Hidden In Shadows, A Fae and Vampire Romance: Shadow Court Chronicles, Book 1

Chapter 1.3: Run Or Die

 She couldn't believe that she had been forced to marry to a Seelie coward who was a preening, pompous, and ignorant fool. Unfortunately for her, she had been the best candidate to help seal the rift between the two courts. She was so low on the list of succession that neither court had to worry about being ruled by the opposite court. Her birth had signed her to a cruel fate of a loveless marriage, but she had known that was a possibility even as a child. It didn't mean that she couldn't hate it even while she was resigned to it.

Growling low in her throat, she shoved her bedroom door open and swayed into it. She would have preferred stomping into the room, but the dress was hampering her movement greatly. She snarled and began to tear the jewelry off of her body, allowing it to lay where it fell. She needed out of the costume as quickly as possible, and she didn't care how much damage she did to it.

She heard her bedroom door close quietly and knew that her shadow had followed her into her room. She waited until he did a thorough search of the room before she made her command. "Kieran, get this dress off of me."

"In what manner?" His voice held mischief in it, something that was normally only reserved for her to hear.

She wasn't afraid even though she heard his tone. He would never do anything to harm her or put her in the way of danger. She shrugged casually and left the choice up to him. "The quickest way."

She heard him slip one of his battle axes out of its sheath. It wasn't too surprising that he planned to cut her out of the dress. He didn't have the nimble fingers that were required to undo the dress nor did he have the patience. Besides, the man loved his battle axes, and would use them at every opportunity that presented itself to him. She had seen him trim a very nervous man's beard once with one.

The sound of fabric ripping filled the room, and her body began to breathe with delight as the fabric fell to pool around her feet. She shook her limbs and stepped over the ruined dress without a backward glance. Her parents were going to be pissed (along with the seamstress) when they discovered how casually she had treated her wedding gown. She didn't care in the slightest.

She flopped into her large king size bed and allowed the stress of the day to melt away. She prayed to the gods that following day would be better, although she doubted it. She was going to be expected to play the part of a happily married woman. She pushed it all out of her mind. If she continued to focus on the situation, she would only aggravate herself all over again.

"Kieran, watch the door and don't let anyone disturb me. I am going to sleep for as long as I can," she declared as she curled up in her bed. Exhaustion was making her eyes heavy, and it wasn't long before sleep held her in its soothing embrace.

It felt as if she had just fallen asleep when rough hands began to shake her awake. She struggled to open her gritty eyes. It was a slow torture for her—it felt as if someone had pushed sand into them while she had slept. She hated doing it, she just wanted to sleep, but she forced herself to wake fully. As she did, she prepared a tongue lashing for Kieran for the abrupt awakening but it vanished as soon as she took in his appearance.

He stood beside her bed, fresh blood dripping from his cap, with a scowl on his face. Scratches covered his face where he had obviously eaten someone while they still were fighting. His battle axes were gripped in one hand and covered in gore. She could hear a battle raging outside her door, and it was obvious that he had been through part of it. Something horrible was happening, and dread began to rush through her veins.

She threw off the covers and rushed to get dressed. "What's happening?" She pulled a pair of dark blue jeans on, a black t-shirt, and a pair of black boots as quickly as she could. "And how bad is it?" She strapped her push daggers to her arms as she waited for him to answer.

"A coup. Which side is staging it, I can't currently answer. Lots of death happening on both sides."

"How long before they come charging in?" she asked with a nod of her head towards the door.

"No idea but we have to go now." He slung her bug-out bag (she believed a girl should always be prepared) over his shoulder as he surveyed the room to make sure they had not missed anything. "The bodies I have piled in front of the door will only serve as a minor delay tactic."

She glared at him as soon as she realized what he was doing. "I'm not leaving without my family," she declared defiantly. If he thought she was leaving without making sure they were safe, he was about to be shown how wrong he was. He snorted and scooped her up into his arms without a word. "Let me go." She pounded on his chest as hard as she could, but he ignored her. "That's a command, Kieran, not some polite suggestion! I'm not leaving!"

"You are leaving. It's not safe here and you know I will let the world burn before I endanger you. Your family has a whole battalion of protection, but you only have me. We are going now so you may as well stop fighting and hold tight."

Any argument she would have used died on her lips. He was right, much to her frustration. All she had was him because that was all she had ever needed before. Her family was better off than she was at the moment. They also had plans for situations like this and her coming to their rescue wasn't part of those plans.

"How are we going to get out of here then?" she asked, but he didn't answer. He walked over to the window, shattered it easily with a gentle tap of his fist, and pulled himself up onto the ledge. "Shit!" she exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly as soon as she realized what his escape plan was. "We are on the third story, Kieran, you crazy bastard. If you don't kill us, I'm going to kill you." She did not like this plan at all. In fact, she hated it, him, and heights equally at that moment.

"Be quiet," he admonished and then flung them through the open window.

She wanted to say that she was a strong Unseelie Princess who didn't scream the entire way down, but that would have been a huge, dirty lie.

~~~

The next part will be released on Monday November 30, 2015. If you want to read the whole book NOW Absolutely FREE. Just visit here http://hotromancestory.com/scc1-free-book-wp/ To grab your free copy of this book today.