Dark Waters (9 page)
Authors: Liia Ann White
“I’ll spare your life if you tell me you didn’t betray
Randor
. You didn’t come straight here and tell the witch
what we were up to.” Her tone was low and deadly. She didn’t want him to
misconstrue her words for being soft.
The elf’s nose twitched and his thin lips pursed. “I didn’t
tell her what you were up to. I went straight to the queen.”
Suddenly his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. A
glowing blade appeared through his chest, pulling out as he dropped to the
ground.
Randor
stood behind him, a true picture of
mouthwatering
masculinity. Covered in blood and sweat, his
clothing was torn and his expression was fierce.
Adora
gave him a look of empathy
and turned just in time to see a massive ball of red energy flying at her.
Reflexively, she stuck her arms up in front of her and formed a wall of magic,
which absorbed the energy ball. With a sigh of relief, she felt the muscles in
her body tingling with a strange sensation of power. A sensation she’d never
experienced before.
Looking up to see an expression of disbelief on
Maleficent’s
face, she smiled an evil grin. She’d apparently
just done the impossible—completely absorbed another witch’s magic and stored
it as her own.
Disbelief quickly turned to rage as the witch brought her
hands up, flames burning all around her, as electric energy clustered in her
hands.
“Your mother could never do that.” Had it come from anyone
else,
Adora
might have heard pride in the words. But
from her, it was just a mockery. She was playing with her. “I’ll just have to
see what your limits are.”
“You won’t get the chance to toy with me,
witch
,”
Adora
sneered.
Mustering as much strength, courage, and fearlessness as she
could,
Adora
charged the witch. Her entire body
buzzed and zapped audibly as balls of magic orbited her being. With her sword
drawn,
Adora
flew into the woman, focussing as much
magic as she could toward destroying her.
With an almighty crash,
Adora
hit
the witch’s body, which felt like crashing through a rock wall. She pulled up
her sword and stabbed her through the chest before Maleficent reacted to her
hit.
“You…” The witch managed to gasp before her eyes rolled back
in her head.
When she looked up,
Adora
realised
she actually had gone through a rock wall.
“
Nooo
!”
A scream came from the room
they’d just been in.
The queen rushed in, angry tears streaming down her face as
she looked at the mess they’d made. Rocks, dirt, and dust lay everywhere,
coating the dead bodies of her guards, her nephew, and now her witch.
“What have you done?” she shrieked, her eyes frantically moving
from
Adora
to
Randor
. “You
killed them both,” she cried as she crouched by
Randor
, she clenched her teeth, the muscles in her jaw
visibly tensing. “I treated you like a son. I took you in after your mother
died. I loved you more than my own blood and
this
is how you repay me?”
Adora
stared, frozen on the spot,
as the
Unseelie
queen screamed at
Randor
,
heartbreak and grief evident in her voice.
****
Randor
couldn’t tear his gaze from
Elvira. She had taken him in. She had treated him like a son. But she had also
abused him. How would he tell
Adora
that? How would
he make her understand? Right now she was looking at him like he was a monster
who killed his own brother. He supposed in her eyes, he had.
“Get out of here before I kill you myself,” Elvira murmured.
Without another thought,
Randor
grabbed
Adora’s
hand and ran through the gaping hole
in the stone wall, dragging her through it with him. Cloaking the two of them
with invisibility,
Adora
clasped his hand tightly as
the two of them ran through the halls of the castle. Guards were scattered
everywhere, as well as servants and followers.
When he reached the unguarded front doors,
Randor
stopped and began to open a portal before pausing.
“Can we go to the hideout?” he asked her.
She shook her head, eyes wide in shock. “We should go to my
kingdom, tell Father what’s happened. He needs to know the witch is dead. He’ll
be looking for me, there’ll be guards out soon to try and find me.”
Tightening his jaw, he opened a portal, one that led to her
hideout, the only place they’d be truly safe.
Chapter Eight
Safely back in
Adora’s
hideout,
Randor
collapsed on the lounge, holding his head in his
hands. He ached everywhere. Thoughts he didn’t want buzzed around his mind. The
cushion dipped as
Adora
sat beside him. A gentle hand
warmed his shoulder while the other touched his chin, forcing him to look at
her.
Even covered in dirt, sweat, and blood with knotted hair,
she was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen.
“Tell me what happened. The queen raised you?”
