wouldn’t you come to me sooner?” she finally asked him, knowing beyond any shadow of doubt that this was what had finally brought him there.
“Because I am a King, little Druid. You come from a culture where that no longer means as much as it does to us, but surely you have gotten a better idea of it as you have lived with Kane.”
“I have. Enough to know that not one Demon under your rule expects you to remain single and alone for the sake of your reign.” Corrine braced her feet apart and settled her hands on her hips. “In fact, every Demon I know would scoff at that notion. Don’t blame this on your people, Noah. I may not be an expert on your society, but I do know that nothing would please them more than to see you give your heart into the hands of your Imprinted mate. So let’s skip the bullshit and come to the real point of why you’ve lain in bed, day after endless day, torturing yourself rather than coming and asking me for help.”
“Damn you, woman,” he barked, banging the window frame so hard with his fist that the glass rattled. “Has your husband taught you nothing of how you should speak to someone in my position?”
“Oh, kiss my ass,” Corrine blustered as her famous familial temper got the better of her. “If you’re just going to spout the cloud cover of protocol and all that high-handed crap, then I would prefer you not waste my time!” She stepped closer to him, in spite of the fact that his temper had caused the air around him to heat up considerably. “If you were any kind of a monarch you would jump at the chance to set a good example for your suffering people. And they are suffering, Noah. The longer they remain unmated, the more likely it is they will cave to their instincts and find themselves breaking laws and putting innocents in danger. You’re a remarkable leader and scholar. Where is your intelligence when it comes to this? Kane tells me you’ve hunted for centuries to find the cure for the suffering that overcomes your people on the Hallowed nights. Well, it’s here, Noah,” she said vehemently, thrusting her fingers against her breastbone. “It’s inside me! Come to me. Make them come to me!”
“Corrine…”
“What? What excuse is it now?” she barked.
“No excuse,” he assured her quietly. “Just confession. Confession of the one truth behind all of the questions you ask with such righteous merit.”
“Which is?” she prompted.
“Fear,” he responded with a sigh. “Pure and simple fear.”
“Fear?” Corrine gaped at him for a beat. “What in God’s name could you possibly fear from the Imprinting? Noah, are you blind? Haven’t you seen the scope of the new love surrounding you these past three years?”
“Yes, yes,” he said with impatience as he turned to look at her at last. “I have eyes and sense. I see you all, revolving around me like little planets, deep in your own little worlds made up in the space between your locked gazes and impassioned bodies. I watch until I am black-sighted with jealousy, Corrine!”
“Noah, please…forgive me,” she begged earnestly, her pretty brow furrowed in confusion. “I don’t understand. I truly want to understand, but I don’t. What is it you fear? Why be jealous when I can give you our joy for yourself? You are so brilliant, but I see no logic here!”
“I am afraid…” He hesitated, the phraseology unfamiliar and bitter to his taste. “I am afraid I am too late.”
“Noah…”
“She has suffered. She has been through some great pain and I was not there to spare her,” he confessed quickly. “I do not know what it was, or even if she suffers still, because her emotions are always so volatile. I am afraid of bringing her to me, of thrusting her into this existence. Being my Queen is not an easy life, Corrine. She will be in danger—especially in light of recent events. She will become a target. Yes, she will be accepted by most, but those who do not accept can be brutal with their opinions, as you no doubt know from your sister’s experiences. I ask you, how can I, in good conscience, bring an already tortured soul into my world for my own selfish needs, knowing all of this?”
“Noah,” Corrine said with soft surprise. “Noah, you will bring her here so you can love her. There is no hardship in the world that can’t be made better with the type of love the Imprinting can bring! You said yourself, you don’t know if she is still suffering. Would you leave her there, will you let it continue, knowing you can stop it?”
Noah made a distressed sound and his eyes darkened to gray. The thought was unconscionable, and it tore through him like thousands of sharp, shredding tines. In a single sentence Corrine changed his misguided ideas of nobility to horrified realization. He was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that he had wasted time. Now he realized that time was a black enemy and he was in a deadly race with it.
“Tell me how,” he demanded. “Corrine, help me.”
The Miserable Princess
A Demon Fairy Tale
Cont’d…
As nice as love stories about the Imprinting sounded, Sarah was very practical for a Princess. She knew her father was looking for a miracle, just as she knew she was the one who would end up going mad from his desperation to fix the odds more in royal favor. At the moment, that meant propping her up prettily in her throne, displaying her like a frilly trophy to be won. It was like being set afloat on a raft in a sea of greedy piranhas, and Sarah was not stupid enough to dangle a single welcoming toe into the water, lest she get chewed up and spit out into a form nothing like herself. So Sarah set her mind to the task of being so cold and so disinterested that no one would dare approach her.
Just then the Enforcer walked onto the playing field.
An immediate chill rippled outward from the place where he entered the arena, both through the participants and the crowd in the stands above. It was clearly visible as it shuddered through them all, every adult and child, the murmur that buzzed loudly all around her. The hostility and, yes, outright hatred everyone felt for this powerful man who enforced the King’s laws and extracted harsh, mortifying punishment for those who broke them was palatable.
Sarah shivered in spite of herself as she watched the Enforcer cross into the playing field, seemingly oblivious of the stir of emotions he was creating all around him. If she were going to be honest, she would have to admit that when she put fear and prejudice aside, she was still left intimidated by his prowess alone. Had he been a simple warrior, he would surely have made a glorious name for himself in battle, as well as prize competitions like this one. But his battles were fought against his own people.
He was the one true villain in the picture laid before her. The villain condoned by the King.
His name was Ariel, far too angelic a name for one who even looked the villainous part. He was bearded and mustached, though both were trimmed close with an almost single-minded perfection. Rough dark brows slashed above his eyes, and his hair was barely long enough to make the queue it was tied into at his nape. His hair was dark as pitch, but the sleek, silky shine of it was fastidious, showing off an almost navy tint of highlights in the too-bright moonlight.
Just then, thick, sooty lashes parted and revealed the icy blue eyes that so easily terrified everyone who faced off with the Enforcer. They were as glass, frigid and sparkling like shaved ice.
And they were looking directly at Sarah.
The Princess felt another chill blow over her, shuddering down her skin
