Lex was in a closet. A damn closet! How dare Garrin take her against her will? Again!
He was going to get a piece of her mind. Just as soon as his overbearing, princely butt returned.
He and Amund had dumped her in the room, demanded she stay put, and then left.
She wanted to strangle them.
Lex felt around for some way to illuminate the space because, of course, there was no light. If Garrin hadn’t insisted she remain quiet for her own safety, she’d be screaming her head off right now. It was creepy as hell being in the pitch-dark, and though her anxieties had improved in this craptastic land, for some reason, she wasn’t yet immune to small, dark spaces.
Lex sank onto her bottom and seethed for what felt like forever, debating whether to listen to Garrin and stay put or go in search of him. She was somewhere inside the Dark Kingdom castle—the one place her mother had insisted Garrin not take her. So, of course he’d taken her straight here, because he was on a mission to piss them both off.
She dropped her head back against the wall. Her mom was alive, and Lex still hadn’t wrapped her mind around it. Her mother’s story was overwhelming, but having her mom back was the greatest gift. She had someone else besides Jas who cared whether she lived or died.
Maybe she’d make it out of this place alive?
There were times while traveling the Land of Ice she was certain they’d all die, and apparently, Garrin had feared it too. When she’d woken to find her mother there, she could have sworn he’d been worried about her. And then he’d taken her from her mom and dumped her in a closet.
Who knew what would happen now? It was a tough call with Garrin running the show. Even her mother couldn’t control him. And her mom, now that Lex was near her again and remembering more, was pretty strong-willed.
Lex had forgotten the details of her mom, but with them face to face, flashes of memories had returned. Her mother’s favorite fruit, the noise she made in the back of her throat when she was annoyed. Only Lex couldn’t remember this place. Not the castle and not Dark Kingdom. She also had no memory of her father. Maybe that would come back too?
Lex couldn’t hate Garrin too much. He’d brought her to her mom. And really, she didn’t hate him. He was frustrating and arrogant, but he was also protective and pretty damn cuddly at night for a giant Fae soldier who liked to boss people around. The man even smelled good without bathing; it was inhuman. Then again, he wasn’t human, so…
All Lex knew was that if Garrin didn’t get his unwashed butt back here, she was going to lose her shit.
She pressed her fingers to her eyes and tried to remain calm.
Thirty or so minutes had passed when Amund finally returned to the closet. Along with Garrin and her mother.
“I’ve informed the palace guards that I will visit my father once I’ve cleaned up.” That was Garrin’s voice, and he was right beside her.
Lex inched to the other side to give him space in the dark—and ran into her mother, who ran into Amund.
“Lexandra,” Garrin said. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we are inside a closet.”
“I see sarcasm is alive and well in Dark Kingdom,” she whisper-yelled. The small room, which had been pleasantly warm a moment ago, instantly heated with the addition of two huge Fae and her mother crowding it. “Get me out of here!”
Garrin covered her mouth. “Fae have heightened senses, and guards are not far away.”
Lex breathed in the scent of him because dammit, he still smelled good. And then she bit his finger.
He shook it free. “Why would you do that?”
“Because you’re under the impression you can control me!”
Her mother snickered beside her.
“Silence, pet,” he said. “We must wait until I can determine how best to introduce you to my court.”
“Pet?” Lex spat. “Did you just call me pet?”
“You did it now, prince,” her mother said. “It seems I didn’t need to be around for my daughter to grow into a strong woman.”
Lex glared in the direction of her mother’s voice. “Strong, Mom? Really? Jas has practically been holding my hand these last few years because I’m terrified of everything. And it’s all because you led me to believe you’d been killed in an avalanche.”
“That was poor judgment on my part,” her mother admitted. “Jasper insisted on a backstory for why you had no mother in the Earth realm. And then our reunion was delayed.”
Lex’s mind sputtered. Delayed? “That is putting it mildly.” Lex sensed Garrin flinch beside her, and she lowered her voice. “Why in the hell didn’t you come with me and Jas in the first place?”
“Many sacrificed to hide you in Dark Kingdom. I had put dear friends in a troubling position. I was attempting to shield them when the king found me. As it turns out, I have no idea if they lived or died. And you were never on your own. Jasper was with you.”
“Silence,” Amund said. “Someone approaches.”
Lex squeezed her lips together, but she couldn’t hold back for long, fear replacing good sense. “They’ll know we’re here!” she said. “They’ll sense us—our Fae energy, or whatever you call it.”
A warm finger touched her lips, smelling of pine. Garrin.
Lex closed her eyes and tried to breathe.
“They are gone,” Amund said and let out a sigh. “The castle is full of soldiers. Unless they have my skills, it will be difficult to predict our precise location. They knew we entered because of the Presence Charm, which is why His Highness alerted the guards of our arrival. When the prince has not returned to his quarters, they will count bodies and track us.”
“Unless someone senses a second royal among us, and they send everyone in search of who it could be,” Garrin said bitterly.
Isle made a sound. “Don’t look at me, Dark Prince. I may be royal, but I had my powers magically downgraded centuries ago to avoid your father. They won’t detect me.”
“This is true,” Amund said. “She doesn’t present with your power level.”
“In that case,” Garrin said, “Lex is safe for the moment, and I must leave and visit the king and queen.”
“You mean, your father and that interloper you call Mother?” Isle snorted.
A pinched sound came from Garrin’s direction. “I fear the isolation has taken your sanity, mother of Lexandra. Ailith, the queen, has always been my mother.”
“Not always,” Isle said sharply.
Lex sensed the tension radiating off Garrin. “Mom, why are you doing this?”
Isle squeezed Lex’s hand. “If we are to keep you safe, the prince must know all the dangers.”