Sucking in a breath,
Randor
wiped
his sweaty palms on his pants and straightened.
“My mother was a human, kidnapped and taken to the
faery
realm as a teen.” His blood boiled just thinking
about what she had endured. “For years she was used as a slave. Abused, raped,
tortured. She survived things no other human would have. They’re not as
resilient as the
Fae
. Nor do they live anywhere near
as long. When Elvira found her during a raid, she was heavily pregnant and on
the verge of death. They’d starved her for days. Elvira took her and the
remaining living slaves and held them in the kingdom where most of them
recovered.” His heart clenched as he spoke, but he forced himself to continue.
To let
Adora
, his soul mate, know that he wasn’t a
monster, that there was more to him than just his assassin side.
“Mother never fully recovered. After giving birth to me, she
suffered what humans call a stroke. Partially paralysed and in constant ill
health, she made it to see my tenth birthday. She died that night.”
“And Elvira took you in?”
The sympathy and pity he saw in
Adora’s
eyes as she looked at him made him feel sick. He hated being pitied. It was bad
enough he saw it every time he looked at the royal staff. He didn’t want to see
it when she looked at him.
“She took me in, treated me like her son, like she treated
orphaned, and started my assassin training almost immediately.”
Adora
let out a small gasp and her
demeanour changed. He no longer saw pity and sympathy in her eyes—he saw pure
rage and hatred.
“I was trained as a child because I asked to be. I was never
forced into it. But I was beaten, tortured, and left locked in the dungeon for
weeks on end to improve my strength. I was chased by
vitlers
to improve my stealth.” He paused on a shudder. The image of a six-legged
monster chasing him, snapping at him with its vice-like jaws, was shocking to
think about as an adult. He still had no idea how he kept his head and outran
it as a child.
“From the first day she lashed me, I’ve hated her. I knew
then that my life would never be ‘normal’ and vowed revenge. Luckily her
father, the late king, appreciated my need to live in the human realm where I
could feel more connected with my mother. He had no idea about the abuse or the
monster his daughter really was. Having me near in my mother’s homeland and my
loyal service to him were all he needed to grant me immunity. He allowed me to
live the life I could. But all this time I’ve been waiting to get my revenge.”
Adora
shivered, goose bumps
appearing on her skin as she looked at him with soft eyes. “It’s over now. You
never have to do that again if you don’t want to. We can hide in my kingdom.
Father would accept you in a heartbeat. He may not be loving or compassionate,
but he always shows gratitude and repays those who deserve it.”
“She’ll find us. She may not have Maleficent anymore but
Elvira is a very resourceful woman, not to mention queen.”
“Well.” A smirk grew on
Adora’s
lips. “We could stay in the human realm, couldn’t we?”
“We could move somewhere even more secluded. Somewhere where
there isn’t a human for miles and miles.”
“My magic will create wards strong enough that nobody can
track us.” She grinned. “Not even Father.”
When most women would have shaken their heads and backed
away from him,
Adora
embraced him, placing a soft
kiss on his lips.
“I’ve always been intrigued by humans. I’ve studied them for
years, always wanting to visit their realm but never been allowed to. To live with
you, in their realm, would be…exquisite.”
He returned her smile and gave a light chuckle. He’d
definitely have to work on her language before he let her out into the town
near humans.
“You’re an extraordinary woman,
Adora
.
I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”
“Oh, you deserve so much more.” Her fingertips ran over his
face, sending jolts of arousal coursing through his veins. “In fact,” she spoke
as she pulled him from the couch, pulling him toward the spring water pool, “how
about I show you just how much more you deserve?”
Tearing both of their clothing from them, he captured her
mouth in a sweet kiss as they immersed themselves in the soothing warm water.
“We can recuperate and rest here tonight. Tomorrow we’ll
look for somewhere safe in the human realm,” he told her between kisses.
Wrapping her arms tightly around his neck,
Adora
enveloped him and pressed her pelvis flush with his.
“I don’t think you’ll be doing much resting. Seeing you fight was very
arousing.”
Chuckling lightly, he kissed her and pressed his cock
against her warm entrance. “I love you, Princess.”
With a moan they connected in the most intimate way
possible.
Adora
let out a sigh and gazed into his
eyes adoringly before saying, “And I love you, Assassin.”
The
End
www.liiaannwhite.com
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