Dark Waters (2 page)

“If you don’t tell me who you are and why you’re here, I’ll
assume you’re hostile and deal with you accordingly.”

He couldn’t help but smirk. Though this woman looked like a
warrior, she spoke like a royal. Still, he didn’t doubt she’d strike him. He’d
have to use his gift of invisibility to capture her.

Without another thought, he concentrated on his inner core,
the space beneath his ribs where his power pulled from, and made himself and
everything on him disappear.

The princess’s face went blank and her stance became more
wary.
Funny.
Most people blinked twice and ran. But
this woman stood her ground.

“Whoever you are, you’ve picked the wrong night to piss me
off.”

He moved around her, sheathing his sword as he did. Holding
both hands just a few inches from either side of her head,
Randor
concentrated on entering her mind. This was how he retrieved his targets. It
was also the part of his job he hated. It could be draining. The stronger the
target, the more energy it took to enter the mind. And Princess
Adora
was strong.

He closed his eyes and saw her mind. The barrier her magic
formed was thick and strong. Surging forward with his own power, he opened his
mind to hers, melding the two of them together. The moment he pushed through
the mental barrier, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach.

Shit
. He’d been stabbed.

Hostility and triumph rang through to him from the princess’s
mind. Then it weakened before she completely blacked out.

****

Adora
awoke lying on a cold, hard,
stone floor. Her head ached and throbbed. What happened to her? She left the
feast, headed for her quarters and…nothing. Her mind was completely blank.

So what was she doing on a floor? Sitting up,
Adora
rubbed her head and found she was shackled. Both her
wrists and ankles were bound in iron cuffs. The metal shimmered with green
energy. They’d been charmed, no doubt with a captivity spell.

Good gods, what am I supposed
to do?

It was no use trying to free
herself
.
Captivity spells were almost impossible to break without the proper words. Wait,
could she pull the chains out of the wall?

Jumping to her feet,
Adora
stepped
back until the chains were tight. They were attached by one hook embedded into
the wall.

This should be easy
.

Grasping the cold iron chains, she gave a mighty yank. The
instant she did, pain shot up her arms.
Adora
hunched
and winced as the cuffs around her wrists tightened, digging into her skin.

“The more you struggle, the tighter they become.” A deep
male voice cut the silence around her.

She spun to find a man she didn’t recognise standing at the
door of her small cell. He was tall and lean with muscle that she didn’t doubt
held immense strength. His sky blue eyes shone in contrast with his tanned skin
and brown hair. While this man was obviously
Fae
,
there was something different about him. Something else emitted through his
aura.

A smirk spread across his full lips as he took a step toward
her.

Refusing to back away, she straightened and stood still. She
was Princess
Adora
, first in line for the throne the

“So, Princess,” he spoke as he continued to slowly approach
her. “I’m supposed to deliver you to the
Unseelie
queen.”

Adora’s
breath caught in her throat.
The
Unseelie
queen had tried, many times, to invade
the kingdom. But her soldiers never made it past the gates.

“But,” the stranger continued, “I think I’ll keep her
waiting. Just for a little while.”

Adora
cocked her head. What kind of
soldier disobeyed his queen? “Who are you?”

“Forgive my rudeness.” He approached her and bowed his head.
“My name is
Randor
, The Assassin.
Former
leader of the
Unseelie
army.”

“Former?” To her recognition, soldiers weren’t granted leave
from the army. The only way out was death. It was the same with the
Seelie
army.

“It’s a long story, Princess.”

Frustration built in her chest. “Apparently I’ve got a lot
of time.” She gestured to her cuffs.

His brows furrowed and
Randor’s
eyes showed a flicker of regret. “I apologise for the shackles. I didn’t want
you to wake and run.”

With a wave of his hand, the chains detached from the cuffs
and the ankle manacles disappeared. Though the wrist cuffs loosened slightly,
they remained. She looked at him with a questioning glance.

“I don’t trust anyone enough to leave them un-cuffed in my
residence.
Even beautiful princesses.”

Heat rose to
Adora’s
cheeks. He
thought she was beautiful. As ridiculous as it was, she couldn’t help but be
flattered by that remark. She was called beautiful on a daily basis, but
Randor’s
words held an intensity she hadn’t heard in…well,
ever.

Randor
closed the gap between them
and raised his hand to her cheek, brushing it gently with his knuckles. “If you
try to harm me or yourself, you’ll be struck down by a pain so strong you’ll
wish you were dead.”

Adora
shuddered, but wasn’t sure if
it was because of the words he’d just spoken or the way he touched her.

His lips curved into a small smile and he withdrew his hand.
“You may leave the room. I’ve bound your cuffs with magic so you will move no farther
than five feet from me.”

“Five feet?”
Most assassins held their
captives in their cells. The fact that
Randor
was allowing
her to roam freely rang alarm bells. That he wanted her so close to
him
just confused her further.

“If you’ll follow me, I’ll give you a quick tour of the
premises.”