“Explain,” Garrin said, his tone forbidding. “If my mother didn’t give me life, how do you account for my existence?”
“The angels made your father pay for his crime with this frozen land. And by not providing him a child born of his wife, nor of any of his harem. You are illegitimate.”
“Absurd,” Garrin scoffed.
Her mother had to be wrong. It seemed like something that would be insanely difficult to pull off. Then again, Casone had hidden the truth of his first wife, so anything was possible.
“I won’t betray your true mother by sharing her identity,” Isle said. “Not after all she did for me. But you would do well to be leery of the current queen. I’ve never understood her intentions.”
Lex couldn’t tell how Garrin was feeling. His expression appeared blank in the dim light, as though he were holding in his emotion.
“What is your plan to keep Lex safe now that we are here?” Isle said. “No one will believe you went in search of the prophesied savior, only to bring home a female of no import.”
“I will tell them she comes from the Land of Sun.”
“The land of… You mean Sunland?” Isle harrumphed. “I see. You mean to call Earth by one of its Fae names so as not to lie, when you know very well that everyone in Dark Kingdom will believe she is from Sunland here in Tirnan. You tell a lie without lying. Did you gain that skill from your father?”
“Do you have a better idea, Mom?”
Lex prayed her mother did, because pretending to be one of Garrin’s many girlfriends in some harem did not sound fun. It sounded like a great way to humiliate herself.
Garrin and the other Fae were hot. Even Lex’s mom was beautiful, with amber eyes and clear, tan skin that was darker than Lex’s. Fae seemed to age slowly, her mother easily passing for a woman in her late twenties.
Isle dropped Lex’s hand and made a sound of disgruntlement. “We could attempt to return to the Earth realm—”
“No,” Garrin said firmly. “I won’t risk Lex’s life again.”
“—but,” her mother said, her face pinched at the interruption, “the Dark Prince is right. Tapping into your magic to get us by is one thing. Traveling across the entire Land of Ice would be dangerous without your ability mastered. At the very least, the portal creator must rest and regain his strength before we attempt it.”
Lex closed her eyes. Amund looked drained even after she’d supposedly juiced him with magic. “That could take days.”
Garrin smirked, which Lex caught in the dark because his expressive eyes sparked with mischievousness. “Which means you are my girlfriend, Lex, as they say in the human world. Until we come up with a better plan for keeping your presence discreet.”
“The hell I am!” she said at full volume.
His eyes flared and he looked quickly out the door before shutting it silently. Garrin peered over her head at Amund. “We must leave before she alerts everyone.”
“Agreed,” Amund said in his deep rumble.
“Take her to my ladies while I speak with my father,” Garrin said.
Amund grabbed her arm lightly.
“Wait.” She looked at Garrin. “How can you leave me again?”
Irrational though it might be, Lex didn’t like it when Garrin wasn’t with her. She’d grown used to him. Stockholm syndrome, she thought, and shook her head.
His mouth quirked. “Getting used to having me around, are you?”
Her eyes narrowed. “No, you arrogant prince. I just don’t like being kidnapped and then neglected.”
He was still smiling when his breathing seemed to catch. He leaned closer, all signs of humor gone. “Amund, do you see this? Her eyes…”
Amund inched closer too.
“Hey!” She swatted at him. “What’s wrong with you two? Ever heard of personal space?”
Amund straightened and looked at Garrin. “Her eyes have a light glow.”
Isle sighed. “Of course they do. I told you, she is like no one else.”
And then Garrin’s hand burst into flame. Well, not burst. It was more like the flicker of a cigarette lighter. Only blue.
“I thought we were being incognito?” Lex tried to blow out the flame. “Put that thing out before you burn the place down.”
But Garrin and Amund weren’t listening. They were too busy staring at her face. And down her body. And then at each other.
“Shite,” Garrin said.
“She has changed,” Amund said. “No longer Fae.”
Garrin tore his eyes off Lex to glare at her mother. “What is she?”
“I told you, prince, she is like no one. Now make good on your promise and keep my daughter safe. And get me out of here. If Casone discovers I’m inside his castle, we’ll have bigger problems than we already do.”
Isle squeezed Lex’s hand. “The king has never seen you. With me away, you have a chance at hiding in plain sight. I won’t risk you coming with me and rumors surfacing that you’re my daughter. If I’m caught before we escape, at least you’ll have a chance at survival. As long as no one knows you’re my child.”
“Mom, you’re scaring me more than I already am. You won’t get caught. And what is wrong with my eyes, you people?” Lex patted her face. “I haven’t gotten good sleep, so I probably look like a nightmare… Wait, what do you mean I’m not Fae?”
“You are Fae,” Isle said. “But also, more.”
“How much more?” Garrin asked.
Memories of her mother were coming back to the point that Lex felt her mom hadn’t been gone all that long. That Isle wasn’t a perfect stranger to her, but… “Mom?… Who is my father? I don’t remember him at all.”
“Later, darling. For now, do as the Fire Prince says. Don’t think I didn’t notice you have an ability with fire as well, son of Casone. No wonder the king sends you on his errands. You are as powerful as he, only he cannot control fire.”
Lex felt her mother’s hand on her shoulder. “You will pretend to be his girlfriend. For now.”
Garrin swallowed. One of those nervous swallows. The kind Lex never saw him do because the darn Fae didn’t get outwardly nervous the way humans did. Until now.
“What’s wrong with you?” She snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Why are you suddenly afraid of being my boyfriend? You were gloating a moment ago.”
“The girl’s energy level…” Amund said, shaking his head. “How can this be?”
Garrin blinked as though waking from a dream, and his jaw hardened. “I don’t know. But one thing is clear. She has come into her true being. And we must find a way to hide it.”
