "Why? Why do you even need shifters and sleds if you can just toss powder in the air?"
"Good question." North calmly lifted her leg over the dog's back, eliciting a pained growl that seemed to come all the way from her toes. "The official explanation is that faerie dust is not an unlimited resource, but I suspect that many of us secretly enjoy the romance of it. A bit like humans burning candles when they have perfectly good electricity at their disposal," he said, moving to the other side where he wrapped his hands around her waist and helped her slide off.
"Romance? I don't see anything romantic about it. Are you comparing shifters to candles? Shifters are living, breathing beings."
"You're correct. So are horses. Don't humans enjoy horse rides?"
He put her down gently. Controlled. Only a thumb width between their bodies. How had she let this happen? His hands were still on her hips, reassuring and warm. The soft touch of his breath on her forehead made her yearn for his sculpted lips to follow suit. She fought the urge to drop to his chest. Landing in Faery wasn't supposed to be pleasant. Being held by a Fae wasn't supposed to feel good.
"Phantom?" If she didn't know better, she'd say there was concern in his voice. "Are you sure you're fine?" As if he actually cared or something. He picked a thorn from her hair and tucked the escaped strand back in the hood of her cloak. Maybe he wasn't an asshole.
Before Andromeda could answer him, a Fae beside them demanded their attention. She wore the same gold headband as him, though her pointy ears were not covered with a mop of hair like North's. She wore her hair up, living butterflies keeping every copper curl into place. Her two-piece suit was sunny yellow and in her hands, she held a clipboard and a quill. "Ambassador Winterborn, you're late."
"Chancellor."
"Have you brought the human?"
In response, North tilted his head towards Andromeda, keeping his hands steady on her waist.
The chancellor sized her up, her expression not revealing the outcome of her short investigation. Frighteningly calm, she checked off an item on the clipboard. "Alright. The High King's waiting." When she whirled around, a whiff of perfume reminded Andromeda of the faerie guests dancing in Schloss Mondschein's ballroom. Funny how North didn't smell anything like that.
"Stay close to me!" he whispered, his pine and cinnamon scent tricking her into believing she would be safe as long as he was near.
If only they could have a rest first, but the chancellor seemed in a hurry, so without further ado team no sleep hurried after her into the heart of the tree. As they came closer to the trunk, it got easier to look up and down. The number of branches, platforms, and corridors made her head spin. Around the trunk was a flight zone where Fae flew up on one side and down on the other in an orderly fashion.
As the chancellor started her ascent to the top of the tree, Andromeda turned to North, helpless. She hated being this helpless, but as for the strength of his arm, snaking around her, and pulling her close ... she didn't hate it as much as she should.
"Pawing me again, ambassador?" In an attempt to disguise her hitching breath, she curled her nose in apparent disdain.
"Do you like it?" His annoying smirk and dito dimples unsettled her gut.
Stories of sparkling corridors and enigmatic doors to who knows where, flashed by in her peripheral but it was hard to see anything other than the glow in his eyes, playing her, mocking her, making her ache with desire that made no sense. She didn't like him. She didn't.
"What girl wouldn't enjoy a good glamour," she laid on the sarcasm extra thick.
He cocked his pretty eyebrow, feigning surprise she didn't believe for one second. He even withdrew his face to check hers properly. Nice try. He couldn't deny her accusation with words, so he attempted to confound her with bad acting.
She taunted him with the iciest glare in her book, which only made him tuck that perfect bottom lip between his teeth again. Then he leaned in, that same lip brushing her earlobe, hot and ... a little wet. "I don't know. You tell me."
She closed her eyes, ordering her heart to slow the fuck down. "Get your foul faerie breath away from me!" She had intended to hiss the words, but they came out raspy in a way that could be interpreted as either seductive or insecure, and she had no idea which would be worse.
At least the wording was clear, so North did as she asked. "As you wish. We're at the top anyway."
He hopped into a bright hallway with an endless series of mirrors on both sides and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. When he had reassured himself her feet were steady on the floor, he released her from his arms.
The chancellor didn't wait for silly human girls to catch their breath. She was already halfway down the hall, her strides long and adamant.
"Now remember, stay close to me!" North said under his breath as they quickened their pace to keep up with her.
The chandeliers exuded a humming sound, and Andromeda's head automatically whipped up. Fireflies. Fireflies caged in gilded structures, their translucent wings flapping against glass window panes, their stubby rear ends ablaze. So cruel but oh so pretty.
From the mirrors, a sad but beautiful melody rose, sung by a wide range of exquisite voices.
"Don't look!" North grabbed her elbow and harshly tugged her forward. "Keep your eyes ahead. We're almost there." The sudden urgency in North's voice spooked her.
The chancellor was fanning herself with her clipboard in front of a set of large doors while speaking to one of the Fae guarding them. "The throne room," North said.
The song changed key, gliding from the melancholic refrain into a spiraling bridge. "Why can't I ..."
She didn't wait for his answer. She looked. And received one.
Her stomach lurched. Tears shot up. Her muscles froze. She vaguely registered being dragged into the throne room by North, her knees sliding over the polished parquet while her mind screamed.