Without another word, he turned and walked out of the room.
He’d taken less than five steps before
Adora
felt
pulled toward him. She
followed,
her senses on high
alert and her hands by her side, ready to strike out at any moment.

He turned to face her, his eyes crinkling when his gaze
locked with hers. “Nothing will attack you, Princess. We’re alone here. In
fact, there’s nobody around for miles.
Literally.”

He swept two French doors open and
Adora
was hit with a burst of fresh salty air. She stepped out onto the porch and
took in the stunning sight before her.
Sand dunes, an empty
beach and the ocean.
That was it.
No other houses, no
people, not even a boat.

They weren’t in the Water Lands. They weren’t even in
Fae
territory anymore. That much she knew. Everywhere in
the
faery
realm had a bluish tinge to it, even the
black night sky. This was…clear.

Adora
turned her head to look at
Randor
, who watched her with a keen eye. “Where are we?”

“
Western Australia
.”

She gave him a puzzled look.

“The human realm.”

She couldn’t stop her gasp. She’d always been fascinated
with the human realm and had studied it for decades. But she’d never visited
it. As a member of the royal family, she wasn’t allowed to leave the
faery
realm without permission, something Father would
never
give her.

“You kidnapped me and brought me to the human realm?”

“I live here.”

He spoke as though it was no big deal. It was a
huge
deal to
Adora
.
Very few
Fae
were allowed entry into the human realm,
unless they had human ancestry. Something in her mind clicked, as though a
light switch was turned on. That’s what he was. He wasn’t pure
faery
—he was part human.

She turned and looked him directly in the eye. “You’re part
human?”

His blue eyes glistened as he smiled and nodded curtly. “My
mother was human.
Technically.”

She raised her brows, waiting for him to elaborate. He didn’t.
He merely turned and walked away.

Frustrating
freaking male.

Adora
felt the magic pull her body
toward
Randor
as he stepped farther from her. This
was going to be irritating.

Chapter Two

For an hour,
Adora
followed
Randor
around his home. Though she was visibly irritated—chewing
at her lip, clenching her fists and frowning—she didn’t complain once.
Until he wanted to go to the bathroom.

She stuck her chin out stubbornly and stood her ground. “I’m
not going in there with you.”

Tenacious
little princess.
“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.” He gestured toward the shower. “I need to
shower and clean a wound. As you can see, the shower is more than five feet
away from the door. You’ll be coming in whether you like it or not.”

Her eyes flickered to the shower before she set her steely
gaze on him. Folding her arms over her chest, she appeared even more determined
than before. “I’m not going in there.”

With a quick shrug,
Randor
turned
to face the shower and pulled his shirt over his head. “Suit yourself,
Princess.”

The door slammed shut behind him. With an amused smile, he
turned to find she had remained in the hallway. The spell he’d placed on the
cuffs would have her crashing through the wooden door the moment he stepped
toward the shower. Without hesitation, he did.

He heard a loud crash followed by a grunt as Princess
Adora
smashed through the wood, her blonde hair flying over
her face as she fell. Moving as fast as he could, he reached her side and held
her up.

Randor
wanted to laugh at the fury
and embarrassment on her face, but the feel of her lush body pressed against
his had him aroused more than anything else. Her cheeks flushed with a pink hue
and her pupils dilated before she pushed him away.

So, he wasn’t the only one that felt the attraction between
the two of them.
Interesting.

Adora
continued to glare at him,
her eyes glowing with rage. “You knew that would happen, didn’t you?”

“I tried to warn you.”

“You didn’t tell me I’d crash through the freaking door!”
She pulled a couple of pieces of wood from her hair and healed a small scratch
on her forehead as she did.

“My apologies, Princess.”

Her shoulders tensed. “Stop calling me that.”

“It’s your title, is it not?”

Without replying, she stepped around him and checked herself
for any cuts before leaning against the granite bench top to regard him with a
cool demeanour.

The pulsating ache in
Randor’s
side reminded him why he’d entered the bathroom. He carefully pulled off his
shirt, wary of the wound. After throwing the shirt on the ground, he looked
down to the wound that still wept through the bandage he’d applied an hour
earlier.

Shit
.

Twelve hours after the princess stabbed him and it still
hurt and wept. That was unusual, considering he was such a fast healer, a
natural
Fae
trait.

He looked at
Adora
. “Would you
mind…?” He motioned for her to move to the side so he could reach the medicine
cabinet.

She obeyed without a sound.
Randor
opened the cabinet to pull out a bottle antiseptic and a new bandage. He looked
up as he placed the items on the bench and found a quizzical expression on her
face.

“What is that?” She gestured to the bottle.

Faeries healed everything with either magic or natural
remedies native to the realm. Unless they’d visited the human realm, the
Fae
would have no idea what human medicines were.

“It’s a medicine used to cleanse wounds and stop them
becoming infected.”

Tending to his wound,
Randor
winced as he peeled the bandage back from his skin. Clear fluid and blood oozed
from the wound. The skin around it was so red it almost glowed. How was it
possible the wound had gotten worse?