"It’s only been two days mother. He will need more time than that,” Prince Ferian tried reminding her.
“It cannot wait Ferian. I need all three of you to understand that we are facing annihilation! There has never been a greater threat. Do I need to remind you what that monster sounded like?” She poked her finger roughly against his forehead.
Ferian was shaking at the memory she’d just resurfaced in his mind. But not for the reason she wanted to inspire. It was Saber. The utter fury displayed by her was what took hold of him once again. Not the mystery man who’d killed Caspian.
Shaking his head, he willed the memory back where it belonged.
“I’m starting to think you know exactly who and what he was my Queen. Pray tell, disheartened ex-lover perhaps? Wronged parent of a fallen soldier? Was it one of our fathers perhaps?”
The slap against his cheek sent him hurtling sideways, seeing stars. “When you are quite over yourself Ferian, do as I command and bring those two in for a meeting. We have lost Caspian. We have lost Saber. There is no way in all the hells that we can afford to lose Asher, Liffin or you. Do not try to test this.” Mab whispered, the ice in her words left him stunned.
Ferian watched her walk away. He removed himself from the floor, dusting himself off. He knew he’d be sporting a mark for a while. Never in his life had the fourth prince seen her lose control like that. And why would she say it that way, “…in all the hells…”
Maybe they truly needed this meeting. Finding Asher would take some witchy aid since he was lost to the world. Ferian could not believe he would be of any help. But point and case, they definitely needed him. The brother he looked up to had lost his way, and he didn’t know how to help.
Lamia was, surprise, in the greenhouse. Botany seemed to be a weakness for her. Ferian could watch her all day in here. Those luscious legs were currently peeking out from underneath some bushes where she seemed to be on her knees, in a halfway crawling position.
Her supple ass kept wiggling in those tight leather pants, her back arching forward then down, then upward. He was having a hard time focusing. Ferian could hear her cursing under her breath, which only reminded him of sex.
Clearing his throat, he moved to the other two botanists in the space by a table, which looked to have been randomly placed. The prince knew they would have no qualms if he were to spread Lamia wide on this very table, like a personal buffet.
Fae weren’t creatures who denied their impulses. But he was not sure what the witch’s reaction would be, better not test that right now when he needed her cooperation.
Deliberately provoking him by taking her sweet time to dig up the last of the roots she wanted, Lamia, at last, came to stand at the table.
“Give me a second to clean these.” The female botanist tried to be of help.
“No need,” Lamia was already scraping off excess soil and moved to a basin to rinse the last of it off.
“We are in a bit of a hurry, you know…” Ferian mumbled.
“I need to ensure the preparations are done to the letter, even the slightest difference could be disastrous to the outcome of a spell. So unless you’d like to take a vacation in hell…” Lamia made a good point.
“What is it with all the women today?” He prodded the other male in the room.
“Maybe their cycles have synced,” the male suggested.
“Now that is uncalled for,” the other female rebuked.
“Oh come now my dear,” Ferian’s tone turned soothing, “It might not be such a bad thing if all females took a sabbatical at the same time. Just think about it. A nice yearly vacation of three weeks to do whatever makes you happy. Three weeks a year that you would be away from all the males giving you such a hard time.”
“Shut up.” Lamia commanded. “Check the list and tell me what else we need. You can check these off,” she told him, leaving no room for argument.
“Nightshade,” he read, “are we poisoning someone?”
“Next?” She clearly was not humoring Ferian. They finished her list, and it was all loaded into a basket, convincing him that he should be taking her on a picnic.
“I need your help to locate Asher.”
“You’re asking?” Lamia was mocking him; he was sure of it.
“I would’ve thought the idea of my being in your debt would be appealing.” Ferian snidely commented.
“You still haven’t paid for our first deal.”
“But everything is not quite over is it,” Ferian replied with a smirk, “otherwise we would have been affected adversely by your spell, would we not?”
“True, but I can only be so patient. Something soft can turn hard if given too much time you know?” Lamia’s eyes widened at her own words. One look at him confirmed his mind having gone to the gutter. “Don’t be an ass.”
The corners of the youngest prince’s mouth turned upward gently. He lifted his hands in a peace-seeking gesture. “Please Lamia.”
Surprise colored her face; he would go that far for his brother. Indebting himself even more for Asher’s sake… Her decision was already made.
“It would be much faster if Liffin can port us wherever we need to go.”
SABER
“This isn’t half bad,” Saber commented as she took in the view of her new home. The Wylde pack even had a small waterfall in their backyard. The trees reminded her so much of her own home that nostalgia threatened to overwhelm her.
“Are there any caves behind the waterfall?”
“Quite a few my Queen,” Sebastian informed her. “It’s actually very similar to the houses we have. A smaller entrance, branching out to several different sized caverns. I will give you a tour personally, but I have to warn you, my people believe it to be haunted.”
Saber snickered, “Don’t call me that. When can we go?”
He studied her a moment. “As soon as you feel up to it.”
“Now?” Maybe there’s some distraction to be found there.
Sebastian nodded and finished his breakfast, pushing his plate away and getting up. Saber gulped down the last of her coffee and imitated him. It only took about ten minutes of hiking to reach the clear blue pool.
She was so mesmerized by the sight that it took her a moment before realizing the alpha was taking his clothes off. Following his lead, she stripped down and dived into the water.
“We haven’t found any other entrances,” he explained, heading into the rush of falling water.
Not wanting to close her eyes and miss anything, Saber parted the steady stream like a curtain with her magic. Sebastian didn’t seem fazed at all.
“Nice.”
“Very,” She agreed. The space wasn’t as gloomy as she would’ve thought. She saw the entrance to the caverns on the right. Moving ahead, the floor gradually rose up, so that they were able to just walk out of the water.
When Saber reached the cavern, her breath was taken away by the tiny lights embedded in the walls, others were… moving around the walls? They looked like glowworms casting their light all around crystalline spots on the vertical surfaces.
“This is amazing,” she expressed her wonder out loud. There were stones, but they were laid out as if they were furniture. Some could be for used for sitting, others as tables. Immediately she rushed to another adjoining cavern.
Sebastian was grinning from ear to ear as he took in her excitement. This place had that effect on everyone. And this might just tempt her to stay with them. Over the past few days, he had seen her discomfort only a few times.
Like when you visited another’s home for a while but got the hang of how things were done and where you fit before you went home. But he could see it. She was lost. And then she had rejected her mate. He had no clue why she would do that. Besides the fact that he was Fae, Sebastian knew the Crown Prince to be the best of all the princes.
His thoughts were interrupted by an echoing gasp followed by a squeal and a splash. Rushing to the last cavern, there was no sign of Saber anywhere. Starting to panic, he shifted forms and tracked her to the water.
Wading into the bathing pool, he called out, “Saber!” Sebastian’s panic disappeared when she breached the surface with a huge smile.
“You really should be more alert,” she wiped the warm water from her eyes and tilted her back.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes and pounced on top of her, effectively dunking her smug face.
Saber pulled him under with ease and was rewarded with his struggles beneath the surface. Both were laughing when they came up for air.
“You should laugh more often,” Sebastian told her.
“There hasn’t been much reason to. Not for the last few days anyway.” Saber went under one last time before getting out of the small pool. “But this was good.”
“Yeah? I can’t honestly say when the last time I was dunked like that was.” He laughed trying to steer things away from going all somber again. “So? What are your plans? Have you thought about staying here at all?”
“I haven’t been thinking of anything else, except Asher obviously. But,” Saber took a deep breath, “I am in love with this place now. Your territory is beautiful. But this,” she motioned at everything around her, “this is perfect. If I’m allowed to stay here of course.”
Sebastian let the shock show. “You want to stay in the cave?”
“I’d love to stay in here,” she corrected.
Sebastian couldn’t believe it. Wolves loved the woods, forests, anyplace they could be free. But the cave was like a hole in the ground. Albeit a very nice hole, but still.
“You’re not worried about the ghosts? Don’t you remember me saying it was haunted?”
Saber laughed genuinely. “I’ll be good to the ghosts.”
“Everyone will think you’re crazy.”
“Or they’ll think I’m the bravest of all wolves,” she countered.
“Alright. I can see the appeal of that,” Sebastian conceded. “Let’s get you moved in.”
“That seems a bit redundant, I don’t have anything.”
Sebastian waved that statement away, “Of course you do. You’re our Queen now. Stop ignoring that.”
“And you should stop calling me that.”
“It’s the truth, whether you want to hear it or not. I’ll refrain from calling you my Queen when I speak directly to you, but not with others. Being Alpha of all alphas is not something you’d want others to see you’re uncomfortable with. An alpha cannot have any weaknesses or insecurities.”
And with that he left Saber there, sitting beside the pool in her very own bathing cavern, in her very own home. Alone, yet not, because of the tiny creatures providing light. He was right, she knew that.
But at the moment, with her heart shattered, with her missing her mate who she’d thought would be the love of her life… Maybe it was time to focus on others, on their lives, not her own. Hers certainly was a wreck.
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